Letters to the Editor
Published: August 27, 2009
Airspace restrictions severe
To the Editor:
The wording of the actual TFR is actually much more draconian than Sean Flynn suggests. Every pilot that is not doing airline flying has to be given a waiver to enter the restricted space, regardless of previous approvals. That approval will take five days. (Assuming all goes well and there are no conflicts of names/identities/records.) Then the flight plan has to be submitted three days in advance. And there is no provision for weather, so if you want to fly on your appointed hour, you may have to brave dangerous weather or wait another three days to get a flight plan approved. Safety for the arriving pilot is not addressed in this restriction.
One can suspect that after all that approval, there could be a hitch at the gateway airport, and there you are unable to proceed. If the checker at the gateway has any doubt, any, he will not let plane continue. And why should he? No is safer. No, and he keeps his job. No, and he made the president safer.
The actual language: All passengers and crewmembers must provide valid government issued photo identification to the TSA at the gateway airport prior to departure.
The net result is that there will be virtually no general aviation traffic during this time. The plan is designed to keep out the public and effectively make the job easier for the protectors of the president.
By the by, the president is not coming to the MVY airport. He is landing on the mainland and coming by helicopter directly to the property where he is staying. (They had to cut down some trees to make that possible.)
So is it fair. I have mixed feelings. Could it be done differently by the bureaucrats, I doubt it. Do I want the president to be safe? Absolutely.
Peter Williams
West Tisbury
Blissfully quiet airspace
To the Editor:
Hurricane Bill has passed us by, although there was the dull sullen boom of the surf along the south side for the past few days, and early this morning, rain and a bit of breeze. Now we are awaiting the first family, and the airport is strangely, strikingly quiet - the result of the air exclusion zone imposed for the next week. For those of us who are close to the airport (and even many who aren't) the activities of the airport negatively impact our lives. The egregious noise of private jets, the small planes, and even the scheduled airlines, profoundly impact life for many Islanders, particularly in summer when windows are open and people are outside. We are also subjected to the constant drone of Warbird flying back and forth over the beaches. Even during a pea soup fog last week we could hear planes taking off in what were surely very unsafe conditions.
Lest you think that this is all economically important or even necessary traffic, keep in mind how many people fly in for very whimsical reasons: the couple who send their maid off to pick up delicacies from Zabar's, or the middle aged couple who fly from Connecticut ("it is only about an hour each way and we do it frequently") to dig a mess of clams then fly back and cook them for supper, and other such important missions.
This morning (Sunday) the lack of airport/airplane related noise has been blissful. Rather than a barrage of jet engines and small planes revving up, one can hear crickets, the chirruping noises of Carolina wrens, and a periodic cacophony of crows criticizing something several pastures over. This is Vineyard living as it is meant to be and reminds us how much noise affects us.
Virginia Crowell Jones
West Tisbury
A bedtime serenade
To the Editor:
This letter is concerning a moment of crazy, random happenstance, an act of kindness from unseen strangers. Anyone who lives and works on the Island during "the Season" can tell you tales of woe and indignation, frustration and apathy. In the hotel industry, I interact with folk at all points on the mood spectrum.
We are still in the experimental stages of crib to "big girl bed" transfer with my daughter, Katerina, which means that every bedtime is a unique array of settling down rituals. Like a sunset, no two bedtimes are alike. There are nights that she tumbles like a sack of potatoes into the bed and passes out instantly, and some when the attempts to get her to sleep rapidly approach rigmarole levels: all singing, all dancing entertainment to no avail.
Sunday night, August 16, was such a night, with a dose of teething crabbies thrown in - just so I didn't get too bored, apparently. She rolled and flopped, cried and called for momma, ignored my singing of "You are my Sunshine" (which was, if I may say, not too shabby) and finally ended up knocking herself in the head against the rail of protection.
I bit back what would be a useless I told you so and scooped her up to soothe her. The shrieks drew momma back into the room, and my wife and I both sang to her while they sat in a chair near the window. Then, from the street below, we heard voices.
We always hear people coming and going through the Edgartown downtown from our second floor window. Many times, it's drunken revelers, or bands of running teens after a movie lets out, sometimes just the talk of folk passing by the windows of shops below.
This was different. A group of women was singing on the porch below us. Four or possibly five voices were singing "You are my Sunshine." In harmony, even. I assume they heard the wailing of an anguished toddler and our desperate singing and were inspired.
