Lincoln, you have put into words why I feel distressed that the place my husband , Art Greif and I felt was our home and the most magical place in the world (and we travelled to many magical places in the world on our bikes), has disappeared, and is now just a movie of beautiful memories. Though Art has been gone now these past few years, he and I and others fought, so many do still fight , just like those wonderful women in front of Parsons , to keep Bar Harbor being completely gobbled up by the rapacious cruise industry, Ocean Properties,APPLL, and the Nothingburger Hotel crew.
Maybe there is not a place left in Bar Harbor for year round residents that feels like home and community…..maybe the schools….and some might still hold out hope that there will be a small boat ramp or park area to sit on a bench or walk down at the ferry terminal that is not swamped by tourists.
Thank god for the National Park…..as much as they collaborate with the massive tourism entities ( the more people, the more fees, and these people need to stay in hotels, etc. and the federal monies to run the Parks are grossly underfunded). At least you can feel at home in some quiet niches off season without hordes of hikers or Ebikers in some parts of the Park.
And thank god for the small but mighty group of BH citizens and Island ers who continue to fight the good fight for saving what is left of the real year round Bar Harbor community and real democracy of,for, and by the people. These good people are the heart and home of Bar Harbor…..they deserve a book written about them…if you feel so inclined. Everyone will understand if it never gets written, and so many of us are appreciative of the volumes of your blogs that has kept us informed and inspired.
Thousands of people will read this blog including the town council members. On Tuesday let’s pray that they vote no on article 4 by a large majority sending a clear message to the entrenched and corrupted parties who would like to see article 50 vs public opinion rule Bar Harbor.
Well, at least spelling and grammatical mishaps are easily resolved, compared with the issues of Bar Harbor. A couple years before my grandmother died, she told me that aging people get to a stage where it becomes really difficult to understand changes going on around them. I reflect on that conversation as I age in what used to be the second best town in the U.S., IMHO (the first always being Rangeley). I don't believe my age factor has caused this heartbreak of mine over what has happened to Bar Harbor. I do believe it is a town that has gotten pretty darned screwed up for a myriad of reasons. Very sadly. I don't have answers about how to restore peace and rebuild the community but I do believe it will take a complete upgrade in ethics, and I do believe time is of the essence.
We will certainly miss your important commentary and the opportunity for those of us concerned about maintaining a sense of community in this very special place we call home to hear like perspectives.
I have a long standing bet with my wife that there is not a single significant problem facing America today where I can't draw a straight line from that problem to a large corporation...and she hasn't won yet. During Covid the cruise lines pretty much went belly up and I read somewhere where they went something like 70 billion dollars in the hole. The citizens of Bar Harbor didn't volunteer to help bail them out but I have a feeling that we may have been drafted. Signing a contract with these predators is like putting a loaded gun to your head, pulling the trigger, and hoping it misfires!
The argument that “Under the Reserved Powers Doctrine, the Town cannot bind future legislative bodies” was raised in the Plum Creek litigation. Plum Creek initially proposed a binding Concept Plan that would govern about a third of our State for 30 years but when we challenged it on the basis that LURC could not agree to bind future legislatures, Plum Creek conceded that its 30-year Plan could not bind future legislatures. But in Article 4, the parties have carefully cited to both the Federal and State constitutions in an attempt to invoke the constitutional doctrine protecting the “obligations of contracts” in the hope that their contracts will receive this constitutional protection against future legislative action. I hope you will alert the public why Article 4 goes out of its way to protect the contracts by explicitly stating they exist under both the federal and state constitutions.
Lincoln, you have put into words why I feel distressed that the place my husband , Art Greif and I felt was our home and the most magical place in the world (and we travelled to many magical places in the world on our bikes), has disappeared, and is now just a movie of beautiful memories. Though Art has been gone now these past few years, he and I and others fought, so many do still fight , just like those wonderful women in front of Parsons , to keep Bar Harbor being completely gobbled up by the rapacious cruise industry, Ocean Properties,APPLL, and the Nothingburger Hotel crew.
