Dear Salem officials,
I won't just copy and paste what has been said on the newspapers and on the internet, but instead share some of my words with you all. Please do not go any further with this Lowes/Walmart project. I currently reside in Danvers, but I grew up in the Fays Estate in Lynn, and my parents currently still live there. I travel to Lynn through Salem multiple times during the week, as not only do my parents still live there, but so do many of my friends that I visit, my church that I attend, and a language school that my daughter attends weekly. I travel on Highland Avenue, and past Walmart, many, many times, and I can tell you first hand how horrible it is to drive through your city. The flooding in front of Walmart is atrocious, the traffic is horrendous, and the sight of all of the stores is ghastly. You have taken the beauty from Salem and destroyed it. If you think that you at least have some historic areas, why even bother advertising for tourists to visit your city when you won't keep the rest of the city beautiful? Why not have pride for your entire city?
Stop thinking of your own political agendas, and start respecting your neighbors, because the value of the nearby homes will decrease, my parents home included. Property tax will decrease, and that will hurt the city of Lynn. Do you care?
You say that this project will help with jobs, but do you realize that they are small scale, minimum wage jobs with high turn over rates. And if the smaller businesses like One Way Lumber, Highland Gardens, Tri-City Sales and Special Thoughts go out of business (and the other big box store Home Depot), that offsets the newer jobs available from Lowes. Not that many new jobs will be available from Walmart, because that store already exists in that location. Will that many new jobs really come from this project? Not really.
Simply put, Salem is a horrible place to drive through. Traffic from North Street, over the bridge past your new court house, down to Washington St., or right onto Highland Ave past the Judge's house (or witch house as many call it) is always crowded with cars and tourists, or resident walkers. Traffic only gets worse past the school and hospital, and Target, and leading into Lynn past Walmart. Timed stop lights won't make this any better, and adding bigger stores won't make it any better. The traffic that already exists in this location is a huge inconvenience to not only the residenst of Lynn, but to Marblehead, Swampscott and Nahant as well. Are you thinking of them? Do you even care that your city is becoming a nuisance to so many other towns and cities?
This project isn't just about trees, and animals, and plants and history. It's about neighbors, and businesses, and camps and little children. Traffic jams, and flooding problems that will only get worse. Think about it, the earth that absorbs the water and lets it drain will be replaced by tar and cement. The water won't drain, and it will flow forward, to the streets of Highland Avenue.
Why can't this project open in a different location, where it won't affect smaller business and already clogged roadways? Where it won't affect the value of people's homes, and where it won't take away a camp for the children.
It seems like you city officials are just being selfish for Salem, but this project puts Salem in a very bad light. But who cares anyway? Not any of you, that's for sure.
Please think about it. And scrap the Lowes/Walmart project.
Thank you for your time,
Johnna Aggelikas
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