Calling himself a concerned neighbor to Wiscasset in a phone interview Monday, E. Davies Allen explained his offer to give the town $1,000 toward traffic guards downtown. In his letter to the Public Advisory Committee, the Westport Island man said the money could go toward at least Labor Day Weekend. It would be his second donation in five years toward easing the bottleneck, he said.

Allen said he sent the letter via U.S. mail Monday, after trying unsuccessfully recently to get the Maine Department of Transportation to put traffic guards downtown.

Allen comments in his letter to the PAC, “While the DOT is eager to throw five million dollars at the problem, they are unwilling ... to find ($20,000) to hire two trained traffic guards to work the remaining busy weekends.”

MDOT spokesman Ted Talbot wrote in email responses to questions Monday, the agency has no plans to consider crossing guards at this time. He also addressed a question Allen raised in the interview, about how traffic lights with pedestrian controls are going to make pedestrians cross any less frequently than they do now. Talbot wrote, the button a pedestrian pushes will not instantly make the walk signal. “(The system) will continue with its pre-programmed order and activate the walk signals when it is the pedestrians’ turn in the signal phasing order.”

In the letter and the interview, Allen expressed dissatisfaction with the results of his $2,000 contribution toward traffic guards five years ago. The letter asks the PAC to ask the town for funding toward two qualified traffic guards. The Wiscasset Newspaper emailed the letter to Selectmen’s Chairman Judy Colby. She responded, she had no comment on it and will wait to see if the PAC makes any recommendations for selectmen to consider.

Asked why he is willing to give money to Wiscasset, Allen said, as a concerned neighbor, he wants to help ease the problem so more people will visit the downtown village and its businesses.

In a phone interview Tuesday, PAC member Bill Maloney said of Allen’s offer, “It’s a great gesture, and generous. I’d very much like to talk about it at our next meeting.” The committee meets next at 5 p.m. July 31 at the municipal building, Wiscasset administrative assistant Kathy Onorato said Tuesday. Maloney said he was unsure what process there would be if the committee supported seeking town funding, since the expense was not in this year’s budget, but he expected it would need to involve the selectmen.