CALLS MEASURES EXTREME

To the editor:

About Richard Ray’s proposed “Rental Occupancy Permit” system. Let’s suppose, as Richard sets forth, neighbors complain about a three-bedroom house next door with fifteen cars in the yard. And that thirty-odd people emerge from said house each morning. A reasonable person might suspect zoning and health code violations.

Mr. Ray contends that the only way he can approach the problem is to invade the privacy, the property, the private papers and wallets of some other 2,899 other uninvolved citizens. (There being an estimated 2,900 properties affected by his proposal.)

His inspectors would enter private property, the homes of innocent citizens and he would collect “fees,” possibly totaling $580,000 in the first year alone.

Under this proposal, the citizens would be required to “keep a record of names and address of lesees and date of occupancy, making this information available to Town regulatory agencies (plural) upon request.” Thus forcing them to reveal their clients, their financial agreements, their brokers and inevitably their brokers’ client lists, all of which is private proprietary information, deserving respect and the protections of law.

Surely, there must be a fairer, less intrusive, less invasive way to address this concern, perhaps one that requires the presentation of facts and evidence before a judge who authorizes a government entity to do so.

Asuggestion. Perhaps the Board could appeal to the Nantucket Bar Association for suggestions.

Very possibly, they might detect “emanations” from some heretofore unnoticed “penumbras” finding rights of privacy that also protect the interests of Nantucket cottage owners.

Perhaps there are problems, and perhaps the Health Department has legitimate concerns, but the situation doesn’t rise to the level of crisis, certainly not one that justifies such extreme measures, negatively affecting so many people.

Yours truly,

— Richard B. Corkish, Jr.