It was a great setting–a large table full of Christmas toys donated to the less fortunate, a bright, sunny morning with the sun streaming into a packed house Saturday morning, and a full slate of speakers who spoke about what Goose Rocks Beach has meant to their families.
The Kennebunkport Conservation Trust is a beautiful building, decorated for the Christmas Holiday, and row upon row of chairs were filled, with an overflow on the sides and back. The Save Our Beaches Organization benefited with donations as well as stories told of past and present, of memories and concerns, of anger and sadness, but Tom Bradbury summed up the spirit and hopes of the group, when speaking as a neutral party, he encouraged the preservation of the sense of community that has made Kennebunkport such a unique place for all of us.
There were homeowners from away, grandmothers speaking about their children and grandchildren being asked to move off the beach this summer and how chilling that was after years of enjoyment of that area. There were questions about strategies, there were speakers from local and national organizations speaking about the legal and financial support their groups were offering the Town of Kennebunkport in this fight, and the links to Save Our Beaches to help us all defeat the lawsuit.
There were those that were angry–some clearly fighting themselves to understand how some people would feel that suing to privatize the beach could help solve their issues. There were those that wondered about working to resolve issues, and a representative of the Town shared how the Town had tried to work with the group filing the suit in the days before filing to work things out, to save money and confrontation, and how the group decided to not wait and move forward to file the suit.
The two hour meeting with about 70 attendees resulted in a number of donations, and bodes well for planned monthly meetings in the months ahead, sponsored by Save Our Beaches, to bring in guest speakers to discuss the topics that lie at the base of this suit, and we encourage all of you to attend these meetings. You are invited to respond below to suggest particular issues you’d like to see discussed, and we’ll effort that.
We make no apologies for being highly partisan–this suit is a gun pointed at the head of a traditional lifestyle–put away the gun and we will work for all of the homeowners, guests and visitors, business and families to find areas that will help offer solutions regarding concerns of over-development, town enforcement of policies and safety, parking, kayaks and canoes, and much more. But while the suit remains active, where homeowners at the beachfront look to have the beach in front of their houses be recognized as their lawns, and require permission to walk, sit, play, exercise their dogs–well, Houston, we’ve got a problem.
But in the meantime, as the group heard from one of the 23 homeowners, there are fears and concerns that lead to such a drastic move, and we can all speak, and listen, to these concerns in months ahead. Stay tuned to this site for details. We have slated the second Saturday of each month for discussions, from 10-2 PM, at the KBC building. Perhaps January is too soon with the holidays to line up an issue and speakers, but we’ll try.
In the meantime, thanks to all that spoke, all that listened, our guests from the Surfriders Foundation, the Town of Kennebunkport, the homeowner that is one of the 23 who was clearly torn by the decision to sue but felt compelled by circumstances that she bravely shared with a respectful group of folks on the opposing side, and especially to Tom Bradbury and the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust team that enabled this strong outpouring.
With the toys for the children, the applause for speakers pro and con, and the passion for the issue, the attendees showed why civil participation in the United States is so powerful, and we invite you and your family to be a part in the months ahead. Please feel free to donate to the Save Our Beaches cause here on this site, so we can communicate to the community about these issues, so we can continue the support to defeat this lawsuit, so we can provide support in the months ahead to solutions. We are asking homeowners, whose property values would be very much affected should this suit prevail, to donate $500 as many, many of us have, and if you can’t, whatever you can. We need support for our legal team, and to help the town fight what could be a long and costly fight.
The 23 homeowners involved in the suit certainly know after this meeting that they face a tough, tough fight, as the community spoke time after time on Saturday, and we strongly encourage that group to speak to any member of Save Our Beaches to set up a meeting without lawyers, without town, moderated by a neutral, respected party, to discuss solutions, rather than keep that pointed gun at our head.
Save Our Beaches
December 13, 2009