05/28/2020
Please read and post and help us reach the Governor....May 28, 2020
Dear Governor Mills,
I am creating this letter to try once more to get your attention. I was very moved by the Facebook letter our President of the Vacation Rental Professionals of Maine, Paige Teel, posted yesterday. Here is her letter. She points out that Vacation Rentals are able to provide income for Maine people in a very safe way. It is tragic and frustrating to be ignored and I, along with many other Maine residents, are frustrated by your refusal to listen or pay attention to us. You are not “talking” to us and you are not helping us. Here is her letter:
“It’s super awesome that many other states recognize vacation rentals and their uniqueness when the Maine Governor and DECD won’t even recognize vacation rentals exist. To say I’m frustrated with this administration is an understatement. We provide $360 million+ each year in revenue for the state of Maine. I am not taking this political but when you say weekly on live TV you are discussing issues to safely reopen with industry leaders and I can’t get an email back as the President and representative of 50+ vacation rental companies in Maine, I wonder who you’re talking to that is ‘helping’ create those guidelines. I’ve taken all the correct and appropriate avenues to contact our elected officials from local to state level (multiple times) and nothing has been addressed. I’ve reached out nationally to have industry experts help get the attention of this administration to no avail.
We rent single family homes. Guests are coming from single family homes under the same, or stricter, stay-at-home orders in their home state to another single family home in Maine. With appropriate and safe guidelines for guests, employees, retail stores, restaurants (which are already in place), and the like, the risk of infection would be minimal. Especially with triple the capacity for testing with a $52.7 million federal grant to the state of Maine.
Look at our predecessors, the states who have reopened have not seen a spike in cases but if the cases have increased, its due to available testing per the U.S Health Secretary. We have to recognize what other states have successfully accomplished - we aren’t the first to face these challenges while we work to reopen. This is now a pre-existing condition that every single person in the world is aware of and needs to assume some risk and responsibility if they are willing to move around their state and country.
I fully recognize we are not an essential business and I sincerely applaud those who are in that position and thank them. In my mind, we are essential in keeping the Maine economy afloat. According to a recent Oxford University study, Maine is the #1 most economically vulnerable state in the United States and we cannot afford to lose the 8-12 weeks per year we rely on to pay our bills for 12 months of the year. 1 in 6 people in Maine are directly affected by tourism and those who travel to our state - seasonal homeowner or tourist. 1 in 5 homes in Maine is a vacation rental.
A committee has been put together by Governor Mills to investigate the economic impact the Coronavirus has had/will have on Maine. Their preliminary findings are to be reported by the end of July and final reporting by December 1st. What does that say about her focus on 2020?
How can this be so blatantly ignored?
I’ll be damned if I sit by and hope that we can get a federal bailout when the options are available now to help Maine businesses and residents pay their January oil and plow bill safely and smartly.”
Governor Mills, please listen to Paige and to all of us in the Vacation Rental Industry in Maine. We can help keep people safe and save our jobs and our economy. Don’t ignore us anymore!
3 bedroom, 3 bath year round lakefront home in Wayne, Maine. Dock and Float, kayaks, canoe, great lakefront living.
