BAR HARBOR, June 22, 2024 - As a public service I am reprinting this letter by citizen Guy Dunphey, who emailed it last week to members of the Town Council, Planning Board and the town manager. I fear it would be lost in the current information lockdown the new town manager has imposed. Letters of this quality should not be buried in the town’s circular files where they go to die.
They foul the air, they dump massive amounts of sewage in the ocean, they pay minimal taxes to foreign countries while avoiding US tax, the passengers clog our town while aimlessly wandering around trying to find the best Tshirt deals and they strain our tiny sewage treatment plant. Am I missing anything?
So much for the democratic process. The vote has been set aside and the Bar Harbor town council will attempt to implement a policy that affects all MDI residents and with any kind of negotiating skill nobody will be thrilled. The only acceptable outcome will end litigation. Then it’s back to business with a new usual.
The environment is the elephant not in the room and unlikely to enter because it’s way too weighty for today’s mortals to consider depriving themselves for people they’ll never know. Thankfully those that came before us took a longer view. That aside, the unanswered question is how long before x amount of ships over x amount of years, burning x amount of the dirtiest diesel fuel available, idling 24/7 in Frenchman Bay, will compromise the quality of our comparatively pristine environment and jeopardize the outdoor lifestyle that is the lifeblood of MDI. The only remedy worthy of respect is shore power, a $20 million investment that reduces emissions by 80%. That sounds like a lot of money but to an industry able to thrive with $59 billion+ in debt service, and that builds billion dollar disposable hotels, that’s virtual chump change. Locally we’re all in this together and it behooves all parties to examine the implementation of shore power infrastructure with a mindset that it’s a necessity ..
Mr. Dunphey reminds us of the important quality of life concerns of town residents, which led to approving the 1,000 cap on daily cruise ship disembarkations.
The Town Council has raised concerns of budget funding losses due to the cap, but Mr. Dunphey makes a good point that there is an imbalance in how motor vehicle passengers pay more than cruise ship passengers to visit the town, while cruise ship visitors have more adverse impacts on the town (ship pollution on the environment, passengers and buses on the infrastructure and their concentrated congestion on residents' quality of life).
While visitors arriving by motor vehicle do not all at once swamp the streets and sidewalks, the town acted to collect parking fees from these visitors and recently increased these fees (this has not discouraged people from coming as every parking space is eagerly sought out and filled). The parking fees help offset the impact of these visitors on the town's infrastructure. Shouldn't the town be collecting at least comparable fees from cruise ship visitors?
Budget issues aside, shouldn't the Town Council be listening to the voice of the residents? Residents understand that the town is a popular vacation destination, they are not discouraging tourists or seeking to terminate cruise ships from arriving, but they are asking for a reasonable and sustainable balance between residents' quality of life and commercial interests.
Those mega-cruise ships here in the Northeast depart from the Port Liberty Cruise Terminal in Bayonne, NJ, a massive deep-water pier some two miles long originally built by the Army for loading munitions ships during the War. The ships in turn draw from the mega-market of metro New York City, and are quite popular. The itinerary will include a port stop in Maine, so the real question is "where." Although Portland could handle it, Portland has become just another big city like Providence, nothing special or quaint. That leaves Rockland and Bar Harbor.
Of the two, Rockland can handle mega-ships readily, as the working waterfront has lots of places right at downtown where transfer launches can land; no shuttle buses required. And as a much larger town, it can absorb 2,000 walking visitors without strain. It is currently the sole New England destination for MeinSchiff cruise ships, 100,000-ton vessels which carry 2,534 passengers. These ships use German as the sole on-board working language and cater to German-speaking tourists; I have seen these ships disembark with literally none of the travellers with even a rudimentary knowledge of English. Yet Rockland absorbs them nicely, MeinSchiff remains welcome, and is the sole New England visit port. From Rockland, the ships sail for Halifax, then Quebec City.
Would Maine be better off if these mega-ships were ported into Rockland and Portland, leaving Bar Harbor with much smaller ships, those of 500 passengers and below? But of course. It would be my advocacy position were I hired as Town Manager, and I again re-post my offer to take the job for half the current pay scale, with no contract, Council can fire me without penalty any time they choose, and I refuse some fancy severance package as a matter of personal principle. As the most qualified manager candidate out there, I fully expect to never be asked to interview. My best wishes to the townsfolk in their continuing disaster saga. Oh, well.
