The Day editorial favoring the proposed Stonington short-term-rentals ordinance is not a thoughtful piece and naïve at best. (“A beginning point on short-term rentals,” March 3)

This regulation assumes they are permissible and does nothing to stop their proliferation. STR’s in your neighborhood means no neighbor. Does The Day advocate the hollowing out of communities? It seems so. Maybe STR folks will subscribe to The Day and shore up circulation.

And if the editors had done some due diligence, and talked to real estate people, they will have found that on the purchase side, anyone wanting to buy a home in Stonington should be very careful, lest they find an STR next door to them or in their future. Nobody wants to live next to an STR unless it is owner occupied. When selling a house, you can certainly get more for it if is a viably lucrative STR, but those nearby will pay more in local taxes because of the higher selling prices.

Lastly, there is no benefit to the municipality from the business generated by STRs, it is simply a trade off when you do not have a permanent year-round resident or family in a home. Zoning can address a unique situation like Groton Long Point.

Bruce McDermott

Mystic