Aitken: Market & Main Should Remain Commercial

Don't believe the title of this article from the UNION LEADER that describes a poll cited to support Encore's claims that all or most of Bedford's residents support the addition of 200+ apartments to the performance zone. [Editor's note: apparently the UL saw the error of its ways and has changed the title to more fairly represent what the survey actually showed: 51% of those polled, which was 287 people]

Those promoting the addition of 200 apartments to the Market & Main development in Bedford, specifically EJ Powers and developers from Encore, conducted that very limited poll in which only 146 out of 287 people (51%) surveyed have said they approve of apartments being added.

Yet spread across Market & Main's website is the declaration that "Majority of Bedford Residents Support Market and Main Bedford Development" in addition to similar postings on their Facebook page despite the fact that 1300+ petitioners are against it, and even hundreds more voted in new zoning regulations that prohibit apartments in that area back in March of 2019.

These deceptive practices should not be tolerated by either the people of Bedford or their planning and zoning departments, the latter of whom have been given their orders by the real majority of Bedford who cared to come out and vote.

Not surprisingly, the group that represents those who helped pass these new zoning laws and its founder have been banned from posting the truth on M&M's Facebook page. They have had their comments exposing this poll erased. It doesn't fit the narrative M&M's developers want to present to the unsuspecting public who are unaware that their polls were taken from a very small sample of participants compared to the number of people who signed petitions or who voted in March of 2019.

How many times must we remind the planning and zoning board that these apartments are NOT allowed regardless of their cost and size?

Market & Main was supposed to be a commercial endeavor, and it should remain so.