To the editor:
For months I have watched as one Great Barrington Selectboard member repeatedly undermined the selectboard’s efforts to draft a reasonable short-term housing regulation. His efforts seemed more obstructionist than constructive. The Berkshire Eagle published a letter from him on Thursday, and it was more of the same. The question is, can we trust Ed Abrahams’ arguments?
Many citizens participated in the selectboard’s eight-month effort to craft a reasonable regulation. I don’t need to tell any of you who participated that Abrahams was dead-set against regulation from the start. You need to ask yourself why. I asked him directly, and on social media, if he had a financial interest in short-term rentals. He insisted he did not.
We do not know, and plainly Abrahams is never going to tell us, about his discussions with the State Ethics Commission, which flagged his potential conflict of interest. The little we’ve been told was disclosed in an Eagle article. Too many questions remain unanswered.
He did not disclose to the town that he was on the mortgage of his fiancée’s home, which is used for short-term rentals. They now cohabitate and the home seems solely used for short-term rentals. That fact stung me, personally. I’m not smart enough to know if he violated conflict of interest rules, but he didn’t tell the truth. To be sure, he failed to be forthright with some friends, his colleagues on the boards, the citizens, and town officials, about why he was adamantly opposed to the regulation.
As you consider his arguments, you should also consider whether he has the community or his own economic interests at heart. Abrahams’ fiancée has turned her home into a full-time short-term rental. Could that be why he has fought the regulation at every turn? She is the fourth signature on the citizen petition — which should instead be called “the real estate agent, millionaires, and vested interest business folks petition.”
For the greater good of Great Barrington, please join me in voting for Article 25. Please consider discounting the arguments made by people with a financial interest in turning your neighbors into strangers in every house that will no longer be a home. I support the selectboard majority, which has the town’s interests at heart. I hope you will, too.
Dan Ruderman
Great Barrington
