Warren Murphy: State should deed State School land to Laconia for $1

Two articles in The Daily Sun on April 23 were quite revealing and bothersome. The front page article tells us that the state’s deal with the prospective developer of the state school property in Laconia is off due to failure to pay on the part of the developer. The second separate and independent article on Page 8 tells us that the same developer is under investigation by the state for fraud and that the state has asked the court to help in their case. The commissioner of the Department of Administration stated that he has no interest in the fraud case and is only interested in getting the $21.5 million for the state. Great for the state, but what does that do for the city of Laconia? Not much.

Commissioner Joe Kenney’s pollyannaish happy words not withstanding, it is clear that the state is not looking out for the best interest of Laconia, as his position that there is nothing to learn from this experience clearly demonstrates. The answer is to get the state out of the way. The state should deed the state school land to the city of Laconia for a dollar and allow our city government to oversee the ultimate disposition of that land. They clearly have the success of Laconia’s future at heart, and collectively our community has the will and expertise to ensure the best for our community.

Warren P. Murphy

Laconia