My wife opened the window to listen to the song and my little fusspot with a wide-eyed smile poked her face against the window frame and looked to the sidewalk. We could not see the chorus due to the awning below, but she still turned back to us and pointed. "Happys singing down there," she said several times.
During the rest of the song we could hear Katerina chuckling out the window. She called out a thank you or two, but I don't think they heard us. A taxi appeared and they were gone. It calmed Kate right back into her bed and a sound sleep, tears forgotten, and it was all we talked about the next day.
That evening was such a surprise to my wife and I that we still smile to think of it. It was, in a word, lovely. To the musical ladies of Winter Street, our hearty thanks for a wonderful and helpful surprise. You made it a very special bedtime for our Miss Crabby-Pants.
Michael Wilson
Edgartown
Not there
To the Editor:
Celebrities, First Families and the famous summer on Martha's Vineyard for the same reason we all do: to bask in its beauty, to relax by the majestic ocean or the soothing waters of Nantucket Sound. The crowds may detract from the sheer joy of being here, but seldom enough to keep us from appreciating what nature has bestowed upon us.
Wouldn't it be a shame to degrade that wonder and beauty, in large part, by letting some corporation erect an industrial scale wind plant the size of Manhattan in Nantucket Sound? What is the saying "once it's gone, it's gone forever"? I have my own saying: "Cape Wind: the right project in the wrong place".
Don Ogden
Oak Bluffs and Leverett
Health insurance calculations
To the Editor:
The results of health care reform are easily predictable. I lived in Canada for 35 years and then moved to the U.S. 25 years ago. I was first covered by private insurance in Canada, then by a government system when Canada nationalized its health care. I returned to private coverage when I moved to the U.S. My experience is the following.
If you do not have health care insurance coverage, you will be better off with a government backed system. If you currently have a private insurance plan that you like, you will be worse off. The outcome depends, of course, on the extent to which employers switch to a government subsidized option to lower costs. Which option would you vote for?
Robert Simons
Chilmark
Not the best, at all
To the Editor:
I disagree with those who claim that we have the best health care system in the world. Our experience caring for my in-laws in Cleveland does not support that claim.
In February of this year, my father-in-law was in hospice, suffering from congestive heart failure and Parkinson's disease. Even though he had a do-not-resuscitate order, when he suffered a health crisis, the nursing home sent him to the hospital. There was nothing the hospital could do for him and his quality of life in the intensive care unit was worse than at the nursing home. Ed was very grateful when we were able to get him discharged back to hospice, but by that time tens of thousands of your tax dollars were spent needlessly, Ed was needlessly discomforted, and his prognosis was no better.
While he was at the hospital, we discovered that Ed's primary care physician had failed to adjust his medications in line with his condition. He was on more than a dozen medications, most completely unnecessary, and these medications likely contributed to the health crisis that put him in the hospital. The hospitalist treating Ed was aghast when he saw these prescriptions and eliminated more than ten of them. Just a few weeks later, Ed passed peacefully in hospice.
This July, my mother-in-law suffered a stroke. Because we have no nationwide electronic health record system and Mary had not previously been treated at that hospital, the hospital had to question her about her medical history when she was being admitted. Questioning an 83-year-old patient, who has just had a stroke, for 45 minutes about their medical history would be just this side of farcical, if it wasn't for the waste of time, money, and worse, the potential for serious medical consequences due to her poor memory and difficulty speaking.
The icing on the cake of this experience is that even though Mary has a hard time understanding what her doctor tells her, and she has signed the appropriate consent forms. Mary's doctor will not return our phone calls.
While we have some outstanding doctors and hospitals, the quality of care we receive is often substandard, and our end-of-life care is often not in accordance with the patient's instructions.
As for our health insurance companies, the less said the better.
Jared Nedzel
Wayland
Chappy bike path compromise
To the Editor:
This is a copy of a letter sent to the Edgartown selectmen.
Clearly we have many well-meaning and influential folks here on Chappy that have different opinions on this issue. I've been told that through the weight of their opinion and influence, some of these good citizens have actually been able to prevent paving of a section of a Massachusetts State Highway. (I refer to the unpaved section of SR156 ending at the Wasque Reservation). Living with the airborne dust that goes with living on a dirt road, I don't agree, as some do, that living on a dirt road is quaint.
