Articles like ("Feuding over flood relief," March 24) only serve to undermine Prattsville's efforts to raise money through grants and recover as a community. Our grant awards in 2012 have placed us as one of the most successful towns in the state, and given our needs, it is certainly much appreciated.
We received more than $1.2 million in grants with a commitment for another $500,000 to be used for rebuilding housing, businesses, streetscape, parks and recreation fields. Greene County is working with us on a program for hiking and biking trails. In addition, we currently have outstanding another $150,000 in grant requests for marketing and tourism support. This level of state and federal support is unheard of for a town of our size.
We will soon be applying for more grants. As such, we cannot afford to have the grant decision-makers tainted or distracted by small-town politics and we will need the continued support of our county, state and federal officials. These officials also read negative articles, such as this article, and lessen their resolve to be strong, vocal supporters of the town.
In order to be successful in our grant applications, we need to be focused on all the positive things that can come out of Prattsville's Long Term Community Development Town Plan. Countless hours have been spent creating our town's redevelopment plan, so let us stay focused on doing what we need to do to execute on this plan and rally around our rebuilding effort.
The focus of our town needs to be on rebuilding — our homes, businesses and, most importantly, our community.
Kevin Piccoli Prattsville