Pushing pause
The Brunswick Town Council took a commendable stand Monday night by voting unanimously to approve an emergency moratorium on a large development project in the Maquoit Bay watershed.
No matter what part of town you live in, Maquoit/Middle Bay is an essential resource for the area. We swim and boat there, tourists come for the beauty, and clammers, oystermen and fishermen make their living off of it.
Unfortunately, the bay is in a fragile state due to climate change and toxic runoff from roads, parking areas and lawns.The council’s move puts the health of Maquoit Bay ahead of the short-term financial interests of well-funded developers who have proposed building 900 housing units on land across from Brunswick High School. [The development] is beyond the pale, not only for the health of the bay but in terms of the town’s ability to manage growth!
The council will now decide at its Nov. 7 meeting whether to extend the emergency moratorium of 50 days to a full moratorium of 180 days so it can thoroughly consider measures to protect the bay. This is a prudent step in the process of evaluating a large-scale and irreversible development proposal in the Maquoit Bay watershed.
If the health of Maquoit Bay matters to you, please email the Town Council at towncouncil@brunswickme.org. Thank them for the emergency moratorium and urge them to support a full moratorium to help protect Maquoit Bay.Marcia Harrington,Brunswick
The work of Gov. Janet Mills
As we vote for governor, let’s recall some accomplishments of the past four years under the leadership of Janet Mills.Many more people have access to reliable health care. In 2017, Mainers voted to approve an expansion of Mainecare, mostly paid for by our national government. One of Janet Mills first acts as governor put this into effect. 90,000 more people with health insurance has been especially useful in a pandemic — to families, health care workers and hospitals.In 2021 and 2022, the legislature and governor, Republicans and Democrats, worked together to pass balanced budgets with strong bipartisan support. This in itself is a remarkable achievement! This biennial budget keeps a promise to pay 55% of the cost of K – 12 education for the first time ever and restored municipal revenue sharing to municipalities. Towns can maintain local services that we all depend on and keep a lid on property taxes, with no new state taxes.Looking to the future of our economy and our environment, Maine’s climate plan, Maine Won’t Wait, promotes renewable energy for transportation, homes, and businesses. It also assists towns in building resilience to manage the effects of climate change.The Land for Maine’s Future Program funds conservation to preserve the natural beauty and working lands and waters of our state. It now has $40 million and has added 25 projects in the past year, all with no new taxes.These are just some of the important benefits to Maine people of the past four years. Do I agree with all of Janet Mills proposals? I agree with most, not all. However, overall, we are better off in many ways. If you agree, make sure to vote. Her opponent aims to undo these improvements, and there are more than a few people who will vote for him.
Averil Fessenden,
Brunswick
Halloween restrictions
I am a single, 76-year-old woman who lives alone with my miniature dachshund. For the over 20 years I have lived here, I have enjoyed taking part in Trick or Treat night. I would prepare around 200 small bags with a spider ring, a creepy critter and a few pieces of candy. It was fun to talk to the treaters and see their customs. I also served the adults hot cider and donut holes. The evening was one which I looked forward to.
In recent years, the police have closed off my neighborhood to cars in an effort to protect the children. I have a few issues with this policy. First and most important, the parents should have the responsibility of protecting their children, teaching them how to behave on streets and spending quality time with them.
Another issue is selecting one neighborhood for all the city’s children to Trick or Treat in puts an unfair burden on the people living in that neighborhood to have enough treats for the increased number of children. I, for one, cannot afford to buy that many treats, and forget the hot cider and donuts holes.
The result of selecting my neighborhood: I no longer participate.
Pam Murray,
Bath
Linda Baker for Legislature
I’m writing this letter in support of Linda Baker in her bid for the Maine State Legislature representing Topsham. I’ve known Linda since I was a child and have always seen her working in many areas of the Topsham community, teaching in our schools, school sports, firefighters auxiliary, the American Legion and the Memorial Day Parade Committee.
I came to know her well through our time together on the Topsham Fair board of directors. Linda took on one of the hardest jobs on the board, director of admissions. Her role required her to staff our gate houses with volunteers for the full week of the fair. She managed 70-100 volunteers in that week. Linda had a deep pool of people and organizations that were more than willing to help us throughout the fair. Most of these people were happy to help Linda because she had been volunteering in their organizations.
In our Fair Board time, I learned that if Linda says a task will be complete, it will be not only complete, but done well.
My favorite bit about Linda, though, is when her friends and neighbors turn up sick or in need, she always takes care of them, bringing by soup and groceries and checking in with them. She is quite well known for this around town. She has deep roots in Topsham and takes great pride in working in our community. I trust her to take care of us in the legislature and I hope you will join me in voting for her on Nov. 8.Marilyn HunterTopsham
Re-elect Mills, Vitelli
As a Mainer born and bred, I’ve always considered my state an oasis — restful, peaceful, beautiful. Now, Maine is an oasis of governing sanity in this politically crazy world.
What does good governing look like? There’s no drama, no blustering, no theatre, no hate or lies or name calling. This is why I’m supporting the re-election of Gov. Janet Mills and Sen. Eloise Vitelli. They have worked hard and long to make us more secure in many ways, from health to environment to economy.
I’m voting for the continuation of steady, caring, competent leadership in our state, and that means returning Gov. Mills and Sen. Vitelli to Augusta. I urge other voters to do the same.
Deborah Patten,Bath
Earth Day reminders are key
I was at the very first earth day in 1970, and at that time, a challenge was laid out: Think globally, act locally.Unfortunately, people in the 50 years since then did neither. The result is a climate shift resulting in huge wildfires, drought, high temperatures, increasingly severe storms and flooding around the world. And people still have not put two and two together – our local actions, all patched together like a huge quilt is resulting in worse and worse outcomes.In Brunswick, we have almost 300 acres of forest separating the town from the Gulf of Maine. The owner of these healthy woodlands recently sold this entire forest acreage to developers from Texas who want to build 900 units of housing on this fragile piece of land, a watershed that empties into Maquoit Bay.This action has consequences, not just for the Bay but for the climate as well. The consequences are beyond local because our best antidote to climate change is the very trees that fill those 300 acres. By removing carbon dioxide from the air, trees are one of our strongest allies in the fight against climate change. So why do we want to destroy the very ‘tool’ that works best to moderate the climate, to bring down the high CO-2 levels?We have seen far too much destruction of woods and habitat on the base this past two years. Many acres of woods have been levelled to create asphalt parking lots, apartment complexes, new brick buildings – ugly urban sprawl in place of air-cleansing wooded land.We also need to ask the question, what is the reason for wanting to add another 5,000 or 10,000 people to the town? A better quality of life? Or might it be mean more competition for parking, more traffic, higher costs for public services, more sprawl? I have lived in towns that became crowded cities since I was 10 years old! Towns that were 20,000 are now 90,000 and facing real problems. We need to sit and think what this town has that is good and what we would like it to be.We need to think before destroying the forest – once the bulldozers roll in it will be too late.Esther Mechler,Brunswick
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