BAR HARBOR, Maine — An international resort firm that owns more than 100 resort properties in North America has bought a local subsidized housing complex and told residents they will have to move out, according to people who live there.
Several residents of the apartment complex said last week that Ocean Properties representatives told them at a face-to-face meeting that the firm plans to use Acadia Apartments, located on West Street Extension within walking distance of downtown Bar Harbor, as employee housing.
The complex consists of four buildings with four apartments each, but not all of the apartments are occupied, residents said.
Several recent attempts to contact Ocean Properties for comment about the acquisition have been unsuccessful. The firm owns several seasonal hotels in Bar Harbor, including Harborside Hotel and Marina, the Bar Harbor Regency Hotel and West Street Hotel, construction of which is nearly complete.
According to a letter sent to Acadia Apartments tenants on June 8, 2012, the property’s new owner is BHAPTS, LLC. Contact information for the new owner provided in that letter and another sent June 11 include a phone number for Ocean Properties’ operations manager on Mount Desert Island and the resort firm’s corporate address in Portsmouth, N.H. The letters make no mention about the tenants having to move out.
Residents of Acadia Apartments, all of whom receive federal housing assistance, have said they are unhappy they were told they will have to move out. Several residents interviewed last week said they hope to be able to stay at least through the busy summer tourist season, when housing of any kind can be difficult to find on Mount Desert Island.
None of the Acadia Apartments residents interviewed for this story wanted to be identified. One woman said she heard Ocean Properties may provide tenants with financial assistance to help with their moving expenses and she does not want to jeopardize the possibility of receiving such funds. Several of the tenants at Acadia Apartments are single mothers with children.
“I think it’s a huge disservice to the community,” said one tenant who works at a local seasonal inn. “We’re low-income. Most of us don’t have the money to go out and rent another place.”
Another tenant who doesn’t work and takes care of a male relative said the prospects of finding housing this time of year on MDI, where a crush of seasonal residents and tourism-industry workers put housing and rent at a premium, can be daunting.
“Nobody likes being told they have to move out of their home,” the tenant said.
Another tenant said he has been able to find subsidized housing elsewhere, but he feels bad for his fellow tenants who don’t have the same options. He said the previous owner, Acadia Housing Corp., has been trying to sell the property for a long time but could not find any takers until Ocean Properties took an interest in it.
“I think it’s cruel,” he said. “Why not fix the place up and let low-income people live here? These are nice people and working people. It breaks my heart. I feel sorry for them.”
More detailed information about how long the complex was on the market was unavailable Monday. Until earlier this month, Teresa McDonald managed Acadia Apartments on behalf of Stanford Management, which administered the complex and still manages Harbor Hill estates nearby.
McDonald directed inquiries Monday about the sale of Acadia Apartments to a Portland woman who represents the owner. Attempts to contact the Portland woman Monday afternoon were unsuccessful.
Terrance Kelley, executive director of the MDI Housing Authority, said Monday that some of the tenants at Acadia Apartments do get Section 8 federal housing assistance that is administered by his organization. He said the housing authority has not had any direct management role in the property but that the authority has contacted residents at Acadia Apartments this month to offer its help.
Kelley said residents at the apartment complex who don’t already receive Section 8 assistance are welcome to apply for it or to apply to live in one of the subsidized housing properties owned by the authority, which include two in Bar Harbor that accept only elderly and disabled tenants, but not children. He said the only subsidized housing complex that the authority owns and maintains for families in Bar Harbor is on Woodbury Road. There is a waiting list for those apartments, he said.
The MDI Housing Authority owns housing complexes elsewhere on MDI, in Southwest Harbor and Tremont, and in the Ellsworth area, Kelley said. Generally, subsidized housing in the area is in limited supply, he added.
“There’s a few other ones, but not a lot,” Kelley said.
Kelley said there are plenty of seasonal jobs on Mount Desert Island. Most of the working-age and physically fit people who live in the authority’s housing properties have two or three jobs in the summer, like many other people who live on or near MDI, he said.
“If you can work, there’s plenty of it this time of year,” Kelley said. “Year-round employment? That’s another story.”
In addition to Harborside Hotel and Marina, the Bar Harbor Regency Hotel and West Street Hotel, Ocean Properties owns the Park Entrance Motel, Days Inn and Ledgelawn Inn in Bar Harbor. It also owns the downtown restaurant pier Stewman’s and Harbor Place, a commercial building next to the town pier that has several tenants.
The assessed value of all of Ocean Properties’ local land holdings, which include several residential lots that abut its local hotels, is nearly $80 million.
Follow Bill Trotter on Twitter at @billtrotter.
The Walsh cartel won’t stop until they own the whole town.
Who would want to own the whole town, let alone an insignificant piece?
roxanne quimby maybe
no worse the Roxanne Quimby buying out lands in the northwoods and closing it off to the public
Slight difference…….Ms. Quimby wants to give her legacy back to the people–Mr. Walsh just wants more more more for himself.
Like tax paying employees, a lessened subsidy need for the community…..
Ms. Quimby locks the people out. She just wants us to take over if we will also continue to lock the people out and she won’t have to pay taxes on it.
And by “closing off” you mean “not letting me use my off-road vehicle for free”.