However, I do share their legitimate concern that Chappy should not be torn up to accommodate a bike path like those on the main Island. However, there is a compromise plan that would provide the biker/walker separation from vehicle traffic that safety demands and should be acceptable to reasonable people - the moderates on both sides of this contentious issue. Please consider this minimally invasive solution that has proven successful in many urban environments - even with heavy city traffic. The current right-of way for the state road #156 is 50 feet wide. The current road uses only about 20 feet, much less than half of that public right of way. My proposal is to simply pave a reasonable, acceptably wide strip to the existing current roadway and separate it by a painted double yellow line. Some large cities with heavy traffic volumes have only a two-foot wide bike path, separated by yellow lines along the curb; yet it serves to provide a very effective safety corridor to protect urban bikers against a large volume of fast moving traffic.
Chappy conditions are much more user friendly with the availability of a 30 feet of right of way for a reasonably sized, say eight- to 10-foot wide bike path. And, the presence of the lower volumes of slower traffic needing to be accommodated would seem to make this a reasonable compromise worthy of favorable consideration. Hopefully, it would be found by all concerned, not perfect but acceptable.
I support and earnestly hope for a bike/walk path for the safety of our kids and grandchildren.
Ed Trider
Chappaquiddick
Appreciation
To the Editor:
I am writing on behalf of Hospice of Martha's Vineyard's board, staff, volunteers, patients and their families to send our sincere appreciation to the Martha's Vineyard community for your contributions toward our signature fundraiser, the Summer Soirée. The village definitely came to the support of Hospice last Monday night.
V. Jamie Hamlin created a scrumptious meal for our guests, Our Market and Your Market delivered an assortment of wine and beer, Trip Barnes created his lively forte patter over the auction items, and several merchants, farmers, bakers and friends generously donated their specialties for our lovely evening.
We want you to know how happy everyone was with the raw bar, hors d'oeuvres, meal, desserts and the auction items many went home with.
Farm Neck was the perfect setting for the event, and many old and new Hospice friends smiled the entire evening.
I would like to especially thank Kate Desrosiers and Ellen Richardson, co-chairmen of the soirée committee, for their able and steady guidance of all aspects of coordinating this event.
To the many volunteers, blessings on each and every one of you. We have such a wonderful team, and the fruits of your efforts were the delight of every guest. Thank you, one and all.
We send our thanks to everyone present and those unable to attend for your commitment to our work and for your trust in our staff to come into your homes and care for your loved ones at a very important time. Hospice will truly benefit from your generosity and you are making a difference in the lives of the patients and families that we serve. Thank you.
Terre D. Young
Executive Director
Hospice of Martha's Vineyard
Different views of cycling
To the Editor:
Regarding Mr. Miller's excessively personal response to my letter of last week on bicycling safety, it was not at all my intent to suggest that anyone knew less about bicycle riding on the state highways than I. It would never occur to me to say something so obvious, so thank you Mr. Miller.
We each have our own options and choices; mine are far different than Mr. Miller's genuinely environmentally friendly, well planned and experienced choices. I ride roads without lines, so you'll never see me consulting on safety issues, as I don't see anything dangerous where I ride my bike. Driving on the road is another story, and if I think my horn could save a life I'll use it.
And if it seems obviously imprudent to me that anyone should suggest that young or novice-to-the-Vineyard riders take to the state roads when there is a bike path instead. I'll honk here, too. If there is something wrong with the bike path for these young or novice-to-the-Vineyard riders, honk-honk, we should fix it. If there is insufficient signage to point these young or novice-to-the-Vineyard riders to this greater safety, honk-honk, we should make it happen.
Let's hope Mr. Vero's next letter is more complete, (or he sends it to your paper in February). And if Mr. Miller wishes, I'll gladly meet him at the next "avoidable" crash site, where a novice-to-the-Vineyard victim and I can be properly educated to assert our state highway riding rights "as mandated by law."
David Berlow
West Tisbury
Pot surveillance flights should stop
To the Editor:
Since I called The Times to object to the helicopter surveillance of my neighborhood, several people have let me know it's not just me it upsets. Besides affecting reputations, frightening children and causing pets to run away, it appears the government doesn't need permission to charge through our property to get the evil weed.
What happens when they do catch a grower? Are these cases prosecuted? I'm told they aren't. The courts can't be bothered. Claiming these flights are training flights is odd. What are they training for? I certainly didn't give them permission to practice over my property. Apparently the DEA/National Guard, etc. - really, who are these people? - receives funding for these flights and will use it as long as the dollars keep coming.
It has been suggested by some neighbors that anyone, anywhere on the island, who would like it to stop call Nell Coogan (508-693-3200) who will contact Representative Tim Madden to share our concerns.
If we just complain among ourselves it isn't going to stop.
