A "Poster Child" For Our Neighborhoods

To the editor:

Melissa and Devon Murphy's heartfelt thanks to their neighbors for saving their house from burning down and to their friends and others in the community who came to their aid in their time of need, speaks to us all. It is just the latest of countless Letters to the Editor lauding and thanking neighbors, friends and community members for their unstinting and generous support - in other words, for their neighborliness.

I can't imagine a better "poster child”, than the Murphy's Letter to the Editor, for the value and importance of our island neighborhoods - places where people know one another, look out for each other and work together to support these small communities.

For most (probably all) of us who call Nantucket our full time or alternate home, neighborhoods are an essential ingredient that makes Nantucket so special and unique. They are what so many of us are fighting so hard to keep alive. Their existence depends on people actually living in them and calling them home, at least part of the time. We must keep this top of mind when considering steps to codify the tradition of renting family homes in our neighborhoods.

To this end, Article 60 deserves an honest evaluation as a means to protect our rental tradition and our neighborhoods too.

Anne Dewez