To the Editor,
Through the magic of the
Internet, I have followed and enjoyed your series on Nantucket. I felt that the reporter was able to
speak and report on all sides of very contentious issues over here, then
distill them clearly for our sister island.
In your editorial, you ask if
a middle class can survive on Nantucket?
In brief, it cannot. Those
who are middle class have either grown rich, left, or are deluding themselves
into the Mastercard poorhouse.
Many of the middle-class from
the early 1980¹s have become rich.
They bought land and worked hard, then found that the $25,000 building
lot in Tom Nevers with the ³sweat equity² house was suddenly worth $500,000 or
more. Moreover, if they are
tradesmen, the phone never stopped ringing and no price was too high. They bought big boats, big cars, took
the family to Aruba for a month, and still had money left over. Many of those bought more land and are
now millionaires.
Others, after 2000 and
especially after the lack luster 2001 summer, cashed out. A fellow teacher sold her home for
$750,000 in that period, took the money and moved into the hills of Vermont
with a large pile in the bank and fifty acres in the front yard. She is not alone.
The rest of us are waiting
for a miracle. Many of the current
middle-class on Nantucket have found that the boom has busted all over their
kitchens. Contractors and realtors
have millions tied up in empty spec houses that have sat on the market for
fifteen months. Teachers who rent
out their homes find that the
summer has been very quiet.
Plumbers and electricians appear a week after they are called. Even high school students have found
themselves in the low range of jobs after years of phat landscaping, house-cleaning,
and trash-hauling. Suddenly, they
are back scooping ice cream, baby-sitting, and bagging groceries. $30.00 an hour became $8 very quickly.
Meanwhile, the costs of
everything continue to rise. The
school will build teacher housing that will cost $950 a month for a single, but
you can¹t find decent year-round housing anywhere else for under $1500 a
month. Electric bills remain the
highest anywhere. Gas, food, and clothes are priced for the ³down for the weekend¹
crowd. On the horizon, we see SSA
price hikes, tax overrides (you should see our sewer pipes), and fees for
schools. The Bush Boom and the weather
has almost eliminated the shoulder season and the peaks of summer. Where High Summer once lasted from July
4 to the third week in August, we now have seen one spike in August when the
Pops were here.. This weekend, the
stand-by line for leaving Nantucket hit 91 cars.
So, I don¹t believe there is
any place for the middle class on Nantucket unless some natural or financial catastrophe
drops property values to 1991 levels.
That is the miracle that we wait for.
Bob Barsanti
31 Crooked Lane
Nantucket, MA 02554