| Nothing
secedes like success |
| Edgar Allen Beem |
The only thing surprising about the secession
movements on Chebeague, Peaks and Cliff islands is that they
have taken so long to become earnest. Yes, there has been talk
of secession on the Casco Bay islands before, especially around
the time Long Island successfully declared its independence from
Portland back in 1993. But this time, expect it to happen
as it should.
Chebeague Island would be much better off on its own than as
a cash cow for Cumberland, both in terms of taxation and local
control. The Hope Island mutiny a few years ago by its sole owner
was a self-serving and ridiculous exercise, but having Hope join
Chebeague and several of the other small Calendar Islands as
an island township makes sense. Islands and islanders share common
needs and interests that they don't share with those of us on
the mainland.
The only thing Peaks Island has in common with the city of Portland
is a view of the harbor. Otherwise, Peaks is just a small town
marooned within hailing distance of Maine's largest city. Let
it go. Let them all go. Let them fend for themselves. And good
luck to them.
When and if island secession bids get to the state Legislature
for approval, the arguments to self rule will be more compelling
to lawmakers than the whines about high taxes. The goal of preserving
year-round island communities is a noble and worthy one, but
that seems unlikely, at least in the long run. There are simply
too many forces at work on the islands for them to survive as
quaint backwaters of Maine's maritime past.
Look back in time and you will see that the islands in the bay
were once summer retreats for Native Americans. Now they are
increasingly summer retreats for a few fortunate locals and great
many out-of-staters. When my parents were young, Peaks was an
amusement park with a popular casino. When I was a kid, Peaks
had a reputation as a welfare island, a convenient dumping ground
filled with affordable housing for low-income people.
By the 1970s, the same forces and often the same people
that transformed the derelict Old Port warehouse district
into a thriving arts and entertainment district were busy transforming
Peaks from a low-income off-shore neighborhood into a happening
little arts colony. Artists, outlaws, and oddballs willing to
put up with the inconvenience of a 20-minute ferry ride were
followed to the island by creative professionals so eagerly courted
these days by economic development officials. In a gentrification
process repeated in Everywhere, U.S.A., artists and outsiders
colonized cheap spaces, made them fashionable, then got out of
the way when the tourists, summer folks, real estate developers
and the economically secure began arriving.
Islanders up and down the Maine archipelago cling jealously to
their schools as the anchors of their communities, as they should
do. And they plan and scheme to keep boatyards open and to maintain
working waterfronts for fishermen. But the forces of economic
remote control are irresistible. As long as a house that costs
$400,000 in Boston only costs $200,000 in Portland, we've all
got a problem.
Islands are Maine in microcosm, tiny landscapes defined by water
where social problems just seem to stand out in bolder relief.
What happens to Maine happens first on the islands. And the future
of both the Pine Tree State and its island jewels looks very
much like tourism, second homes and retirement communities. Secession
may spare one generation of islanders, but it will not save the
next from escalating real estate values. In fact, island independence
will very likely serve to make island property more attractive
to the more affluent millions waiting to escape the increasingly
uninhabitable cities to our south.
I wish it were otherwise, but unless islanders are willing to
sell their properties to other islanders for less than fair market
value, I don't see a long future for year-round island communities. |
