Editor:



Charging fees for parking at Fort Williams for non-Cape Elizabeth users
is bad for Cape Elizabethans since it will inalterably change the
experience so many of us now enjoy as private “owners”, to purveyors of
a commodity to non-residents.



In charging a fee we will be expected to supply certain services, like
rest rooms and trash containers, then probably concession stands. Fort
Williams will no longer be a place where townspeople can extend
hospitality to out-of-towners but will be looked upon as a source of
income for other interests and projects desired by some. Because,
despite what Barbara Bright Durgin wrote in the Sentry of August 25,
2006, maintaining Fort Williams is not “very, very expensive”. In fact,
if costs of maintenance were doubled, they would still be under one
percent of the town’s annual budget!



Actually the cost for maintaining the ninety acres of Fort Williams is
exactly the same as that of maintaining the school grounds. Of course
this amount is a drop in the bucket compared to other school expenses.
At the town meeting of Aug. 14, Councilor Swift-Kayatta said that those
who use the fort (mainly out-of-towners) should pay for it. She surely
can’t mean that for every service, because only thirty percent of Cape
Elizabeth households have children in school. Yet 100 percent of
households pay the 64+ percent of the town budget that is allocated to
school expenses! That is as it should be; most taxpayers have also been
educated in public school systems. So too do most out of town visitors
to Fort Williams welcome Cape Elizabethans to their parks and other
attractions, fee free!



Ms. Bright Durgin also spoke of the hostility she “heard” about at the
town meeting on Fort Williams fees. I actually was at that meeting and
what I heard were over 25 people speaking with foresight, discernment,
knowledge, eloquence and great love for the treasure we have. They all
spoke against any kind of a fee structure and no one spoke in favor of
one. And yes, they and the audience displayed a certain amount of
passion that shows how strongly opponents to fee charging feel. After
this testimony a vote was taken and four of the seven councillors voted
against charging parking fees at Fort Williams. It was now that
dissenting councilors Dill, Lynch and Swift-Kayatta thought that it
would be only fair to present the question to the taxpayers via a
referendum on the November ballot. Such an avenue of input was never
suggested before as a solution to this question, and since the
referendum will be non-binding I don’t see how it will bring the
“closure” spoken of by these councilors. Sounds like it will be binding
if it goes the way they want and non-binding if not!



Whatever happens, whether there is a referendum or not, whether such a
referendum results in parking fees at Fort Williams or not, charging
fees is a very bad idea. The experience we all now enjoy of this
wonderful place can not be sold because it is spiritual and intangible,
but it can be destroyed. When we do go to the polls on Nov. 7 let us
all be mindful of that and the negative results of the desire to save
what really is a very small amount of money for residents of Cape
Elizabeth.



Emily Materson

Cape Elizabeth