Things hot enough for you yet? I suppose when the local politics cool down, we have to all the let weather compensate a bit.
Actually things have calmed down all that much, everything just seems to be on a rolling boil at this point.
At the outer rim of our region, seems there is a dispute about the necessary ties for the Mashpee tribe to the proposed land for the casino to be put in trust. Pokanoket believe the Mashpee are invading their territory. The Aquinnah however support the Mashpee (not surprising since the Aquinnah are going to have to go through the same process if they are ever going to get a casino).
There are a number of environmental issues being raided, and one suspects that at every step of the way opponents are going to do what can be done to stop the casino. See today's S-T for some more detail.
Still getting questions on what recipe our Fairhaven Selectmen have for resolving the tourism dept. issue. Wish I could tell you. This one is like an episode of "Food Secrets" with the plot line of the show "Chopped" meets "Bizarre Foods".
A few towns over ...
Westport was the subject of a pretty scathing "Our View" in the S-T. To be honest, about the only "criticism" i have as an outsider would relate to the failure of the town to pick up the tab for the PCB remediation for the school. That's an issue that to me truly falls into the category of extraordinary.
I get the living within your means. I get the fact that people have a right to determine what they are willing to spend for operating costs, and for services. That particular problem though should be left to rest at the doorstep of just the school department.
It is one thing to claim mismanagement and living outside your means. It is entirely another matter to turn a blind eye on a problem that had its birth in a town project in the first place. I say a town project because I doubt the school was built simply by funds paid for from the normal operation of the department.
It is an opinion on matters of such a nature in general, not just specific to that town.
The S-T piece ends with the statement that "Westport is about to find out what happens when people stop caring about the common wealth to save a few bucks for themselves."
Yes they will. But isn't that why prop. 2 1/2 exists, and that the law requires such votes? Isn't it suppose to be up to the people to do exactly that?
I don't disagree with the conclusions in the piece as to what the probable effect of the no votes will be. I probably would have voted in favor of two or three of the questions if I lived in Westport.
Back home ...
Okay, while related to tourism, this has nothing specifically to do with the location issue right now. I have been toying with this for a few months, and yes it came to mind because of the "office" BUT the issue involves a much larger concept.
Just how "big" do we want tourism to get in our town?
This really is a very serious question.
Every year we hear of the need to spend more on advertising, of the need to draw more people to Fairhaven.
I will be honest in saying that I think if we got really serious about making Fairhaven a tourist destination, you could dramatically increase the number of visitors. You have several really distinct draws.
The architecture. The history. The ties with Japan. The location (marinas, beaches, etc.). The bike path (even with the turbines).
To make the investment needed on the Town's part, one needs to seriously consider exactly what we as a town are willing to "put up" with.
That to me has been always the "drawback" to any significant increase in spending. I know what I am willing to put up with. I am not so sure about what others would be willing to deal with.
I am guessing that while the business community might initially be licking their chops at the prospect of Cape Cod like numbers, certain areas in town would not.
Parking in the Center is one of the biggest infrastructure complaints we have now. Parking and use related to the "official" and "unofficial" town beaches are yearly events.
Just how big is big enough?
I really would like to know your thoughts.
You're right, finding a place to park your bike downtown is a problem. As for cars? I've never had to walk even a full block from my car to get to my destination. Scarcity of car parking is -not- a problem downtown.
ReplyDeleteAs to tourism; this town, though beautiful, is not unique enough to see Cape Cod numbers. Where I grew up in Provincetown, the business guild served as the tourism department for a long time. Fairhaven is well served by a central figure as tourism director, but perhaps the business community (isn't there a new business association in town?) could aid in the promotion of Fairhaven as a destination? 2¢.
Maintaing a balance between tourism promotion in Fairhaven and our quality of life has always been a top consideration. Before going further, please remember that most past and present members of the Tourism Committee as well as the Director of Tourism himself have been either lifelong or very longtime residents of the town. We have no intention of turning Fairhaven into Hyannis or Vonyard Haven in the summertime. Even if we could.
ReplyDeleteAs you mentioned, John, the primary attractions in Fairhaven are history, architecture, the bike path, and some waterfront activities. Those types of things tend to attract an older, more conservative, rather well-to-do tourist. Boaters, bicyclists and people with an interest in the region's historical attractions are a rather easy bunch of visitors to deal with.
And the intent of our tourism promotion is to get more people to spend money in our shops, our restaurants, or hotels and bed and breakfasts, our gas stations, etc. Until we start hearing all of our small businesspeople people in town complaining that they have FAR TOO MUCH business to handle, I think we should continue to invite people from out-of-town to spend their money with us. That money supports or mom and pop businesses. It pays employees. It contributes to support businesses such as suppliers of business services and equipment, wholesalers, printers, etc. It generates tax revenue for the town and the state.
I don't know about you, but I'm not hearing lots of people claiming business is TOO good right now or that people ave TOO MUCH money.