[at-l] Upscale resort planned near Katahdin

[rockdancer97 at comcast.net (Arthur Gaudet)]

This is from the "Magic City Morning Star" in Millinocket, a not-so-friendly
attack on Matthew Polstein, who evidently is wearing many hats in moving the
planned resort forward. Everyone on this list probably knows that Millinocket
has a difficult future, trying to get along after the demise of the paper mill
industry. But you might not know that the long standing "Katahdin Times" closed
up shop this summer. MAGIC refers to the "Millinocket Area Growth and Investment
Council". --RockDancer

_____________________________________________________________________

"Up the Creek" by Kathy Gagnon, Aug. 26, 2005

I'd like to suggest a name for Mr. Polstein's proposed resort: Up The Creek.
Though this area does need businesses and jobs, sentencing us all to minimum
wage servitude is not the answer. Taking our way of life from us and selling it
to the well to do for a generous self-profit is wrong. The kicker here is that
we are supposed to be thankful for all that he is doing FOR US. 

No one is saying that there is no room for tourism, it can be a welcome
addition. If we allow it to be the only business without benefit of anything
else, the only person making enough profit to live well on will be Mr. Polstein
himself and those he chooses. I believe this concept was developed by MAGIC/Mr.
Polstein. 

Though newspaper accounts say he has been working on this development for only a
year, it has been much longer than that. He only publicly announced this project
a year ago after working out a deal with Katahdin Timberlands to purchase
Hammond Ridge. 

Until then, as a town councilor, he voted and spoke on issues that would
directly affect this purchase and his favor by the paper company. After citizens
became aware of this situation, he began to "voluntarily" recuse himself from
voting on these issues so as not to appear to have a conflict of interest. A
conflict of interest that had already been going on for some time. 

I find it very interesting that Mr. Polstein was able to negotiate a deal for
this property when citizens who have owned camps in this area for generations
are unable to purchase the land these camps sit on let alone 1,450 acres of
shore property. 

I wonder if maybe these camp owners have gone about acquiring their lots the
wrong way and maybe should have run for town council first, then tried to
negotiate. 

Mr. Polstein denies a conflict of interest between his proposal, MAGIC, and his
position as a town councilor. This I also find interesting since Mr. McLean,
many times in the past, has cited this project as one which himself and MAGIC
are involved with. Though, the latest Bangor Daily article says that MAGIC
"might eventually help to get it off the ground". Which is it? 

MAGIC has claimed so many successes which have been failures with expense to the
taxpayers, and some that many of us have never seen or heard of until they are
deemed as successes. Maybe these successes are none of the taxpayers business or
are only in their collective minds.

Mr. Polstein is calling his project "a resort development from which to enjoy
the Maine woods". Just how much are area residents and camp owners going to be
able to enjoy our Maine woods once this project is complete? 

The whitewater business has already brought about a lot of traffic on roads that
used to be a joy to take a quiet ride on. What will the effect of such a
development have on the quality of life here, the quality of the water in our
lakes, the roads and forests? 

Look at Plum Creek. They have taken a step back now that they are coming to
realize the impact of such a facility in their area. But in some instances, the
citizens of Greenville are more fortunate than we are. Their Board of Selectmen
agreed to listen to the citizens concerns and removed their support for the
project in order to respect the citizens and their wishes. There wasn't even any
need for a petition.

Millinocket, however, has a town council that appears to have a serious conflict
of interest involved and councilors who repeatedly go out of their way to deny
citizens' petitions on any technicality they can find rather that allowing a
vote. 

Now that these councilors do not want to appear as though they are denying
citizens the right to vote, they offer us the option of a question on the ballot
that will only give us the opportunity to say whether we like MAGIC or not, with
no dollar amount involved. 

Once again, we are being told the dollar amount is "none of our business", it is
for them to decide. If the amount and accountability are none of our business
and there is nothing to show for all this money, why should we continue to pay
more - or any? 

If they don't want to put a dollar amount on the ballot, maybe we should keep it
simple and vote "yes" or "no" on whether to fund MAGIC at all. 

We have funded this group for some time now and we've seen no results. Maybe now
it's time to try our own economic developer who will be accountable and show
results. We need more businesses here now, not just one big tourist based
business that we can all work service jobs at.

One last point is in regard to Mr. Polstein's resort promotion and show & tell
time at the town meeting.

A few weeks ago, he very rudely tried to prevent a citizen who had requested
time from giving specifics about a petition drive because he said it was the
equivalent to a paid promotion for KAT. The petition was regarding town business
and was something the citizens had a right to know about in order to decide
whether or not they wished to sign. 

Yet, this same man shamelessly did a "promo" for his proposed resort (complete
with a reporter from the Bangor Daily present) at the town meeting.

Finally, I have heard that some people believe my letters are being written in
support of one side or group. 

Yes, they are. I am a taxpaying lifelong member of this community. My letters
are in support of our town, our rights, and our way of life. If some people take
exception to that, I guess it's something they will have to deal with. I respect
their right to disagree with my opinion. 

My conscience is clear, and I firmly believe in what I write. In case you hadn't
noticed, I don't need anyone to tell me how to think or write. Never have. My
husband will swear about - or rather, to this.