Politics & Government
Cold War Sirens Sold in Online Auction
Springfield loses some out of date equipment and gains some cash.
Last month, we reported on how a cold war-era alert system was finally dismantled by Springfield. Air raid sirens, originally designed to alert Township residents of large scale attacks, were taken down throughout Springfield.
The sirens had been outpaced by technology; in a real emergency, the Township now has a wide variety of methods of alerting the populace. The sirens themselves, large pieces of equipment posted high above streets on telephone polls, were considered to be threats to public safety.
But while Springfield didn't want them, somebody else did. Earlier this month, the sirens were sold through the online auction site GovDeals for just over $300.
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Township Committee member Marc Krauss, who spearheaded the township's relationship with the municipal auction site, said that the sirens were sold on Friday, Sept. 1o, for $312.77.
While the sum is far from the highest dollar amount Springfield has raised through GovDeals, Krauss employed an old adage to illustrate the utility of the GovDeals site.
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"One man's junk is another man's treasure," Krauss said in an email
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