Gosh. I am so grateful to you all who make our local government a priority. And all your work to push back against corruption. ThankYou for your dedication and your diligence. And fortitude.
All successive Town Councils had to do was heed the warnings that the increase in cruise ship tourism was not healthy for Bar Harbor.
Failing that, all they had to do was enforce the Citizens Initiative. What a mess they've made of it. Including contributing to the presumption of unmitigated entitlement by APPL and the embrace of lawlessness by OPL.
A lesson in how ethical bankruptcy can bankrupt a town.
Thank you again for your detailed coverage of this cruise ship debacle. I was not surprised to learn that the town had paid out a consultant fee of $5,000 to a COA instructor with dubious qualifications. Many years ago I worked for the Feds in what was then the domestic equivalent of the Peace Corp. Part of our training at St. Edwards University in Austin Texas involved learning how to research and evaluate the political/economic powers controlling local political affairs. Some years later when I moved to Bar Harbor those skills proved useful in assessing the various centers of power and influence in the town. It didn't take long to sense that College of The Atlantic was destined to play a major role in those affairs. Sure enough as nearly 50 years have rolled by COA has time and again been involved in local affairs. Among other things students, ex students, and college employees have served on a variety of boards and study groups as well as the Town Council...in fact the present chairperson of the Town Council is an ex student from COA. As previously detailed in the Quietside Journal COA President Collins recently weighed in on the cruise ship battle in support of the pro cruise ship side. An odd alignment for the president of a college giving a degree in Human Ecology given the hideous pollution that is created by these mammoth ships. Odd that is until one considers the long mutually beneficial relationship between COA and...drum roll please...Ocean Properties. Sadly COA's involvement in Bar Harbor politics has largely weighed in on the side of business interests while it has at the same time profited handsomely via a succession of "consultant" roles. In the early 1990s I was a member of the town's Harbor Committee. In that role I was asked to research the towns marine resources and associated affairs under the supervision of an ex COA student who was among those organizing and directing the various sub committees drafting the state required Comprehensive Plan. One of our meetings was attended by a representative of the Maine state planning office. When town zoning matters came up the ex COA student excitedly announced that the town had hired COA to create a GIS map of the town. I will never forget the reaction of the state planning official. "I shouldn't say this," she said,” but our past experience has been that working with COA has been like dumping money into a Black Hole from which nothing ever came out." Eventually I drafted a lengthy report on marine resources which detailed such things as clam flat utilization and regulation, overboard sewage discharge by the town, COA, and 17 private homes along the shore, regulation of the harbor itself, etc. My completed report won recognition from the state planning office as being one of the most thorough submitted state wide but I eventually resigned from the committee in protest. Although mandated by state regulations none of the required 3 public hearings had been held despite my having repeatedly requested them in communications with the ex COA student heading up the overall comprehensive plan committee. In my letter of resignation I protested this lack of public input as being indicative of a "Not to worry please we'll take care of this." attitude frighteningly similar to the current town council's handling of the cruise ship affair. I'll close by suggesting you request a full report of town monies paid to COA over the past 50 years. Heck I'll even donate $50 towards paying the $200 town clerk's fee. The report should prove very interesting reading indeed.
Thanks so much, Winston Shaw, for your background information on COA. My jaw dropped when I heard that COA charges this small town of 5,000 + residents $5,000 for a moderator who could not even fairly allow all residents the right to ask questions at their own town’s meeting. I am too lazy to look up what COA gives the town for a Payment in Lieu of Taxes, but it is usually a paltry amount. You are right, a report of the total amount paid to COA needs to be done. It should include parttime staff as well. Ron Beard, a chronic moderator of Bar Harbor affairs, is/was on the COA staff. Your work and report on marine resources is appreciated , and hopefully was utilized. The only thing to do is vote NO to Chapter 50 , Article 4, and clean up not only the air from these polluting mega ships, but get some fresh air into the heads of the Town Council .
