NARROW VISION

by Ray Bigler

Gordy Petersen is on the mark with his current column on "Lurching Toward Aspenization". For the past eight years or so, many of the decisions made by our county leaders has been to continually put us on a collision course to becoming another Aspen, Nantucket or Martha's Vineyards. Our leaders have been doing this by following the same courses of action these communities took to get where they are today. Play grounds for only the most affluent among us will be our future if we don't wake up now. Following these practices will drive the working people out by limiting their ability to find living wage jobs within the community and continue driving up land prices so only the wealthy can afford to own property or build a home. Impact fees mean little to someone with piles of cash but will be catastrophic to the average working family.

If the proposed no growth pundits get their wishes, everyone that is working for a living in this county will suffer. It will start with the building and construction industry, which employs about 18% of our working people. Those in the trades will also be affected as less and less work will be available as building slows. As they are forced out of work, and off the islands, then the trickle down will hit the business that those families patronized. Then those who work for these businesses will suffer the same fate and be forced to leave too. Fairly soon our work force will be commuting by ferry just like Nantucket, Aspen, and the others. As our working families leave, the enrollment at our schools will continue to decline, and so will the quality of education. The forecast of a 20% decline from 2000 to 2009 will continue and more than likely accelerate. Those of us on a fixed income will not be exempt either. Our community will be in its own inflationary spiral driving the working people and those of us with limited resources away.

With all the rhetoric from our leadership about how we don't want to become another Aspen, why are we working so hard to make it happen? Actions speak louder than words, and if the real plan is to make our islands another haven for only the wealthy, then we are well on our way.

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