“Poor man want to be rich, rich man want to be king and a king ain’t satisfied till he rules everything. “
Without the “Mr. Walsh’s” who spend “millions of dollars” before ever making a penny to renovate, improve and follow through with a vision of creating a beautiful West Street Waterfront NO ONE else gave a hoot!
How fast everyone forgets the eye sore and dire condition of the Old Bar Harbor Club before Mr. Walsh bought the property and brought the building back to it’s former beauty, or the sad condition of the stretch of waterfront to the opposite side of the harbor/marina from Mr. Witcomb’s property.
Now the Harborside Hotel and complex, gas lit sidewalk lamps and beautiful landscaping enhances Bar Harbor not only for tourists BUT ALSO for all of Bar Harbor residents who choose to meander the complete shore path and West Street.
AND…Don’t forget the increased number of conference attendees/and tourists that these renovations bring to Bar Harbor and the local businesses that benefit from their patronage.
Just because someone makes money and chooses to invest their money to make more money does NOT imply they have corporate greed.
Those comments just shed light on the amount of jealously that is pervasive in American culture, usually by those who have NO concept as to the hard work it has taken to achieve a level of being able to ‘reinvest’.
Not ALL developers take without giving back. In Mr. Walsh’s case he could have chosen to beautify any place, but he chose Bar Harbor, to the benefit of all who live or visit MDI.
As to hiring foreigners vs local/American employees perhaps those who feel Americans should be hired first should learn a lesson about reliability, hard work and that obtaining employment is not an entitlement.
Just look at the unemployment lines. There is plenty of work to be found for those willing to work, but Americans seem to want only high paying jobs for doing minimal amount of work…minimum wage jobs are…..minimum wage, which American youth seem to feel are not worthy of their time. The question is “from whom are they getting this educational setpoint?”
Older people who are receiving “benefits” from the government lose more than they have to gain if they take minimum wage positions therefore they are not even looking for this area of employment.
Foreigners are apparently happy to be able earn whatever so they can help their families in their homeland. If American’s changed their attitude and ethical morals from entitlement to one of an honest days work for a days pay [even at minimum wage] and put in the time to advance and improve their position in life, the opportunity to improve the financial health of each person is available to ALL in this country.
The real point here is Americans who resent foreigners being hired over Americans should learn the facts before they make arrogant comments that only shed light on their jealous ignorance.
p.s. I am a concerned American citizen that has NO financial interests in Mr. Walsh’s investments, BUT does benefit tremendously from the beauty he has brought to Bar Harbor through his extremely tasteful renovations and removal of the fire hazard shanty buildings that once populated the West Street waterfront.
Capitalism is America’s greatest asset when applied in a responsible ethical manner….Yoda wisdom does say…!
In the eye of the beholder beauty is O wise one.
The real Yoda would say about Mr. Walsh, “The boy you trained, gone he is, consumed by Darth Greed.”
If anything, Yoda is a total socialist. Possession is forbidden for a Jedi. If you want a character that is more capitalist use someone like Daddy Warbucks or Richie Rich, both rich and are good guys.
I personally do not care for the Walsh style of development. It’s not classic Bar Harbor or even traditional Maine. I think I liked the “eyesore” better than what is there now. Just my 2¢.
C’est la vie
I wish I could afford to live in Bar Harbor or on MDI.
Why? It’s no nirvana.
Still would be nice to live near the ocean.
In the summer Bar Harbor’s just a zoo.
A “zoo” that provides businesses, jobs, and a hell of a lot of revenue so that we can have education, roads, bridges, public safety, etc. And even if it is zooish, it also is still nice and Acadia is great.
I agree with you about the money and jobs and Acadia. My wife and I go up there a lot for hiking, year round. While still going to MDI, we avoid Bar Harbor in the summer.
I live on MDI, but avoid going intown Bar Harbor in the summer. Except the 4th of July. It’s worth the trek then, as it’s my favorite holiday and I love how Bar Harbor does it up.
Hey Mad a little tid bit for your contribution to society comment — once the complex is full let’s go check to see how many of these workers are US citizens or legal aliens — my bet is very few — Mr Walsh is a big employer of those on student visas — he is not alone — the years of these summer jobs being filled by US college is an era gone by — take a walk around Bar Harbor in the summer and get an education on an ethnic melting pot
I second this, I know because I’ve lived with 8 people fro the Czech republic. We all worded at an Ocean Property place. The Czech people were not students and were getting paid only minimum wage. We all loved in housing. They would spend very little of their earnings here in the US. 80% of their earnings were mailed back to family in the Czech republic. The little they made here was a fortune when they got home, and most helped out their families back home. This TERRIBLE for Maines economy. Really, someone shoul audit Ocean Properties.
Go to Yellowstone National Park, and see how may US people work there, but u will find very few, right along with about 90% or higher of the guard working at the D.C. Monument’s, and how are they paid? Tax Dollars? or is Yellowstone a private park.
I very much doubt that you will ever see that happen, but the best thing that those against this type of corporate greed can do is make sure they NEVER spend a cent in any of their hotels and get the word out to those friends of yours that do frequent the Bar Harbor Area.
