Rich Bergeron: Development cabal situation deserves same attention as Gunstock

To The Daily Sun,

The election is behind us, but every one of us can still help shape the direction of our communities across this state. You don't have to be a political junkie to understand that the greatest problem we face across the state and the country has nothing to do with the actual people we've elected into leadership.

It's not about who is corrupting our systems and government processes as much as how these crooked folks manage to get away with it time and time again. Accountability is the A-word we need to focus on now that the votes are all tabulated.

This year we saw citizens rally around the calamities that threatened to taint the local treasure that is Gunstock Mountain Resort. As a former local news reporter myself, I was astonished such an issue could generate so much controversy and public interest. At the end of the day, the Gunstock saga taught us so much about how politics and legal maneuvering can be so easily abused to the detriment of the people.

While I enjoyed how the public and local media rose to the occasion in handling the Gunstock conundrum, I could not help but feel disappointed that so many more problems we see in our communities get so little attention. Gunstock is extremely small potatoes compared to the more universal issue of assessment irregularities and the serious abuses of assessment setting in many communities all across our state.

I started www.planbjustice.com to help a large pool of victims concerned about a developing cabal between a shady lawyer from Texas, an assessment guru with a controversial history, and countless local, regional and state politicians trying to benefit from the scheme. State enforcement attempts are now in motion, with great prospects for a promising return. This issue deserves Gunstock-level attention.

Rich Bergeron

Belmont