A Proposal for Decommissioning NASB
by Herschel Sternlieb
Background
As Maine struggles to keep its economic head above water, it is apparent
that the usual economic life-preservers are inadequate. The entire basis on
which business decisions are made has eroded. A great idea for manufacturing
a product in Maine is no longer viable, for how can a Maine factory worker
compete with a Chinese, Indian, African or even Mexican. Why hire someone
for $10 an hour when, if you scout around the world, you can get the same
labor for 10 cents? The days of quantity manufacturing in Maine are gone and
will never return unless there is a major change in government policies that
will promote domestic manufacturing. But don't count on it. Our government
is less interested in the welfare of people than in the welfare of money.
Also, the nostrum of tax relief as a way to stimulate jobs is a myth.
Manufacturers are basically interested in two costs: labor and materials.
Taxes are a minuscule overall expense in the cost of production. Since
materials are a world-wide commodity, the price is very close to the same
everywhere; however, labor can vary from 5˘ an hour in Bangladesh to almost
$7 an hour minimum in Maine.
Another fallacy in current thinking is that high tech will save us. Maine
does not have the resources either in capital or in educational
infrastructure to compete with Boston, New York, San Francisco, Europe,
Japan or even China and India. The great technical and bio-tech discoveries
are being made all over the world. Funding bio-tech in Maine, except perhaps
to help the fishing industry, is a waste of money. The University of Maine
is not MIT and the College of the Atlantic is not Cal Tech or Oxford.
On top of that, we are faced with peace. I know this is a frightening word
to the folks at BIW and the Brunswick Naval Air Station, but the day will
come when the need for building expensive naval weapons will cease and the
cost of maintaining the air base for no logical defensive reason will lead
to its closing. The economic policies of the present federal administration
will lead to increased debt and deficits that can lead only to bankruptcy, a
painful belt-tightening and the inevitable curtailing of military spending.
The Naval Air Station will be closed. You can count on it. And BIW probably
will not be very far behind. One can build ships in Poland a lot cheaper
than in Bath.
Where will the Bath-Brunswick area be without the two pillars of its
economy? A pit stop for travelers on their way up the coast to Acadia or
Canada? Perhaps a little fishing or sailing off Harpswell? Maine will not
have jobs for its youngsters. It will be the Mississippi of the North, New
England's rural slum. We are fast becoming a relatively inexpensive
repository for old bodies that are still breathing (I among them). Eldercare
facilities are our leading growth industry. Will we end up being one large
nursing home and funeral parlor? Should we train our youngsters to be
morticians, grave diggers. bed pan emptiers, and coffin makers?
Certainly, great product ideas will be coming and perhaps they will even
start up here, but when the big guys get hold of them, the production will
leave the state.
Even paper making will probably leave the state. The Maine paper industry
can't compete with Georgia or Brazil. We don't have the optimal growing
climate or the cheapest labor to harvest the trees. And possibly, most
important of all, we care about our environment.
I suggest that we do something else. We take a different course; that we
build something that cannot be removed from Brunswick, that belongs to us
and not to people or businesses from out of state.
Tourism is one option. What brings people to Maine? Surprisingly, mostly
Freeport shopping, with four million visitors a year, followed by Acadia
with three million. We have a nice summer run, then the fall foliage season,
and then winter sports. And beyond that, what have we got to offer?
We need destinations. We have the sea, beaches, lakes, rivers, ski slopes,
and forests. In Brunswick, we have the summer theater and the music school.
There's the Pejepscot Historical Society, the Maritime Museum in Bath, the
Peary-Macmillan Museum, the Joshua Chamberlain House and the Walker Art
Museum at Bowdoin College.
The Maine Maritime Museum is the best attraction around here, but it doesn't
measure up to the British Maritime Museum in Greenwich. We need something
that is world-class, that can draw people to it from all over the world.
I suggest a garden. A magnificent garden. The most beautiful garden in the
world, right here in Brusnwick, a garden that will attract visitors from all
over the country and even the world. It would be modeled on the magnificent
Dutch Tulip garden in Keukenhof, Holland, where 80 acres of land are
dedicated to the display of tulips. Over 10 million visitors a year come
there. Each commercial tulip grower in Holland is given a plot to display
his/her wares. Our Brunswick Garden could have tulips, rhododendra,
vegetables, sunflowers, mixed gardens, rose gardens, daffodils, a blueberry
barren, orchards, greenhouses for all sorts of exotic and tropical plants
and orchids. In the spring, it would be tulips and azaleas and lilacs,
followed by summer flowers followed by fall foliage. Only in winter would
the garden be closed. And even then, if there were enough hot houses, it
might draw many visitors. There could be orchards for blossoms and fruits, a
lilac garden like the one at the Arnold Arboretum in Boston, only larger; a
wild flower garden like the Garden in the Woods in North Framingham, Mass.,
a meadow, a Japanese garden, a Bonzai garden, a garden by the sea, a Maine
forest, wild, mysterious and sustainable.
Perhaps various types of farms could be on display also‹ dairy, poultry etc.
It could be done in conjunction with the Ag school at Orono, and MOFGA.
Where would these magnificent gardens be located? On the grounds of the
Naval Air Station. We would be reclaiming the Brunswick Commons which the
Navy appropriated during the Second World War. We would get back what was
taken from us. It has served its purpose, and should be returned to the
town.
Ownership
The garden would be owned by the town of Brusnwick. Under no circumstances
should the ownership and management of the garden be in hands other than the
town's. It must be locally owned and locally controlled. No outside
interests should ever be in a position to affect it.
Funds for Creating the Garden and Necessary Infrastructure
US Government for base closing impact. State Aid. Municipal Bonds. Donations
Sources of Income
Entry fees; Rent from growers and exhibitors; Amusements; Food.; Commission
on sale of plants; Advertisements from seed companies in brochures etc.;
Tours; Education; Research
The Setup
Each gardener, florist or farmer who wants one would get a plot. They would
be responsible for maintaining it and displaying their wares. The land is to
be used for growing plants, not for selling them. Sales will be at a central
location. The garden is for enjoyment and education.
Getting There
Trains from the south right to the door, buses, cars and planes, pleasure
sailors and even cruise ships that visit Portland.
Economic Impact
Eventually, the garden should have enough income to pay for many of the
town's expenses.
Let's assume the minimum number of visitors would be the same four million
as come to Freeport every year to shop. At $10 a head for entry fees,
(children under 12 would get in free) the take would be $40,000,000. Half
that money would go toward maintenance and capital improvements and the
other half for tax relief.
Assume every visitor spends an average of $10 at the Garden over and above
the entry fee,
That will mean $40,000,000 a year. With the town taking a 10% cut, this
would add another $4,000,000 to the town coffers.
Total of direct money into the town: $24,000,000.
Indirect impact
Assume 30% of the people spend a night in local inns: 1,200,000
x$60=$72,000,000
Assume every visitor spends $25 on food: $100,0000,000
Plant sales in garden: $20,000,000
Tours in garden at $2 a head: $8,000,000
Total money coming into the area: $260,000,000
Other benefits would be in sales of gasoline, general merchandise etc.
For every one million visitors, the area would get at least $42 million, and
the town would get $3.5 million.
Local Jobs Generated
Landscape gardeners, Arborists, Horticulturalists, Botanists, Flower
gardeners, Vegetable gardeners,
Teachers, Guides, Retail, Maintenance, Food services, Transport, Repair,
Security and Administration
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Talk Index, Winter, 2004 - 2005