1. Background
In 1970 there were approximately 55 people living on Cliff island year-round. There were seven children in the island school. State law authorized the governing municipality (Portland) to assess the validity of keeping any school open which had less than eight pupils.
The residents were extremely upset for many reasons. These seven students deserved the opportunity to finish out their elementary school years in the local school. There were quite a few preschool children whose parents wanted them to also matriculate at their own school. And the likelihood of any more young families moving to the island to bolster the population would be essentially eliminated without a school for their children.
Furthermore, the existence of a school pretty much defined Cliff as a year-round community. There were once over three hundred year-round communities on Maine Coastal islands; this number had dwindled to 14 for various socioeconomic reasons. Without a school to serve young families, there was a good chance that the young families would leave rather than ship kids under ten off island for schooling. With young families leaving, a negative domino effect was projected which could well have left Cliff Island as a summer colony.
The older folks would have few people to care for them and have to consider leaving as well. The store would lack enough customers to stay open. The Post Office would close or become seasonal. And so on.
At the time (1970), there were only two "late" boats per week on the ferry schedule and commuting opportunities for either work or school were quite limited.
The islanders of that time gathered together to discuss their population/school problem and despaired of a solution.
A solution was found, however, which ended up being publicized widely. Bonnie O'Reilly's father was Welfare Director of the City of Portland and offered to selectively pick a family "on assistance" to move to Cliff. A house was identified as potentially available (where David Crowley now lives); it was privately purchased and subsequently renovated by a great portion of the winter population. In the summer of 1972 the family arrived with six children in tow; three would start school immediately.
Cliff Islanders had philosophical differences of opinion over this sort of solution but the great majority supported the project generously and the family stayed on the island for over four years. Another house was made available for a similar second project and the islanders turned to once again. But the second importation was not needed.
When the City needed to send a new public works employee to Cliff Island, Director George Flaherty understood our predicament and assigned us a worker with a young family.
The Portland School system gave Cliff Island families the option of keeping their children in the island school through the eighth grade, thus bolstering the pupil count.
Some summer families in the 1970's entered their own children in the Cliff School for some weeks at the beginning of the school year, which also produced a positive, if temporary, effect.
But what the really more important part of the story amounted to was that the energy the community generated was transmitted to a far greater segment of people who had or developed Cliff Island ties. There was positive momentum, widespread publicity, good feelings, and just the latest incidence of our community's pulling together best when the worst times were at hand.
Not without coincidence there had been a decade where Americans had become disenchanted with the unrest in the cities and the growing government influence of such political philosophies as the Great Society; one result of the suburban building 1950's and the urban-destroying 1960's was a back-to-the-land movement in the 1970's. Eager, clever, capable people wanted to move to choice, rural places like Cliff Island, seeking a sense of real community.
By 1980 there were close to one hundred people living year-round on Cliff Island and there were seventeen pupils in the school.
Soon afterwards, a wave of island students moved on to high school and some of the families either followed their kids up town or broke up through divorce.
11. The Present
Now, in 1995, there are five students in the school and four pre-school-aged children. There are approximately sixty year-round residents on the Island and a cycle is repeating itself. Our previous effort held the community together for a quarter of a century. In this day and age there are few guarantees in life and the burden of survival rests squarely on the shoulders of those who are willing to help themselves.
Other year-round islands face similar problems and challenges and in several cases have far less to work with than does Cliff Island. Matinicus has but 36 residents and one ferry per month. Frenchboro, Long Island initiated another well-publicized project to re-populate itself through affordable housing; the project has collapsed and the homes face repossession by the Maine State Housing Authority. Their population has returned to ---. Monhegan has about 55 people. Isle Au Haut struggles to attract and hold families with school-aged or pre-school children; recently, they had one child in their school. All these islands also share the aging element which engulfs Cliff. All these islands have high property values and high taxes which make it most difficult for young people to get a foot hold unless their island families have enough land and financial resources to give the next generation a stake. Lobstering is an expensive business to start up, very competitive, and existing traps cover the bottom. Other forms of fishing are very cyclical in nature, expensive to gear up for, require solid experience, are highly regulated, or have collapsed like the present groundfish industry.