I do avoid their properties because the times I have been in them I am always seeing corners being cut and poor service. Go to some of the online sites where lodging is reviewed, places like TripAdvisor.com The reviews are sometimes scorching. I honestly don’t think they give a flip about customer service. The almighty dollar is their only concern. Don’t get me started….
“once the complex is full let’s go check to see how many of these workers are US citizens or legal aliens”
That is so true, my 26 year old daughter is having a hard time finding a job this summer, seems many of the positions are filled by foreign workers.
Student Visas are legal aliens. Do you want foriegners to stop coming here for school?
So what?
Did you read the article?
“Kelley said there are plenty of seasonal jobs on Mount Desert Island. Most of the working-age and physically fit people who live in the authority’s housing properties have two or three jobs in the summer, like many other people who live on or near MDI, he said.”
wow… who are you to judge these other human beings? how do you know they’re all unemployed and not just under-employed? and in case you didn’t notice we’re still in a recession, ALOT of people have LOST their jobs. do us all a favor and keep you completely ignorant comments to your self. . . “said one tenant who works at a local seasonal inn. “We’re low-income.” and another takes care of a disabled relative… you really should’nt belittle or degrade ANYONE unless you have walked a mile in their shoes… seriously ignorance truly becomes of you
go back and read the whole article.
Now they can make Bar Harbor even more uglier…………….
Low income housing assistance should not be provided on MDI. Many people with good paying year-round jobs can’t even afford living on the island and they have to commute from sometimes hours away; 60% of people employed year round on MDI live off island. Why should people with no job, or a low paying seasonal job, be given hard earned tax payer dollars to live on the island, a luxury.
….
We taxpayers, who pay for all the entitlements in this state, have plenty of rights to say how we feel about that. We care about the poor, are appalled that we must pay for their living arrangements, food and MaineCare.
….
It’s npt hard becoming poor & requiring help in America. Somebody made a ton of money off
Section 8 housing here and the town was happy to get it’s taxes right
along.
I don’t like being forced to support wars to maintain the ‘conservative I
gots mine’ lifestyle that so many hear expound, but I’ve got no choice
in the matter either.
So where are these people supposed to go now? Oh, that’s right, ‘anywhere but where you live.’
More than a little sick & tired of mean spirited little people who
need others beneath them to feel good about their stingy little lives.
Bugger off.
Well, isn’t that elitist.
The 1% coming to town the 99% leaving. Bar Habor has not really been Maine for some time. The place exists for out of staters’
Thats why they call it a tourist town…. its why it exists
Gentrification has come to Bar Harbor?
you mean all those foreign summer employees taking our jobs ?
Times have changed, this is just one example, but often when you hire a high school age employee around there, all you hear them ask about is getting time off for this or that. They don’t have the work ethic the generation before them does.
Work ethic is something that’s learned over time. I remember working at a local grocery store when I was in high school years back. I saw the same work ethic back then that you see now. So, I wouldn’t really say that “today’s generation” is all that different from generations past.
Check out Hannaford’s in Bar Harbor. They have a lot of foreign summer workers. Do they even hire locals any more??
To all you people who are ranting about “foreigners taking our jobs”: how many of you have actually applied for one of these hotel jobs?
Who said these people don’t work? There aren’t a lot of year round jobs on MDI. Very few that pay well. Any job that becomes available there could be 40 people applying for that job. It’s not that easy to find a job any more. Even the summer jobs aren’t that easy to get. If you go into the stores in town you will see mostly Jamacian’s working there. The rents in the area are between $800-$1200 a month. Starting pay for some of the jobs is $8 an hour. Could you survive on that? These apartments are subsidized which means it is based on their income. If it weren’t for the subsidy most of those people couldn’t afford an apartment. Also would you still feel the same way about renting to people who make a contribution to society as you say if you were living across from them? It’s not like he is going to put 2 people to an apartment. He packs as many into a place as he can get in there. They sleep on the floors in sleeping bags. You put that many young people into one area and it’s not going to be quiet. Would you still think that is a great idea?
Is it possible that the Jamaicans and other foreign seasonal workers are harder working and more reliable than the US applicants applying for the same jobs? I know a blueberry grower who hires the same Jamaican crew year after year because they’re much better workers than anyone he can get here.
And cheaper, you forgot to add cheaper.
That’s right, and cheap is good if you’re the guy paying for it.
Many of the foreign workers are here on a J-1 visa program by the federal government. Here is a link to a story run last summer regarding these workers.
http://www.guestworkeralliance.org/2011/08/feds-probe-hersheys-foreign-worker-treatment-reuters-82511/
It has nothing to do with them being harder working, it has everything to do with them being cheap, Many of the foreigner are perfectly happy to take an $8/hour job, when an American asks for more. Maybe it’s different for your blueberry grower friend, But here in town that doesn’t seem to be the case.
No, this grower told me that his Jamaican crew are much harder workers and more reliable than local seasonal help he could get here for rakers. He said it’s not like it used to be. Most of the college kids and other youngsters aren’t willing to work hard anymore. That’s his business, his experience, and he’s been doing it a long time.
I have a feeling that there will be more angst about this situation than that of the elderly residents of the Calais Nursing home who are being forced to move.
