Mark Hatch and Michael Rogovsky and Others: Yesterday Kristin Hatch wrote that my opinion about affordable housing is based on sour grapes because I didnt get the answer I was looking for in relation to a situation that negatively affected my former gallery located on Commercial St. Most of you will recall that the situation was that the CD store had its speakers aimed directly at my gallery, which caused me to lose customers and brought down the quality of Life on the corner my gallery was located on (the Gazebo katty-korner from Joes Coffee.) That sour grapes assessment is entirely false. And that sort of thinking doesnt even make sense unless you are simply trying to score points in public opinion. Let me explain: The fact is,like others who have come before and who are here now, I can no longer afford to live in Provincetown. The reason for this is that I had to close my gallery -- my source of income -- in, essentially, late October. We faced many challenges in our location, and received no support from town govt. to arrive at a solution. Yes, I looked for a different location, but after learning that a similar situation was occurring down the street, I had no faith that relocating in town was the right solution. The decision by the town govt. and the closing of my gallery did not affect just me. It directly affected several people who were trying to help themselves by working. One of those workers was Lisa Foley Meads, who suffers from health problems, and whose husband had suffered health problems. I think Lisa would agree that we paid her fairly -- or as much as we could afford -- and paid her commission on sales. With us, the sky was the limit in terms of commission, but given that our gallery was being negatively affected the commissions werent what she or we had hoped, thats for sure. Another part time worker was Myra Gold, who filled in when Lisa was not available. Carolyn Kramer also did a a few shifts with us. No one got rich, including us. As the situation became more acute, we realized that major decisions would have to be made. By late October of 2013 we had to, essentially, close our doors and tell Lisa that we could not pay her anymore. By December we realized that we would also have to sell our house in order to survive. We have been in our home for 17 years - a house that was falling down when we found it and was a blight on the town. We worked our brains out to restore it, sometimes commuting daily back and forth to corporate jobs in Boston in order to have money to restore it. But despite what Ms. Hatch wrote or what others may think, we do not have sour grapes. The market is the market (and in this case the market included the message from the town that they would not help us). Consequently, our only choice for survival was to move to a place that we hope we can afford and have the support needed to run and succeed with our business. We have chosen Chatham because the property taxes are lower and the price for homes is less; equally important, the Merchants Association and Chamber of Commerce works hard to insure that there is a level playing field for all businesses. Those are no guarantees for success, of course, but at least we have the elements in place that favor success. The fact that we didnt get to succeed in Provincetown will always be sad to us, but that is life, and sometimes the choices you have to make are very painful. But again, we do not have sour grapes. The market dictated our life and we had to pay attention to the facts. Provincetown is a very tough environment and it isnt for everyone. As one woman posted, you cant make Provincetown available for everyone - just as you cant make Beverly HIlls or Hawaii or any other place available for everyone, as Mark Hatch has pointed out. So, while I believe whole heartedly in affordable housing, I do think there are limits to who it should serve. If you cant afford Provincetown, perhaps you need to rethink if youre really meant to be here. I cant afford it, so....off I go. Id love to stay but its just not an economic reality for me. The buyers of our home are a well-heeled couple from L.A. and they are the new breed coming into town. I wish them well, and everyone else should to. Theyve worked hard for what they have, sometimes living in places they didnt want to live in order to survive. So -- no sour grapes from me, my son or my partner and business manager. It is what it is...and thats that. Life has spoken. I get the feeling its talking to others, too. If they decide to stay, is it anyones responsibility to help them? To tell you the truth, Im not sure.
Posted on: Mon, 07 Apr 2014 14:13:55 +0000
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