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.
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.
They foul the air, they dump massive amounts of sewage in the ocean, they pay minimal taxes to foreign countries while avoiding US tax, the passengers clog our town while aimlessly wandering around trying to find the best Tshirt deals and they strain our tiny sewage treatment plant. Am I missing anything?
So much for the democratic process. The vote has been set aside and the Bar Harbor town council will attempt to implement a policy that affects all MDI residents and with any kind of negotiating skill nobody will be thrilled. The only acceptable outcome will end litigation. Then it’s back to business with a new usual.
The environment is the elephant not in the room and unlikely to enter because it’s way too weighty for today’s mortals to consider depriving themselves for people they’ll never know. Thankfully those that came before us took a longer view. That aside, the unanswered question is how long before x amount of ships over x amount of years, burning x amount of the dirtiest diesel fuel available, idling 24/7 in Frenchman Bay, will compromise the quality of our comparatively pristine environment and jeopardize the outdoor lifestyle that is the lifeblood of MDI. The only remedy worthy of respect is shore power, a $20 million investment that reduces emissions by 80%. That sounds like a lot of money but to an industry able to thrive with $59 billion+ in debt service, and that builds billion dollar disposable hotels, that’s virtual chump change. Locally we’re all in this together and it behooves all parties to examine the implementation of shore power infrastructure with a mindset that it’s a necessity ..
Mr. Dunphey reminds us of the important quality of life concerns of town residents, which led to approving the 1,000 cap on daily cruise ship disembarkations.
The Town Council has raised concerns of budget funding losses due to the cap, but Mr. Dunphey makes a good point that there is an imbalance in how motor vehicle passengers pay more than cruise ship passengers to visit the town, while cruise ship visitors have more adverse impacts on the town (ship pollution on the environment, passengers and buses on the infrastructure and their concentrated congestion on residents' quality of life).
While visitors arriving by motor vehicle do not all at once swamp the streets and sidewalks, the town acted to collect parking fees from these visitors and recently increased these fees (this has not discouraged people from coming as every parking space is eagerly sought out and filled). The parking fees help offset the impact of these visitors on the town's infrastructure. Shouldn't the town be collecting at least comparable fees from cruise ship visitors?
Budget issues aside, shouldn't the Town Council be listening to the voice of the residents? Residents understand that the town is a popular vacation destination, they are not discouraging tourists or seeking to terminate cruise ships from arriving, but they are asking for a reasonable and sustainable balance between residents' quality of life and commercial interests.
Those mega-cruise ships here in the Northeast depart from the Port Liberty Cruise Terminal in Bayonne, NJ, a massive deep-water pier some two miles long originally built by the Army for loading munitions ships during the War. The ships in turn draw from the mega-market of metro New York City, and are quite popular. The itinerary will include a port stop in Maine, so the real question is "where." Although Portland could handle it, Portland has become just another big city like Providence, nothing special or quaint. That leaves Rockland and Bar Harbor.
Of the two, Rockland can handle mega-ships readily, as the working waterfront has lots of places right at downtown where transfer launches can land; no shuttle buses required. And as a much larger town, it can absorb 2,000 walking visitors without strain. It is currently the sole New England destination for MeinSchiff cruise ships, 100,000-ton vessels which carry 2,534 passengers. These ships use German as the sole on-board working language and cater to German-speaking tourists; I have seen these ships disembark with literally none of the travellers with even a rudimentary knowledge of English. Yet Rockland absorbs them nicely, MeinSchiff remains welcome, and is the sole New England visit port. From Rockland, the ships sail for Halifax, then Quebec City.
Would Maine be better off if these mega-ships were ported into Rockland and Portland, leaving Bar Harbor with much smaller ships, those of 500 passengers and below? But of course. It would be my advocacy position were I hired as Town Manager, and I again re-post my offer to take the job for half the current pay scale, with no contract, Council can fire me without penalty any time they choose, and I refuse some fancy severance package as a matter of personal principle. As the most qualified manager candidate out there, I fully expect to never be asked to interview. My best wishes to the townsfolk in their continuing disaster saga. Oh, well.
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.
Thank you for publishing the Dunphey’s letter. Not to mention the contribution of cruise ships to pollution!
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.