Letter to editor: Unhappy Rothbury resident. 

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Dear Editor,

My name is Patricia Day, I am a homeowner, taxpayer and resident of Rothbury. Each and ever year we open up our small community and village and welcome the Electric Forest Festival. During the festival days we are inconvenienced in multiple ways.

We have a huge amount of traffic as the festival is undergoing. This makes it difficult to come and go to work, the store or to our local gas station.  What would normally take us just a short period of time winds up adding up to an extra 45 minutes. We are forced to use other gas stations in Whitehall and Montague as the lines at our local station often reach a block or more. Our local store and gas station often run out of items that we need or want furthering our inconvenience. During the festival time our cell phones are compromised severely which in essence forces us off the grid of communication.

We pay our phone bills and should be able to use our services. We are often kept awake at night by the sounds of music and fireworks. We feel the need to lock and secure our homes as there are many festival goers wandering around and walking past and through our neighborhoods. During festival times our quiet village and neighborhood is turned upside down.

The reason I am writing this email is because I/we as residents are upset. We believe that the good neighbor circle should include what is called the Rothbury proper. This is a small stretch of Oceana Drive/South Michigan Avenue that begins at the corner of West McKinley Road and ends at Winston Road, which includes less than eight homes on both the east and west side of the roads

We have reached out to the Electric Forest liaisons and feel we are not being heard. We have reached out to our local police as well as the Michigan State Police and have not been heard. This is truly frustrating.

I feel as a homeowner that is paying taxes and a house payment and a working family that is paying for cell phones we should be able to freely use our roads, stores, gas stations and phones. However, if we are being inconvenienced during the festival times we should be compensated with passes for these times.

By providing us on this main thoroughfare passes would also benefit the venues by bringing in locals to spend money and give positive responses.

I was very upset just yesterday when yet again we were blown off when we were told a liaison would come to our home to rectify this.

Thank you,

Patricia Day

Rothbury