Nantucket Lightship Deal Falls Through
By Sue Clark on Jul 1, 2008 in News, Opinion 
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Stamford Connecticut Says Nay
The Lightship Nantucket is now scrambling to find a new home, as the deal to make her the centerpiece of a $7billion waterfront hotel and restaurant complex in Stamford has come to an end. The National Lighthouse Museum, owner of the ship, has been trying for ten years to get a facility opened in Staten Island that would incorporate the lightship. Jerry Roberts, a board member of the National Lighthouse Museum, said in the story at Newsday.Com that it is imperative to find a new permanent home before the 72 year old vessel deteriorates beyond repair. He said he would like to find a site in New England, where the lightship had been based when operated by the Coast Guard. “We’re looking for a qualified nonprofit or civic organization that will look after the best interests of the ship because it is a national landmark.”
“I’m hopeful the lightship will find a solution elsewhere. But I have no problem giving the guy the balance of the calendar year and then we’ll re-evaluate things. I’m still holding myself out as the port of last resort,” John Venditto, Supervisor of Oyster Bay said in the article.
Oyster Bay Cites “Liability Issues.”
While I realize we live in a litigious society, I for one am getting tired of hearing the specter of “liability issues” raised whenever someone doesn’t want to do anything. And that’s exactly what Oyster Bay has raised in regards to providing a permanent home for one of our last remaining lightships. Except for Oyster Bay Supervisor, John Venditto, who has offered once again to try and convince the town to step up to the plate and become the owner. But the town is worried about “lawsuits and damages.”
“They are telling me ‘You have no idea of the amount of money involved,’” Venditto said in the story. “It’s many hundreds of thousands of dollars. They’re talking about the potential for damage to occur if the perfect storm pops up. And even without a storm they’re worried about damage that might be occurring to the dock.”
Talk about a “what if” mentality. That’s on the level of saying I’m not going to leave my house, because what if a cow falls out of the sky and hits me on the head and kills me. And if they’re worried about damage to the town owned dock, then maybe they should just get out of the dock ownership business, because any vessel can cause damage to a dock at any time.
I really can’t understand that type of thinking, and desperately hope some non-profit group can come up with a way to save this floating lighthouse. In the meantime, I want to say to John Venditto, if we only had more people like you willing to help with this problem, then historic preservation would be a whole lot easier. Keep trying, sir. And thank you.
Photo credit: The Lightship Nantucket by Fantasma4. Some rights reserved.
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