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Government overreach
This column is actually about Point Traverse, and me. First, some background. I have a problem with authority figures. I’ve had several encounters with them, and they have rarely been fruitful. Basically I believe managers become managers for no reason known to mankind, other than their inability to manage.
And so, as a political animal since I was a teenager, I watch people rise to positions, for unknown reasons, who are unsuitable for their jobs. Usually they start out good, then they get a feeling of power. Then bad things happen.
I have found that this happens at the government level, in which the leaders start out slow, and then get giddy at the power they have, and start to make rules we don’t need. I could cite dozens of examples, but I think you have a few of your own.
The effect is: Government starts out slow; then powers up; then changes a pile of things we want and need into things we don’t want or need.
WE GAVE IT UP
To summarize: We elect people to serve us, though they don’t even know us. Sometimes that works. Sometimes we make the wrong choice, and we wait for a few years to correct our foolish faith, when we realize the aforementioned power has darkened our cloud of faith.
Point Traverse is a favourite place of mine. All the rest have been invaded by summer partiers, and are lost to me. I like quiet, and looking across the lagoon/bay to our historic lighthouse gives me peace, and a sense of the past. It’s about as remote as you can get in the County, without driving into water. For a long time, no one noticed it—and then they did.
HERE’S THE PROBLEM …
Government thinks they can do everything better. But they can’t, and rarely do. In my lifetime in the County, I have watched people ‘take things over’ because the ‘things’ are running so well, they want to impose a pile of rules to make things run worse. They have apparently not heard the old adage: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Here’s two examples: The museums. Granted the museums run well, and are a treasure to our community and visitors. The County took them over, though they were already well-run by locals: Ruth Armstrong built the Wellington Museum; Dave Cole made the Mariners Museum happen; Carolyn Love put her heart and soul into the Rose Museum. Each of these and more were through community volunteers.
I remember when the County took over. The first thing, of course, is to put somebody in charge, and pay them. The next thing was to get rid of unnecessary items. (I should note that previously, museum curators could not turn anything historical away. Rose Museum I think, had three cream separators. If you don’t know what that is, go to a museum.)
The second thing the new super did was make sure all of the signage was in Helvetica Bold. It was hip at the time, but can you find a blander typeface? Then they dumped all the people who made the museums happen.
The museums survived the takeover and, after they completed the typeface challenge, they had the good sense to hire good skilled people to run the museums, now at our expense.
Second example: Council decided long ago to take over the Town Halls in our town and villages. Now they do nothing but complain about the cost of running these, with County staff and the caretakers and cleaners and ‘the only guy who knows how to get in’ on salary. Even the County boys go, “Beats me!” when I ask how someone can get into the Bloomfield Town Hall to retrieve a jacket left behind.
This upsets me because the County Women’s Institute brought these Town Halls alive. Their efforts created the kitchens, plates, cups and appliances; they made sure all the chairs were stacked and everything cleaned. They did this … for free.
They ran a tight ship, and still do. But the County stepped in. Now they have lots of paid people to do it. Sadly, some accountant crunched the numbers and realized maintaining the Town Halls was costing County money! So hall rentals went from free to up and up and up, to the point where euchre clubs can’t afford to meet there—and few other community-oriented events.
To add to the hurt, no one recalls those museum starters, or the women who built the Town Halls.
This is what happens when someone steps up to ‘take charge’. In my experience, this never turns out well. This goes back to: People who think they can do things better, but inevitably don’t.
NOW, POINT TRAVERSE
Nothing says ‘unwanted stepping in’ like the evictions at Point Traverse. This is what I’ve been talking about in the preamble: Bang, boom, you are evicted. Signs are posted against trespassers. Why? Because some government agency says so. Not good enough for me.
Imagine yourself in this situation, when you open your door. “Hi, ma’am. You are evicted and we’re going to tear your house down. Have a nice day.” Would you stand for it? I hope not.
This is power born in some mind somewhere, and pitched to a group of like-minded people. To me, this is wrong on every level.
You may recall a similar incident at the Point, in which bulldozers moved in quickly and levelled the long-established fishing village. It was so fast, I can only describe it as a blitzkrieg movement, courtesy of our own government.
Here they go again with the people at Pt. Traverse. Always working on their plan, with a total disregard for our plan. Is it too late to save them? I don’t know.
What I do know is that the Point has a long history of commercial fishing. Grandfathers pass their heritage to their sons, who pass it again. Nobody seems to give a damn about that. But it’s important to us.
I don’t want ‘what we are’ to end up in a County museum alongside ‘what we once were’. I don’t want the volunteer work that built our County to be just a footnote in some government document somewhere, after they took charge.
We live in a County in which council people provide for us. Sometimes they do what they want, instead of what we want. But we’re comfortable.
Until they come and evict you, and tear your house down. Then, not so comfortable. Anyone left to help you?
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