Tom Ryan, the editor of The Undertoad, way back in November wrote that developers won when John Moak was elected mayor.
One of today’s leading stories in the Newburyport Daily News is about how the largest donations to Mayor Moak’s campaign were from local developers and business owners. The Newburyport Daily News goes on to name them.
(Having the story on the front page of the Daily News this morning made me wonder if Mr. Moak and his supporters are actually reading the Newburyport Political Blog and would like their side of the story to be told.)
I would like to say for the record that my experience has been that often the business community has been reluctant if not the very last segment of the Newburyport community to get behind issues that are important to local historic preservation.
In fighting for High Street’s preservation against MassHighway, I found myself frustrated in getting the business community to take a stand against such an obvious threat to the community and their own economic prosperity.
In the fight to save One Temple Street against demolition, it was actually an institution in the business community that was destroying part of historic downtown Newburyport.
Most of the developers that are listed in the Newburyport Daily News are not historic preservationist. Often the shell of a building that these developers “restore” maybe left standing, but all the historic elements are usually gutted and often rescued by someone in the community who understands their worth.
No wonder that there are supporters of John Moak who dislike Nicholas Cracknell, Newburyport’s Planning Director, so much. Mr. Cracknell is a planning director that is holding developers in Newburyport accountable and fighting for real historic preservation.
If I were Mayor John Moak, I would not be proud of the article in today’s Newburyport Daily News. I would be embarrassed that there are people who supported his campaign that often actively work against historic preservation. They may deny it, but people in Newburyport, Massachusetts know that it’s true.
Mary Eaton, Newburyport