The Smith family are good people, good neighbors here in Knox County

We are writing in support of the new hotel in the harbor village of Rockport. It’s very clear that the overwhelming majority of Rockport residents support the Rockport Harbor Hotel, despite the very expensive clamor created by the “Friends of Rockport”.
We hope that the “friends” obsession with blocking this new venture will cause no further acrimony in our city. and not cost the taxpayers of our city more than the $130,000 already incurred in legal fees or the estimated amount Additional $100,000 that the city could incur if the “friends” legal maneuvers continue.
Let’s take a closer look at the much reviled Smith family. Among other things, the “Friends” website calls them out-of-town oligarchs. They have been doing business here (Rockport, Camden and Rockland) since 1975. Since then they have employed over 3000 people. Their businesses currently employ 120 people and the total number of people employed in the construction of the hotel will be around 110. The businesses owned by the Smith family have invested a lot of money in the local economy.
Their business acquisitions have kept three major commercial properties in the hands of benevolent locals, as opposed to those properties sliding off the books of non-local commercial developers with little or no community interest; the old Hoboken Gardens site (was envisioned by Family Dollar Store), the old Sears building in Rockland, and the old Van Baalen factory in Rockland, now home to a branch of the University of Maine and the Breakwater Marketplace.
Speaking of local interest….here are just a few of the many things the Smith family has been involved in over the past four decades, and by involvement we don’t just mean checks, we mean rolled up sleeves and deep commitment in partnership with many other like-minded people, positive community spirit:
- leadership roles with Camden-Rockport School Board and creation/construction of new high school, leadership role with old and new YMCA, youth arts program, leadership role in creation of Midcoast Recreation Center, leadership role at Children’s House Montessori School, Camden-Rockport Historical Society Board of Trustees, Camden-Rockport Middle School Building Vision Committee, leadership role with PAWS Animal Adoption Center, Board of Camden Public Library Administration…etc etc etc. This partial list does not include the charitable donations the family and their businesses make each year.
Now let’s look at the efforts of “Friends:”
- the “Friends” formed with the sole avowed cause of fighting the hotel. There is no apparent record of any other accomplishments on their part.
- as for the “friends” rallying cry “it’s ugly”, the Smiths went to great lengths to appropriately match the architectural details of the adjacent buildings. We invite everyone to come see what they have actually built so far.
- Legal counsel for the “friends” repeatedly raised conflict of interest issues from city officials and council/committee members, and then subsequently retracted these inaccurate insinuations.
- Due to the relentless lawsuits of “Friends”, work has been delayed at the hotel and Downtown can now expect construction to continue through the 2022 summer season.
- the “Friends” asked the court to order the demolition of the hotel. We believe this reveals a deeper motivation than simply solving parking and aesthetic issues at the expense of every Rockport taxpayer.
The Smith family are good people and good neighbors here in Knox County. We welcome them to downtown Rockport and welcome their latest effort to reinvigorate a village that for decades has seen one business after another fail. Yes, Rockport will finally have to face the parking problems officially recognized more than thirty years ago. Yes, there will be additional lights and sound in the city center…as well as significantly improved tax revenue. To us, this smacks of success for the Port Village of Rockport…and beyond.
All of us would go into the “defense” of Rockport if we saw inappropriate development coming to this site. This is simply not the case today and we are pleased that the Smith family has acquired this property and will help steer the Port Village in a meaningful and lasting positive direction.
For those who now declare that they will never Accept this hotel, we would like to remind them of Maine’s old observation that “here is never about seven years”.