K. Elgart
West Tisbury
It depends on what free is
To the Editor:
I enjoyed Brian Hefler's article "New Arrival: Community Tent" in the Ag Fair supplement in the August 20 Martha's Vineyard Times - and as suggested in the article, the non-profits under a single tent did, in fact, create good camaraderie.
I feel certain, however, that I did not use the phase "free voter registration" to suggest that such registration is without charge, which it is. The expression "free", in its historical context, means without a poll tax. Those of us of a certain age will reflect clearly on that unfortunate period in our country when the poll tax was used to disfranchise certain people from voter registration and voting.
The ratification of the 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1964 made the poll tax illegal as a prerequisite for voting in national elections. That same prohibition was later extended to all elections.
Deborah Medders
League of Women Voters
Martha's Vineyard
Support David's Law
To the Editor:
David's Law will put a five percent surcharge on all moving violations, creating money to put driver's Education into every school is Massachusetts. Not just the typical driver's education required by the Registry but added computer-based training, simulation and accident avoidance training.
We feel every student has the fundamental right to quality driver's education incorporated into the school curriculum. Whether students are rich or poor everyone needs driver's training. What class is more important? All students will drive but not all go to college. Driver's Education is the only course designed to keep teens alive and safe. Teens are dying and are getting seriously injured due to driver error and inexperience.
Please support David's Law. This law is working in Georgia (Joshua's Law) and teen deaths have already been reduced by 15 percent. The cost is too great to ever experience the death of your child. Help us please.
Please help support Senate Bill 1945 David's Law, by writing to the Co-Chairs of Transportation.
Chairman Steven A. Baddour, Room 134, State House, Boston, MA 02133; Chairman Joseph F. Wagner, Room 208, State House Boston, MA 02133; and cc. Representative Tim Madden, Room 167, State House, Boston, MA 02133.
Barbara and Tom Furino
MV Drive for Life
Edgartown
Our guy needs us still
To the Editor:
With all due appreciation for Tony Balis's kind advice to the president in last Friday's Gazette, I want everyone to be very clear that the Obama campaign on Martha's Vineyard was always - from beginning to end - totally a team effort. And the Blue Heron Farm living room isn't big enough to hold all of us.
From the first living room meeting on a wintry day in January until the last poll closed in California in November, this campaign galvanized year-round resident supporters in every Island town. Volunteers worked phone banks to persuade voters not only in Massachusetts, but also in Maine, New Hampshire, Ohio, New Mexico, and Florida. Many volunteers took weekend trips to New Hampshire to go door-to-door with campaign literature and persuasive scripts, and took additional and repeated road trips to key counties in Pennsylvania and Virginia. Island artists did what they do best, and some 70 of them created an amazing art auction at the Dragonfly Gallery, limiting the charge to $100 per piece of art, and raising more than $20,000. Many other volunteers did the grunt work of tracking the phone calls and the results, and reporting - town by town and night after night - to the Massachusetts campaign (OFAMA), so they could in turn report in to national, and we all could maintain the momentum.
In the end, we won the votes of every town on the Island, and voters went almost 5 to 1 for Obama-Biden over McCain-Palin. One of the great joys of having the presidential family visiting right now is that so many Vineyarders feel so connected to our president.
So while we do the Island thing and respect the Obamas' need for a true vacation, with real privacy, let's also continue to show our support by writing letters or making calls to those senators and congressmen and women who haven't yet gotten behind the president's health care reform plan, and urge them to work to:
Prevent insurance companies from refusing to cover pre-existing conditions;
Eliminate lifetime or yearly caps on what insurance companies will cover;
Let Americans keep their health care coverage even if they become sick, or lose a job (and particularly if they lose insurance along with the job).
Keep our private insurance or public Medicare if we like it, and allow those who don't have insurance or Medicare to try the public option and subsidy if they want to.
We worked hard to elect this man as our leader. He's been working hard for us. Now it's time to take a deep breath, reach out, and do it again. Our time to pass health care reform is now.
Paddy Moore
West Tisbury
Time to help
To the Editor:
On Memorial Day 1992, The Avenue of Flags was started. The first 50 flags were flown at The Oak Grove Cemetery in Vineyard Haven. Today, 17 years have gone by and now we have 450 flags.
Each flag represents a veteran living or deceased who proudly served our country in time of peace or war. The names are listed on our directory at the cemetery. We put up the flags three times a year: Memorial Day, July 4, and Veterans Day.
