Chris Belland's - "Hindsights & Insights"
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Dispatch from the so-called 'far away land' and an interesting contrast

By CHRIS BELLAND Citizen Columnist

They say the name Nantucket is derived from the Native American tribe of Wampanoags who lived there before early European settlers asked them to "move over," and it means far away land. Well, it is true that it is pretty far if you are paddling a canoe from Boston, but with a high-speed ferry from Hyannis or your private G4 jet, it is pretty close by in today's world. No, I think Nantucket actu...

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What a stark contrast

Submitted on Sun, 08/05/2012 - 3:42pm by Observer
So Chris has seen another kind of Nirvana and found that it is -- um -- kinda nice. No cruise ships, no trolleys or ducks, probably no honky tonks, titty bars, or t-shirt shops. Yet people flock there and there's even room and jobs for 7,000 locals who are doing OK, thank you very much.

One big thing that's different is that Nantucket Island is 8 times bigger in land area than Cayo Hueso, yet has half the population. Their population 'swells' by five times to 50,000 during summer, driven by part-time residents and tourists, despite having no pesky bridges from the mainland. In fact, Nantucket is 30 miles away from mainland Massachusetts.

I'm not saying that it's necessarily better there than here, but it is an alternate vision that may have some good features worth considering for Key West.

Careful Nantucket, Chris might be coming back with some ideas.