My View of Bruce Tobey's View

A hotel is coming to Gloucester.

The Pro-Hotel people (henceforth "The Greedheads") have been in a fierce battle with the Anti-Hotel people (henceforth "The Hippies")

Bruce Tobey (former mayor, current City Council) wrote an open letter, posted in the Gloucester Times.  The reaction by the hippies via social media is what caught my attention.

(Worth Noting: I'm torn on the issue. A big ugly hotel would be big and ugly.  That said, whenever my in-laws come to town they have to crash at their daughters' house.)

Mr. Tobey, your so-called View is a steaming pile of bullshit.

Our chief financial officer has prepared a conservative estimate of the annual revenue stream that will flow to the City when the hotel is up and running. Real estate tax payments, meals tax receipts, and room tax revenues will generate more than $750,000 per year for our local government.

Are you going to stand by this theoretical 750k when the actual figures are tallied?  Your quote has a nice way of pre-empting any possible blame to your Chief Financial Officer.  Well played.

The city is about to embark on a multi-million dollar reconstruction of the water and sewer systems that serve the Fort. Construction of the hotel will generate the payment to the city of many of those dollars, some from the developer and others from a state economic development grant prompted by the hotel’s construction. 

Your city is about to embark on a multi-million dollar sewer system reconstruction project that is supposed to be paid for by a hotel that doesn't exist yet?

The hotel’s business plan has clearly demonstrated that its operation will create 150 jobs for a city with an unemployment rate higher than the state average.

Two fair points, but they are not connected.  You cannot guaruntee these 150 jobs will go to Gloucester residents.  Can you?

A well-established team has come forward with a concrete plan to create a building and a business that would enhance any community, and it has been identified by other entrepreneurs as a lynchpin to their efforts to launch us into a bright new biosciences-based economic future. That future will be jeopardized by continued opposition.

 If your team is as well-established as you describe, why would they back down in the face of opposition?  If they can't stand the heat in the kitchen perhaps their plan is not as concrete as you think.

 In summation: The Hippies said that your rallying of the masses to angrily confront them was an indirect attack on their First Amendment rights, and they wanted to sue you.  I told them to tear apart your half-assed letter instead.  They didn't, so I did.