How do public servants do in Bar Harbor? Do school teachers and policeman have residences in Bar Harbor or is it to expensive? Lots of money to invest. Who benefits. Local people wait tables.
my son and his fiance work in Bar Harbor, they live in Ellsworth and commute.
The Jackson Lab, the largest employer in Hancock County, provides subsidized busses for employees to travel from Brewer and Machias.
I suppose they also have low income housing in Beverly Hills???
Comparing Bar Harbor to Beverly Hills? You have ZERO clue as the area’s history or even its current year-round demographics. Are you trying to win a foolishness contest?
Are you always this angry?
If my tax money is being used to subsidize low income housing with an ocean view I am pissed.
Yes and there is plenty of summer jobs on MDI and a lot of those are cash under the table. Unreported so they can still qualify for public assistance. It is a way of life for them.
Acadia Apartments is definitely not ocean view, not even close.
Also, what Ocean Properties ends up doing is to increase the seasonality of Bar Harbor by removing year round residents with summer users. There may be some demand for winter rentals, but how many families want to move twice a year? From a public policy perspective, this conversion of apartments from year round to seasonal is unwise and a waste of a valuable resource.
“If my tax money is being used to subsidize low income housing with an ocean view I am pissed.”
So if there were no ocean view you would be in favor of it? Really?
Haha ocean view at Acadia Apt. Good one. Only view that you get there
Is the ‘p1ss’ road behind the main building and a front row seat to watch
Tourist attempt to ride a bike up hill.
This sounds to me like a fantastic deal. I think I’ll quit my $100,000/yr job and sign up right now.
Your ignorance runneth over. There is no ocean view. I know the town well and know exactly where those apartments are located. Go up West Street Extention and see for yourself. There is ZERO “ocean view” subsidized housing in the town. And your other assertions are equally ridiculous.
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Great reporting referring to the buyer as an “International Resort Firm”. Everyone in Maine knows Ocean Properties led the fight for casino gambling at Scarborough Downs. Why hide the Walsh name?
Hey, the Beautiful People need elbow room. Cut ’em some slack.
You have to love Capitalism. Rich corporation buys apartments and kicks out the tenants. Then houses Slaves in the new Slave Quarters. Of course the Rich Corporation does not pay a living wage or benefits to their employees, therefore the need for Slave Quarters. Then probably imports foreigners to work the Slave Jobs, who won’t realize they are being used and abused. All this subterfuge because a corporation does not want to hire Mainers and give them a living wage for 4 months a year and pay unemployment tax.
Like x1000
I would much rather have low income people who either grew up on this isalnd or who has family here, live on the island then all the Foreigners. The Foreigners not only take all our jobs, but live here for free,pay no taxes on what they earn and also go to the food pantry and take all the food so the locals that need it can’t get it. It makes me sick that our country who was the riches country around, is now the poorest because we dish our money out to other countries and give our jobs to all the Foreigners. It is time they go back to there own countries and let our money go to our people
It’s not the foreigners fault they are trying to improve themselves. Why not put pressure on Ocean Properties to hire locals and pay a fair wage?
? what is a fair wage?
The government sets the minimum wage rate, therefore if the ‘people’ feel the minimum wage is TOO low, get after your legislators to change the rate to be more compatible with the cost of living in America.
Just remember, when the minimum wage is increased the cost of everything will also go up. The majority of employers are NOT big corporate entities, but middle class people who need to make a living also. When overhead goes up it follows that costs goes up. The price of doing business…
Yoda wisdom does say…!
Because Ocean Properties cares not, They do what they do, because they can afford it.
we also pay (state welfare ect…..) for them to live here we should start worrying about the people born in this country (legally) why blow up a country then rebuild it for them and bring their people here?
This is pure ignorance. Not one of the statements made in your post is factual.
Good luck in your race to the bottom Kari!
u ever notice the twin buffet in brewer never hires a black or white person???
Welcome to Maine we are ‘open for business’……now all you Maine people get out. Sweet.
It’s been like that for years.
Businesses supply jobs so these people can get out of subsidized housing. Why are we hating on businesses?
Just wondering what Walsh plans ondoing with his “employee housing”
for the other 8 months?
Just to clear up some details here. These apartments have a sliding rent scale from anywhere between $50 and $750 depending on income and housing assistance ; not a free ride.
Between Walsh and D.W they treat this island and the town like a game of Monopoly with little regard for he year round residence. Contrary to what other Mainers think this is not a wealthy town, that would be North East Harbor down the road. The reason they hire out of country is not because no one wants to work , they just don’t want to work for peanuts. The shops and resturants always hired local in the past, but when the cost of living went up the owners didn’t want to increase the pay to meet the rising standard. Now you have a bunch of businesses employed by forgieners, many with questionable visas, others with forged Social Security cards
and the young population has become dispossessed and angry. I don’t know what the end result of Walshs vision of Bar Harbor will be but I have a bad feeling about it.
Has anyone asked why the were sold in the 1st place?
Well perfect.
A facility has gone from costing us money to contributing to the tax base. It doesn’t get any better than that.
Tell that to the little kids being forced out. How anti-Christian, shameful, and GREEDY you right wingers are. Jesus Christ would be disgusted.
I believe Jesus would approve of taxpayer subsidized housing on the mainland.
Also, since Walsh is a life-long Democrat, is he also a “right-winger”?
