The Boston Globe today profiles an interview with Newburyport's remaining clam shack wannabe owner Mark Roland and others in a Page 1 story.
This comes on the heels of months of Zoning Board of Appeals meetings and numerous local press stories, not to mention recent posts by Gillian Swart and Tom Salemi. In two posts last year, both here and here, Mary Eaton chronicled the history of clam shacks along the section of Simmons Beach and about Councilor Larry McCavitt's restorative quest.
I don't know enough of the history to form an opinion but for what is obvious a historic building, I'd rather see it preserved than not. As Mr. Roland appears at the surface to be the only person who is doing something to preserve the structure, how is that a bad thing?
April 26, 2008
Clam shack makes Page 1
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Good point, Ari. On all accounts, it does appear that Roland bought it in good faith and he has sunk some bucks into maintaining the building.
One of the things that has been mentioned is that no one seems to know if he really has title to the land it sits on. My opinion is, if he has been paying property taxes on it, the city should give him a clear title.
And, I assume he has taken out building permits for all the work he has done?
I'm not in favor of allowing people to skirt building & zoning codes, then try to get forgiven. But, in this case, if we took his money for taxes and permits, we should let him have it.
Dick: If Gillian is correct in maintaining the building, then I presume he's also paid the various taxes and permits, though I don't that specific answer.
Ari, Well, Roland is on the Vision Appraisal System as the owner of record, although I believe I read somewhere on the Daily News website (may have been in a reader comment) that the Assessor's card lists the city as the property owner of record. That would be something worthy of finding out for sure.
I am assuming he's sunk bucks into the building because I've seen the work ongoing over the last year, as I drive by. And it was in the story in the Globe that he has put $125,000 into it.
Post a Comment