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Pandering to the Tourist Trade
By Tami Connell, Great Barrington
I am writing in response to the article "Second Homes, Second Choices" by Chris Wright [September 7]. I live in the building whose ad for an apartment Mr. Wright described as "a cheap marketing shot at expensive clientele … with costs ranging from $150 a day to $900 per week!" Why such hyperbolic vitriol? If I had the option of vacationing in the beautiful Berkshires and staying in a tastefully appointed apartment or cramming my family into an over-priced, tacky roadside hotel or motel, the choice seems clear.
Face it, Mr. Wright, South County has gentrified. Pandering to the tourist trade is the only way to make money in this area. Great Barrington is a restaurant and bric-a-brac shop strip mall!
In the two years I have lived at 281 Main Street my rent has not increased. Heat and hot water are included in my low monthly rate and any problem, however small, is corrected immediately. All of this, and a truly gorgeous apartment to boot! Believe me, there are some real shockers available in Great Barrington.
Progress is inevitable. Will the area eventually be dominated by tourists? Well, duh. As for the "naturalization classes," if proper etiquette and manners are not learned by the age of thirty, why bother? Let's try and live by example rather than bitch and scorn. I am not a "New Yorker" and I have been treated like dirt in every business in the area at one time or another. So I guess the question is which came first: horrendous customer service or the ugly, rude tourist?
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