To the Editor: It should be obvious to even the casual observer that Nantucket tourism has reached its limits. Old South Road is regularly clogged for miles leading up to the roundabout. So is Milestone Road. From Pleasant Street to Five Corners – traffic jams. Elin Hilderbrand could write her new novel while stuck in traffic on Nobadia Farm Road. Finding a parking space at Stop & Shop is like winning the lottery. Sconset Bluff Walk is at a standstill. The noise of short-term renters shatters the silence of residential streets. Tourists in town crowd the sidewalks like Fifth Avenue at Christmastime. And less visible, but even more significant, is the enormous strain on Nantucket’s fragile ecosystem and its ability to provide essential services.
But we can’t be complacent. We need to attract more tourists. Let’s go from 75,000 tourists in July and August to more than 150,000. It’ll take some effort, but I’m sure it can be done.
How? Through sweeping regulatory changes, infrastructure improvements and exciting new attractions – all with the support of a town government that clearly prioritizes real estate and investment interests over the needs of the community and the long-term quality of life on Nantucket Island.
plan:
Regulatory changes
1. Allow full-time commercial short-term rentals everywhere on the island. Let’s continue to make it easy for deep-pocketed outside investors to buy up homes in Nantucket’s residential neighborhoods and convert them into full-time commercial short-term rentals. And make no mistake, their appetite for money is insatiable. So, with the approval of a city government that panders to the real estate industrial complex, short-term rentals can take over residential neighborhoods. Raucous parties, loud music – bring it on. It’s time to liven up our boringly quiet neighborhoods. Watch out, Daytona Beach. Nantucket is coming. This is truly great. By allowing short-term commercial rentals (mini-hotels) in residential neighborhoods, the city government can effectively circumvent basic residential zoning principles.
2. Allow commercial short-term rentals to stay by the hour, catering to visitors looking for a brief, but hopefully memorable, magical, romantic encounter. This allows short-term rental investors to maintain a steady stream of income between long-term rentals.
Full disclosure: Home buy-ups and conversion to commercial short-term rentals will deplete the housing supply for all year-round residents. It will make it even harder for essential workers, like health care workers, firefighters, law enforcement officers, and teachers, to find affordable housing.
But let’s stick to the plan.
infrastructure
1. Significantly widening impractically narrow roads in the downtown historic district to increase traffic capacity.
2. Paving over those pesky cobblestones, an annoying holdover from a bygone era, to speed up traffic flow.
3. Convert both Milestone Road and Old South Road into four-lane highways (two lanes in each direction). Install concrete Jersey barriers on both highways to separate them and increase the speed limit to 60 mph. Replace the outdated Milestone roundabout with a cloverleaf interchange to accommodate the intersection of the two highways.
4. Significantly widen the Sconset Bluff Walk path to accommodate a moving walkway. This will efficiently accommodate significantly more visitors and solve the problem of pesky tourists staring blankly at the ocean views. Change the name to Sconset Bluff Ride.
Attractions
1. Remodel Sconset Casino into a full-service, 24-hour licensed gambling casino with state-of-the-art slot machines and gaming equipment. We’ll be lucky enough to keep the name intact for historical continuity. Honestly, finding a way to attract big-time money and high rollers is essential to taking Nantucket to the next level as a tourist destination. With any luck, we can make Nantucket a top-tier gambling destination.
2. Build a giant boardwalk along Madaket Beach with an electronic gaming arcade and old-fashioned vibes – after all, who can resist a gorgeous sunset, cotton candy, and an exciting game of Skee-ball?
3. Replace the stairs leading down to Steps Beach with a cable car (preferably Swiss made). There are countless ideas for additional attractions to draw more visitors to Nantucket, but that’s a story for another day. Tip: Consider the giant Ferris wheel at Children’s Beach and jet ski rentals at Porpis for starters. The possibilities are endless.
I believe you will be convinced by my proposal. Together, with the cooperation of a town government willing to commercialize the entire island, we can make Nantucket a tourist destination to rival the New Jersey shore’s Coney Island, Daytona Beach, Seaside Heights, or even… dare I say it… Atlantic City.
Alan Rubinstein
