To the editor:
Town Meeting voted no at the Special Town Meeting, but no one really knew what they were voting for.
We got here because the chair of the select board, who bills herself as someone who operates in a transparent and fair manner, engineered in private meetings an end-of-the-year vote to force the select board between voting for an option that doesn’t fully live up to the one town meeting intended or losing $1.7m in ARPA funds. Why was the option with only 3 stories and moving the post selected? Insert any and all NIMBY arguments you can think of.
Next, you have the VFW Post members who quite frankly and understandably are tired of being jerked around by the town and not being able to control their own destiny. Why did they want the on-site option and not to be moved to a location a few hundred feet away? Well, parking. Ignore that this is walking distance from where up to 41 veterans will now be living.
On top of this, let’s throw in a couple of former and current elected officials coming to the support the VFW Post who previously yelled loudly that the Westcott project was too tall even though it is now approximately the same height or lower than the full height Veteran’s Housing and Post option.
And of course due to town counsel opinion, the Special Town Meeting result was legally null and void, so what exactly were people voting on? Vibes?
Team Yes was overrun with the overzealous shouting about over-reaches of executive power that are akin to what is happening on the national scene…and I’m sorry, but no, this is just NIMBYism. We as a town do it all the time.
Team No was overrun with people who didn’t think Swampscott, the town once home to the 6-story New Ocean House and other resorts should ever have any building in town above 3 stories.
It is typical that we in Swampscott choose teams instead of working together to just do what is right and best for the town. Perhaps that’s why we only execute things halfway because we are constantly fighting against people we don’t like.
Thank you to Katie Arrington who gives so much of her time to this town to advocate for what is right.
Thank you to Kim Martin-Epstein for prioritizing the town’s housing needs and dispelling misinformation.
Thank you to Rev. Dr. Anita Farber-Robertson for simply asking questions about “how would contract changes actually work”…even though her questions remain unanswered.
Thank you to those that don’t choose teams in town and just try and do what is right.
Aaron Berdofe
Swampscott Town Meeting Member
Affordable Housing Trust Member
Master Plan Committee Member
