Sunday, January 20, 2008

Late afternoon, January sun, Cape Roger Curtis

Let's destroy this for profit shall we?

Had a great day down at Cape Roger Curtis with friends Neil, Keona and Jack Hammond. It was a beautiful day here, and the Cape was resplendant in winter light. Something sank in about the Cape and it's development. I had a strong sense today that this beautiful piece of land is in the wrong hands. I think there is nothing the current owners can do that will give me any assurance that they have the interests on Islanders at heart. They don't live here, they will not bear the consequences of what they do to that land and they don't care now what we think. They have bought the land to make money...money they don't need. In the process of developing and destroying the character of this land, they will create a return on their investment and never be involved with us again. Their legacy will be a housing development and an island full of regret.

The ownership group is now proposing that they protect most of the land at the Cape if they can build a village of 800-1200 residential units
. That would nearly double the population of the whole island. It would tax our infrastructure, destroy the coastal ecosystems around the Cape and generally leave the island with a huge burden in exchange for keeping some of the land undeveloped.

Not to mention that developers don't build villages. Human communities build villages. Developers build "lifestyle locations."

Over the past several months, some unknown and condescending public relations consultant has been running full page editorials in the Undercurrent (and there have been terrific rebuttals) making it look as if the Cape's development proposals are sustainable and an excellent balancing of interests. Well, I've given up. These owners are untrustworthy and are operating solely on the basis of maximizing their money - money they don't need. I'm officially making myself immune to their stories. At every turn they want more. And they have no intention to live among us, pay the additional taxes their greed will create or participate in the future of the community.

i think the time for niceties is over. It's time to stop the butchery of this place for greed.

Join the Cape Roger Curtis Trust Society to save what we can before the windigos feed..

No comments:

Post a Comment