To the editor:

Regarding the dollar store slated to be constructed in the lot on the north side of Sprague Street, across from Cumberland Farms: My sons and I live at 28 Sprague St. We are the second house up Sprague Street from Cumberland Farms on the same side. There are several reasons I am against this construction.

1. Traffic — Having lived at this corner for six years, I am hyper-aware of the amount of traffic that passes through the intersection each day. At peak times and sometimes on summer weekend days, the cars at the light on Sprague waiting to turn onto East Main Road are backed up well past my home. At these times I have to wait for considerate drivers to let me out of my driveway.

Slowing that movement down even more are the cars pulling out of Cumberland Farms on the Sprague Street side and the cars turning from East Main Road at the light and making an immediate left into the Sprague Street entrance of Cumberland Farms.

When there isn't a line of traffic buildup keeping the traffic slower, people drive both east and west on Sprague Street at dangerous speeds.

There are lots of pedestrians on Sprague Street. During the school year, most of these are our children walking to and from school on a street that still has no sidewalks! Other than the students, there is a constant stream of walkers going to and from Cumberland Farms all day and all evening. (I know because my family and I see them and we pick up the trash they drop on our lawn, driveway and occasionally leave in our mailbox.)

Adding an opening to a parking lot from a store out to Sprague Street will add to traffic, backing it up further, bring more cars in general endangering pedestrians even more than they already are, and bring more pedestrians walking down a street with no sidewalks to get to the dollar store.

2. A dollar store? Really? I am all for bringing new businesses to Portsmouth, but I think we can do way better than this! I don't think money-making or tax reduction should come before consideration of the shaping of the future of our town. Let's aim for higher quality businesses in our beautiful town!

3. No letters? Um, wouldn't somebody have noticed that it seemed strange not to have heard from so many people living close to this location about this store going in? Shouldn't that have made the person in charge of reading and considering those letters think that maybe some folks didn't get one? Something isn't right …

As a resident of Sprague Street and one of the closest to the location in question, I would like it to be known that I am completely opposed to a dollar store being constructed and opened on the property at the northeast corner of east Main Road and Sprague Street. I believe it will cause traffic congestion and increased danger of vehicular accidents at an already busy intersection, danger to pedestrians, will lower the property values of homes nearby and will detract considerably from the quality we seek to maintain among businesses in our town.

Jane Wheeler

28 Sprague St.