Thank you for your thank you and you are welcome. As to the "utilization" of my extensive report of marine resources and sewer systems overboard discharges I'm afraid it was placed in a file cabinet and forgotten. Just a few years later I was talking to a newly appointed harbor master who opined that we should "do a study of marine resources." When I replied that I'd already done just that and compiled something in excess of 40,000 words worth of related documents he replied that he had never seen it. If memory serves I also saw a recent piece in the Islander where a study of marine resources was suggested. As to the issue of non profit tax avoidance I think it fair to say that Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island may lead the state and perhaps the nation in per capita non profits many of which were generated by...drum roll please...College of The Atlantic. While granting "non profits" a boost via tax shelter may seem at first glance to be a good idea I am afraid it has gotten totally out of control, both locally and nationally. As an example of this I will recount a conversation I had with 2 parents who were clients on my charter boat a few years ago. We'd been discussing the challenges of raising children in today's world and the parents were proud to report that their 2 children had turned out well. Their son, they said, had graduated from law school and was employed by a prestigious law firm. Their daughter had just completed her third year of college. When I asked what she had majored in their answer was "non profits." Thinking that they were kidding I laughed and replied, "No seriously what is her major?" The father replied by saying, "I am being serious "non profits" are the wave of the future!" To which I replied, "When "non profits" become the wave of the future the future doesn't look very bright." Call me cynical but in my experience "non profits" have largely become employment agencies for the children of the infamous 1 percenters. Having founded The Coastal Maine Bald Eagle Project here in Bar Harbor in the 1980s I funded my research and advocacy efforts for the first 18 years by working as a stock clerk at Hannafords. Friends kept urging me to apply for "non profit" status and I decided to explore that option via purchasing a copy of The Environmental Grant Index. The current issue of which sold for something like $400, way more than I could afford. Happily I was able to talk the publisher into selling me an out of date copy for $80. When the book arrived it barely fit in my mailbox it was so large. Surely, I thought, among these thousands of grants I should be able to find a funding source. Alas as I paged through the book funder after funder stated that they were not interested in funding "advocacy" groups. Given that my letterhead included the phrase "Long Term Advocacy for Coastal Maine's Bald Eagles" things didn't look good. Eventually I contacted Gary Friedman, a well know local facilitator of "non profits." Gary appeared impressed by what I had accomplished and he generously offered to provide me with some free advice should I choose to go the "non profit" route. He added, however, that if I were to become a non profit the bulk of my time would be spent shuffling paperwork and not working with bald eagles. I wound up opting for a "for profit" option and started a charter boat company that funded my bald eagle research and advocacy efforts for 25 years."Non profits," it appeared, were not in the wave of my future...
A huge thanks to Ellen Dohmen for clarifying and edifying for all of us that Ocean Properties lawyers may be just blowing smoke to further intimidate the timid Town Manager and Town Council into complete compliance with their demands to run their cruise ship industry as they damn well please. As a private citizen, Ellen has been a tour de force for standing up for what is just and right, and she and her husband have been such generous donors to many important causes . And thank you ,Lincoln, for your clear and cogent reporting and analysis of this now out of control and expensive disaster that the Town manager and Council have created for the residents and property tax payers. The only way to start to extricate Bar Harbor from this disaster is to vote NO on this ludicrous Chapter 50 proposed by the Town and Big Cruise and Ocean Properties. As Ellen points out, a good reason to vote NO is simply to reject bringing these polluting ships into BH and the Park or anywhere.
For anyone who did not have a chance to read this article from Contra Attaque, Sept 25, 2024:
"Marseille: Kayak flotilla blocks cruise ships
News, Sep 26th
Against mass tourism, pollution and capitalism, piracy is never over
~ from Contre Attaque ~
On Saturday, September 21, 12 kayaks blocked access to the port of Marseille; three cruise ships and a ferry were blocked for hours by the flotilla, off the southern French coast.
Around 7am, the AIDAstella ship had to turn around, as the kayaks had positioned themselves to prevent it from entering the port. It is a ship with a capacity of two thousand people. Two other cruise ships, the MSC World Europa, the sixth largest cruise ship in the world with more than 2,600 cabins, six thousand passengers, thirteen restaurants and a shopping centre, and the Costa Smeralda, were also due to dock. The ships had to wait offshore, as did a ferry from Corsica.
