FISHING FRIENDLY

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

The proposed fishing pier in Oak Bluffs is getting some unjustified bad press lately due to some misinformation “swimming around” out there. One of the claims is that this is a bad location due to lack of fish. Countless fishermen, tackle shop owners, longtime residents with fish stories to tell, even newspaper columnists — ask any fisherman who learned to fish on this Island and you’ll learn that the location proposed for the Oak Bluffs fishing pier has been and continues to be a great location for a fishing pier. Good fishing is possible wherever there is bait, structure and current. This pier would be located between two existing structures: the harbor breakwater and the SSA pier. Fish congregate in those locations. The pier would extend just over 300 feet out (with a 60-foot L-shaped platform at the end) only a cast away from eelgrass beds as well as the docking area for SSA vessels — more baitfish habitat. Other nearby locations simply don’t offer the same opportunities. Although not funded with local property tax revenues, it is still taxpayer funded so placing the pier in other than an optimal location would be fiscally foolish. (Cost, including design, permitting and construction is $500,000 and the state is responsible for all significant maintenance of the pier. The project represents our tax dollars coming back to the Island.) The one alternate location most often discussed, on the opposite side of the SSA pier, would need to be far from that side due to the fast ferry docking that occurs on that portion of the SSA pier and would then end up infringing on a true swimming beach. It would also be in shallower water and would be much shorter in length due to eelgrass beds closer to shore.

The debate shouldn’t be about fish, and there are other reasons that it should be located where proposed. I am a member of an advisory group which has been part of this project for almost three years. It was formed shortly after the board of selectmen signed an agreement with the state Office of Fishing and Boating Access to give that agency access to the shoreline for a fishing pier. This is the agency that builds boat launch ramps and fishing piers statewide. The current design is minimalist with no lighting, no water, no seating, no fillet stations and no overhead structures. The pier would be nicely tucked alongside and protected by the SSA pier, only 200 feet away. That will also provide protection from storms. What then remains along the North Bluff area is still a huge area for swimming. The pier will have no conceivable impact on the small swimming beach at the far end of this area. The rehabilitation of the bathhouse will not only provide restrooms for those using the pier but will help facilitate access for people with mobility issues who have virtually nowhere on this Island to wet a line. Locating this pier elsewhere will result in a lack of such amenities. However, the pier is not dependent on the North Bluff reconstruction project for its handicap access; the ramps necessary to accommodate this have already been designed.

There are certainly other jetties and piers available on the Island that are dangerous for kids, impossible to access for the handicapped, or commercial or private and not accessible to anyone. Multi-use piers are in Oak Bluffs, Vineyard Haven, Menemsha and Edgartown but all crowded with nonfishing uses and not fisherman-friendly. This pier would be designated for fishing only. State law would prohibit nonfishing uses including boating; even strolling along the pier could be prohibited by local police.

When fishermen venture out onto these structures, they are there to fish. Teaching kids to fish makes little noise. The neighborhood is concerned that there will be noise but it certainly won’t come from fishermen and anyone else who shouldn’t be there. The fears expressed by the neighborhood, while certainly perceived by them as real, will in all likelihood just not materialize. The pier will see much of its use early or late in the day and not conflict with available parking needs. Daytime uses will require parking access but in numbers that don’t come anywhere near impacting local bars, restaurants and other businesses.

From a planning perspective, even if availability of fish were not the issue, it makes more sense to site such structures near others of similar use or where existing services already exist, not spread everything out. But I think one of the biggest issues to consider here is that the SSA pier, for many, many years, provided this kind of access. Like so many other locations all over the Island, this access has been systematically taken away, lost forever. This pier is proposed for the right location and needs only the willingness of our decision makers to make it happen, and of course the willingness of the neighborhood to share the resource that really does belong to all of us. If you support this proposal, please make your opinions known to both the Oak Bluffs selectmen and the Martha’s Vineyard Commission for the hearing they will hold on Oct. 7.

David Nash

Edgartown

FALL GUY

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

David Babson is a great guy — intelligent, personable, trustworthy. He is a person of high integrity who dedicates himself to whatever task he takes on. He works hard, but more importantly, he works smart. His work here on Chappaquiddick Island has earned him the universal respect and affection of the entire Martha’s Vineyard community. We sorely miss him and are disgusted at his unjustified and callous forced resignation. He’s the fall guy for a colossal management failure.

