Letter To The Editor – Show Your Support For The Gladioli

To the Editor:
Three years and 10,000 gladioli bulb plantings later, the 3-year objectives of the Beautification of Berlin Committee have been met and exceeded – the planting of 10 major and 3 secondary beds of strikingly colored gladioli along Route 22 in Berlin with the intent of replicating in a small way the beautiful display of many acres of gladioli bulbs for which Berlin was renowned nationally in the late 1800s and early 1900s and to celebrate and preserve the rich history of our Town.
All this was accomplished with funds entirely raised by the Committee through generous individual and local business contributions and the anonymous donations put into the collection boxes at the Berlin Post Office, Library, Bank of America, Hewitt’s Market and the Cherry Plain Pantry – several thousand dollars each year. The many contributions by Committee members of time, sweat labor, materials and equipment have made all this possible.
Town residents and the Board must now decide whether this has been an effective, worthwhile endeavor that has successfully made a positive improvement in Berlin’s image and appearance, one that will have a lasting effect. Thus far, the Board has shown no interest in the program. Now the Board is being asked for the establishment of an annual budget of $1,500 – less than $1 per resident per year, to be supplemented by the Committee’s continuing fund raising efforts, for continuing this Beautification of Berlin project. The Committee can continue to maintain and increase the plantings, but it must become an officially endorsed project, no longer a private one. This is necessary for us to continue to qualify for grants and to demonstrate that our Town itself approves and supports the program.
If the Town residents agree with the value of improving Berlin in this manner, they are urged to let the Town Board know at the next monthly meetings and/or by letters that we, the residents, are willing to have $1,500 of our tax money used for this purpose.
Sincerely,
Beautification of Berlin Committee – Donald R. Calman, Rebekah Hartman, Sandi Slattery, Duane Goodermote, Sharon Klein