It looks like my opinions over the downtown wine shop will stand as is...
Questions raised over wine store - US&J
Important quotes for the skimmers out there:
“I have no desire to help bring people to this town any more,” Martin said. “I think the mayor made the biggest tactical error ever by screwing with me. I will never, ever, lift a finger for the city again, that’s my bottom line.”
and
Bittner said her business will be different from the one Beautiful Visions proposed in several regards. Theirs was a cooperative and hers is to be controlled solely by The Winery At Marjim Manor. Theirs envisioned making shelf space available to all Trail wineries to display as little or as much product as they wanted. Hers will invite Trail wineries to showcase one or two products a month based on themes. Both incorporated local, packaged product displays and a local tourism-promotion component, but Bittner said she intends to create event and education centers as well.
And the Mayor seems to be guilty of trying to get something, ANYTHING into canal street at any cost.
So what's the end result?
- Pissed off a well respected local busnessman and property owner downtown who was known for their charitable work, to the point that they have pulled back from the City and the County, and might just move somewhere else.
- Allowed Margo Bitner to take the idea and distort it to the point that the winery will be all about her, and in order to make it seem like she's playing nice she's allowing one winery a month to sell one or two wines.
Good job!
I just hope Martin reconsideres his decision to pull out of the area. He just got screwed over by a greedy busnesswoman, and the mayor was just too willing to turn around and give full support for someone else with the same project.
-Erik.
