QSJ Poll: 5 council candidates support town meeting vote to defund chamber

Other news: Who is Cosmo Nims? Claremont owner in talks to acquire Asticou

MOUNT DESERT, June 10, 2023 - Five candidates for Town Council stated that if elected they would vote for the amendment passed by voters Tuesday night to strip $60,000 in cruise ship funding from the town’s annual grant to the Chamber of Commerce.

In an informal poll conducted by the QSJ, Charles Sidman, Nate Young, Maya Caines, Cosmo Nims and Kyle Shank said they would honor the citizens’ wish.

Sidman wrote in an email, “The citizens have spoken - of course I support and respect their decision. How not???”

Even Shank, who had a copious presence this week on social media bantering with the pro cruise ship crowd, wrote, “If I were elected, I would follow the will of the voters at Town Meeting and remove the $60,000 from the budget by reducing the line item associated with the Chamber of Commerce’s funding request for Wayfinding services to $0.”

The QSJ disclosed on May 26 that the chamber board voted to join APPLL, the business group suing the town over the citizens ordinance to cap cruise ship visitors at 1,000 a day. The chamber said it supported APPLL’s marketing campaign, “Bar Harbor for All,” which was widely criticized by residents for cynically appropriating language hard-won by protected groups in the civil rights movement.

Council Chair Val Peacock, incumbent Erin Cough and candidate for the two-year-term, Earl Brechlin, did not respond to the QSJ’s question. That was not surprising given their equivocal, expressed views on cruise ships in statements, actions and answers in candidate forums.

The QSJ did not ask Gary “Bo” Jennings, president of the chamber and a council candidate, because he would have had to recuse himself on the question.

Interim Town Manager Sarah Gilbert confirmed the question will be on the agenda at the new council’s first meeting June 20.

That means the question will not be subject to public discussion, as council rules allow public comment only on matters not on the agenda and not in litigation.

That hasn’t stopped aggrieved tourist businesses from attacking the amendment on social media with apocalyptic language, parroting the claim by the Association to Preserve and Protect Local Livelihooods Maine that citizens are out to completely purge cruise ships from Bar Harbor.

Even if that were true, the record visits at Acadia National Park belie the claim that cruise ship visitation was needed for a robust “shoulder” season as attendance figures the last two seasons for September and October confirmed cruise ships no longer were needed to ensure any economic boost and that their presence was for sheer avarice.

The social media comments evince a MAGA and Freedom Caucus sensibility with exaggerated and extreme views.

Some claimed that the chamber vote meant the end of tourism in Bar Harbor. The fact-free exchanges were imbued with entitlement and hubris.

In 1998, I watched France vanquish Brazil 3-0 in the World Cup at Geddy’s. I was a regular at Testa’s - when it was an Italian restaurant - Carmen Veranda, The Quarterdeck, which is now the West Street hotel, and Parkside before it became CherrySTONES. Occasionally I scored a stool at the West End Pharmacy’s counter and gobbled down a grilled cheese sandwich.

In 1998, Bar Harbor had 43 cruise ships visits by 13 ships, nine of which would have met the 1,000-visitor cap. I can’t recall ever seeing a for sale or for lease sign in front of any retail business on Mount Desert, Main, Cottage or West streets, even during the pandemic. Business was good.

By 2005 the number climbed to 80 ships. My son worked that summer as a barista at an internet cafe on Cottage Street and recalled the unrelenting queues on “cruise ship days.”

Ten years ago, after the West Street Hotel replaced the Quarterdeck, I basically stopped going into Bar Harbor, except to drop my bottles off at the Clynck station in the parking lot at Hannaford’s.

I would not fight the hordes after the businesses mentioned above strategically decided to cater exclusively to tourists at the expense of their regular customer base. I would not be the only one.

As a businessman I learned that a “I win, you lose” proposition carries nasty consequences for all. What did the businesses expect when they asked residents who foot two thirds of the tax burden in town to chill and take a big slice out of their quality of life so that only the businesses may benefit.

I learned from a brilliant mentor to “leave something on the table” and not to annihilate the other side with with a zero-sum game.

