On Jan 14, 2012, at 12:54 PM, Srini RamaKrishnan wrote:
From this and many other things you've said Martha's Vineyard sounds
like the erstwhile USA of affluence and the artistic life, must be
nice for the community to have many rich residents.
Being an island does provide a kind of moat that protects us from
some of the less desirable parts of life in the modern world. In
fact, when we go "off-island" --45 minutes away, by ferry, we say
we're "going to America."
It is nice to have rich seasonal people whose property we can tax to
help pay for our schools and fire trucks, etc. But Martha's
Vineyarders, us year-round people are not generally wealthy. There is
poverty here. In fact, here's links to a few articles about hunger
relief programs (Betty Burton, mentioned in both articles, is my wife).
http://mvgazette.com/article.php?32340
http://www.mvtimes.com/marthas-vineyard/article.php?id=8958
Tisbury 651, the fire truck I'm assigned to, did cost $850,000.
However, in the USA such things pay for themselves. There are
national standards for what kind of firefighting equipment a town
needs to have, and if your town doesn't meet the standards, then by
law you pay a higher rate fore home owner insurance. So, you can
either pay the money and get protection from a well-equiped and
trained fire department, or you can spend the same amount of money in
higher premiums for fire insurance.
Here's a an article about a nasty fire on Main Street in my town a
few years ago. In it, you can see photos of 651 in action (scroll down).
http://www.mvtimes.com/2008/07/03/news/cafe-moxie-fire.php
jrs
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