Signatories as of 01/24/22:
Annemarie Ahearn
Lance and Liz Ahearn
Manaan Alexander
Taylor Allen and Martha White
Tom and Mary Amory
Eric Anderson
Gretel Anderson
Sam and Annie Appleton
Chelsea Armstrong
Rick Ash
sue ash
Therese Bagnardi
Heidi and Jake Baker
Andrea Barbour
Gail and Jean Bertuzzi
Nicole and Neal Blake
Keith Blizzard
Kip Botsch
Carmen Bombeke
Thierry Bombeke
Kaleb Kiosk
Aby Booth
Rosemary and Jayson Booth
Norman Bouchard
Ann and Rick Bresnahan
Barrett Brown
Lynne Brown
Jane Buffet
Lynn Bushee
Louise and Richard Cadwgan
Kathy and Brian Cassidy
Rutledge Chalk II
Jeff Charland
Wendy Charland
George and Elizabeth Collins
Stacey and Jonas Contakos
Doug and Pat Cole
Maureen Cole
Joel Cooke
Mazie Cox and Brink Thorne
sand cox
John Curry
John Curtis
Troy Curtis
Pamela Dalfonso
William H. Davies
Barbara Davidson
John Davidson
Dew chips
Tricia Dixon
Erin Donovan
Karen Doran
Jessica Dufy
Patrick B. Duffy
Michael Dufour
Nathan Dunton
Amanda and Rob Dwelley
Sarah Dwelly
Lauren and Justin Edelstein
Ben Ellison
Doug Ericson
Stuart Farnham, Jr.
Leslie and Bob Fillnow
Brian Fitzpatrick
Caitlin Fitzpatrick
Gef and Larissa Flimlin
Valarie Foster
Lisa and Gary Fowlie
Allison Fox Glover
Carol Gartley
Chris and Janice Gates
Bill and Jill Glover
Lee and Jon Goss
brandon graffam
Connor Graffam
Ella Graffam
John Graffam
Martina Graffam
ryan graffam
Ted Graffam
Ruth and Steve Graham
Bruce Haffner
Debra Room
Jeff Hamilton
Steve and Amy Hand
Valarie Harmon
Lynn Harrington
Mark and Andrea Harris
Cigar Harvey
Evelina Haskel
Matthew Haskel
Debby Hornyak
Scott and Robin Horty
Michael D. Hurley
Sara Jenkins
Curtis Jensen
Eliza Jensen
- Douglas Kahn
Stephen R. Kahn
Samuel Ladley
Dale and Alyssa Landrith
Jack Lane
Sarah and Matt Lapides
Tom Laurita
Nancy and Bob Lawson
Debra and Doug Lay
Nancy and Dwight Leper
larry lehman
Bill and Gretchen Leone
Linda and Griff Lesher
Cheryl Levin
Matthew Levin
Nikki Lindsey
Drew and Mackenzie Lyman
William and Mary Maddox
Jamie and Peter Masin-Peters
Jennifer Matthews
Caroline May
Keith May
Jim Mays
Stefanie McAllister
Alison McKellar
Marilyn McWilliams
Allen and Marge Mitchell
Maureen Montgomery
Mary Moran
Marie Morgane
Chris and Delisa Morong
Guillaume Morong
Janet Murdock
Tom Murphy
David Noble
Elizabeth Noble
Gayle Noble
Karen Nolan
Pam Holland
Deniz Ovecoglu
Mary Stevens Ovecoglu
Colin Page
January Peavey
Connie and Etienne Perret
Peter Massin Peters
Jamie Massin Peters
Larkin Post
Sarah’s post
Jonathan Potter
Joe and Tina Pyne
Peter Ralston and Terri Harper
Richard Remsen
Ellen Reynolds
Chrisso Rheault
Jeffrey Runge and Lynn Rutter
Connie Russell
Juliet Russell
Nathan and Jody Russel
Kamala Sachidanandan
Rob Sebold
raymond goergen
Clementine Senateone
Elisabeth Shippers
Sarah and Mario Serafini
Beverly and Dennis Shaugnessy
Dick and Sandy Shaw
Helen A. Shaw
Ken Shure and Liv Rockefeller
Frank Simon
Libby Simon
Curt and Fran Slater
Seamus Smith
Maurice and Robin Spear
Doug Stradley
Becca Swan
Benjamin Todd
Nathan Tolman
Mark and Louisa Van Baalen
Elizabeth and Peter Vickerman
Tracy and Randall Wakeford
Doc and Haunani Wallace
Jamie and Maria Weymouth
Nina Lynn Wheeler
Tracy Wheeler
George Wheelwright
Steven F. Wickham
Addison Whitworth
Jacob Wienges
Adda Winkes and Tim Kunkel
Kristen and Eric Winters
Thomas Wytiaz
James Wytiaz