The 21 environmentalists from Extinction Rebellion and the “Stop Cruises” collective, equipped with life jackets, unfurled banners from their small boats with the slogans “it smells like gas” and “we are very angry with MSC Cruises”. All the pirates were unfortunately arrested by the police at the end of the action.
The engines of such large ships alone can burn up to 250,000 litres of fuel per day. “These ships burn as much fuel as entire cities. They burn much more energy than container ships and, even when they burn low-sulphur fuel, it is 100 times worse than road diesel”, explained one captain in an investigation by the British newspaper The Guardian on cruise ships. Not to mention the road and cargo traffic needed to supply such floating cities.
According to a study by the NGO Transport and Environment, cruise ships sailing in European waters in 2022 will have emitted more than 8 million tonnes of CO2, the equivalent of 50,000 Paris-New York flights.
On July 6, a squad of 18 kayaks organized by the collectives “Stop Croisières BZH” and “Extinction Rebellion” implemented a sea barrier to block a cruise ship Concarneau, in Finistère. The liner, a sea monster measuring 206 meters long and able to accommodate almost 1,200 people – 700 passengers and 447 crew members – answering to the name of Seven Seas Voyager, had to cancel its stopover in Concarneau.
These cruise ships are an integral part of the mass tourism economy, polluting the air of coastal cities, generating real estate speculation, damaging the coasts and destroying local ways of life. In 2021, even the very touristy Venice was forced to ban cruises from its port. The city of Amsterdam followed suit shortly after.
In 2022, the port of Marseille welcomed 1.5 million cruise passengers and 2.5 million in 2023. In France’s second city, anger is growing against these giants of the seas that pollute the air for the sole profit of the tourism industry."
I think Charlie Sidman is a man among men and has made a positive difference. I've donated to his defense fund but that said there''s a lot of ways to look at this. BH/MDI is a seasonal fun house of cracked mirrors , I am under the impression that Chapter 50's disembarkation numbers are subject to review after 2 years and any change must be put in front of the voters. Also, in agreeing to Chapter 50 the industry needs to buy licenses and adhere to its terms many of which benefit the town including giving up the right to sue. With 2024's 15% property tax hike and the fancy values placed on BH/MDI real estate ongoing litigation is exponentially more unaffordable and sees Bar Harbor property owners cash strapped and this mixed blessing sees many selling and leaving whether they want to or not. This industry are wanton polluters and in this allegedly environmentally enlightened age where the climate is crashing all around us and because of us, they manage to exist and flourish do you suppose it has something to do with paying down their $70 billion plus debt. They've worn out their welcome iin a dozen places but once they dip their toes in local waters they're virtually impossible to get rid of. I think Chapter 50 makes them agree to restrictions they're not thrilled with, a chink in their armor and is the starting line for future activists and councils to gain meaningful concessions. The truth is a thousand all at once is a thousand too many and 3 times that amount is only marginally worse. Either keeps residents and visitors out of the downtown.
Three days ago I was on the phone with my cousin who was the captain of a 1,000’ container ship for 30 years. I mentioned the cruise ship controversy in Bar Harbor and added that I'd recently watched a video on YouTube of the launching of a $900,000,000 Norwegian Cruise Lines ship with a passenger capacity of 3,850! My cousin laughed and said there are already cruise ships out there that can hold 6,000 and there are even larger ones in the planning stage. How long will it be, I wonder, before Ocean Properties starts whining that a 3,200 passenger limit will essentially ban all cruise ships from Bar Harbor? The bell continues to toll Bar Harbor, best act before it's too late. Vote No on 4 (Chapter 50!)
It was removed again when I tried reposting it with a different introduction. I’ve asked for a review. This is the first time I’ve experienced this though I have read of several others who have had FB remove their informational posts saying they were spam and an attempt to get ”clicks”. 🙄
Gosh. I am so grateful to you all who make our local government a priority. And all your work to push back against corruption. ThankYou for your dedication and your diligence. And fortitude.
