SUBMITTED BY S. MOORHEAD.
OPINION

Response to Benny Marotta: After reading your ‘woe is me’ letter in the Nov. 29th The Lake Report, I just have to respond. First let me point out that I am not a member of SORE, nor have I attended any protest against you or your projects. I am writing this to point out why so many people do not like you. It is because of what you are doing to our beautiful town.

When the model homes for Solmar’s initial project in St. David’s opened, we went with family who were looking to buy and found that the interior finishing, i.e., counter tops, flooring and fixtures all cried ‘cheaply built’.

Then you started on Ann Street. To put it succinctly, what you are building there is ugly and inappropriate for Old Town Niagara-on-the-Lake. Those houses do not fit the character of this town. Look around at what is here; big lots with lovely gardens, large trees unique homes. Do you try to build in keeping with that? No, instead you are building identical row housing jammed in every square foot you can find and, they will never have lovely gardens and large trees plus, they are certainly not unique. Additionally, all of this high density building will just mess with the services, traffic and parking in this town.

Would you live in one of those ugly little houses?

Your projects are a blight against everything that attracted my family, friends and neighbours to this town. Your homes belong in a low income area of Brampton, not here! That is why so many people are against you and are afraid of the mess you want to create in and around the Rand Estate, Queen Street and anywhere else you own property. It seems profit is the raison d’etre of your projects. Perhaps local opinion would change if you reduced a little of your expected profit and spent some of it to design and create beautiful well designed homes, on decent size lots to create projects that befit the quality and uniqueness of Niagara-on-the-Lake.