The short-term rental controversy represents the recurrence of a community disease that has festered internally for over four decades, since the tourism lobby set out to make that industry dominant locally. Now that the malignancy has metastasized, the effort to bring STRs into compliance with municipal ordinances may be too late for a positive outcome. Still, among those for whom Conway is the only home, how many are willing to give up the struggle?
At the town meeting of 1980, after a winter with little snow, Joe Sullivan made a pitch to give Mount Cranmore a tax exemption to compensate for the lack of business. In those days, tourism really only began north of Bowling Alley Hill, while Conway Village provided the manufacturing base. No one had ever proposed tax breaks for any of the wood-products industries in Conway when the economy left them reeling, or for the farmers in Center Conway and on the West Side when weather threatened them with financial ruin. Joe’s motion therefore failed, but he would probably not have even offered it if lodging and recreation interests were not already finding common cause with second-home developers in the race to take Conway over and build it out.
Bill, this is one of those times I disagree with you. For decades, people have been renting their places and now the town wants to make that legal practice illegal. There are property rights here that the courts will have to contend with. This is no different than an outright ban on certain guns today that were perfectly legal yesterday. That is why so called 'assault weapons' were grandfathered under the last federal ban. You cannot make citizens felons overnight nor can you (or should you) make home owners go belly up because you failed to regulate something for decades. The only solution is for grandfathering those who are currently practicing.
I can’t help but find several intersecting themes in the opinion articles in the CDS over the last year. If it’s not about the impact of STR’s, it’s about the lack of affordable housing, or the overwhelming increase/influx of tourists, or the extension of the “tourism season” beyond the traditional timespan(s), or the traffic congestion and over-crowding of the parks.
What appears to be very clear is an almost palpable pushback by a community that is rapidly losing its identity and the connection to the things that have made it so very attractive in the first place.
Like so many “small towns” across the Country, we have become an almost immediate refuge from what can only be described as our rapidly decaying urban areas as they are falling into chaos.
The pandemic, along with the civil unrest has certainly exacerbated this migration. And technology has made it much easier for those that can work online to be more mobile/transient.
This new migration brings with it bigger issues that all small towns need to confront. This overwhelming influx comes with different attitudes, agendas, and perspectives that can only be described as incongruous with small-town values and norms.
Urban folks that are capable of making such moves often come with salaries and financial means that far exceed those of the local residents. They also bring a different set of political values that for the most part are reflective of the areas that are fleeing from, and most likely the root cause(s) of things they are fleeing. Both of which can have a huge, almost immediate impact on small communities.
If Small Town America stands an even slight chance of surviving the next decade without surrendering the very things that made them so attractive in the first place, they will lose all of it before they even know what happened.
That’s why it is so important to get active in your local town politics, on every level and let your voices be heard, and start making moves to get control over your own destiny.
Just letting things happen is not an option any longer.
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(2) comments
Bill, this is one of those times I disagree with you. For decades, people have been renting their places and now the town wants to make that legal practice illegal. There are property rights here that the courts will have to contend with. This is no different than an outright ban on certain guns today that were perfectly legal yesterday. That is why so called 'assault weapons' were grandfathered under the last federal ban. You cannot make citizens felons overnight nor can you (or should you) make home owners go belly up because you failed to regulate something for decades. The only solution is for grandfathering those who are currently practicing.
I can’t help but find several intersecting themes in the opinion articles in the CDS over the last year. If it’s not about the impact of STR’s, it’s about the lack of affordable housing, or the overwhelming increase/influx of tourists, or the extension of the “tourism season” beyond the traditional timespan(s), or the traffic congestion and over-crowding of the parks.
What appears to be very clear is an almost palpable pushback by a community that is rapidly losing its identity and the connection to the things that have made it so very attractive in the first place.
Like so many “small towns” across the Country, we have become an almost immediate refuge from what can only be described as our rapidly decaying urban areas as they are falling into chaos.
The pandemic, along with the civil unrest has certainly exacerbated this migration. And technology has made it much easier for those that can work online to be more mobile/transient.
This new migration brings with it bigger issues that all small towns need to confront. This overwhelming influx comes with different attitudes, agendas, and perspectives that can only be described as incongruous with small-town values and norms.
Urban folks that are capable of making such moves often come with salaries and financial means that far exceed those of the local residents. They also bring a different set of political values that for the most part are reflective of the areas that are fleeing from, and most likely the root cause(s) of things they are fleeing. Both of which can have a huge, almost immediate impact on small communities.
If Small Town America stands an even slight chance of surviving the next decade without surrendering the very things that made them so attractive in the first place, they will lose all of it before they even know what happened.
That’s why it is so important to get active in your local town politics, on every level and let your voices be heard, and start making moves to get control over your own destiny.
Just letting things happen is not an option any longer.
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PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
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Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.