Ross' experience

In response to your editorial "Black Gold: City Officials May Have Found a New Way to Pave" (Aug. 17): As a former Ross commissioner, I used Angelo Benedetti and his Hot in Place Recycling method in the 1980s. I had high hopes for this method, and as chairman of the Public Works committee for the Ross commission, it took me a lot of convincing to get the rest of the board to go along with it. I have to say, it didn't live up to its billing.

First, it only scarified, or scraped up, 11/2 inches in depth of the road, which caused the road to re-crack and fail in a much shorter time. Second, the machine had the habit of burning up residents' pine trees or shrubs. Third and most disturbing was that Mr. Benedetti refused to use his machine on any hills, or grades greater than 5 percent. Therefore we had to have the hilly parts of the roads paved in the usual fashion, and that cost more than the contract allowed.

Maybe their methods have changed or the equipment is better, but I would be skeptical at this point.

MARK PURCELL
Ross