Dec. 26, 2024

To the editor: We went to the holiday party at Halyard the other night.

Every year, the management team puts on a big spread, catered by the Causeway, for our community. And we are a community, a neighborhood much like any other neighborhood in Gloucester. We look after each other (my young neighbor who loves to walk our dog has COVID-19 right now; I took him a casserole). We know all the dogs’ names even if we may not know all the people’s names.

Tracy O’Neil and her merry band of 3A deniers like to denigrate our community. One of them called it a “Chinese development” at one of the many meetings that were held at City Hall during the development of the modest proposal that was unanimously approved by the City Council. There actually was a Mr. Dolben (the name of the company that developed and owns Halyard). He lived in New Hampshire until he passed away a few months ago. Nothing Chinese about him.

That’s just one of the many, many pieces of misinformation that has been spread throughout Gloucester about the MBTA’s requirement that communities served by the MBTA establish at least one zone allowing multi-family housing within one-half mile of the MBTA station. The opponents, few as they are in the overall scheme of things, have now forced a referendum on the issue, despite the fact that their elected representatives on the City Council unanimously approved the plan that was very carefully developed by the Planning Board. Another of their claims is that new multi-family housing, which by the way is not required to be built but only zoned for under 3A, will draw hoards of people to Gloucester who will overrun our schools, sabotage our infrastructure and destroy the character of our beloved community.

One thing I discovered at last night’s party that I really already knew. Everyone I talked to was, like my husband and me, a former homeowner in Gloucester who moved to Halyard in their retirement years to rid themselves of the responsibility and cost of homeownership. They are not folks from afar but, like us, people who have lived in and loved this community for decades. One person who looked very familiar turned out to have owned a local business that I had patronized for many years.

People need to understand the reality of 3A, what it is and what it isn’t, and what will be the cost to the city and taxpayers if we do not comply with this state law. We will lose millions of dollars in state aid and taxpayers will pay through the nose. That’s the truth that the 3A deniers don’t want you to hear. Listen up.

Carolyn Stewart, Gloucester

LTE PUBLISHED HERE