To the Editor:
I am as disappointed with your reporting [“BAR Fight,” Dec. 10] of the recent BAR meeting on the Old Colony site as I am with the BAR and the developers. The article implies the community is unwilling to compromise and that the developers have offered valid compromises. The concept of compromise seems to be very different to the developers and the BAR than to the community and most reasonable people.
Compromise assumes two or more truly different positions based on points of view. Clearly, the developer and the BAR believe compromise is between two somewhat close concepts between one oversized design and another. The community has indicated that compromise means a three-story structure between the concepts of a four-story building and the current state.
What I saw at the BAR meeting was a panel that looked at a TV screen providing a perspective that in real time would have required the viewer to stand about 75 yards away — while the issue at hand is what the perspective is from 60 feet away. If you only view the former perspective, compromise will look a great deal different than if you view it from the latter perspective which will be the one the neighbors will see every day, all day.
What we have is here is a choice between real and false compromise.
Jon Sheiner
Alexandria