In my opinion and the opinion of others, the short story is that David fell victim to the flawed organization of the local branch of The Trustees of Reservations (TTOR). Once small, this organization grew large without correctly adjusting its organization structure to effectively manage its larger scope. Not required to make a profit provides cover for the inefficiencies that eventually develop. No need to fix the problems — just ask for more money!

David was hired to be totally in charge of Chappy TTOR property, an important asset of TTOR. While David was successfully learning and managing this responsibility, executive management decided to add a community outreach effort called “engagement” to broaden the base of the community financial support. A person on David’s staff was promoted to engagement manager and placed on Chris Kennedy’s staff in a position superior to David’s. This person remained at Chappy; however, staff to support this new effort was not added, but instead taken away from David’s staff. Although this staff was present on the property, they were totally controlled by the engagement manager and not available to do David’s bidding. This seriously constrained David’s ability to handle critical needs, like bird monitoring, when they arose from time to time.

A potentially critical situation became reality when David’s request for a staff person to cover a shore bird monitoring need was made to, and de-facto rejected, by the engagement manager. This resulted in an incident where a shorebird was allowed to wander into harm’s way, but in fact was not injured. However, this incident was reported to the state a week later. David was wrongly blamed and forced to resign. He thus took the fall for TTOR management’s failure to properly staff an increased scope of work which took staff away from David — staff that would have been used to fill the vacant shorebird monitoring post and prevented the shorebird endangerment incident. Despite this shabby treatment, David, a classy stand-up guy, holds no ill will for TTOR, the organization that stiffed him, because he believes in their conservation goals. We, however, see this management structure — like the racehorse designed by a committee — as systemically flawed and worthy as the basis for a business school case study. It demands not improvement, but comprehensive correction.

Ed Trider

Chappaquiddick

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JUST AN ABUTTER

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

To reiterate for the record, the only capacity in which I am acting in regard to the activity at Crow Hollow Farm is as an abutter. There is no involvement on this issue by the West Tisbury conservation commission, as there has been no work proposed in areas subject to the commission’s jurisdiction. The commission has neither discussed the issue nor had any reason to take any action on the current work underway at Crow Hollow Farm.

Prudence Burt

West Tisbury

GREAT HARBOR

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

The following letter was sent to the Oak Bluffs selectmen.

My wife and I have been boating for over 35 years. We currently cruise a 44-foot power vessel (Lady Di). We have visited and moored and docked at numerous harbors from Baltimore to Maine. Our primary boating is in Newport, Block Island, Oak Bluffs and the surrounding area. Our home ports are Westport Yacht Club, of which I am a past commodore and sit on the board of directors, and Padanaram Harbor where our home is located. We are also members of the New Bedford Yacht Club where I race and own an Etchell.

We believe that the Oak Bluffs harbor is the best-run harbor that we have ever been at. Your facilities are well-maintained and constantly being improved. It is apparent that the harbor is a high priority and major asset of the community and hopefully is a good contributor to town revenue. It is also a great town to visit.

The management team that you folks have created, in my opinion, is next to none, starting with your harbor master down through the ranks of schedulers, communication staff at the harbor office, dock attendants, shuttle drivers and pump-out personnel. They are always courteous, well-trained and above all very professional, even when dealing with difficult visitors. I am especially impressed with the mix of staff, starting with young high school kids experiencing their first job, to college kids moving up through the ranks, as well as a few older veterans that have been around for a long while, including a few seniors. What a management education they are getting. It appears that they enjoy it as I keep seeing faces return for several years.

As an owner of a manufacturing facility (Silver City Aluminum) that runs 24 hours a day, I realize the challenges that an organization faces especially in these economically trying times. Your boat and harbor management team appear to be doing it right.

Ron and Diane Xavier

South Dartmouth

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HAND THAT SHOOK

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

When President Obama came for lunch Wednesday at Nancy’s, my wife and I were sitting on the deck and I had an opportunity to shake his hand, wishing him well. As we left to return to Circuit avenue we passed a yellow police tape behind which about 100 people were standing, eight to 10 deep, with their cameras poised hoping to catch a glimpse of the President. Alas, the President had already left! As I walked past, I smiled and raised my open hand and said, “This is the hand that shook the President’s — take a picture!”

To my surprise they did . . . and roared with laughter. I guess that was as close as many would get that day to meet the President.

Frank Goldberg

Edgartown