DEAR MONTCLAIRVOYANT,
The Planning Board approved a Township Council proposal to change units in the under-construction MC Residences from regular rentals to short-term rentals. Your opinion?
Sincerely,
Conversion Immersion
Ugh (three letters). Bait-and-switch (three words). Five, 10, or 15 years (three sentences). Oops, I was thinking about how long Trump should be jailed.
DEAR MONTCLAIRVOYANT,
So, the bait-and-switch factor was one reason why you didn’t like the board’s 6-1 decision?
Sincerely,
Norman Baits
Yup. I doubt the project plan would’ve originally passed if it contained short-term rentals “From the Beginning” — a song by Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Nice that Ralph Waldo Emerson was in a progressive-rock trio.
DEAR MONTCLAIRVOYANT,
Did you also dislike the decision because developer Pinnacle keeps getting most of what it wants despite its problematic track record with the ugly/hulking Valley & Bloom, the formerly leaky Siena, etc.?
Sincerely,
Merit System (Not)
Another reason indeed, but nice that a Lake in the Siena building was part of a prog-rock trio, too.
DEAR MONTCLAIRVOYANT,
You’re overdoing that joke. And wouldn’t short-term tenants bring little sense of community to our town?
Sincerely,
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
Unlike Jim Palmer, who brought lots of community to Baltimore by pitching only for the Orioles during his long Major League career — while also being a member of the aforementioned band.
DEAR MONTCLAIRVOYANT,
Enough of this prog-rock silliness; it’s so…1970s. And shouldn’t a Montclair-wide measure on short-term rentals have been considered before the Township Council and Planning Board moved toward giving Pinnacle a bait-and-switch gift that could up that developer’s profits?
Sincerely,
Macro Before Micro
Yes. As in Yes the prog-rock band that, try as it might, couldn’t make its long songs longer than Council meetings.
DEAR MONTCLAIRVOYANT,
There’s talk that, as part of Pinnacle’s short-term-rentals switcheroo, the four “affordable” units planned for the 40-unit MC Residences might double to eight such units to match Montclair’s supposed 20-percent “affordable” rule for new residential buildings. Thoughts?
Sincerely,
Octave (Not the Moody Blues Album)
A potential silver lining in a disappointing scenario. And the Yes song “Siberian Khatru” is not about a Montclair sister-city relationship.
DEAR MONTCLAIRVOYANT,
So, there’d be four or eight long-term apartments in what would be a hotel-like building. How weird is that?
Sincerely,
Stranger Things
As weird as Emerson, Lake & Palmer presciently recording “Lucky Man” about any problematic male developer treated like royalty by Montclair’s Planning Board or Township Council.
DEAR MONTCLAIRVOYANT,
The MC Residences short-rentals thing still needs final approval from the Council, right?
Sincerely,
TC to Decide MC
Apparently. And, to set the record straight, Ralph Waldo Emerson did NOT write a philosophical essay titled “Valley & Bloom.”
Dave Astor, author, is the MontClairVoyant. His opinions about politics and local events are strictly his own and do not represent or reflect the views of Montclair Local.