To the Editor:
There are two kinds of people in the world – those who want a homeless shelter in their back yards and those who don’t. Anyone who does should let Stepping Stone Housing Inc. know they would welcome it.
Those who don’t are justified in asking whether a small in-town lot on a narrow street with no sidewalks is the right place for 13 housing units and a store. Anyone who wants to live next door to such a development should speak up now, before Stepping Stones goes ahead and builds next door to someone else. Anyone who doesn’t want to live next door to such a development should refrain from tossing around the word NIMBY, just as those who live near the proposed site should refrain from criticizing less fortunate people.
Those who sympathize with the less fortunate – but aren’t ever going to live next door to a homeless shelter – should ask themselves whether they would be so inspired by this project if it were going onto their street and not someone else’s.
We don’t build a supermarket on a side street just because people need groceries. It would be better if everyone concerned got together to talk about where a project of this size and type could reasonably be built instead of expecting the burden to be borne by someone else.
