Sam’s Chowder House Hosts Fundraiser Supporting the Big Wave Project

You don’t want BIg Wave to be built and so you disapprove of this fundraiser.
Is this the sort of comment you are fishing for?
Or we should just send the comments directly to Sam’s?

I saw that you gave Sam’s a one star “rating” in Yelp because the owners are hosting this fundraiser and I think that’s a pretty lousy thing to do (especially since you apparently like the food). Most people assume the ratings have to do with the quality of a business and not the politics/ leanings of the owners

So no, I don’t think opposition to Big Wave should include spurious restaurant “reviews” intending to hurt the livlihood of people who work there.

There’s a time and a place; if you want to boycott and encourage others to do so, there are a lot more reasonable places to make your point. This letter and suggesting people send comments is reasonable. Restaurant reviews are not.

I haven’t made up my mind yet if Big Wave opposition is more NIMBY hysteria or well grounded in environmental concerns but these sort of tactics don’t sway me to the latter position.

I’ve added the flyer for the event to Dave’s post. Dave had emailed to me when he posted the letter, but I was unable to post until now.

If Sam’s or Big Wave had sent me the flyer, I would have been happy to run it. I don’t support Big Wave, but we don’t limit access to Coastsider based on points of view.

This fundraiser illustrates some of the complexity associated with Big Wave.

I have two sets of issues with the project. The first is that it’s the wrong project for that site, and the wrong site for that project. The second is that the developers have been less than forthcoming with the community about the agricultural uses of the site, the project’s environmental impact, the relationship between the for-profit and nonprofit parts of the project, and the project’s sheer size. Follow the links for more information on these issues.

I believe the families associated with the nonprofit are sincere, but it’s difficult to determine the line between its stated charitable purpose and its role as a marketing arm of the for-profit development.

As far as I’m concerned it’s a mistake to retaliate against businesses who support the nonprofit. We’re going to have to learn to disagree with one another without declaring war.

Finally, I do believe Big Wave’s opponents have done a good job of sticking to the facts and trying to keep its supporters doing the same.