Letter to the Editor

Response to commentary

Tue, 05/24/2016 - 8:15am

Dear Editor:

For all the bluster, boasting and exaggeration in his over-long commentary, it's clear that Paul Coulombe himself will be the prime beneficiary of the flawed roundabout proposal. The gateway concept itself does not require it. An open competition for a beautification project should be publicized. It would attract design ideas from many creative urban designers. We should not buy into this mediocre, non-competitive, and self-serving proposal, and there is still no persuasive evidence that it will do any of the things its proponents claim.

What is appalling, though, about his commentary is his personal attack on my wife and myself, especially his use of the phrase "a New Yorker like Fred Kaplan and his wife from 'away.'" The "New Yorker" part of his remark, strikingly similar to Senator Ted Cruz's phrase "New York values," suggests Jewish or liberal or both. A man who wants to be a leader of his community should know better. The roundabout is not a personal matter. It has nothing to do with who pays more taxes, and his chest thumping boasting is giving philanthropy a bad name. His assumption that Boothbay people will be swayed by appealing to the canard that people "from away" are inferior to those who are not and have less of a stake in the town is insulting to all its residents. It underestimates the town's intelligence, open-mindedness, and diversity. It also sounds too much like the coarse appeals to prejudice that we hear all too much of in state and national politics. A difference in views is not a personal matter. Understanding that is a test of character, and he is failing.

For the record, I first rented property here in 1960. I bought property in Boothbay Harbor and became a summer resident in 1968. As a teacher, I had the good fortune to bring up my children during long summers in Boothbay Harbor. I still own that home. Rhoda and I built a home and became year-round residents in Boothbay in 2002. So I have an association of fifty-six years with the Boothbay peninsula, probably a longer one than Paul Coulombe's.

Fred Kaplan

Boothbay