To the Editor:

I often wonder why we have ordinances in the town of Guilderland. When ordinances (Article II Prohibited Acts, 205.5, 205.6, 205.7) are constantly disregarded by someone or a business, nothing is enforced.

Whoa! Stop the press. I have an idea. Why not just eliminate all the ordinances from the books? In doing so, nothing needs to be enforced because there will be nothing to enforce.

It is seen all over town from traffic laws being violated, to noise ordinances, to signs on businesses, and on and on.

My wife and I have repeatedly had to contact the town officials for trash companies hauling the trash away from a local diner as well as on our street well before 7 a.m. for years now. Oh, sure it stops or quiets but then it starts again.

The latest incident was 6:14 a.m. on Aug. 4. When we have complained in the past, the response from the code enforcement office is, “I have made a call to the offender and the business owner for further action.” Even with that, nothing changes by either party.

Still waiting!

Don’t we, as town citizens and taxpayers, have a right to our quiet time as set forth by the town and written in town ordinance or should we just fold our hands and stop trying to fight for our rights?

We have given up enough in the past few years and we feel it is time for our town officials to start taking responsibility and making sure these ordinances are followed and abided by. We need officials in the office to be willing to stand up to the big corporate entities and allow us to get our town back, not allow them to govern our town by doing what they want.

Why are these businesses, and the public who don’t abide by these ordinances, not being held accountable? I would love for someone to explain why this is even allowed to happen.  

Tom Hart

Guilderland

Editor’s note: The letter writer was one of the Westmere residents who filed a lawsuit in 2020 against both the town of Guilderland and Pyramid Management Group after the town’s planning board approved the company’s proposals for an apartment complex and a Costco warehouse. The suit was ultimately unsuccessful.