Editor, The Smithfield Times:

Regarding the Mallory/Scott development, well, to no one’s surprise the Smithfield Town Council went against the wishes of the citizens. They sided with the developer and lined up at the pay window to collect for their votes.

They continually make decisions that are ruining what used to be one of the nicest small towns in the state of Virginia. The town isn’t in this alone. There have been so many more questionable decisions involving developments in the town and the county.

I am a lifelong resident of Isle of Wight County/Town of Smithfield and have never seen so many bad decisions that don’t affect those making the decisions but us who drive these county and town roads every day. What used to be a 15-20-minute commute to the shipyard has now turned into a 45-minute to sometimes hour-and-half commute due to congestion related to all the overdevelopment.

I was at the Town Council meeting and what an embarrassment to us citizens that our local government officials are supposed to listen and represent but fall way short of that. There are business owners who directly benefit from the Mallory/Scott development who should have recused themselves from the vote but didn’t, so therefore those businesses should not get any business from the citizens who are against the Mallory/Scott development.

Now to those who voted against the Mallory/Scott development, thank you for having the courage to listen to citizens and vote no for the Mallory/Scott Development. For those who voted for the Mallory/Scott development, it’s up to us the citizens to see to it that you all never have the opportunity to serve in local government again. Enough is enough!

 

Marty Womack 

Smithfield