Jesus who?
You left wingers won’t be happy until we are only able to support our own children with what you decide to leave us, after we take care of your’s first of course. What’s stopping you from helping them out if you’re so concerned?
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Wrong Lefty.
Unlike you, I don’t want anything more than what I earn for myself. You have to be a OWS poster child.
=====
Hmmm Ocean Properties Isnt that the same firm that took the City of Portland for ride about building a hotel there?
And the chief owner is who’s brother?!!
GOOD GRIEF…you are in subsidized housing with in walking distance to downtown Bar Harbor? OK, that makes great economic sense. I would love to live within walking distanct to downtown BH.
Oh yeah, that’s right, just keep those low-income riff raff in their place right? Not even human beings, right? Maybe we shouldn’t even allow them to breathe the same air. Would you be happy then? Jesus Christ would be sickened to his very stomach by what you right wingers are saying on this board. Just sickened. But as I say, Lucifer loves you right wingers. And I take great solace is knowing that when death becomes you right wingers, right straight down into the boiling cauldron you go. So have fun despising the poor and kissing the toenails of your fat cat corporate masters while you can. The cauldron’s a-comin.
I live in Bar Harbor and my wife and I work 2 jobs apiece to be able to afford to live here, due to the lower pay and the seasonality of the business here. The problem as I see it is not that some lucky low income people get to find an apartment here, it is that there is so little housing in this town, period. What were once year round homes with families are now B&B’s, weekly rentals or employee housing. Slumlords, and there are plenty of them here, charging over $2000/month for one bedroom, decaying apartments that end up housing 4-6 people all chipping in on rent. There is incredible beauty on this island, but the infrastructure of a town which has 4000+ residents, a limited area to expand into and yet tries to handle 2 million tourists a year is being stressed. As for foreign workers, I do not begrudge them one bit coming here and they add an international flavor highly unusual for a town this size. Bar Harbor is a victim of its own success. There are no easy answers. But please dont think subsidized housing is allowing poor people to have cheap vacation homes in paradise.
Much of what you say is just right. In the 80’s local realtors began marketing a lot of those old properties out of state to high bidders. In fact this has happened all along the coast. This drove the value of ALL the properties through the roof in Bar Harbor and elsewhere on the coast thus driving out many of the locals who can’t afford these prices, though there are a good number who have been fortunate enough to inherit old family property. What I do not like are the greedy right wingers who worship at the alter of the 1% fat cats who destroy American jobs and send them overseas and are also so greedy, selfish, ANTICHRISTIAN, and SNOBBY as to say that low income people, some of whom come from the older local families, have no right to live in Bar Harbor or on MDI because they are low income, and they also go so far as to claim that none of them work. MOST POOR PEOPLE WORK ! It is just that the wages are not high enough. These right wingers just despise the poor and working people. It is so disgusting. Just so sickening.
So go work somewhere where the wages are higher. Nobody is entitled to high wages and cheap housing.
I know if I spent money on a place and I couldn’t do what I wanted to do with it I’d want my money back…this should have been discuss when the property was purchased and I’m sure the residences were aware of what was going on and knew the possibility that they might have to move..I’m not protecting the guy with the bucks but just saying if I brought the place I should be able to do what ever I want to do with it..I’m sure they are creating jobs for the area..dam if you do and dam if you don’t
It seems that The Walsh’s are seeking lodging for their own employee’s as putting them up in the motels is very costly and the employee’s cannot afford it.So they buy a building that has been for sale for years, to do that. Some folks leave as new working folks, enter. It is a swap. Yes, I do feel bad for the tenants that must seek another apartment but it appears that they have been made aware for some time as the building was for sale so its nothing new, thus the empty apartments that were there, in tourist season. The Walsh’s are from Bangor and famous for hiring Maine people so I’m sure some Maine people will continue to benefit from this as the Walsh’s will continue to offer great lodging, dining and entertainment to the guest’s of our great state. A friend of mine ( Moppsy) tells me that The Walsh’s are a great family with Maine values and became very successful from that.
Walt Disney does the same thing, puts the workers in housing……It benefits the employer….
DITTO….
Yoda wisdom agrees….Yoda wisdom does say…!
Actually, Yoda would not agree. The subsidized housing yes, the Resort people no. Yoda would see the Resort as greedy and unnecessary, and greed is of the Dark Side.
The crux of the biscuit is the apostrophe.
I think all jobs on MDI should be unionized….
Low income housing or not, still a low scumbag move…..
so many legal or illegal aliens would not have all these jobs if u.s. citizens banded together as one and fought this. but we are all out for ourselves just listen its not fair they get to live there and I can’t so Mr. Walsh is no different then you he just has more money but you both are all about yourselves instead why don’t you band toogether and help each other fight this greed.
In other words…..those with money are far more superior in your world than those who do not have money…is that what your saying?
Those in need are being asked to vacate a property in order to make room for those willing and/or able to work. That sounds like “Natural Selection” to me.
What presumptuous nonsense. How dare you say that low-income people don’t work. Wow. The utter cluelessness of the right wing never ceases to amaze. (And what would the right wing know about “natural selection”? Right wingers are the idiotic drones who think dinosaurs lived 6000 years ago.)
