From the Editor
A little faith
Being, as we are mostly, Northern New Englanders, and therefore inclined generally by culture and tradition to views of pessimism and tight-fistedness when it comes to matters of money (especially those monies expended for public purposes), the negativity and cynicism that originally surrounded the funding of the new library in York was, in many respects, not surprising. Needing, in the normal course of things these days, only the smallest of faults or failings to mark open season on any given project, the funding and building of the library appeared at first as a big, fat, sitting duck for those trudging about in our fiscal swamps looking for something to blast away at.How much more notable it is then, this news that the York Public Library Association has paid off the $800,000 loan taken from Kennebunk Savings Bank to fund the balance of the building debt above the amount appropriated by the town and raised from the private sector. We would say that it is enough to restore one's faith in the community, but that would be unfair to those who made this happen in the first place, those who in fact had faith all along.
And isn't that the other side of our culture and tradition, faith while in the presence of adversity, faith in our ability to take and overcome worthy risks? Isn't that the balance that has historically redeemed us, as a distinct culture, from simply being cheap?
Perhaps our present, overwhelmingly risk-averse society has done away with the need for that faith as well, even here in our corner of the world where we ought to know better. Perhaps if we are not going to risk anything, there's no longer any need to have faith either. Maybe in many of us that element of faith is slowly slipping away even as our culture of all-pervasive risk management relentlessly does its best to convince us of our ability to eliminate all things potentially harmful or unknown.
There was a balance to risk and faith that our ancestors understood and it made them worthy as a people. And if you look about you these days and think about it a bit, it should not be too difficult to see where that balance still exists in us, and also where the element of faith, and with it any willingness to risk, has disappeared.
No, the lesson here should not be about restoring faith; it should be about recognizing its importance to begin with. In the instant case then, all credit to those who have done the heavy hauling through thick and thin on behalf of the York Public Library. Those of you who had the faith to willingly assume this risk know who you are, and one hundred years from now, people will be grateful that you were here.
Time for clear speaking in York Village
We have heard suggestions being tossed about lately concerning the town of York's recently-purchased Coventry Hall property as being a potential site for a public safety center (i.e. police station) as well as a town hall and municipal center. From our view (just the other side of the Civil War Monument) this talk of a public safety center should be squashed now before it goes any further.Even the most cursory observation of the traffic patterns and residential areas surrounding the Coventry Hall property should make it obvious that a police station is not workable at that location. The summer traffic flow on its own is enough to create frequent gridlocks in York Village. To add the coming and going of emergency vehicles to it all is simply not rational thinking.
To be fair, the majority of York's Board of Selectmen has already indicated that a police station is not under consideration for the site. Likewise, the York police have also indicated that the site is not viable due to issues of accessibility and residential proximity. But a definitive statement to the public by town leaders on the matter is necessary before this goes any further.
There is more than enough confusion these days to go around. Let's clear this one up now.
