The Battle of the Boothbay Common Simmers While the State Implements its Newly Claimed Power Over Municipal Ordinances

Will options emerge to save our future?

Adrian Curiel Unsplash

Yesterday was a hot day in August. It had been a long time since we have seen rain. As I drove by the Boothbay Common, fountains sprayed water on a bright green lawn that stood out against the surrounding brown landscape. At once It was beautiful and disturbing as a spectacle of abundance amidst scarcity. So perfectly symbolic of elite entitlement that I wondered am I dreaming? I thought about the new irrigation costing 22000.00 paling in comparison to the income generated on a yearly basis by the historical uses of the Common, that now face increasing restrictions so as not to damage the irrigation system, say the selectmen and the Town Manager.

The irrigation system is part of developer Paul Coulombe’s reimaging of the Boothbay Peninsula as a well-manicured community, but the controlled imagery cannot manage the message of cultural dissonance conveyed to a world larger than his own kind. The water falling on the super green lawn of the Town Common sparkles in …