Once again, reporter Richard Heath provided an excellent summation of the public meeting about the proposed development of 920 Centre St., formerly the Poor Clare’s Monastery. His last paragraph captured perfectly the perspective of the opponents: “No one at the JPNA meeting asked about the Poor Clare Sisters, their neighbor for 90 years.”

It seems that the opponents of building more housing, whether this project, the canceled 230 apartment building at 22 Arboretum Road, the canceled 20 affordable units on Dale Street, or elimination of affordable units at the Crane Ledge project, do not care to ask about the plight of those so badly affected by the housing shortage.

Too often they seem only to care about how their driving will be affected, as if street congestion was created only by others rather than themselves. A philosophy of using cars being more important than housing?

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It is unfortunate that our public process is unable to find ways to work collaboratively with developers to get a win for all – more housing at lower costs, with as much green-space as possible. Perhaps our political leadership could step up?