A recent Maine Voices column (“Calls for aggressive housing development miss bigger picture,” Oct. 15), was unfair toward both HR&A Advisors (the authors of the housing report) and to the newspaper’s coverage.
It’s traditional to define the problem prior to developing a solution. If the author had read the report and commentary from the report’s sponsors, he’d see that it was very clearly stated that “The first step is to understand how many homes are needed to support broad affordability and availability …”. It was beyond the scope of this report to ascertain a solution.
I think it goes without saying that with the problem now defined – 84,000 new homes distributed throughout the state, but with a higher concentration along the coast – a lot of discussion and policy decisions need to ensue, so development occurs smartly and without ruining Maine’s high quality of life. The author of the column writes: “ ’Maine, the way life should be,’ evokes a starkly different picture than the policies put forth by HR&A.” What policies is he referring to? I don’t see proposed policies in this report.
He further states that this newspaper failed to “talk about how all this new development will benefit those of us already living in Maine.” Does he have blinders on? The people of Maine are suffocating from skyrocketing home and rental prices; some are forced to live on the streets.
He states that “Americans are taught that unrestrained growth is a good thing.” Really? That’s not what I was taught.
Andrew Wright
Falmouth
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