I write to commend John Van de Kamp for his article on Forest Drive traffic being like the Bermuda Triangle (The Capital, May 7). Why does the city continue to defy common sense in packing in more and more development onto a dead-end peninsula, threatening public safety, the environment and our school system?

The answer must lie with developers and their deep pockets with campaign cash, as such rampant development does not benefit us residents.

The argument that the city needs to expand its tax base is hogwash! The city is more densely populated than any area in the county but has a much higher combined property tax rate, with city and county taxes. Adding more homes (like the 500 at Crystal Spring and 152 near Quiet Waters Park) only increases the cost of services, including police, fire, schools, roadways, etc.

The mayor and aldermen have a responsibility to the citizens they represent and citizens are demanding that they stop Crystal Spring and the overdevelopment of the Forest Drive corridor. How many more traffic fatalities, trailers at overcrowded schools and trees destroyed have to happen until the city wakes up?

Folks move here for the quality of life, but we are almost like another crowded, sprawling Arlington, Virginia. When the city doesn’t have any more large tracts of land to develop, it simply annexes forests from the county, like Crystal Spring and the site near Quiet Waters Park.

Let’s all pledge to weed out the developers’ shills in city government in 2017.

TERRY TRUNNELL, ANNAPOLIS

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