This is why they use red herring issues like abortion, gay marriage and “Obama is coming to take your guns” to get working class people to vote against their own self interests.
…
If they hired local people then they would not need to buy housing.
The Welsh’s are famous for hiring folks from Maine at all their locations and have been for many years.
Say what? Tell you what you come on down to the island and show me all these locals Walsh has hired, ask them for their state ID in fact and see for yourself. At peak season this place is a cross between Armenia and Kingstown. Locals huh? Lol
By the way , is that you Eben?
HAHAA
You don’t know much about the HISTORY of MDI. It is NOT “reserved for those with a lot of money.” First, there are still plenty of working class folks on MDI but who have been lucky enough to receive old family property. Next, MDI began with fishermen and foresters, and many of those fisherman are still there. These are working class folks and by no means rich. “Reserved for those with a lot of money.”??? What a snobby and rotten elitist attitude that is. And most of the folks in low-income housing DO WORK. It is just that the wages are not high enough. Boy, you right wingers and the way you despise the poor is just sickening and disgusting.
I’m not a ‘right winger’ as you so put it, but I agree with what is being said. Our tax money is going to provide these people with basic housing and any property on MDI (yes I’ve lived there) is very expensive, so is property taxes and cost of living. It’s about getting more for your money. For the same price of these 16 units on MDI that we’ve paid with our tax dollars, we can probable get double that many units in Ellsworth. Also, year round jobs are limited on the island. Ellsworth or a neighboring area may be more suited for someone who is financially struggling. It’s not about ‘hating the poor’ as you so put it. It’s about being financial responsible with limited resources, because yes, even our tax dollars are limited.
Yeah, why should people have an opportunity to live in the area where they work. Who needs community?
Ok, I may be misreading, but your comment comes across as very elitist. If we follow your theory to its logical conclusion, it does sound as though you favor setting up “poor towns.” Only having subsidized housing in poor places as not to bother the wealthy and their property values.
Absolutely amazing! Well written and spot on!
I am a Richardson of MDI heritage. It is not about rich or poor, right or left, it is about tradition and carrying it forward for generations to come. My family settled in 1763 and
won’t be leaving.
Why should low income/section eight be told they shouldn’t live in a certain town like Bar Harbor? If you look closely many, many of the people that live in the town year round don’t have the money like Mr. Welsh who don’t live here. It is not fair to kick out these people that live, work, pay taxes here on the island. In this economy it is not cheap to move to a new location, nor is guaranteed that you will find a job. In the local paper one person works, lives, and pay taxes here in Bar Harbor and has a children that go to the local schools. It is not fair just not fair for them to leave a place that is probably their home. Why can’t Welsh buy a house instead and let the low income be? Those apartments could be occupied year round instead just a short of amount time to seasonal workers. My heart goes out to those people that live in Acadia Apartments.
In Reply, all income levels live where ever they can afford to be, period. Not all pay taxes as you referred to as some live off the tax payer. I would assume that The Walsh’s bought the property , as the article said, to lodge his employee’s ( they employ many ) think jobs and for an investment. Again, in reading the article, it states that this property had been for sale for a long time and no one wanted to make the investment other than the constant up keep at the tax payer’s expense. Some apartments were vacant as maybe it was just to costly to keep them updated and repaired, again at the tax payers expense. Yes, a few people get displaced and that really is unfortunate however in the long run, many more will benefit as well as the town ( higher taxes) less cost to the tax payer’s and the place will get spruced up. The place has been for sale for a long time and no one wanted it. We will never know but maybe the state pleaded with The Welsh’s to purchase it as no one else would and it was to costly for the state to maintain with the tax payers money as these agencies are finally getting audited.
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Maybe if they didn’t want to get kicked out the shouldn’t be so poor!
(sarcasm)
Free ride? They still pay rent. It is no free ride. How about the “free ride” Mitt RoMONEY gets by hiding his millions, which he made by destroying jobs, in the Cayman Islands? How about the “free ride” the oil companies get with all their tax subsidies while they also hire lines of lobbyists and rake in record profits? How about the “free ride” Halliburton and other military industrial complex companies have gotten with their no-bid government contracts? The LAZY RICH JB KILLERS are the worst WELFARE KINGS going, and no one has had more “free rides”.
Yeah, maybe you should start lobbying the government to just deport the poor to the north pole, then they can be out of sight and mind and you won’t have to acknowledge their existence at all. You say they aren’t second class citizens, but heaven forbid a low-income housing complex in Bar Harbor. Gee. Too good for them, right? How DISGUSTING. You just shot down your own argument. Right wingers despise the poor and make Jesus Christ, who loved the poor and constantly said so, sick to his very stomach. Right Wingers: ANTI-CHRISTIAN to the very hilt.
The poor are for sure not out of sight and out of mind I see them each day as I drive to work, my tax dollars pay for housing to assist them, healthcare when they need it. The state of Maine has an issue with DHHS and its run away budget, part in due to the large amount of subsidies that exist. I never stated that a low income housing should not “exist” I am simply outlining that other areas of the local community could be leveraged for low income housing. If an area can be leveraged to generate a higher tax base to provide MORE lower cost housing in a cheaper area then so be it. Business 101, cost benefit analysis. Also, this is property rights, as dictated by the very framers of the constitution. Religion is a sacred argument. Not really wanting to go down that route, however, perhaps Jesus Christ should purchase the property and let them stay?
