YACK on: Ballot Questions
Grant Sanders
Last week, at the end of a very long Board of Selectmen meeting, at which I was in attendance, the board (which was a four member board, missing Selectman Chadwick that evening) took up a discussion, at the direction of Catherine Stover, acting as a citizen and not as town clerk, on two proposed referendums to be placed on the 2008 Annual Town Election ballot. And what a discussion it was.

Selectman Kopko was in favor of placing these two questions, one on whether the town thinks a parking garage downtown is a good idea, and the second on whether the voters feel the town should give the 'Sconset Beach Preservation Fund people permission to nourish a beach which is largely town-owned land. Selectman Roggeveen was also in favor of this ballot initiative. And I have to say, when Selectman Roggeveen agrees with Selectman Kopko, this is a pretty good thing.

And kind of a weird thing. But I can get over that. This is politics after all and strange stuff happens in politics.

In the end, Both selectmen Roggeveen and Kopko were correct. Getting the people to voice their opinion, even if it is a non-binding question, is a good thing. It's one more thing the Selectmen and the Planning Board can consider when making a decision on beach nourishment or parking issues. What do the people want?

Interestingly, Chairman Willauer argued against the ballot questions because he felt it tied the board down. But when Citizen Stover explained that it actually gives the board more options, that seemed to appease him. Selectman Reinhard, on the other hand, was a little more stuck on the idea. He argued that getting people's opinions about such a difficult and technical issue like beach nourishment was a bad idea if everyone who votes is not apprised of all of the scientific data on hand. Despite the fact that he succumbed to peer pressure and voted to put the questions on the ballot, he could be found a few days later on yackon.com posting his support for the SBPF project in one thread and admonishing posters on the site who are against the idea of a parking garage in another.

I'm glad to see Mr. Reinhard posting his strong opinions on yackon.com, however. I wish more public officials would. Like a non-binding ballot question it gives more and more citizens a better idea of where we all stand on the issues. And that's a good thing.

Maybe, since the board appears to be in a good mood, we should try to get a few other questions on the ballot for next April. After all, I'm pretty sure there's plenty of room on that piece of paper. So here are some of my suggestions for non-binding referenda (perhaps the board will vote to put a few of these on the ballot during tonight's meeting):

1. Should the town of Nantucket move the Civil War monument at the top of Main Street 43 inches to the north in June and 39 inches to the west in mid-August just to confuse the tourists?

2. Should the town of Nantucket establish a public access TV station and also vote to show episodes of the Jamie Ranney show 24 hours a day, seven days a week?

3. Should the town of Nantucket change its name to Larry?

4. Should the town of Nantucket build a bridge to Hyannis and charge a massive toll to anyone except residents to use it, ensuring that any time we want a Double Whopper® with Cheese, onion rings and a King Size Dr. Pepper® we can just drive there and get one?

5. Should the town of Nantucket just, like, slow the heck down?

6. Should the town of Nantucket reopen the whole Kennedy assassination thing? Because isn't the idea of a single bullet striking two people in four places kind of weird? And what about those men on the grassy knoll? And where was Elvis during this whole thing?

7. Should the town of Nantucket sleep in next Thursday?

8. Should the town of Nantucket shut down the football and cheerleading programs and instead enroll all of its juniors and seniors in ballroom dancing classes?

9. Should the town of Larry (just trying it on for size) require the Great Harbor Yacht Club to build a public boat ramp, a public dinghy dock, a free fried dough stand, a water park, a pet day care center, a cheese factory and a massive statue of Whitey Willauer for the benefit of the entire community in exchange for a triangle of land that is so small it is in danger of being inhaled by passersby?

10. Should the town of Nantucket sneak over to Martha's Vineyard and rearrange the letters on the sign at the airport to read "Very radiant haMs?" And then keep the apostrophe and hold it for ransom?

11. Should the town of Nantucket go on a road trip to Cancun?

12. Should the town of Nantucket declare a moratorium on building?

13. Should the town of Nantucket declare a moratorium on non-binding ballot questions?

14. Should the town of Nantucket

YACK On? I

Grant Sanders is the Host of YACK, The Nantucket Online Community at yackon.com and he holds non-binding polls on the site all the time and then does whatever he wants regardless of the results. His views are his own and do not reflect the editorial stance of the Nantucket Independent. Or his wife. Although he bets they'll both come around to his way of thinking, eventually.