The Steamship Authority offers many benefits to the town of Falmouth. Those benefits include many jobs, the perk of public restrooms and monetary benefits from departure fees. The SSA also causes many problems for the town of Falmouth. These include all of our north-south roads being clogged for three months, including Falmouth Hospital corners. With the advent of GPS, our neighborhoods are filled with people speeding to catch a boat.

When the selectmen asked to stop the early boats, they refused. The truck traffic from Otis Rotary to Woods Hole wakes up citizens at three and four in the morning. Years ago, our fire chief begged them not to run gasoline tankers down Woods Hole Road. He was ignored. Now, as our children wait at the school bus stops, sometimes lines of four or five loaded tanks roar by.

Now the new terminal adds a full-service third slip. When the $60 million project, a six-year plan to replace the terminal, was proposed, we were told the large building being constructed on Palmer avenue would eliminate the need for a large building at the docks. This is what Falmouth citizens were told. Now we are given the ultimate insult by the SSA. They claim it is necessary to build a two-story terminal that will block a view enjoyed by citizens of Falmouth for 400 years.

An enlightened SSA board of governors would listen to the town of its major port. They listened to Oak Bluffs, Vineyard Haven, Nantucket and Hyannis. They claim they are listening to us.

Albert Fitzelle

Woods Hole