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

1. 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