On Thursday (yesterday) someone called me asking me about property around Storey Avenue. I kept asking, “Why are you calling me?” “Why are you calling me?” And after I stopped saying that for about 10 times, because I really could not imagine why in the world they wanted to talk to me, they told me it was because of the “wealth of information” on the Newburyport Political Blog.

Later Thursday evening after I received an email from them and checked out their website, it turned out that this was a commercial real estate broker, and they happen to specialize in large chain stores. This is not exactly who I thought the readership of the Newburyport Political Blog would be.

(Note to developers, for goodness sakes do not call me for information. It makes me very angry and I am completely weirded out.)

However, after I stopped saying “why are you calling me?” “why are you calling me?” I finally said, “Good grief, the person you want to talk to is our Planning Director, Nick Cracknell. He has knowledge and information, not me. And leave an ASAP message with the Planning Office.”

And when I called the Planning Office to give them a “heads-up”, Mr. Cracknell was in and already talking to them. Thank goodness.

The barbarians are at the gates folks, to use Jim Roy’s phrase, and Mr. Cracknell is on his way out.

From what I could make out these people wanted information about our mayor, John Moak, basically just how receptive he would be to their company. (Why they were calling me is a mystery.) In particular they kept talking about the Woodman property.

No I never want to talk to these people again. But if you are reading the Newburyport Political Blog, this is not Stamford Connecticut, and no we do not want anything like a Target down on Storey Avenue. Good grief. And you know what, I have every confidence, that our mayor John Moak and the entire Newburyport City Council would agree.

This is Newburyport, Massachusetts. We want to keep the historic and natural integrity of our small New England city. We have a Walmart in Seabrook, New Hampshire. We do not want anything close to that here.

So, thank goodness Nick Cracknell was around. But heads-up folks, if these folks are calling me a blogger, with a baby blog no less, who else are they trying to get in touch with. And how many others are out there like them who may be thinking the same thing?

The goal of the Newburyport Political Blog is not exactly to help developers, especially those who aren’t interested in “smart growth.” So, leave us alone. Stay in Stamford, Connecticut. Go away. We do not want you here. At least I don’t.

Mary Eaton, Newburyport