Ya and the bible says if you don’t work you had not eat and a man who doesn’t provide for his family is worse than an infidel god doesn’t believe in welfare
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If I have worked hard and have the means to purchase a piece of real estate, single family, apartments, commercial property etc. then I should be able to do with it as I please. If that means upgrade it, turn it into low income housing ( usually people hate that) tear it town or whatever, I am able to do that because it is mine. They rent, they do not own, that is the risk they take. Most people understand that.
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Just a thought for our conservative Christians:
Would you stand by the teaching of Jesus who would object to the PIOUS GROUP who feel that the poor and disadvantaged should be poor somewhere else other than their neighborhoods.
Shame upon your cold hearts and be careful one day you could be in need of that help and maybe someone will treat you with kindness…but maybe not.
“You people…” is so 80’s of you people.
why should locals get kicked out of their own homes to let temporary summer residents to live there instead. tom welsh you should be ashamed of yourself.
Maine is open for business I see. Big Corporations kicking people out of their homes is part of it. Be careful in who you vote for.
Really like beating on the ol bible don’t you? People like you wouldn’t know Jeasus Christ if you tripped over him.
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The town of Bar Harbor has become a theme park over the past 40 years. It has no soul. Most all businesses were owned by locals and profits remained mostly in town during the lean months. This is just another example of Bar Harbor’s bankrupcy. Awful glad I’m no longer paying taxes to it.
I think it should be outlawed for any international company to come in and buy up that much property! Who owns this international company? If you look up BHAPTS, LLC, there is nothing on google and apparently all contact information goes to the resorts in North America they already own. That isn’t a real contact number, in my opinion. There should be an entire overseas address in this article. Why not? Is this someone who doesn’t really believe in American ideals but wants to cash in on American property investments? I think the locals should know.
OMG. The Walsh’s are from Bangor, Maine and Tom moved his corp office to Portsmouth, N.H from Boga Raton several years ago. Drop by one of their motels in Bar Harbor and you will find one of Tom’s son’s there. A successful local Maine family.
A man has a right to sell his property. The new owner has a right to use it as he wishes as long as it complies with zoning. This is still America, the land of the free.
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And you had the gall to talk about others making assumptions. No pension here.
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I didn’t say I cared one way or the other. I said you are a hypocrit. You can play off that you meant to do it but I think you know you are a hypocrit.
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Now I need Psycho therapy to fix my spelling? I missed an e at the end genius and psychotherapy will not help with spelling but maybe you don’t get much schooling out on the farm. As for harrassment, you don’t seem to feel it is harrassment for you to speak to others here why is it harrassment when I speak to you and your points don’t hold up?
Jag har fatt nog av trakasserier fran denna person och tas bort mina svar pa det.
Your poins have all been torn apart farmer and it isn’t harrassment if you keep initiating conversation like this. Instead of complaining when you can’t make your case, why don’t you just admit that you are wrong on all counts and step away from the dark side. Your beliefs and policies are destroying our once great nation and turning our people into uneduicated welfare slaves. Look what these policies have done to countries on the other side of the pond. Do you really want us to be another Greece?
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they are using the property to house their employees, most likely illegals.. thats all.
Who cares about facts right?
I’m guessing that the working people that live in this housing complex do so because, transportation to jobs is a problem for them. They either have a hoopty that gets low gas mileage or use public transit. Moving from the location will exacerbate that problem. I do wish them well.
One is assuming because the tenants are being forced to leave that this will eliminate housing for the low income. The new owners may simply wish to refurbish and reopen the units as subsidized housing or may have designs to house their own low income employees.
The problem is that where housing costs are high then wages need increase to keep the labor force necessary to perform the tasks needed – or the accomplishment of those tasks go wanting, creating unhappy customers, failing infrastructure (leaky toilets, unkept lawns), that lead to overcrowding and squalor in what residences are available. A general downturn in the local economy and lowering of the quality of life increases without the proper mix of housing , transportation, and wages.
Perhaps some other comment has this, but:
Ocean Properties also owns the Samoset Resort in Rockport, and was behind the referendum to allow a racino in Scarborough last year.
Stanford Management is owned by Rosa Scarcelli, who ran for governor in 2010.
More money funneled out of the state. Ugh.
But it’s not your money in this case. This is a private apt complex , not part of the housing authority. 99% of the residence in that complex have jobs and pay rent on a sliding scale ( as the complex was designed to do). Sorry but this isn’t Bangor slums or Lewiston slums or Augusta slums or Portland slums. These are hard working islanders who are getting run out by foreign workers. Maybe not a concept your used to and in that case you have no business commenting here.
The Walsh guy isn’t even from here, he’s from New Hampshire. This new hotel he is building that’s suppose to bring jobs to main is being built by out of state contractors and employed with foreigners, who on top of everything else are now threatening local housing. This story has so much more to it. But well never hear it all
Tom Walsh was born in Maine, he resides in New Hampshire.
Agreed, this story has so much more to it. Look what they did to the employees at the Fairfield Inn in Bangor.
You spelled Maine wrong but you still stop to lecture people as if you’re so much smarter?
