The Will Of The People
Grant Sanders •
To the editor: The New York Times today published its semi-annual report on the problems occurring on Nantucket. It's well written and comprehensive, although I was hoping for a little more detail on the food insecurity problem we face, which is solvable if more people understood it.
The most interesting thing about this article, aside from the photos, is in the comments section. Over 100 people with a passing understanding of what Nantucket is, who think the solution is a simple one. Some say, "Tax the rich and build more housing." (Which we are doing.) Some say, "move." (And a lot of people are doing that.) Some say, "Ban short-term rentals." (And slowly, in effect, that's what's happening.) Some say, "It's up to the employers to solve this problem for themselves." (And more than a few do.) Some say, "It's Trump's fault." (It's not, but he's not making it any easier.)
The truth is, as a community we need to have the will to be both compassionate and practical. Compassionate by making it possible for as many people as we can to live in dignity here. And practical, knowing that it's an island, with finite resources. We can only grow so much. The more people who come to work here, the harder it is for all of us to live, shop, drive, park, drink clean water, and enjoy the island.
Working on one thing, like housing, mental health, or food insecurity, doesn’t solve the underlying problem. And in some cases makes other problems worse. One example. Affordable housing is important, but the more houses we build, affordable or not, the more our efforts have real impacts on traffic and water quality, and more.
We're bailing a leaky boat. Maybe we should fix the leaks before we head further out to sea -- haul out and do the job right. We need to do the work to understand the island's end game, which, with the number of buildable lots dwindling, may come sooner than we think. What does a balance of prosperity and productivity look like? How many seasonal houses can operate to support how many seasonal and year-round workers? How many people and cars and free-range-pooping dogs can our little island comfortably accommodate?
When I first came to the island, I was a young man, and this was all clear to me then. Thirty-one years later, I'm not young, and I have resigned myself to the fact that Nantucket, as a community lacks the will to apply the combination of compassion and practicality that I mentioned above. Like the rest of the country, we are divided. And 30+ town meetings later, the divide is on display for all to see.
The New York Times readers can't solve this problem for us, they can only take six minutes out of their day to tell us what we already know. It's a mess. My six minutes are up.
Grant Sanders