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To the Editors:

This letter is my view on village happenings and does not represent the council as a whole.

Last month I wrote an article about wanting to build camaraderie within our village, but it has become disappointingly obvious that not everyone feels that way.

The original goal of the special meeting, as I and others understood it, was to gauge the interest of residents to simply put the short-term rental issue on the November ballot, and finally get an accurate count on how our people feel about having them in our neighborhoods. Instead, it seemed to encourage a feeling of division across our community and totally discounted the privacy of our residents, and worse.

Case in point, the notorious anonymous blue letter. Although I did not write this letter, I having read it, found nothing untruthful about it. But, instead of the topic being discussed, the unknown writer was attacked for not being transparent and somehow also sneaky, and even further, others were called ugly names such as fearmongers, for mentioning past tragedies involving short-term rentals right next-door to our village.

This is exactly why so many citizens are reluctant to report any problems having to do with STRs.

So yes, I believe that putting this issue on the November ballot is the only real way to get a true read on how our residents feel about having STRs right within our neighborhoods, not some straw poll involving a show of hands, with the very real possibility of intimidation from those who disagree. Just the absolute right of each citizen to have a private and accurate tally of their desires.

Thank you.

Respectfully,

Moe Riggins