I would bet that as soon as the good people of MDI wish to take the jobs the foreigners do, for the wages they receive, and work as hard as they do, the jobs will probably open up. Until then, the foreigners will move in and the previous working class will move out.
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Very true and some taxes are needed and not all are bad. Taxes that serve all of us equally like the Fire and Police and Roads I don’t have a problem with. I have a problem with the never ending dole and excuses for being on the dole that it creates.
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No one claimed they were. Your social programs are to blame.
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I’m unhappy because I feel your social programs are to blame for the problems in this country?
You can’t deflect that easily. I am no more unhappy because I blame your social programs than you are because you are a farmer. As for ownership of these programs I think it is quite clear which on of us loves them and wich one of us does not. Yeah, that makes them yours.
Low income housing for employees? The people Walsh hires to staff his many properties are seasonal foreign workers from Europe, Asia,Jamacia etc etc etc. He doesn’t hire local because it cost too much money to cover the cost of living in this country;he out sources for cheap. These workers have rent deducted from their paycheck, they get their food at the local food pantry, and send the remainder of their wages back to their country of orgin. None of their money goes back into our economy here. I have seen this first hand for years. Walsh isn’t even from here he’s from N.H, or at least that’s where his White house sized estate is located. Simpley put he is sucking this island dry under the guise of ‘bettering the economy’. Look at the contractors building his latest creation, none are local, they are all from out of state. This guy is rich and does not give two shlitz about this island, this region, this state, only his own pockets. He is greed defined and it’s time people see that and put the breaks on his ‘development’.
He bought the Ledgelawn Inn not to long ago, a mid range in with a lot of Bar Harbor history and turned THAT into employee housing so think about that. If it wasn’t forDavid Witham competing with him he would have a monopoly here, as it stand he own almost all of West street.
So again, all you folks from around the state have no idea what sort of condition his development is creating for the local population Change can be good but not in this case.
Yup, sounds like something Ocean properties would do….
This issue has gotten out of hand.
That is how the world runs. I cannot live in a million dollar mansion if i feel like it because i do not make the earnings to cover such an expense. Should the tax payere pick up the excess tab i cannot?
Right on. Finally someone speaks the truth!
Why not? We have an out of stater in the Governor’s Office.
Wait, what state is Waterville in?
I was referring to the Floridian in the Blaine House.
“We’re low-income. Most of us don’t have the money to go out and rent another place.”
Then get out there and get a second job and take care of yourself instead of asking the government to help pay your way!
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Better to work 2 jobs (or 3 or 4) then to mooch off the taxpayers. I work an average of 16 hours/day, don’t complain about it, and I have never asked anybody for a handout, including the government.
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Rather than jump all over the ‘buyer,’ people should go after the ‘seller,’…who could have simply said, ‘No.’
Good for ocean properties now bh can make tax dollars on the property instead of flushing it into the complex. Must be nice to have free housing on the coast at the tax payers expense. Looks.like party is over guys
I dont hate the poor i just hate being forced to support them
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Yes as a taxpayer i am fighting back against the abuse of the system. I do not have anything against the poor, but if a business wants to turn subsidized housing into a tax generated property as opposed to dead weight property i am all for it. Businesses create jobs which in turn help these “poor” people out of their situation. Why are all the liberal loons out there so opposed to business? We need jobs in this state not more social programs. But, by all.means if it bothers you that much, you are more than welcome to open your home and help these people out since you obviously are the milk of human kindness.
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I think Mr. Walsh is a dem, just saying
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As usual people don’t know what they are talking about the Walsh family is from bangor I bought a mobile home off them in 70s when they had a business in brewer I’d move to nh too they ain’t taxed to death down there
tthese people are lucky this ain’t bible days no welfare plus everyone got called in by the king once a year and asked what their contribution was to the kingdom wrong answer was a fatal one
actually the history of the island according to the Abbe states it was orginated by native americans not fisherman and foresters, then the white man came and shoved them back and then the money started rolling in then the giant hotels went up. and thats what you have today a waterfront so packed with giant buildings and tourist traps that there’s two patches of grass in the entire town to sit on.
If you don’t want to pay as much, cut out a couple of tanks, or over priced Humvees.
Military spending is not what is driving the debt. Your social welfare programs are outstripping anything the rest of us can possibly earn. For the first time in our country more than half of us do not even work.
For the first time in our country more then half of the adults are above the retirement age and are living longer then ever. So, your against SOCIAL SECURITY?
The retirement age is only half of the reason why more than 50% of us are now not working. We now have people on disability because they are depressed! I am against Social Security being used for the many reasons it is now being used. It was put into place only for the elderly, widows and orphans and that is how it was financed. How many people on it now, never ever put a dime into it? As far as that goes how many people on it now are only taking out what they put in to it. It is a Ponzi scheme that those of us on the bottom of the pile are going to get ripped off from.
So yeah, I guess I’m against it as it exists today.
But where will all the dish washers and bus boys that blow the noses and wipe the butts of the elitists live? Might be time for a Hooverville in Trenton! lol. Imagine it folks. Lots of blue tarps, free range chickens, and Salsa music, lots of Salsa music.
aaaaaaaaaaaa
haha, poor people are bad!
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