To the editor:
I am a Great Barrington Airbnb host. I think there are some very good things in the selectboard’s proposed bylaw coming up for a town vote on June 6.
The bylaw requires hosts to register annually. With a registry, we can get specific information about our town. We can cease the speculative chatter about the experiences of Cape Cod, San Francisco, Seattle, and the like. We can eliminate the tendency to refer to “what people are saying.” We can get some facts.
And, of course, corporations can’t buy and rent properties. We don’t want to lose our town to big business.
The bylaw offers common-sense guidelines: guests need an emergency number, hosts should provide working smoke alarms, information should be posted about parking and trash disposal, noisy parties aren’t allowed. All good things.
But, there are some very bad things in the selectboard’s proposal. In a last-minute change to the bylaw, the selectboard decided anyone with more than one short-term rental must give them up on January 1. Can the town actually ban someone from earning money on their own property if they’ve been doing it all along? In my mind, this is a shocking overreach by the selectboard.
The selectboard’s discussion began with a three-fold purpose: allow residents to use their properties to better afford to live here, keep the rental arrangements safe, and deter commercial interests from buying up homes. But soon after deliberations began, the board turned its focus to deciding how much resident income was enough. Faced with an angry response to a 90-day limit, the board revised it to 150.
But then a question arose: How can a limit be enforced? In response, the board discussed hiring a private surveillance company called Granicus. Remember the Stazi in Germany? In order to identify the enemy among their own ranks, the Germans encouraged a vast anonymous network of neighborhood informants. That’s how Granicus works. Neighbors can make anonymous complaints on a 24/7 hotline. They can submit photos and videos. Really? Neighbors reporting on neighbors can come to no good end.
If you would like to see reasonable progress on short-term rentals, take heart; a citizen petition offers the basics.
But put on the coffee. The selectboard’s proposal comes early, while the citizen petition is dead last on the list. Plan to stay late. Say yes to something that makes good sense.
Maureen Meier
Great Barrington
