Dear editor:
In response to the Sept. 29 letter by Judy McLeod (“Marotta defender ignores basic facts in Randwood conflict“), I’d like to point out she has conveniently ignored basic facts.
In most legal battles, both sides believe they’re protecting their rights or doing the right thing. Benny Marotta and his companies would like to develop properties they own, while some town politicians and residents are trying to prevent that from happening.
Marotta, who has an extensive history of building, feels he has been treated unfairly.
After Betty Disero essentially campaigned for mayor on stopping his plans in the last election, one should understand why he feels this way. He was demonized and targeted for the benefit of a politician’s ambition to get elected.
Marotta’s companies and planners have followed the application processes as any developer must do. They have a vision for what they believe would be a lucrative and luxurious hotel on the property.
They also want to build a subdivision and have applied for both. Whether you share that vision or not isn’t really the issue at heart.
However, the “fact” the letter writer is missing is that when someone wants to do something on their property and they are being challenged at every turn, the only recourse is to fight back.
Would the letter writer roll over and accept bureaucratic decisions if they were being made about their property? Would she accept the constant onslaught of smears and lies being passed around about her reputation and character?
On the reverse side – should the town bow out because a wealthy developer has the funds to fight forever. Probably not.
But it doesn’t really matter what any of the two sides think. In the end, what’s legal matters.
The writer would like people to think that in order to be a good citizen, Mr. Marotta should have sat down and shut up and dealt with whatever the town wanted him to do.
It’s not a fair expectation and dragging someone’s name through the mud because you don’t agree with their vision of the future is bullying.
The Marotta family has made generous donations to Niagara College, built a world-class winery in NOTL that attracts people to spend money here. They have also planted dozens of trees at both the winery and Rand Estate, and likely will be planting more at the new Stone Eagle Winery when it’s built.
Now that the court has sided with Marotta in the latest legal challenge, will the letter writer view the town’s lawsuit as a “wanton and deliberate” attempt to paint Marotta as the enemy, or will she defend the town?
I, and others, applaud Mr. Marotta for not backing down. If SORE and Disero hadn’t pushed so hard to fight his developments, the lawsuits would not have been initiated. They started it.
Marotta is an experienced developer. Our politicians knew he would challenge the town’s fight against him. Anyone who expected him to cave is disconnected from reality.
Those are the facts.
Sil Ranucci
NOTL