I hereby declare myself as a write-in candidate for the office of West Tisbury selectman, for a term of three years.

I am stepping forward because I am tired of reading about a problem humanity has already solved: adequate shelter. It is an abomination that with our vast amount of empty places and empty spaces, working U.S. citizens, and foreign nationals permitted to work in the U.S., are homeless or are forced to live in substandard or illegal conditions.

If elected, I will do everything in my power to encourage the supply of free market rentals to meet demand, and to repair the ladder of opportunity from homelessness to home ownership. I know about this ladder, because I climbed it myself. I’ve slept on floors and couches and in back porch tents, for ridiculous sums. I’ve rented rooms in packed houses, I’ve had the dim basement apartment, and the shack with a wood stove and outhouse.

I now own a business, a taxi company. I have the best customers, the best landlords, and I’m fine with renting instead of buying, for now. Being on the road all day limits my space needs. I’m as secure as most people can be here, but the memories of when I was not are still fresh and raw.

After 25 years of Island living, and driving a taxi for 10 of those years, I know most of the who, what, when, where and why of homeless to billionaire on this Island. I read the news every day; I go to board meetings and town meetings. I read minutes and watch hearings. I read studies and reports from every person and agency, and follow the history of ideas from birth to death. There is no way to sugarcoat this: the people in charge of things here are abysmally stupid.

Their results speak for themselves. No homeless shelter. No affordable free market rentals, or none, period. Subsidized rentals going to people with no ties to the Island, and to substance abusers who waste space until they are finally evicted. J-1 and H-2B visa holders, our foreign guest workers, living in vermin-infested slave quarters. Multiple unaccountable nonprofits with 80-plus grand-a-year directors, not solving the problem.

An ability to beg for and obtain state and federal money is considered the mark of a good local public servant these days. This is all anyone seems able to do or think about. It is sickening, beyond belief. We have, right here, all the resources we need to survive and thrive, and to provide adequate shelter for all, if those resources were managed properly.

Circa 1998, there were no cheap broadband Internet services, or inexpensive routers, and the 802.11 Wi-Fi protocol had just recently been introduced. If you wanted shared Internet access for your networked computers, the cheapest option was a $300 dial-up modem router. The Vineyard Haven library disposed of an old IBM PC during an equipment upgrade. I obtained it for free, installed the open source GNU/Linux operating system, and turned it into a free modem router for the West Tisbury library. These are the types of off-the-shelf solutions available that simply need to be put together and implemented, no matter the problem.

I reiterate: the solutions are available, no matter the problem, they are not being implemented, because the people involved are too lazy and too stupid. Get new people. People who are not lazy, and not stupid. This is your only option. You do not want to hear this, or read this. You consider this rude, and condescending, and an indication of why I should not hold office. I do not care what you think. I do not need this gig. I am offering myself as a favor to the community. It would be a chore, not an honor, to serve — but I do my chores well.

At the Martha’s Vineyard Airport, right now, there is a sight to be seen. At the VTA bus stop, near where my cabs sit every day, one of the terminal’s walkway roof columns was severed at the base, likely by an airport snowplow. The column hangs from the roof by twisted metal brackets, askew. The ragged remainder of its base lies beneath it — a splintery, white-painted chunk of 8-by-8, just lying there on the sidewalk. It has been that way for two months. That is this Island in a nutshell: broken systems left in plain sight, for too long, and no one taking responsibility.

If you have any questions about me or my positions on the other issues facing West Tisbury and the Island, I will respond to them on my Facebook page (facebook.com/benoit.p.baldwin). I do not want to be your friend. I want to fix your problems. The level of research and intellect I bring to decision making and problem solving is the equivalent of any of the Ivy League-educated consultants on whom this Island likes to blow tens of thousands of dollars for bad advice.

I am offering my mind for rent, for a selectman’s token salary, for three years. This is a time-limited and likely one-time offer. I advise you to take it. The election is April 16. Show up, write my name in under Skipper’s, fill in the oval next to my name, and leave the rest to me. The incumbent, Jeffrey (Skipper) Manter, has served the town and the Island well in many capacities, and will no doubt continue to do so if defeated.

Benoit Baldwin
West Tisbury