All successive Town Councils had to do was heed the warnings that the increase in cruise ship tourism was not healthy for Bar Harbor.
Failing that, all they had to do was enforce the Citizens Initiative. What a mess they've made of it. Including contributing to the presumption of unmitigated entitlement by APPL and the embrace of lawlessness by OPL.
A lesson in how ethical bankruptcy can bankrupt a town.
Thank you again for your detailed coverage of this cruise ship debacle. I was not surprised to learn that the town had paid out a consultant fee of $5,000 to a COA instructor with dubious qualifications. Many years ago I worked for the Feds in what was then the domestic equivalent of the Peace Corp. Part of our training at St. Edwards University in Austin Texas involved learning how to research and evaluate the political/economic powers controlling local political affairs. Some years later when I moved to Bar Harbor those skills proved useful in assessing the various centers of power and influence in the town. It didn't take long to sense that College of The Atlantic was destined to play a major role in those affairs. Sure enough as nearly 50 years have rolled by COA has time and again been involved in local affairs. Among other things students, ex students, and college employees have served on a variety of boards and study groups as well as the Town Council...in fact the present chairperson of the Town Council is an ex student from COA. As previously detailed in the Quietside Journal COA President Collins recently weighed in on the cruise ship battle in support of the pro cruise ship side. An odd alignment for the president of a college giving a degree in Human Ecology given the hideous pollution that is created by these mammoth ships. Odd that is until one considers the long mutually beneficial relationship between COA and...drum roll please...Ocean Properties. Sadly COA's involvement in Bar Harbor politics has largely weighed in on the side of business interests while it has at the same time profited handsomely via a succession of "consultant" roles. In the early 1990s I was a member of the town's Harbor Committee. In that role I was asked to research the towns marine resources and associated affairs under the supervision of an ex COA student who was among those organizing and directing the various sub committees drafting the state required Comprehensive Plan. One of our meetings was attended by a representative of the Maine state planning office. When town zoning matters came up the ex COA student excitedly announced that the town had hired COA to create a GIS map of the town. I will never forget the reaction of the state planning official. "I shouldn't say this," she said,” but our past experience has been that working with COA has been like dumping money into a Black Hole from which nothing ever came out." Eventually I drafted a lengthy report on marine resources which detailed such things as clam flat utilization and regulation, overboard sewage discharge by the town, COA, and 17 private homes along the shore, regulation of the harbor itself, etc. My completed report won recognition from the state planning office as being one of the most thorough submitted state wide but I eventually resigned from the committee in protest. Although mandated by state regulations none of the required 3 public hearings had been held despite my having repeatedly requested them in communications with the ex COA student heading up the overall comprehensive plan committee. In my letter of resignation I protested this lack of public input as being indicative of a "Not to worry please we'll take care of this." attitude frighteningly similar to the current town council's handling of the cruise ship affair. I'll close by suggesting you request a full report of town monies paid to COA over the past 50 years. Heck I'll even donate $50 towards paying the $200 town clerk's fee. The report should prove very interesting reading indeed.
Thanks so much, Winston Shaw, for your background information on COA. My jaw dropped when I heard that COA charges this small town of 5,000 + residents $5,000 for a moderator who could not even fairly allow all residents the right to ask questions at their own town’s meeting. I am too lazy to look up what COA gives the town for a Payment in Lieu of Taxes, but it is usually a paltry amount. You are right, a report of the total amount paid to COA needs to be done. It should include parttime staff as well. Ron Beard, a chronic moderator of Bar Harbor affairs, is/was on the COA staff. Your work and report on marine resources is appreciated , and hopefully was utilized. The only thing to do is vote NO to Chapter 50 , Article 4, and clean up not only the air from these polluting mega ships, but get some fresh air into the heads of the Town Council .
