The Martha's Vineyard Times
To the Editor:
I have to start by putting it bluntly: July 7’s letter to the editor (“Housing initiatives raise questions”) is one of the most absurd bits of NIMBY blather I’ve ever read, with some inaccuracies so jarring that I am surprised it was published in the first place.
Apparently affordable housing — the one avenue remaining for those islanders who would like to continue to live here, Islanders who are trying desperately to not get displaced due to the economic earthquakes occurring but will never feasibly be able to afford a million-plus-dollar house — is tantamount to “not being able to afford it by their own means, and guilting others.” This is followed by a concern about a raise in taxes that “shows neglect for the community,” which affordable housing apparently involves. This is a bizarre allegation which seems to imply one of two things: 1) an outdated and outright false notion that affordable houses do not pay property taxes; or 2) an assumption that those who live in affordable housing cannot pay taxes. I don’t think I need to point out the irony or hypocrisy in attacking affordable housing in today’s market out of “concern for the community.”