To The Editor:

In response to your article “Massena Mayor Hoping to Revive Rooftop Highway Discussion”:

Oh please, Tim, not again!

Haven't we already wasted enough time and money on this futile fantasy of a four-lane "rooftop highway" connecting the interior of the North Country to I-81 and I-87?

Failed Massena Economic Developer Jason Clark spent years and tens of thousands of our taxpayers dollars on this boondoggle.

The guy's tenure here cost Massena at least $100,000 a year.

He was supposed to bring new businesses, jobs, and economic development to Massena and instead he spent nearly all of his time on this pipedream. He even created a compete lie that the highway would be called Interstate 98. He went so far as to spend our money on cute little lapel pins and other foolish trinkets with I-98 on them.

All of organized labor have touted this deal for decades. They have primed Democrat politicians' political campaign accounts with thousands and thousands of their members dues to get it done.

Guess what?

Nothing. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

Let's be honest, Mayor Ahlfeld, if Gov. Cuomo, Sens. Schumer and Gillibrand, and others in Albany and Washington really gave a damn about the North Country, the people who live here and our economy, this highway would have already been built.

So, until I see legislation in both our state and federal capitals packed with the billions of dollars that would be needed to construct a "rooftop highway" (a rather foolish name to begin with), put me at the top of the list of the "naysayers" who say it's time we forget this foolishness.

I'm sure there is something much more productive on which to spend our time and money.

Let’s take a minute and get a little creative.

For example, the explosion in professional bass tournament fishing in our area started with a little meeting I convened at the Massena Town Hall in February of 2010. Ten years later, we’re seeing some very positive results.

What else can we pursue?

Joseph D. Gray
Massena