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Jim O’Connell's avatar

That is a very accurate take on the debacle with the apple.

Comparing the parking fee money is very telling. I see where 2000 cruisers disembarking for 4 hours leaving their vehicle (tender) idling, while parked for 8 hours in the $4.00/hr district could easily compare to parking a 1000 land base tourist cars for 8 hours, and leaving them running for that matter. A thousand(actually 900) parking spots at 4$ for 8 hrs =$32.00 x1000= $32,000 dollars. Since there are two to a car then each cruise passenger would pay 16.00 + the 5 buck fee the town charges. So to be fair to our land base tourists we should be demanding $21.00 per passenger. So a ship of 2000 disembarking passengers should pay $42,000. Keep in mind the shipping fuel they use in their vehicles has 100 times the harmful emissions as does a car. They may be polluting the downtown air more than all the moving traffic in Downtown Bar Harbor. To add insult to injury they are parking their idling vehicles right under a sign that says no idling and even having been warned they will not turn off their vehicle.

It would be interesting to see how much they undercut the lodging industry with their foreign floating Hotel. They don’t have to pay lodging taxes for one thing.

So why would you possibly want more than 1000 Pax Per day. To me personally 0 is the right number. Cranking out carcinogenic diesel fumes right next to and right at the center of town is more than I can take.

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Donna Karlson's avatar

Thank you Guy Dunphey for your excellent quantitative analysis , and thank you Lincoln Millstein for always keeping the citizenry informed even when the Town does their best to mute opposing voices to their favored one of Big Cruise. The only way citizens can vote thoughtfully is with accurate, complete information, not biased propaganda. This is the core of an authentic democracy.

That said, I am going to throw my carefully avoided parking fees into the discussion of from my recent visit to Bar Harbor. My husband , Art Greif. and I were long time residents here, and our life on this magical Island ended with his tragic death. We were both strong proponents of a small to scale robust cruise ship industry in Bar Harbor through the endless campaigns of the Town and Chamber to attempt to build the almost half mile mega pier, and failed Bar Harbor Port Authority to mention a few. Of course we were vilified by the Town and Chamber like Charlie Sidman, too, though the vilification machine is so much nastier and vulgar now.

So, the only blight on my recent visit to my beloved Bar Harbor , Island, and Park was the medium sized cruise ships. I picked a room with that incredible view of Frenchman’s Bay and the Islands from my balcony. Sunrises were stunning. The days that a cruise ship was (supposedly hidden in Anchorage B ) anchored, were destroyed by the sight of a floating Clorox bottle topped by the polluting plume of smoke .

One morning the nauseating smell of burning waste wafted up. I had to close the balcony door.

I do not think I am only one visitor whining. After countless years of hiking ,kayaking , and cycling in this Town, Park, and Island, and talking with hundreds of visitors, they do come for our beautiful views and a clean environment, not a cluster of ugly white behemoths spewing pollution.

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