Tuesday April 23 2002

Letters

Why don't politicians do what voters want?

WHY do politicians spend so much time trying to push through schemes that no one wants and ignore the matters the public support and want?

Surely anyone with any common sense can see there's no point in moving a traffic jam just up the road, as is planned with the Priory Crescent scheme in Southend, while the New Empire Theatre is a resource the town desperately needs?

A few of my neighbours and I attended the Empire's Old Time Show, an evening of first rate entertainment, performed by the theatre's own talented group. As a mature grey campaigner I was surprised by the number of youngsters queuing up to add their names to the list of those who want the Empire to survive.

I was particularly heartened to overhear the conversation between two students, I believe from Belfairs High School, chatting to one of the Empire's volunteers. These two young ladies had a perfect grasp of the reasons why the Empire was so important, how different it was to the Cliffs or the Palace and therefore not a competitor to these two admirable theatres.

Is it not time all politicians started to actually do the things their electorate wants, instead of wasting large sums of our money on environmentally questionable and daft road-widening schemes that go nowhere?

MRS J BROWN
Via E-Mail