Charles Sidman
Bar Harbor Town Council candidates
CHARLES SIDMAN
THE BIO
My recent phase of civic activity began with formulating, getting passed ,and defending the Bar Harbor Cruise Ship Initiative, and it has now morphed into a broader effort to stop kicking the can down the road and honestly and practically deal with existential issues in our community.
For over 40 years I raised my children (and grandchildren during the pandemic) in the local school system, worked at both of our renowned laboratories (Jackson and MDIBL) and COA, supported my wife in her art gallery that continues to draw and endear visitors to our town, organized other citizen initiatives (barring a cruise ship pier at the ferry terminal and requiring local residency to serve on town boards), served on the Warrant Committee, participated in the local cultural scene, flew scenic flights and taught aviation, contributed to various state boards, and as an investor became conversant with business, finance, law, and ethics. Professionally, having started my career in computer science and spending the bulk of my adult life as a biomedical researcher and academic, I now focus on investing in early-stage enterprises globally that have positive impacts on human health and environmental sustainability.
OUR QUESTIONS FOR CHARLES
Why do you think so many people are running this year?
A number of critical local issues (our significant tourist economy, the rule of law, local budgets and taxation, housing, environmental protection, civic civility, etc.) are reaching crisis points, and there is little consensus on how to proceed. Some candidates favor continuing our longstanding practice of good-folks happy talk that routinely kicks difficult cans down the road (making eventual resolution that much harder); others represent narrow interests that exploit our commons and degrade the lot of everyone else, and some represent and offer a different trajectory for voters who feel that present trends and approaches are neither acceptable nor sustainable.
Why are you running? How does your why for running delve into your bigger life purpose?
I am in group #3 above, favoring reality and practicality over happy talk and can-kicking. As both a scientist and a businessperson, I am devoted to truth over fiction, and practical, sustainable results. In the present race, I am like a doctor examining a patient; does the patient want a pat on the head and blind hope that their serious illness will magically get better, or does (s)he want objective diagnosis and realistic treatment alternatives? Despite personal respect for many of the other candidates, I truly believe that I have demonstrated courage, tenacity, and independence that none of the other candidates offers, despite personal likability and undoubted accomplishments in other areas of life.
How would you try to create more trust between people not on town boards/committees and those who are?
Walk the walk, don’t just talk the talk. Be accessible, transparent, and communicative. Put others before self. Display persistence and integrity.
What are some things that you feel like the town should be focusing on, but isn’t?
The cruise ship ordinance and lawsuit are still in contention, but are proceeding satisfactorily and I think the citizens will win. Importantly though, the trajectory of the cruise ship issue has revealed afresh the long-standing covert alliance of our town government with that portion of the business community benefitting from past cruise ship practices, as exemplified by the Town Council’s multiple recent violations of (and disinformation about) our town code in efforts to protect and prolong the advantages of the pro-cruise ship community that the majority of our citizens voted clearly and democratically to restrict. No issue is more fundamental to our democracy than the rule of law, and our council’s efforts to evade, avoid and misrepresent this essential principle has resonance from the American Revolution through to current national debates over presidential immunity from law-breaking.
Another key issue on the agenda currently is many decades of town overspending, with tax consequences that threaten to make it impossible for anyone other than the wealthy to live here (whether owning or renting.) Please see the graph below, showing inflation, Bar Harbor taxes in aggregate, and one citizen’s (mine) tax bills, all normalized to 2005 values for easy comparability.
What is clear is that for this entire 20-year period, aggregate town taxation has steadily outpaced inflation, while in the last few years, expenditures and taxation have gone through the roof (and are seemingly destined to continue to do so.) Our good-old-boy (and girl) happy-talking councilors have evidently never heard of living within one’s means, and are always willing to spend for any shiny object that someone wants, as long as others (i.e. taxpayers) foot the bill. Does anyone here resonate to UAW President Shawn Fain’s statement on April 13, 2024 that “workers have realized they’ve been getting screwed for decades, and they’re fed up”?
A third issue that Bar Harbor is facing (or not) is the inexorable push for more housing and development, now and perhaps at any environmental cost. With forever chemicals contaminating the high school area, the National Park Service’s recent placing the Northeast Creek watershed on the Impaired Marine Waters Priority List, and proposed LUO changes assuring us that “adequate water and wastewater capacity” will always be required for project approval (but with the relevant standards and review processes left for future definition), we seem to be fouling our own nest. Are we so dead set on rushing increasing development in our town at the risk of irremediable environmental damage? Perhaps less haste and a bit more deliberation are in order, lest we truly “throw our baby out with the bathwater.”
We asked this last year, but I think it’s really important to ask again. Do you have any ideas for increasing revenue to the town and alleviating the tax burden on property owners? Do you have any ideas for decreasing expenses?
Getting the town back into the cruise ship docking and tendering business (rather than ceding that entire and substantial revenue stream to a private enterprise) is one option that is long-past due and entirely at our discretion. Infrastructure (waste disposal, water, sewer, etc.) could be differentially provided according to residential vs. commercial rates. The City of Venice just instituted a tourist tax, that is seeming to be well accepted by visitors. A local option housing tax is an oft-mentioned avenue, but requires state approval that keeps getting rejected.
Fundamentally, I believe that living within our means (i.e.l reducing expenditures) is the first and most important approach to take. Rejecting the tax override article (LD-1) at the town meeting this June would remove about 10% ($2.8 million) from our budget, and in the ensuing necessary budget redo, reducing expenditures by $4.5 million would bring our town expenditures and taxation into alignment with inflation. Or, we can let the bureaucrats simply price us all out of town. It’s (y)our decision!
What skills do you bring to the table that you think other candidates might not bring?
I’ve been making (and living by) institutional, business, and personal budgets my entire life. It is sometimes difficult to say no, but it’s not rocket science. Also, as a scientist, businessperson, and administrator, I’ve lived and been guided by reality. I’m not a fiction author, believing he can invent, orate, and then live whatever he dreams. Finally, I think I’ve demonstrated courage, persistence and independence in this town, together with politeness and respect even when disagreeing with others. Do the voters want likability or results?
What is it about Bar Harbor that you love?
I started vacationing here approximately sixty years ago, and have chosen to live and raise my family in what I consider an Eden for over forty years. Good people, unmatched environment, great work opportunities and the lifestyle I choose.
What is it that worries you?
All of what I love about Bar Harbor is being seriously threatened by the issues discussed above, that IMHO cannot continue in current directions without deeper thought and conscious decision making. We have essential choices to make now, as tomorrow will be too late. We need to make our own beds and lie in them, not leaving the job to others and their own interests.
What have you done for yourself that you’re the most proud of? What have you done for the community that you’re the most proud of?
I was raised to live, love, work, and try to make the world a better place, and believe that I have done this adequately, in a variety of spheres. I anticipate substantial satisfaction and no great regrets when my end comes.
Having been a productive and contributing member of my local community in spheres scientific, business, cultural, civic, etc., I believe that I have made, and am making, a difference. My candidacy here does not reflect personal ambition, but rather a continuing effort (at substantial personal cost, wear and tear) to give the community I love a choice and chance to demonstrate its satisfaction (or lack thereof) with the direction we are currently taking. No disrespect to the other candidates is intended.