Thank you for your thank you and you are welcome. As to the "utilization" of my extensive report of marine resources and sewer systems overboard discharges I'm afraid it was placed in a file cabinet and forgotten. Just a few years later I was talking to a newly appointed harbor master who opined that we should "do a study of marine resources." When I replied that I'd already done just that and compiled something in excess of 40,000 words worth of related documents he replied that he had never seen it. If memory serves I also saw a recent piece in the Islander where a study of marine resources was suggested. As to the issue of non profit tax avoidance I think it fair to say that Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island may lead the state and perhaps the nation in per capita non profits many of which were generated by...drum roll please...College of The Atlantic. While granting "non profits" a boost via tax shelter may seem at first glance to be a good idea I am afraid it has gotten totally out of control, both locally and nationally. As an example of this I will recount a conversation I had with 2 parents who were clients on my charter boat a few years ago. We'd been discussing the challenges of raising children in today's world and the parents were proud to report that their 2 children had turned out well. Their son, they said, had graduated from law school and was employed by a prestigious law firm. Their daughter had just completed her third year of college. When I asked what she had majored in their answer was "non profits." Thinking that they were kidding I laughed and replied, "No seriously what is her major?" The father replied by saying, "I am being serious "non profits" are the wave of the future!" To which I replied, "When "non profits" become the wave of the future the future doesn't look very bright." Call me cynical but in my experience "non profits" have largely become employment agencies for the children of the infamous 1 percenters. Having founded The Coastal Maine Bald Eagle Project here in Bar Harbor in the 1980s I funded my research and advocacy efforts for the first 18 years by working as a stock clerk at Hannafords. Friends kept urging me to apply for "non profit" status and I decided to explore that option via purchasing a copy of The Environmental Grant Index. The current issue of which sold for something like $400, way more than I could afford. Happily I was able to talk the publisher into selling me an out of date copy for $80. When the book arrived it barely fit in my mailbox it was so large. Surely, I thought, among these thousands of grants I should be able to find a funding source. Alas as I paged through the book funder after funder stated that they were not interested in funding "advocacy" groups. Given that my letterhead included the phrase "Long Term Advocacy for Coastal Maine's Bald Eagles" things didn't look good. Eventually I contacted Gary Friedman, a well know local facilitator of "non profits." Gary appeared impressed by what I had accomplished and he generously offered to provide me with some free advice should I choose to go the "non profit" route. He added, however, that if I were to become a non profit the bulk of my time would be spent shuffling paperwork and not working with bald eagles. I wound up opting for a "for profit" option and started a charter boat company that funded my bald eagle research and advocacy efforts for 25 years."Non profits," it appeared, were not in the wave of my future...
A huge thanks to Ellen Dohmen for clarifying and edifying for all of us that Ocean Properties lawyers may be just blowing smoke to further intimidate the timid Town Manager and Town Council into complete compliance with their demands to run their cruise ship industry as they damn well please. As a private citizen, Ellen has been a tour de force for standing up for what is just and right, and she and her husband have been such generous donors to many important causes . And thank you ,Lincoln, for your clear and cogent reporting and analysis of this now out of control and expensive disaster that the Town manager and Council have created for the residents and property tax payers. The only way to start to extricate Bar Harbor from this disaster is to vote NO on this ludicrous Chapter 50 proposed by the Town and Big Cruise and Ocean Properties. As Ellen points out, a good reason to vote NO is simply to reject bringing these polluting ships into BH and the Park or anywhere.
For anyone who did not have a chance to read this article from Contra Attaque, Sept 25, 2024:
"Marseille: Kayak flotilla blocks cruise ships
News, Sep 26th
Against mass tourism, pollution and capitalism, piracy is never over
~ from Contre Attaque ~
On Saturday, September 21, 12 kayaks blocked access to the port of Marseille; three cruise ships and a ferry were blocked for hours by the flotilla, off the southern French coast.
Around 7am, the AIDAstella ship had to turn around, as the kayaks had positioned themselves to prevent it from entering the port. It is a ship with a capacity of two thousand people. Two other cruise ships, the MSC World Europa, the sixth largest cruise ship in the world with more than 2,600 cabins, six thousand passengers, thirteen restaurants and a shopping centre, and the Costa Smeralda, were also due to dock. The ships had to wait offshore, as did a ferry from Corsica.
