My husband and I have run our mom-and-pop motel for the past 14 years. This summer, at no fault of our own, we watched our business collapse and we doubt that we will be able to finish the season, let alone open next year.
We’re all in it together, and what is being done is for the greater good. We get it, perhaps because it is drummed into our heads day in and day out. In reality, these slogans are a way to deter us from the truth.
We are not in it together. Everyone who ever ran a motel or hotel knows that this business is unique. The income in a motel that survives on its summer season is needed to sustain the business over the winter so that the following summer season will be feasible. Forcing a whole sector of Maine hospitality to operate on 10 to 20 percent income is implementing a death sentence.
Saying that we are all in it together is ignoring the facts, covering them with cynicism.
The greater good is considering individual needs as well as those of the community. It demands that we do not look to the side when taxpayer citizens are being crushed.
I do not have suggestions. I elected the Maine Innkeepers Association to represent me. And I believe our honorable governor owes me an answer that will help me survive, since she is the one who pulled the ground from under my feet.
Ariela Zucker
Ellsworth
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