When we bought our historic house, it was a wreck. We refinanced twice in the past 30 years and sank every penny back into that house. We’ve also spent numerous hours after work, on weekends and during vacations doing repairs and upgrades.

Now retired, I’m investing even more time in our home. But now I, and many similar property owners, find the neighborhoods our homes are in are degrading, even if they are historic districts. There was a time when we were all invited to participate in various city meetings whenever any activity could affect the character of our neighborhood. But now we find ourselves where people can split up, then flip properties in this overheated market, without even notifying the people who abut that property.

We have made numerous requests to various City Hall departments to clarify how these people bypass our city charter and accomplish this in private closed-door meetings instead of the usual public forums. But we simply get blown off by these bureaucrats, even when we take our concerns directly to the mayor or city administrator.

I now realize that people like us, who have invested much sweat and capital into maintaining homes, are now considered evil NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) people whose concerns about our neighborhoods should be ignored. I’m sure this was the mindset of the current Augusta administration when they passed L.D. 2003, a law that takes away even more power from our municipalities to manage growth.

Ted Sirois
Saco