Letters to the Editor

City Should Choose One Ferry Line

To the Editor:

Over 20 years ago, the City of Mackinac Island won a long and expensive court battle against boat lines servicing the Island. By allowing the City to control its ferryboat franchises, the court ruled the Island could collect franchise fees as well as dictate ticket prices and schedules.
Recently, the 20-year agreement with the boat lines has come up for renewal. The three boat lines are working together to lower the City's take per ticket
.
In the 1980s, a million tourists visited our Island every season. That number has been steadily declining. According to the boat companies, about 650,000 tourists now visit the Island annually, down a third. The boat lines' own survey revealed the number one reason people no longer visit the Island is the price of ferryboat tickets. In 20 years, prices have gone from $6.50 to $17.00 round trip passage.

The three boat lines work together when it comes to setting ticket prices. They are unified in their fight to get a dime from the City of Mackinac Island. Yet these same boat lines spend thousands and thousands of dollars on advertising. They maintain large boat fleets, not because of all the people to haul, just to match the competition's boat schedule. All this money is spent just to get that tourist to ride their particular boat line. All this added expense on someone who has already decided to visit our Island.

When the court ruled 20 years ago, it decided the City had the right to use its control of the ferryboat franchises to benefit the Island community. When renegotiating the franchise agreement with the boat lines, the Island must use the power granted to it by the courts. It is the duty of the Mackinac Island City Council to act in the best interests of its constituents.
Our Island has been struggling to maintain its year-around population. To keep people here we need jobs. Arnold Line has provided many good paying year-around jobs, the kind you can raise a family on, while the other two boat lines offer none.

To keep people here you need reliable transportation on and off the Island. Arnold Line has provided a ferry as early in the spring and as late in winter as it can safely run. The other two boat lines only open when the tourist dollars are in town.

Is it not inconceivable for the City to regulate the ferryboats just as other cities regulate utilities that service them? If the City were to grant Arnold Line sole right to ferry passengers to the Island. With the agreement that its ticket prices are fixed at a certain low rate.
A rate that reflected a stipulated profit margin. It would allow the City to control the â01CPrice of Admissionâ01D to our Island.

The other two boat lines add very little to our Mackinac Island community. I argue their presence adds significantly to the cost of ferryboat tickets, which in turn deters potential tourists from visiting and spending money here.

If the City of Mackinac Island got rid of its current free market ferry system and went with a single ferry transportation utility, it would create more Island jobs. It would keep boat tickets at the lowest possible prices and allow for an expanded off-season schedule. It would benefit the entire Island community.

Frank Barkowski

Mackinac Island

Editor's Note: The franchise allows the city to collect 1.5 percent of gross passenger revenues, but does not give it authority to set ticket prices.

 

Sounds of Mackinac?

To the Editor:

It was a great sadness to read in the Town Crier that the airport received funds for upgrades, which will take place in 2005.

This is not based on the merits of the upgrades themselves, but simply on the fact that more "parking" space for planes means more noise. And believe it or not, Mackinac is already very noisy.

I know, I know. Most people (maybe even locals) who come to visit a day or two think the Island is as quiet as the country. I believe this false impression is driven by the fact that since they are not picking up the visual clues from cars and their expected sounds, they are not focusing on the endless drone of plane engines over and around the Island. The list of noise makers also includes construction trucks and the DNR's sometimes questionable use of motorized vehicles instead of bikes or drays. Also, interesting things like four hours to mow Marquette Park in the rain, only to do it again the next day because, of course, it was too wet to cut anything (not kidding here, heard/saw it all).

From lengthy observation, I can tell you the plane noise on and over the Island has significantly increased from my first visit in 1990 to my recent one in October. I think the constant noise started becoming invasive around my 1996 and 1997 visits. Typically, I stay 10 days and spend a majority of my time hiking the trails on the Island. I can be out anywhere from three to six hours at a time. This length allows you to "hear" a side of the Island that a day visitor doesn't. And while I recognize that 10 days does not a year make, I can't believe it is any better at the height of summer.

