The Lighthouse Keeper
BY DANIEL W. DRAKE ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

There is a malaise afoot. The symptoms are manifested differently depending on who is suffering, but there is a common thread. Those afflicted with the malaise are jittery; they show signs of insecurity; and, they sometimes appear on the verge of losing any trace of common sense.

The malaise seems to be contagious, but, susceptibility somehow is contained to a single group. It is seasonal, so to speak, appearing visibly about midAugust and rising to a Labor Day crescendo. Some might describe it as a form of mass hysteria, but that is too strong a description, particularly since it is best observed at social gatherings when two, three or, at most, four people shrink into a corner.

One of that group will assume the role of speaker and he — yes, this seems to be an affliction largely confined to the male gender — can be observed, through both body language and the audible timbre of his voice, taking an earnest and enthusiastic approach to the subject at hand.

The listeners — who may be equally afflicted but are either too embarrassed or too intelligent to acknowledge such — nod knowingly and occasionally interject a thought which has no apparent effect on the forward progress of the speaker. Invariably, after a few minutes, the topic is exhausted and the participants, with noticeable shrugs, disperse to other parts of the gathering

It seems that this malaise only appears as a part of the end-of-season withdrawal that our summer friends begin to experience a week or so before they plan to leave. (However, it would be disingenuous not to acknowledge that a closely related ailment does exist among some of those who remain here for all or most of the year. One difference in the two is that for the year-rounders, the malaise is chronic, while for the seasonal residents, as just noted, it is episodic. The other significant difference is that the exhibited symptoms for one group are sometimes, but not always, mirror images of the symptoms for the other group.)

Apparently by mid-August, the summer folk have wearied of all the wonderful things that Nantucket has to offer. Or, they have spent so much time commuting back and forth to their weekend adventures that their minds have wandered to consider what they perceive to be the problems in their island paradise. Then they become obsessed and it is only a matter of time before they begin to share their depression in the manner described above.

Specifics? The topic that always seems to top the list of late-summer depression causers is the beleaguered role, in one form or another, of the nonresident taxpayer (“NRT”). There is a pervasive sense that the entire population of NRTs is being held hostage to the voters of Nantucket. (The mirroring symptom of the yearrounders is “Why shouldn’t the NRTs be held hostage? There isn’t a blessed thing they can do about it.”)

Like anyone with self-inflicted wounds, the summer folk really don’t want to address the issues; they mostly want to complain.

One complaint is all “these things” go on in the winter and there is nothing the NRTs can do about it. The implication — no, the declaration — is that Nantucket’s voters are doing things behind their backs and the end result of these actions is that is that the NRTs are being taxed into oblivion.

There is no question that if someone buys or builds a house for multiple millions of dollars, the taxes in absolute dollars are going to be high, but there is also no question that Nantucket has one of the lowest tax rates anywhere — and the process to raise taxes significantly, even to cover basic services, is extremely arduous.

Arelated complaint is that NRTs don’t have any say in what goes on. Someone recently mentioned that Colorado has enacted legislation which permits NRTs in its resort communities to vote on certain issues. Afew other states have similar statutes. But, should NRTs be entitled to such a role in the community?

One could argue that such participation brings with it the responsibility of keeping informed so that the pollingplace reaction is not just a knee jerk. Come to think of it though, most voters now don’t carry out that responsibility very well, so why should the NRTs be held to a different standard?

Related to the information, another complaint is that a person off-island in the off-season has no way of finding out what is happening on Nantucket in the winter. In this age of immediate information access, that thought is mind-boggling. One clearly has to make an effort to get information, but, if one tries, it is available. Information about Nantucket is readily available. And, at the risk of being crassly commercial, this newspaper does offer subscriptions to offislanders.

A different tack that some people take – and in this the episodic and chronic sufferers seem to be on the same path, especially when a columnist is one of those grouped in the corner is “Why don’t you dig? I want you to dig.” Dig for what? “Into all that stuff that’s going on.” What ‘stuff’? “All that stuff with the dump. What’s really going on with the sewer plant? How come some people jump to the head of the line for moorings? Who is trying to make a nice little business out of the cable TV contract renewal?” Etc. etc. There are a lot of ghosts people see. Or are they more than just ghosts?

Is there a prescription effective for this malaise? In the final analysis, probably not. It’s a bit like poison ivy. Like poison ivy, the depression is most obvious when the leaves are out, but also like poison ivy, it only pretends to be dormant in the winter. So, as with dealing with poison ivy all year around, Nantucket has to treat the mental angst of the NRTs very carefully.

The Nantucket community relies extremely heavily on the NRTs for the community’s fiscal well-being in many senses, including the providing of jobs and of tax revenues. There still may be no effective forum (the Committee of Non-Voting Taxpayers and other civic organizations notwithstanding) for the NRTs to have a say in what happens but in the end, that really doesn’t matter. It won’t entirely cure the NRTs’ malaise, but if Nantucket, as a community and as a governmental entity, takes it upon itself to do the best that can be done in assuring that those who pay its taxes and fees are getting in return the best management and “return on investment”, then it will have really found an effective antidote for the malaise.

It means re-examining how business is done across the board, from the schools to the dump to the administration of the town. It’s a tall order but the consequences will be remarkably satisfying from any perspective. Success on this front will also go a long way towards reducing the malaise to manageable proportions.

Is there a real cure? Exactly a year ago this column addressed “What do you do in the winter?” another issue that still seems inextricably intertwined with the summer folks’ malaise.

To most, likening Nantucket to almost any mainland community did not resonate. However, some have had great success with replying, “As you suspect, I drink a lot and do other things I’m not about to tell you.” It is amazing how the questioner’s pall of concern immediately lifts and is replaced with a look of smug satisfaction. Somehow, that explains everything. Lo and behold, the malaise has gone.

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The “Lighthouse Keeper” reflects the views of the author and does not represent the editorial position of The Nantucket Independent. Please send any comments to drake@nantucketindependent. com.

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