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City on edge of
knife with MAA
The Aug. 15 City Council meeting was both literally and metaphorically a watershed moment for our town. For that reason, and for my son who will inherit the environment we leave behind, I chose to go, proactively signing up to speak in support of the issue that brought me there: The petition in the name of 1,100 residents calling upon the council to pass a resolution to assure that the Mt. Ashland Association (MAA) would not preemptively begin logging operations in the eco-sensitive Middle Branch area (the source of our municipal water) for its proposed ski expansion until the matter, which is presently before the courts, was settled through a full and fair judicial process.
After 2 1/2 tedious hours of other Council agenda items, we finally reached the critical-mass issue for which most of the standing-room-only crowd had come. At which point the Mayor expeditiously invited three representatives to speak on behalf of the petition, followed by an MAA board member and his lawyer who opposed it. Then the council began its deliberations, cutting out input from the 50 concerned citizens who had signed on to address the issue. And before we knew it, it was over. Four to 2 against a resolution which simply sought a moratorium on preemptive clear-cutting while the ski expansion matter was before the courts.
As the chamber quickly emptied, I sat there shell-shocked and frustrated, ashamed of our council for what felt like an abdication of responsibility and leadership, prudently caving in to fear and the pressure of high-stakes investors.
By continuing to run Mt. Ashland as a proprietary business in this critical time of "certifiable" global warming, aren't we employing the same commercial mentality that's driving (or skiing) our species down an ecocidal slope? How can we play Russian roulette with our watershed, taking cover in one-sided science? Especially in view of the track record of the Reagan and Bush Administrations where the so-called science guiding our public health, environmental and foreign policies is itself scripted by corporate lobbyists?
Fronting such powerful and well-funded intransigence, Ashland, which hypes itself as progressive "new consciousness" community, needs to acknowledge its own shadow behind the smiley face. It's now-or-never time to summon the courage and foresight necessary to meet the "inconvenient" times ahead. After all, this is not a movie we can go back and re-edit if we get it wrong.
Alan Sasha Lithman
Ashland