The 21 environmentalists from Extinction Rebellion and the “Stop Cruises” collective, equipped with life jackets, unfurled banners from their small boats with the slogans “it smells like gas” and “we are very angry with MSC Cruises”. All the pirates were unfortunately arrested by the police at the end of the action.
The engines of such large ships alone can burn up to 250,000 litres of fuel per day. “These ships burn as much fuel as entire cities. They burn much more energy than container ships and, even when they burn low-sulphur fuel, it is 100 times worse than road diesel”, explained one captain in an investigation by the British newspaper The Guardian on cruise ships. Not to mention the road and cargo traffic needed to supply such floating cities.
According to a study by the NGO Transport and Environment, cruise ships sailing in European waters in 2022 will have emitted more than 8 million tonnes of CO2, the equivalent of 50,000 Paris-New York flights.
On July 6, a squad of 18 kayaks organized by the collectives “Stop Croisières BZH” and “Extinction Rebellion” implemented a sea barrier to block a cruise ship Concarneau, in Finistère. The liner, a sea monster measuring 206 meters long and able to accommodate almost 1,200 people – 700 passengers and 447 crew members – answering to the name of Seven Seas Voyager, had to cancel its stopover in Concarneau.
These cruise ships are an integral part of the mass tourism economy, polluting the air of coastal cities, generating real estate speculation, damaging the coasts and destroying local ways of life. In 2021, even the very touristy Venice was forced to ban cruises from its port. The city of Amsterdam followed suit shortly after.
In 2022, the port of Marseille welcomed 1.5 million cruise passengers and 2.5 million in 2023. In France’s second city, anger is growing against these giants of the seas that pollute the air for the sole profit of the tourism industry."
I say, GREAT IDEA!!
Thanks for posting this. Those guys don’t mess around.
Cruise ships burn 1000ppm which is 66 times the 15ppm road diesel but 100 times the auto reg gasoline.
I think Charlie Sidman is a man among men and has made a positive difference. I've donated to his defense fund but that said there''s a lot of ways to look at this. BH/MDI is a seasonal fun house of cracked mirrors , I am under the impression that Chapter 50's disembarkation numbers are subject to review after 2 years and any change must be put in front of the voters. Also, in agreeing to Chapter 50 the industry needs to buy licenses and adhere to its terms many of which benefit the town including giving up the right to sue. With 2024's 15% property tax hike and the fancy values placed on BH/MDI real estate ongoing litigation is exponentially more unaffordable and sees Bar Harbor property owners cash strapped and this mixed blessing sees many selling and leaving whether they want to or not. This industry are wanton polluters and in this allegedly environmentally enlightened age where the climate is crashing all around us and because of us, they manage to exist and flourish do you suppose it has something to do with paying down their $70 billion plus debt. They've worn out their welcome iin a dozen places but once they dip their toes in local waters they're virtually impossible to get rid of. I think Chapter 50 makes them agree to restrictions they're not thrilled with, a chink in their armor and is the starting line for future activists and councils to gain meaningful concessions. The truth is a thousand all at once is a thousand too many and 3 times that amount is only marginally worse. Either keeps residents and visitors out of the downtown.
Three days ago I was on the phone with my cousin who was the captain of a 1,000’ container ship for 30 years. I mentioned the cruise ship controversy in Bar Harbor and added that I'd recently watched a video on YouTube of the launching of a $900,000,000 Norwegian Cruise Lines ship with a passenger capacity of 3,850! My cousin laughed and said there are already cruise ships out there that can hold 6,000 and there are even larger ones in the planning stage. How long will it be, I wonder, before Ocean Properties starts whining that a 3,200 passenger limit will essentially ban all cruise ships from Bar Harbor? The bell continues to toll Bar Harbor, best act before it's too late. Vote No on 4 (Chapter 50!)
This got removed from my FB page just now. I’d bet money some corporate BH bully reported it as Spam. The fuckery of folks these days is appalling.
It was removed again when I tried reposting it with a different introduction. I’ve asked for a review. This is the first time I’ve experienced this though I have read of several others who have had FB remove their informational posts saying they were spam and an attempt to get ”clicks”. 🙄