It's such a beautiful site, but now after 17 years it needs a major overhaul. Over the years we have replaced worn flags and done some work on the directory but more flags need to be replaced, the flower garden and the directory need to be maintained.
So we are asking for your help to keep this wonderful project going. If there is anyone that can help, please make your donation to: The American Legion Post 257, Avenue of Flags Fund, P.O. Box 257 Vineyard Haven, MA 02568.
P/C Ed Colligan
Chairman
Avenue of Flags
Irony?
To the Editor:
Does no one think it is ironic that in the Tuesday edition of the Vineyard Gazette, directly underneath a photo of the president of the United States in a golf cart there is a headline "Air Space Restrictions Disrupt Angel Flights After All"?
Frank Brunelle
Tisbury
Keep trash collection
To the Editor:
This letter was sent to the Oak Bluffs board of selectmen.
I understand you and your colleagues are considering terminating garbage collection service in our town.
While I agree we are in difficult economic times, I feel this service is very important to so many of us for whom disposing of our trash will be another added and unavoidable cost, especially since just last year we voted a permanent override of almost $400,000 for our schools which, as you know, adds yearly to our tax burden.
You also recently asked that we approve substantial salary increases for our employees, but now you have no money for collecting our trash.
According to Mr. Dutton, trash stickers cover all but about $110,000 of the cost of household garbage pickup. According to last year's town report, trash stickers brought the town $209,701. Additionally, in June, 2001, a permanent override was voted by the people of Oak Bluffs for the purpose of funding rubbish collection in the amount of $226,885, which adds that amount to the tax base every year forever. While money is fungible, and I suppose you may legally redirect funds intended for trash pickup to unrelated purposes, the people clearly voted the money to continue to fund trash pickup. Ethically, it should be used for that purpose, and we should be able to continue this service.
I therefore ask that you keep these points in mind as you discuss this issue, and thank you for your continued service to our town.
I also will encourage any interested citizens to voice their opinions to the selectmen before this vital service is abolished.
Beverly Burke
Oak Bluffs
Near shore first
To the Editor:
Wind is the fuel used to generate electricity in a wind turbine. Wind, just like coal, oil, and natural gas produces electricity by rotating a magnet inside a coil of copper wire. Nuclear power plants and hydro-electric power plants (water collected behind a dam) create electricity the same way, by simply rotating a magnet inside a coil of copper wire.
Wind speed is unique as fuel. Increased wind speed, in and of itself, will generate more and cheaper electricity from the same electrical power plant - the wind turbine. Size of the wind turbine blade is also very important. Larger blades can sweep more power from the wind, turning out more electricity than wind turbines with smaller blades.
Engineers that design wind turbines get excited about wind speed because they know the power available from wind is proportional to the cube of the speed of the wind. Wind blowing in your face at 20 mph at the beach will provide eight times the power for generating electricity as wind blowing at 10 mph.
Europe understands this. They have constructed more than 20 nearshore wind farms in the last eight years. The U.K. Carbon Trust has conducted and is about ready to announce the winner of a deep water (over 100 feet) innovative foundation design that, hopefully, will be able to compete with the cheaper electricity produced nearer the coastline in shallower water. The cost of running big cables long distances from deep water offshore wind farms is very high. The United States does not even have one nearshore wind farm permitted and watches Europe in hopes it can figure out a way to make cheap wind-generated electricity in deeper offshore waters so they won't have to look at a power plant in their back yard.
Wind economics 101: Invest first in the highest grade fuel (wind speed) sweeping the maximum amount of power (largest blade wind turbine) with the least costly foundation (shallowest water) closest to shore (shortest distance to run the cable) if the cheapest carbon-free, pollution-free electricity is desired. Invest next in the more costly deeper more distant offshore waters.
The draft Massachusetts Ocean Management Plan issued June 30, 2009, after factoring for avian and marine mammal habitats, other marine resources, view sheds and shipping routes has identified the technical generation capacity from offshore wind energy facilities at 6,270 MW within three miles off the coast. If fully developed this electricity could almost entirely replace all the electricity currently being generated in Massachusetts by burning coal, oil, and natural gas. This nearshore wind should be aggressively developed first.
Peter Cabana
Vineyard Haven
A shocker at the Fair
To the Editor:
First, let me say we love the Fair. We go every day. Our two daughters love the Fair, and my oldest, Lucia, talks about it all year long.
We enter chickens, eggs, and artwork. We love the animals, the rides, the food, the woodsman contest and the skillet throw. We love to go in the barn to look for ribbons on our entries and look at all the cool things in there.