Maybe there is not a place left in Bar Harbor for year round residents that feels like home and community…..maybe the schools….and some might still hold out hope that there will be a small boat ramp or park area to sit on a bench or walk down at the ferry terminal that is not swamped by tourists.
Thank god for the National Park…..as much as they collaborate with the massive tourism entities ( the more people, the more fees, and these people need to stay in hotels, etc. and the federal monies to run the Parks are grossly underfunded). At least you can feel at home in some quiet niches off season without hordes of hikers or Ebikers in some parts of the Park.
And thank god for the small but mighty group of BH citizens and Island ers who continue to fight the good fight for saving what is left of the real year round Bar Harbor community and real democracy of,for, and by the people. These good people are the heart and home of Bar Harbor…..they deserve a book written about them…if you feel so inclined. Everyone will understand if it never gets written, and so many of us are appreciative of the volumes of your blogs that has kept us informed and inspired.
Thousands of people will read this blog including the town council members. On Tuesday let’s pray that they vote no on article 4 by a large majority sending a clear message to the entrenched and corrupted parties who would like to see article 50 vs public opinion rule Bar Harbor.
Well, at least spelling and grammatical mishaps are easily resolved, compared with the issues of Bar Harbor. A couple years before my grandmother died, she told me that aging people get to a stage where it becomes really difficult to understand changes going on around them. I reflect on that conversation as I age in what used to be the second best town in the U.S., IMHO (the first always being Rangeley). I don't believe my age factor has caused this heartbreak of mine over what has happened to Bar Harbor. I do believe it is a town that has gotten pretty darned screwed up for a myriad of reasons. Very sadly. I don't have answers about how to restore peace and rebuild the community but I do believe it will take a complete upgrade in ethics, and I do believe time is of the essence.
We will certainly miss your important commentary and the opportunity for those of us concerned about maintaining a sense of community in this very special place we call home to hear like perspectives.
Elegiac
I have a long standing bet with my wife that there is not a single significant problem facing America today where I can't draw a straight line from that problem to a large corporation...and she hasn't won yet. During Covid the cruise lines pretty much went belly up and I read somewhere where they went something like 70 billion dollars in the hole. The citizens of Bar Harbor didn't volunteer to help bail them out but I have a feeling that we may have been drafted. Signing a contract with these predators is like putting a loaded gun to your head, pulling the trigger, and hoping it misfires!
"Bar Harbor is ground zero for toxic politics.”
Yes. I lived in DC during Marion Barry.
The BH town councilors and town managers would fit right in.
Excellent.
The argument that “Under the Reserved Powers Doctrine, the Town cannot bind future legislative bodies” was raised in the Plum Creek litigation. Plum Creek initially proposed a binding Concept Plan that would govern about a third of our State for 30 years but when we challenged it on the basis that LURC could not agree to bind future legislatures, Plum Creek conceded that its 30-year Plan could not bind future legislatures. But in Article 4, the parties have carefully cited to both the Federal and State constitutions in an attempt to invoke the constitutional doctrine protecting the “obligations of contracts” in the hope that their contracts will receive this constitutional protection against future legislative action. I hope you will alert the public why Article 4 goes out of its way to protect the contracts by explicitly stating they exist under both the federal and state constitutions.
Phil Worden
Is it not a violation of the Maine Constitution to tell them hey cannot get involved with these Interstate Commerce contracts.
A great piece and we too admire Stegner.
Barbara Heldt and Gerry Smith
I'm sure you are aware that the word you should have used in this article is ceding, not seeding,
Martha you missed your calling you should have been a grammer teacher...
Grammar?
Thanks a lot you too the "er" was a test to see if Martha would catch the error! By the way she was a grammar teacher😉
Granma would approve.
Do you have a photo?