M
markdupont
Guest
Howdy everyone… We hope y’all had a great summer and plenty of wheeling! For the most part, the “business of doing business†usually shuts down for the summer months for most folks… however, I’d like to thank the members of this committee, Paul Regish, Carl Merrick and Adam Grenier (new committee member!) for their hard work and dedication in continuing on with the task at hand… they’ve continued to volunteer their time and energy to make the various community and land-owner meetings… with vacations and family commitments, this is no small task! Thanks Guys!
Also, as most of you may know, the MASS Land Committee has changed a bit… we’ve lost (for a short time we hope!) Tim Wagner to his increased
professional responsibilities and gained a new member, Adam Grenier. A
call went out to temporarily fill Tim’s shoes, I’ve volunteered.
As mentioned, the time and energy to make the meetings and keep up with changes in private and public land use is no small task… we’re strapped for man-power… we don’t have enough volunteers to cover all our bases! Looking back through this year, we’ve lost some good trails… Driveshaft Hill in RI , Ice Cream and Beacon in MA… so in essence, I’m appealing to the membership of the NEA to put out a call for volunteers, I feel there is still great opportunity to get involved and effect change!
I’d like to impart upon you my personal assessment of where the community continues to stand on land use issues… most folks in our community believe the future of wheeling lies in (a) property
acquisition (club/association land purchases) and/or (b) strategic
alliances with private land holders, I and a few others within the
community truly believe differently… please consider this socio-economic
refresher course! (a) as private land values are continuing to escalate,
is the purchase option becoming further out of reach? If your club or
association is fortunate enough to have the ability to raise enough
capital to make a down payment, are you finding it difficult to make the
monthly nut and yearly taxes?... are you trying to accomplish this on a
fluctuating membership base??? Have you recognized yet, the age of your
membership has become younger, that their purchasing dynamics
(demanding more value for their dollar) have changed? (b) I’ve banged
this drum in the past, I’ll continue to do so… although the “art of the
deal†is based purely on relationships, 30 years in business has taught
me there are too many mitigating factors facilitating the collapse of a
relationship… applied to our situation, real estate transfer of ownership and pissed-off land owners are two blindingly real concepts… in 28 years of wheeling, I’ve seen both concepts turn to reality! What’s
happened to the private and publicly accessible trails in your area?
Had enough??? Sorry… then we have the environmentalists. These special
interest groups have become a major influence that have solidly woven
themselves into the political fabric… in my opinion, THEY should become
the driving force behind our community’s increased political VISIBALITY.
We know who they are and we know they are able to influence… I feel our
immediate responsibility is to reprogram our patterns and attitudes, to
discard that age old “us against them†mentality and adopt an “if you
can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em†approach… Consider this: at the MARTAB meeting Dan Stra’ and I attended last winter, the MARTAB BOD brought up a request from the DCR woman (her name escapes me, but she’s 100% against motorized vehicle use of public land) in Florida MA, she wrote a letter expressing her desire to become involved in MARTAB…what’s this telling you?… and btw, she was voted in as a member of the panel.
Wayne Gretzgy said, “you’re going to miss 100% of the shots you don’t
takeâ€.
Mark Dupont
Mass Land Committee Interim Chairman
Also, as most of you may know, the MASS Land Committee has changed a bit… we’ve lost (for a short time we hope!) Tim Wagner to his increased
professional responsibilities and gained a new member, Adam Grenier. A
call went out to temporarily fill Tim’s shoes, I’ve volunteered.
As mentioned, the time and energy to make the meetings and keep up with changes in private and public land use is no small task… we’re strapped for man-power… we don’t have enough volunteers to cover all our bases! Looking back through this year, we’ve lost some good trails… Driveshaft Hill in RI , Ice Cream and Beacon in MA… so in essence, I’m appealing to the membership of the NEA to put out a call for volunteers, I feel there is still great opportunity to get involved and effect change!
I’d like to impart upon you my personal assessment of where the community continues to stand on land use issues… most folks in our community believe the future of wheeling lies in (a) property
acquisition (club/association land purchases) and/or (b) strategic
alliances with private land holders, I and a few others within the
community truly believe differently… please consider this socio-economic
refresher course! (a) as private land values are continuing to escalate,
is the purchase option becoming further out of reach? If your club or
association is fortunate enough to have the ability to raise enough
capital to make a down payment, are you finding it difficult to make the
monthly nut and yearly taxes?... are you trying to accomplish this on a
fluctuating membership base??? Have you recognized yet, the age of your
membership has become younger, that their purchasing dynamics
(demanding more value for their dollar) have changed? (b) I’ve banged
this drum in the past, I’ll continue to do so… although the “art of the
deal†is based purely on relationships, 30 years in business has taught
me there are too many mitigating factors facilitating the collapse of a
relationship… applied to our situation, real estate transfer of ownership and pissed-off land owners are two blindingly real concepts… in 28 years of wheeling, I’ve seen both concepts turn to reality! What’s
happened to the private and publicly accessible trails in your area?
Had enough??? Sorry… then we have the environmentalists. These special
interest groups have become a major influence that have solidly woven
themselves into the political fabric… in my opinion, THEY should become
the driving force behind our community’s increased political VISIBALITY.
We know who they are and we know they are able to influence… I feel our
immediate responsibility is to reprogram our patterns and attitudes, to
discard that age old “us against them†mentality and adopt an “if you
can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em†approach… Consider this: at the MARTAB meeting Dan Stra’ and I attended last winter, the MARTAB BOD brought up a request from the DCR woman (her name escapes me, but she’s 100% against motorized vehicle use of public land) in Florida MA, she wrote a letter expressing her desire to become involved in MARTAB…what’s this telling you?… and btw, she was voted in as a member of the panel.
Wayne Gretzgy said, “you’re going to miss 100% of the shots you don’t
takeâ€.
Mark Dupont
Mass Land Committee Interim Chairman
