Change is inevitable

It was cathartic writing the "We've been taken over by opportunists" column last week. I think I got my frustrations out. While it's true that I don't understand the thinking of developers and opportunists, I am willing to try and live with them since there is no alternative. At this point, I don't have billions of dollars to buy them out and knock down their buildings.

As for renovation. I am all for renovation. Some lady called me out for being against any changes. I am all for renovation, who isn't? It's destruction and building out of scale that are the issue. Maybe most of us are just afraid to leave our  old familiar comfort zones.

I heard from someone over the weekend who is upset over the changes at the Sonesta hotel, you know, the new Hotel Aria. She wants me to get involved, but I told her that the new owners can do what they want with the place since they own it now and I guess that is the way it is with the new mega buildings going up around town.

The lady says service is terrible at Hotel Aria, she says all the familiar staff has been fired and the classy place is now not classy at all. The new owner apparently is not paying employee's heath insurance either and with all the managers let go, the place is a free-for-all for employees who are left.

I know that a lot of private condo owners there are very upset, but I was told that the reason the Sonesta sold was because of the privte owners. When a large part of the property are owned by people renting out their units through AirBnB, bypassing the hotel itself, how do people expect them to stay in business? I'm not sure how that whole thing operated, but it's a very dubious sort of business model. The Sonesta hotel chain is a very small chain owned privately by a family. It's not a big corporation. They could not handle competing with their own tenants.


I was at a party on Saturday and I met a lot of new people who are new to the Grove. They wanted me to tell them about the Grove and boy did they get an earful. But they told me their side and their view of the village. They see it as we have always seen it, as a small village on the water. The biggest asset according to these new residents is the water and waterfront, that is the attraction. They don't know much about the history or what was here before and to them the new chrome and glass may be a good thing. I like all of these people that I met and wouldn't mind being friends and hanging out with them. One lady was telling me about all the changes in her old neighborhood in New York, another was telling me about the changes where she used to live. Maybe I'll learn something from them.

I've been checking other places to live, like New London and Mystic, CT and upstate New York on the Hudson River; also the Carolinas and what I see as charming and beautiful may not be what others see who have lived there their whole lives. Maybe their current states are totally different than a few years ago.

I was told to wait and see about the Grove. So maybe that's what I'll do.