Legendary Hearst CEO Frank Bennecke wrote in his memoir, “It’s not currently fashionable to make the case for the high road. It looks longer, and old-fashioned, and it’s easy to conclude that while you’re climbing the ladder, burdened by your values, others are reaching the top faster. But if the stories in these pages suggest a broader truth, it’s exactly the opposite: The high road is quicker, with a better view along the way, and more satisfaction at the summit.

“In every interchange, in every transaction, it’s not just good manners it’s good business. You may want to play another day. Leave something on the table.”

The residents of Bar Harbor have been on the losing end of that equation for 25 years, as the APPLL businesses take more than their fair share and leave nothing but a town choking on itself.

When your only reference point in life is the cash register with no other ambient input, what do you expect?

Who is Cosmo Nims? Some Bar Harbor voters want to know

TOWN HILL - Leave the audience wanting more.

The famous quip from British theater resonated with some residents who viewed the Town Council candidates forum on May 10 sponsored by the League of Women Voters, and wanted to know:

Who is Cosmo Nims?

The 32-year-old is no stranger to a stage, having toured professionally as a bass player. The California native is one of three millennials running for Town Council Tuesday. The other two are Maya Caines and Brooke Blomquist, who has the toughest challenge as she is up against Charles Sidman and Earl Brechlin for the two-year vacancy.

As a relatively unknown, Nims was probably the biggest beneficiary of the forum.

Viewers took note of his relaxed style, poise, brevity, directness and a welcoming comportment.

The QSJ had coffee recently with Nims, joined by Caines, whom the QSJ has profiled several times.

Both got right to the point. There is no one on the council representing persons under 45 and no one representing the aggrieved class of renters for whom the housing crisis is exigent and personal.

“I can't remember in the Town Council when those groups had any representation.”

“The next town council, if they decide to make housing a priority, which I believe they absolutely should, they're going to have to take this as a step-by step-approach. Take a look at what we can do. Try to implement something. See what the impact would be and then see if it's a viable solution, but it's pretty obvious that we're going to have to be proactive, we're going to be aggressive. And we're going to have to try to at least look at things that could potentially work and float them and see how the community responds to see how this could actually affect housing on the island.”

Reminded of the initiatives the town already has taken, such as registration of all short-term vacation rentals, Nims said:

“I'm sure that they will say that they have done the work and they have looked into it, but I can say that as someone who is a renter, I have not felt the ramifications of those efforts … really in any capacity.”

The night before Nims spoke in our follow-up interview, another young person - a GenZer - was presenting to the Planning Board a proposal to expand employee housing into more of the town’s 40 zoning districts. The town relaxed its land use ordinance in 2020 to allow for more dormitory style employee housing and “shared accommodation” to ease the pressure on the year-round housing stock which became the primary source for seasonal workers.

Staff Planner Cali Martinez, who served on the Planning Board for a few months after graduation from College of the Atlantic in 2022, resigned to accept the town staff position. It was a keen recognition that if Bar Harbor were to solve its housing crisis, it must engage the most affected constituency.

Martinez envisioned an opportunity to open more zones to employee and shared housing where there are now only 14 zones that allow employee living quarters and eight that allow SAs.

Caines/Nims and Martinez are ships passing in the night, grunts in the trenches watching their fellow travelers getting picked off one by one by investor landlords and a lieutenant of officialdom building a defense brick by brick.

The advances are painstakingly slow, requiring years for results.

Caines and Nims don’t have years. Their battlefield is littered with cases of service workers and young families chased away by unaffordability at an alarming rate.

They need to see results soon.

Caines and Nims floated the idea of implementing an accelerating tier of fees for vacation rentals on owners with multiple rental units.

They pointed to a model which has existed in Portland since 2018 when that city enacted an extremely aggressive fee schedule where a non-owner-occupied landlord must pay an annual registration fee for the fifth short-term housing unit of $4,000 a year and for each additional unit after that.

That’s just one idea among many which must be considered by the Council members before they go home each night to the comfort of their homes with no distraction from the likes of renter agitators.

Nims is now an IT professional, having suspended his quest to make music his profession.

He shares a three-bedroom house in Town Hill with two other roommates, one of whom became a housing refugee when he was ousted by a landlord to turned his house into short-term rentals.

