To the Editor:
As a senior, as a Guilderland resident for over 40 years, and as a homeowner living across from the new Hamilton Parc apartment complex, I would like to weigh in on the recent sales pitch by its community manager in the opinion section here [“The luxury living community lifestyle is proven to be attractive in vibrant towns,” Jan. 25, 2024].

From the start of the project, there was confusion as to who the target customer was. First we heard they were building apartments, then we heard that the builder sold to another who was planning to build for the Orthodox Jewish community, and now we are told these are luxury apartments intended as a reward for the well heeled seniors who made money and invested wisely.

All of this reminds me of the old shell game with the walnut under the cup trick. So as this is Phase 1, and I don’t like shell games; I would like to know: What is Phase 2?

Presently we have what I consider an unattractive building complex resembling an Amish settlement.  Yes, your amenities are enticing for those who enjoy the hustle and bustle of apartment living.

The locked five-year lease will certainly grab attention for the interested 80-year-olds but I’m not sure the 55-year-olds will find much comfort in it. It would take me just a few months rent at Hamilton Parc to reach the yearly expenses of my home.

What also bothered me about this sales pitch was the transparent reference to “honoring” history by including an indoor golf simulator. I doubt this was about honoring history and more about attracting renters. No harm in trying to attract renters but cloaking it as a gesture to history seems a little over the top.

And now to the usual banter we hear from developers, their great contribution to school and town property taxes. Heard it all before, particularly I remember such with Crossgates and then its journey to tax relief. But then of course we are slow learners when it comes to history as a teacher.

As far as this newspaper being more involved in tooting the Hamilton Parc horn by listening, attending your designated tours, and repeating your sales pitch, I believe they made the right choices. The Enterprise presents the news; they present the views of the people; they don’t cater to big business or any business — that is not their job. They are not a branch of Fox News.

Stressing that our town government’s approval of the project speaks for the people of Guilderland is not necessarily so. As in our broader world, government does not always speak for the people.

We, the many senior homeowners, would like affordable houses, not apartments for our senior years.  If our town government and your company truly cared about its senior populace, such housing development would have been the project.

If our town government and your company had a true interest in our aging society rather than monetary gain, such housing would have been the project.

If our town government and your company could see beyond the times we live in, the times of greed, power, fear, anger, and division, they would be much more inclined to provide an environment expansive and conducive to the needs of a future where the almighty dollar wasn’t the measure of life and one’s station in it.

They would see beyond the blinders of capitalism to what will make the human journey a journey of wholeness, collaboration, and peace. And they would above all realize that that journey starts with all and each of us.  

Joan Storey

Guilderland