So, we were in shock when we went to get our chickens on Sunday night to find one missing, and to hear a story of how someone put two of our baby chicks in her purse.
We want to thank the 12-year-old girl who saved our baby chicks from being stolen. She stopped her. Thank you for my two daughters who love their chicks.
Unbelievable, you say. Well, one of our hens was stolen along with three others out of the youth section. One of the chickens was awarded the special ribbon. All the chickens were white bantams.
Yes, we are shocked. We live on the Vineyard. Why steal chickens from kids? We'd like to think it was a misunderstanding. But the reality is someone took one of our hens out of a cage with three others in it. And of course, someone tried to take two baby chicks in her purse. Unbelievable.
We would like to thank the staff, who were wonderful. We will bring chickens again next year. For us, it is about letting people and kids see these farm animals up close. We love letting kids hold the baby chicks; their faces are precious. Our two daughters loved sharing them.
Also, thank you Scarlet for giving the girls another hen and rooster to go home with on Sunday.
The chickens are more than just chickens to them, they are pets with names. The one that was taken was Kate; the others in the cage where Jack, Sawyer and Ronnie. Lucia keeps asking me, "Are they going to give our chicken back?"
Heather, Joseph, Lucia and Nicola Capece
West Tisbury
She's all right now
To the Editor:
On August 17, as I was walking through the square in Oak Bluffs, I managed to trip and fall on my face. Since it was very hot, the square was filled with people, all of whom jumped up to help. It was pandemonium. I was pulled to my feet, sat on a bench, given ice, napkins and Kleenex.
I heard, "She's bleeding, I'm calling 911."
"No," I said. "I don't need an ambulance."
Then someone said call a friend. Okay, I gave them my friend Sara Craft's number, and in about five minutes both Sara and the ambulance showed up. I don't know who was more surprised, Trulayna [an EMT] or me. Despite my insistence that I was okay, she did a very professional neuro-check and was kind enough not to commit me when I didn't know the date (I never do). Jason [also an EMT] did his best to quietly urge me to take a ride to MVH. But being a seasoned EMS person, I am also a bad patient as I didn't follow their good advice despite knowing it was right.
I want to thank everyone - I wish I knew names. Everyone was professional and compassionate. Also, thanks to Sara, the Oak Bluffs police, Emergency Medical Services, the tourists - all who assisted me. I am fine, and I am proud of our EMS personnel, some of whom I helped train.
Oh, by the way - Martha's Vineyard has the best EMS in the world. I love you all.
Dagmar Dockery
Vineyard Haven
In Oak Bluffs, look at police costs
To the Editor:
I was disheartened to read that the town of Oak Bluffs is facing a $500,000 budget shortfall during the current fiscal year. While I was disheartened, I was not surprised that our national and state economic troubles found their way to our tiny town. The question now is what to do.
The present financial crisis presents Oak Bluffs with opportunity to reassess excessive expenditure on law enforcement. Currently, Oak Bluffs residents pay too much for law enforcement. Comparing the town of Oak Bluffs to the town of Nantucket gives some interesting insight into how much Oak Bluffs overpays for law enforcement. The two towns make good comparisons because both have ferry terminals, establishments that serve alcohol, and fluctuations between year-round and summer populations.
Comparing total expenditure of full-time personnel from both towns revealed that during 2008 Oak Bluffs spent $1,455,635. With a population of 3,731 that works out to $392 per person annualized. Nantucket during that same period spent $3,586,620. With a population of 10,379 that work out to $345 annual expenditure per person. Oak Bluffs spends $46 more per person for year-round police personnel than residents of Nantucket. In the aggregate, this number totals $172,551, nearly half the cost savings Oak Bluffs must find in order to balance the books for the current fiscal year.
Do we the people of Oak Bluffs need an additional $172,551.85 of police protection? I would argue no. During this past winter while driving at 5:15 am to catch the first ferry, I traveled past two speed traps within a mile of each other. I asked myself, do people really speed that much this early in the morning to warrant not one but two speed traps? Again I would argue no. So why are we paying for it?
The Oak Bluffs Police budget has grown from $899,924 in 1999 to $1,706,906 in 2008. This is an annual growth rate of 9.96 percent. Townspeople of Oak Bluffs, has your household income increased at the same pace over the last nine years? I know mine has not. If your income has, congratulations. Would you mind covering the additional cost the policy department is levying on the town budget?
Many in the town might want to make cuts in the school budget before looking into