“The businesses in Bar Harbor and landowners in Bar Harbor have all the help that they need from the Town Council, Chamber of Commerce, other presiding boards ….

“I just want to be one voice that actually represents and stands up for the workers, for the year-round people that have trouble finding a place to live, for the people that actually generate the massive amount of income off of their labor.

“I want to be just a voice that represents their interests and their well being at the table, because right now, they don't have anyone at the table for them.

“And that's really, what I want to bring to the table is someone who has lived that experience, someone who is continuing to live that experience and who will have their best interests in mind.”

You may view and hear Nims’s remarks at the candidates forum at these time stamps:

10:36, 29:42, 38:39, 49:37, 57:29, 1:10:37, 1:23:00

New Claremont owner in talks to acquire Asticou Inn In Northeast Harbor

Reprinted from June 7, 2023

NORTHEAST HARBOR- The sun actually peeked through today on the porch at the Asticou Inn, which, employees say, is about to get the Tim Harrington makeover.

The new owner of the Claremont Hotel is in final negotiations to acquire the Asticou and complete the takeover of both of the island’s signature New England inns, according to half a dozen Asticou employees who spoke openly about the pending sale.

(The Asticou management did not respond to an email.)

They are excited about the new management but worry that the inn will be so gentrified as to remove all its historic character.

One staffer drove down to the Claremont for a peak which reaffirmed her concern.

The Claremont is now an upscale hotel in Anywhere, USA, with its Miami style cabanas by a pool which is swimmable only six weeks in the summer because this is Upper New England. Cabanas in Maine? Gone is one of the croquet courts which was home to many tournaments.

That resulted in the collapse of the “Claremont Classic” in 2021.

My dear friend, Larry Stettner, founder of the Common Good Soup Kitchen in Southwest Harbor, played in the tournament in 2016.

Tim Harrington acquired the Claremont in 2020 and reopened it in 2021 after spending $20 million, according to Maine Business.

He sold his nine restaurants and inns in the Kennebunkport area just before the pandemic.

Tim Harrington’s pursuit of profit in Kennebunkport was mocked by a band which actually produced an entire song (See below).

The pending purchase of the Asticou would be a trifecta for Harrington who purchased the former Colony Cottages in Hulls Cove. The property is now called Salt Cottages.

After purchasing the Claremont Hotel in Southwest Harbor in 2020, Harrington revamped the main property including a bar, a bakery, two restaurants as well as a swimming pool and spa.

He also owns the former Village Washtub building in Southwest Harbor which he uses for employee housing, hotel laundry and storage space.

Tribute: Norman Hansen

1951 - 2023

BASS HARBOR - Norman Hansen, AKA “Pops”, 71 passed away May 23, 2023, at his home. He was born June 13, 1951, in Irvington, N.J., the son of Harold N. and Ingrid (Knudsen) Hansen.

Norman married Jane Ellen Hinckley on September 19, 1981. He owned a Clog Shop in Bar Harbor, Vermont, and Massachusetts. He also owned a boot store in Ellsworth. They later built the Log Cabin Restaurant which they owned and operated for 22 years. Norman had his real estate license and was a broker in both Maine and Florida. He worked in management and did remodels of several convenient stores. He later owned and operated Hansen’s Outpost and Seaside Dairy Bar. Norman had served in the National Guard and received a master’s degree in Geology.

Norman loved Mt. Desert Island. He enjoyed going to the beaches and biking on the carriage paths. He loved the Atlantic Ocean where he boated and fished. He had hobbies of woodworking and vegetable gardening. Norman lived his life with purpose, and he did it with great love for his family.

He is survived by his wife of 42 years, Jane: sons Erik Hansen and wife Anna of Bar Harbor and Kris Hansen of Bass Harbor; three very special grandchildren Holden, Henri, and Porter; his faithful sidekick, his dog, Roxie. A special stepson Ian and his girlfriend Diana of Florida; sister-in-law Barbara and husband Steve of Clinton, ME; brother-in-law Guy and wife Sieske of Florida; two special nieces Jocelyn of Maine and Jennifer of Massachusetts; several nieces, nephews, aunts and cousins; A lifetime of employees that became family and many, dear friends.

A celebration of life will be planned for this summer.

Condolences may be expressed at www.jordanfernald.com