Is Brocton worth maintaining?

Editor, OBSERVER:

I have a serious question for village of Brocton residents. What exactly are we gaining by remaining a village?

The village already shares most services with Portland and they’re always looking to share even more. The fire department is one such entity that has recently been discussed to merge with Portland, which isn’t a bad thing.

However, let’s get right down to it. What does the village do for us that warrants the insane village tax for such a small population and nothing in return? We don’t even get garbage pickup! There is absolutely nothing, in my eyes at least, that the village does that can’t be handled by the town of Portland.

Why hasn’t dissolving the village been discussed and seriously pursued? I know Brocton residents aren’t exactly wealthy. Are we just going to keep giving up our money to an entity that really has no reason to exist? I would like to keep that money for myself. It could go a long way toward other expenses.

I saw a hat that read “Make Brocton Great Again.” We can do that by dissolving the village. Let the residents of Brocton keep more of their money.

Other villages that have dissolved are doing just fine, if not better than before. It’s long past time that Brocton joined that list.

JACOB BRUNECZ,

Brocton

Team effort needed in bird battles

Editor, OBSERVER:

I remember a few years back the city attempted to get the seagull population under control in the same area where the problem exists. I am hopeful the efforts put forward by the First Ward councilwoman will mitigate this issue, but people around this area have a part to play also.

Seagulls are scavengers, they will eat food wrappers, discarded food scraps, bugs, rats, anything they can find. The environment needs to be kept clean of trash and dumpsters need to be kept closed to keep the seagulls from returning.

The Canada geese not only leave the park and the sidewalks a mess, they can get aggressive when you are trying to eat and do not give them anything to eat. Thinning the gaggle and donating to those in need is a great idea, but people have to stop feeding them.

The geese will never leave knowing they have free meals when people keep feeding them. Maybe “Do Not Feed The Geese” signs should be put up.

SUSAN LIS,

Dunkirk