Hampton 'Not Responsible' for Helping Biz 'Make Profit,' Says Woolsey

By Mary-Louise Woolsey
Hampton selectman

[Editor's note: This letter is in response to the sizable dialogue generated by a previous story about Woolsey's desire to end commercial trash collection, and her intention to put forth a petitioned warrant article doing just that. This letter was submitted by Woolsey to clarify and further explain her previous statements, which can be found here. In the past, Woolsey has called for an end to beach trash service, although her newest proposal is about all of Hampton's commercial trash collection.]


I mean discontinuing ALL commercial waste pickups town wide.  This is not a town vs. beach issue. The public sector is not responsible for whether any business — large or small — can make a profit. Some individuals who are commenting on your site are asking for "tax breaks" if businesses no longer have town pickup  — where have the "tax breaks" been for the Galley Hatch, Sanborn's, The Old Salt, Hannaford, AND the Casino and Ashworth Hotel?  They, and others,  have been paying their taxes for YEARS to subsidize all of the other businesses. Who calls that "fair"? 

Also, with support - I hope - from a majority of the Board of Selectmen, we will be directing the Planning Board to advise developers of new commercial properties that they will need to make arrangements to store their waste on their own property and arrange for private pickup to get rid of it. No more automatically figuring that the Town will take away the waste. 

Our DPW is a 5 million dollar a year "small business" within town government, and we are strangling its ability to operate by all of the "freebies" handed out by the good old boys in the past.  It's time to start running our DPW like a business. 

In case it has been overlooked, my priority when I ran for office was Public Works, Public Works, Public Works.  My priority is still the Public Works Department, and helping it to run efficiently for the taxpayers after years of neglect.