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Greetings--
On Wednesday, we urge City Council members to enfore the rules and require windows to be closed at Riptides. If windows don't exist, they should be built. Messrs. Papaleo and Abruseze have received more than their share of after-the-fact favorable exceptions--this appears to be just one more. I'm afraid that Council members will take the easy way out because this coming weekend marks the end of the tourist season--it's kind of late to be enforcing the rules will be the justification.
We on that block of waterfront are experiencing the breakdown of our neighborhood. Mr. Frater gets what he wants and Sarah and Albert Bouchard get ignored. O'Brien's has become a streetside beer garden; its family dinner patrons sacrificed for greater bar profits. Imposing seasonal restrictions on O'Brien's was deemed a compromise. I worry that between Dave's-on-Thames's overflowing patrons and O'Brien's sidewalk waiting line, we may have just compromised Bouchard's out of business--its patrons unwilling to fight the crowds for access.
It's time for the City Council to begin observing the rules and to respect the rights of its neighborhood residents. We'll all be watching.
--Kathy & Ted Spargo
31 Coddington Wharf
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