These islands have fewer transportation resources than we do and universally have to board their high school students with mainland families.
Some larger islands have sustainable or growing populations but have characteristics different from ours. Peaks has 1,000 winter residents but is hardly more than a bedroom neighborhood of Portland and bemoans a lacking sense of community; there is also a highly fractious political atmosphere on the island where neighbors actively fight neighbors. Long lsland's recent effort to become its own town has generated the sort of energy Cliff accomplished in 1970 and it too has seen a population growth spurt. There is a culture on Long, however, which discourages its children from moving along an educational track with high aspirations; perhaps related to that factor is a difficult substance abuse problem.
Great Chebeague is a part of the Town of Cumberland and has two ferry systems to offer transportation options to its residents. About 400 people spend their winters there. Vinalhaven, North Haven, and lsleboro all have populations which support high schools. The Cranberries are close enough to Mount Desert to have a good ferry system and, as a town, are fairly active and stable, though aging.
Some of these islands are their own towns, some fall under outside municipal control (like Cliff), and some fall under the jurisdiction of LURC and their County overseers.
There are problems on all these islands which are common coast-wide and there are problems which are unique to each island. But each of the remaining year-round communities is committed to survival by any means possible. At least 286 islands have been abandoned to become either vacant or summer colonies.
In addition, there are sociological factors which make community maintenance more of a challenge than 25 or 50 years ago. The television keeps people passively entertained at home and reduces the need to receive stimulation form other community members. The telephone makes communication bilateral and makes meetings less appealing, thereby reducing the benefits of group process, brainstorming, consensus-building, and other active means of banding together for mutual benefit. Now interactive computers compound the effects of both telephone and television and provide further reason to stay glued to one's own chair. Let us also remember that it is the norm today to average about two (2) children per family, rather than the "cheaper by the dozen" norm of a century ago.
The main problems Cliff lsland's winter community face today are high taxes, few opportunities to earn a living, and affordable winterized housing. These are practical obstacles with which we must contend. The resultant pessimism and sense of negative momentum can and must be turned around through self-empowerment and another community re-building process. If successful, the experience of living on Cliff Island year-round will be coveted and valued for what it has been and can be.
High taxes are universal along the southern Maine coast. Affordable housing is a problem in all greater Portland municipalities.
BUT: We now have a number of positive resources which work in our favor.
An excellent, reliable, and timely ferry system which enables many folks to hold substantial and rewarding jobs on the mainland.
A summer community which consistently responds to and supports the needs of the winter community with a wide and generous range of resources.
An administration in the City which, although it taxes us severely, has since the defection of Long Island responded sensitively to many of our needs and responds to our desire for an on- going, constructive working relationship.
A School Department and School Committee which has for a decade granted us pupil count waivers annually through an understanding of what closing down our school would do to our year- round community.
The Island Institute and its many networks and resources. Through regular conferences, computer link-up, publications, facilitation services, consulting, intervention, lobbying and even investment, the institute makes us know that we are not alone on our island; others have faced and now face similar problems and have dealt with them in ways which are often relevant to us.
Interactive computers may keep many of us at home but they also present another option of earning a living right here on the island.
A shrunken lobstering community which can no longer "defend" its waters against lobstermen from away. If the remaining lobstermen in our Boat Cove understand that it would be better for fishermen to spend and invest the proceeds of their work right here on Cliff, they will accept new resident entrants.
A healthy rehabilitation building industry which seems to sustain itself despite the only one hundred thirty-some homes on the island. In the 1960's, builders were coming in from off island and providing inferior services while making no lasting investment within this island community.
A desire to manufacture a product in an on-island facility; this will create value on the island and export it for money to be reinvested in this community. There has always been talk of building and sustaining a "cottage" industry on Cliff; further focus could lead to just such a result.
Most important, a community which feels its back is up against the wall and looks to be willing to pull together to solve this major problem.
Potential occupations/ means of earning a living
Any job on the mainland
Lobstering
Sea Urchin harvesting
Construction
Computer-related work
Manufacturing
The Arts
Telemarketing
Research