The April 21 letter to the editor, by Jesse Halliburton and Ryan Giuliani, owners of Woodstock Way hotel, projected a mood of passive aggressiveness toward Woodstock residents. The letter insinuates that the community is asking for a big giant bulldozer owned by Holiday Inn to come along and destroy all.
The library that is in dire need of renovation or replacement or whatever would sit next to a hotel, a place where children play. But I suppose like Woodstock Way you would place NO TRESPASSING signs so the locals can’t enjoy the land like once before. Liability is so important.
So who are these two developers? I would suggest readers of this letter go to TripAdvisor and read the reviews. One was so bad that Giuliani wrote a response, “Reviews good or bad I made a decision a long time ago not to respond to evaluations and let them speak for themselves.” But he had to speak, with a lengthy letter and trolled this family, giving out information about them. He described his patrons as, “you know those stereotypical entitled New Yorkers who feel they can step on you because of their influence.” No guys, we don’t know and why are you bringing those types around? Oh wait, your place costs a grand a night, that is why (Booking advertises it as a cool $999!). Giuliani goes on, “They bully you by saying, ‘if you don’t do this for me then I will do this to you.” Aren’t you trying to do that to us? For example, you better cooperate with our construction because you never know what lurks around the corner. Baaaad stuff. Your artist-in-residence proposal in exchange of zoning changes, sounds like bribery to me. Your concern about affordable housing is shallow and trite. You found housing for three of your employees. That is not affordable housing, that is convenience for your business. I get it though, the hospitality business is tough and you need loyal employees. I work in mental health and would think hospitality more difficult. I have an office at an affordable housing complex in Hudson. The Galvan foundation has bought, renovated, developed, sold and preserved most of Hudson. Woodstock is a much smaller place, but when I see the preservation of a historic city, I think, “why can’t we do that.” Galvan renovated the armory and is now Hudson’s library. Their name is slapped everywhere. If you decide to do something like that, develop a foundation for the preservation of Woodstock, I would support it — just don’t put your names on it, maybe use your first names. If you don’t, we will fight you because we don’t trust you, you took away housing with Woodstock Way. You wanted to demolish an old beautiful building at Lashers. We will fight for the preservation of this community and if we fail, the legacy of Woodstock will go with it. A grand-a-night hotel with a few Janis Joplin/Jimi Hendrix photos displayed is not what Woodstock is about. To quote Malcolm X, “You show me a Capitalist and I’ll show you a bloodsucker.”
Lisa Childers
Woodstock
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