The usual routine is for a plane to circle the Island 1.5 times and then make a long, slow descent to land. It taxis for at least three minutes, then inexplicably can sit still for 10 minutes or longer (all with the engine/propellers droning on). Or, in reverse: engine idles for 10 to 15 minutes, taxi for takeoff, idle for another 10 minutes, take off, circle Island, then leave. I have both heard this routine and been an eyewitness to the procedure on enough occasions to tell you this is all too common. A "quick" takeoff or landing is rare. In comparison, a jumbo jet flying above is through Island airspace in less than two minutes and cannot be heard. I can hike for four hours and not get five consecutive minutes of peace and quiet. I am not exaggerating here. I have been so irritated that I have timed these events.

Anyone reading this who has experienced the "sounds of silence" in a forest or other natural area will understand when I say that silence does indeed have a sound - something so restful to the mind and soul you wonder how you can get along without a daily dose.

Thanks for listening to one woman's opinion. I really don't hope for any improvement (like it was in 1990), and am certain it will only get worse, especially with talk of maybe increasing sewer capacity to aid growth. And if it is true that over 85 percent of the Island is park land, it's simply amazing to me the amount of development you are trying to shoehorn into that last 15 percent. The only place left to go - is UP?

What a terrible, frightening thought.

Janice E. Tonietto

Berwyn, Illinois

 

Rate Hike a 'Pretty Big Number'

To the Editor:

We obviously do need a utility rate increase to stop the red ink. But why is it necessary to expand the water and sewer plants?

By doubling the rates, DPW hopes to pay for a $12 million sewer and water expansion. That's a pretty big number. Have the developers won the battle? Can we look forward to condos being shoehorned into every available piece of land? I would be interested to know how much, if any, expansion would be needed if new multiple dwellings were prohibited and the building moratorium became permanent.

Let's increase the rates enough to cover our debt of $1.2 million. If the developers want more condos, let them cough up the $12 million.

Harold Strayer

Forest Way

Mackinac Island

 

Recognizing School Board

To the Editor:

The month of January marks the annual observance of School Board Recognition Month, a time to salute the work of school board members and celebrate public education.

The theme of this year's celebration, "School Boards Build Brighter Futures," reflects our combined commitment to leadership and accountability assuring that all children succeed

In Mackinac Island Public School, school board members must develop policies and make tough decisions on complex educational and social issues which impact the entire community. They bear responsibility for an annual budget of around $ 1.2 million, 70 students, and 15 employees. They carry out the truest form of representative government in our democracy-volunteer public service-and preserve the core of our democratic land, public education.

I invite you to recognize and celebrate the work of your school trustees. Invite them out for coffee. Ask how you might help support your local neighborhood schools. Write your school board members a thank you note. Let them know you appreciate what they do for kids in Mackinac Island Public School.

The men and women serving on the Mackinac Island Public School board are: Leanne Brodeur, trustee; Sara Chambers, treasurer; Trish Martin, secretary; Ben Mosley, president; Larry Rickley, trustee; Jason St.Onge, trustee; Paul Wandrie, vice-president.

Jack Dehring,superintendent

Mackinac Island Public School

 

Road Fees Way Too Low

To the Editor:

I've just finished reading the article in The Mackinac Island Town Crier (December 2004 -February 2005) pertaining to increased vehicle fees by the Mackinac Island State Park Commission to fund road repairs.

Personally, I think they're "way undercharging." I'm going to assume that many of these vehicle permits are for construction type vehicles such as bulldozers, dump trucks, cranes, etc. for building new homes or condominiums.

The last time I checked the real estate section of The Mackinac Island Town Crier, buying land or an existing home on the Island is not for the average person with a five-figure income. Even a six-figure income may have some difficulty buying some of the properties that are listed.

Anyway, my point is this, if a corporation or a private individual has the money to buy land and build a home on Mackinac Island, then they sure as heck can afford more than a measly $200 for a dump truck permit.

Now if that $200 is per day, per vehicle, now we're talking.

That would be some serious cash.

My wife and I have been coming to Mackinac Island for 20 years. It's our most favorite place in the whole world, Lord knows, if we had some "spare change" in our pockets we would buy or build a home there in a heartbeat. So, I don't blame the people with "money" for wanting to do the same. But with the sewer system at or near capacity and other problems attributed to over- building, I can't understand why people are still allowed to build there. I guess money talks.

If that's the way it's going to be, then let the fortunate millionaires pay for a new and larger sewer system and repair the damage to the roads caused by their bulldozers, so us common folk, who have to save their pennies to pay for a $300-a-night hotel room, can continue to enjoy the Island.

Dan Niedzwiecki

Grand Rapids