Chris Perry Column: It's Time To Clean Out My Desk

In the top drawer of my desk, I keep an active folder. In addition to newspaper clippings, contact info, suggestions from readers, constructive criticism from my editor, and a small book of Nantucket poems and images given to me by author Allen Reinhard, it also holds a list of topics I have considered writing about that never quite made it to print.

With Labor Day on the immediate horizon, here’s the Reader’s Digest version of four summer topics that did not make the final cut.

Community Service Officers:

I like everything about them. Their presence around town. The bike patrols. Their efforts in Sconset. And more importantly, the fact that the program has been a productive pipeline for permanent hires.

But let’s give credit where credit is due.

CSO D. Tejada, badge NO. 1114, bagged me fair and square. I don’t think I have been issued a parking ticket in years, but Tejada chalked my tire at 8:50 a.m. on Main Street in a one-hour zone and issued me a parking ticket at 10:10 am. Between June 1st and September 1st, I was one of 18,259 people issued parking tickets by the CSOs. Fines vary, but at $25 per ticket, that’s close to $500,000 in revenue.

If I could make one recommendation, it would be to allow the CSOs more opportunity to help direct pedestrian and auto traffic in the downtown area during well-known peak congestion times. Gridlock at the intersection of Main and Federal Streets and bottlenecks at the bottom of Main Street, where Washington Street, South Water Street, and Union Street all come together, are two areas in particular.

With the “summer specials” using the Hy-Line arrival area and its associated chaos as a training ground over the last few years, I think it’s time for a promotion. Give the CSOs the training, tools, and authority to tackle those Main Street traffic jams, especially those overloaded with oblivious pedestrians and sidewalk bikers who wander into the street without warning, and, in due time, I think you will see safer intersections with better traffic flow.

Influencers:

I avoided the topic all summer, biting my tongue and my pen on several occasions, especially as the Four Winds Craft Guild vs. Dairy Boy kerfuffle played out. Despite the presence of plenty of chum in the water, I resisted taking the bait until now, after recently watching an influencer on Instagram promoting “quay-hog chowder” as his go-to appetizer on Nantucket.

Simply put, the last thing Nantucket needs are influencers.

I get it. It’s a generational thing. But unfortunately, influencers have found Nantucket to be fertile ground in the summer months for those who need affirmation to function, so they have cashed in by filling that void.

At the end of the day, there are two things that grind me the most about influencers on Nantucket.

The first is that influencers are so predictable. Of course they are going to mention the Galley restaurant at sunset, the Sconset bluff walk, and Cisco Brewery - duh.

But just as smoothly as they have promoted the island, I bet the majority of influencers will soon turn in mass because the next trendy thing to do will be to start bashing Nantucket for being overcrowded, overpriced, and over-hyped - duh.

Secondly, watching some of our successful local entrepreneurs succumb to the temptation to play the role of an “influencer” is disappointing. For example, observing one popular personality now shilling “sips” for Cru and promoting what to see, where to shop, what’s savory and what’s sweet on Nantucket, to me, just takes a little shine off her empire.

Charity events:

When you add it all up, the total amount of money raised for non-profits, charities, local organizations, etc. each summer is truly amazing. I do not want to sell anyone in the local community short in terms of their support, be it financial, labor, organizational, housing, etc. but Nantucket’s summer homeowners and their guests continue to ring the charity bell at an incredibly generous rate.

Frankly, as a whole, they simply do not get enough credit for their financial support outside of their respective charity(s) of choice. The Nantucket tradition of successfully funding over 100 non-profits and charities year after year falls overwhelmingly on their shoulders, and yet, they continue to carry the financial load, oftentimes anonymously.

Are some of the charity events over the top?

Yes.

Have some of the fundraisers priced out the local population?

Yes.

Nevertheless, the themes are getting more creative. The venues are becoming more colorful, and the performing talent is getting better. Sure, we are all well aware of the Boston Pops concert, NGC’s dinner and auction, and the Boy’s & Girl’s Club’s Summer Groove. But there are dozens and dozens of other organizations who desperately need the summer’s financial life line and without it, Nantucket would be unrecognizable to those of us who live here year-round.

To everyone who made an effort to help, especially our summer friends, thank you.

Flock cameras:

What’s all the fuss about Flock? I like the idea.

A couple of cameras focusing on the license plates of cars and trucks coming and going from the Steamship Authority has some all twisted in knots as if it is a threat to our civil liberties.

You drive through Hyannis, your license plates get photographed. You go over the Bourne Bridge, your license plates get photographed. You drive north to Boston or south to New York, your license plates get photographed.

The Flock cameras on Nantucket do not identify who is driving the car. The Flock cameras on Nantucket do not identify passengers in the car.

For those who think this type of technology needs individual consent or a warrant, how do you justify checking out at Stop & Shop, using your phone, clicking on a QR code, or turning on your computer, which all routinely collect personal information and data better than the F.B.I.

Are there isolated cases of the Flock technology being mishandled? Certainly. The most recent being a case in Revere, MA.

But let’s be realistic.

There is no evidence of widespread abuse. Moreover, for some to think that the automated license plate readers do not belong on this island while acknowledging that they exist elsewhere only perpetuates the naive narrative that Nantucket is wrapped in a bubble and the 30 miles of ocean separating Nantucket from the mainland is the ultimate deterrent to serious crime.

Unfortunately, Nantucket is not immune to much of what takes place in most Massachusetts communities, and the true crime figures that are often shielded from the public certainly show an uptick in violent activity, domestic assaults, and drug- and alcohol-related crimes on-island.

Flock cameras are nothing more than an additional tool available to local law enforcement that simply focuses on license plates and encourages dialogue between police departments nationwide. After 9/11, inter-agency cooperation and data sharing have proven to be increasingly important, which has led to the introduction of fusion centers today.

Furthermore, there has been no evidence of any abuse of the Flock camera technology by the local police department.

However, what there has been was a successful example of using the Flock technology as recently as this past weekend when investigators turned to the Flock data which provided valuable intel in a local, domestic assault case. That information identified a car through license plate recognition as being registered to the victim in the case. Law enforcement was able to determine that the car boarded a Steamship Authority ferry on Sunday night, and, in turn, detectives were able to immediately narrow the scope of their investigation and save valuable time.

Four topics up - four topics down. I feel better now knowing my top drawer has been cleaned out just in time for Labor Day and the island’s unofficial end to summer. Even though we still have 18 more days to go until the fall equinox on Tuesday, September 22nd, there is something magical in the air knowing Nantucket is about to be returned to the local community and our favorite season is right around the corner.

Like F. Scott Fitzgerald said in The Great Gatsby, “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall…”