Needs tutoring in math
"At this point Tyler briefly defended allegations that the school has bought up a significant piece of town, explaining that he looked through all school records and found that since 1941, only four houses have been purchased by the school. Those, he said, include the Perkins House, the President’s House, the Devereux House and Dirigo House." Castine Patriot 10/25/2007
But according to Harold Hatch, seventh generation Castine native:
"In a recent article in the Patriot, the MMA president was quoted as saying that his search of all school records concluded that the Academy had purchased only four houses since its inception in 1941. I dispute this.
In 1941 the Normal School owned only the original three brick buildings across from the fort and, I believe, one large house at the top of Main Street. Since that time the Academy has purchased every property on the west side of Court Street from Tarratine Street to Pleasant Street; every property on the south side of Pleasant street from Court to Battle Avenue; the President's house on Battle Avenue; the Captain Deveraux house on Pleasant Street; the remaining property in the block above Stevens St. plus all of their properties on the waterfront including the former Wardwell's Market and Ma McLoud's restaurant on Water Street, and also the original Hooper's garage and the mail wharf on Sea Street.
The president also remarked that the Academy had recently drafted a new enrollment strategy which optimized enrollment at 800 due to existing facilities and number of faculty and staff. However, the optimum enrollment in the 1940's and early 50's was less than 200 and has been increasing incrementally every decade.
Having taught and coached in educational institutions all my career, I realize that education is increasingly research and technology driven, requiring additional faculty and lab facilities, which must be paid from tuition revenues. Therefore it is inevitable that enrollment will be larger and pressures to enlarge the waterfront and campus will increase. I fear that the peninsula will become a future campus instead of the historic town it is."
Overreacted to breaking town ordinances?
From the Boston Globe
The president of Maine Maritime Academy, Leonard Tyler, said the town has overreacted. He said the Abbott House will become the new home of the college president, a use he believes is allowed under residential zoning. . . .
Tyler, who expects to retire in three years, said he is not planning to expand enrollment or build on the Abbott House land. But he acknowledged he cannot speak for future leaders of the academy.
"What happens 10 or 20 years from now, I don't know," he said. "Governor [John] Baldacci wants to increase the number of Maine kids getting an education, and if he gets letter after letter saying 'I was turned down by MMA because there's no room,' then they might have to do something different." Boston Globe 10/7/07
No $$$ to repair Propeller House?
by Ray Durkee
For the last several years, several neighbors of the MMA have complained about the lack of maintenance on the MMA-owned faculty residence on the corner of Tarratine and Court. We finally got so disgusted that three families wrote a letter to President Tyler specifically requesting that the MMA paint and repair the building.
A few weeks later we got a letter from Tyler saying that the MMA was behind $11 million in deferred maintenance and could not afford to paint and repair the building. [See Tyler's letter below]
Tyler’s current residence has a reported $72,000 annual maintenance budget and just finished a massive, two-year renovation. Tyler himself has said repairs to the current President’s house cost “hundreds of thousands” of taxpayer, donor and student tuition dollars (probably over a million given the fact that it has been going on for over two years and is still underway today). And now he proposes to buy another residence [Editor's note: Abbott House purchase price was $1,450,000] for himself that will need more renovation and upkeep?
My wife and I are neighbors and supporters of the MMA’s educational goals. We currently sponsor three students. We do not believe the Board is discharging adequate fiduciary responsibility to protect the taxpayers, MMA donors and students’ tuition from obvious documented financial mismanagement. It is time for the Board or the Governor to act.
Click below to see Tyler's letter to Ray Durkee and other neighbors.
No Academy = No Town
"Without the Academy presence, there would not be sufficient year round activity in town to sustain the businesses and services we currently have here, e.g. banks, grocery stores, etc." - from the MMA blog.
Current means two years or less
Tyler said he can’t speak for future MMA administration but he said that for the next five to ten years there are no plans to develop it. –Ellsworth American (9/27/07)
“The current administration has no short- or long-term plans for development of the land,” said Tyler. Castine Patriot (9/27/07)
Woof! Woof!
In reasons for moving the president’s house, Tyler cited numerous drawbacks to the current location. In the fall, the house is in plain view of the dormitory and sits right next to a classroom building that is often used for lessons which require quiet, something the presidents dog’s and grandchildren cannot provide. Castine Patriot (9/27/07)
There was a process?
Below are unedited quotes from a letter Len Tyler wrote to Castine resident and former MMA parent Debbie Rogers:
"From the beginning of this process I had hoped that the town and Academy might discuss this issue in a calm way as neighbors, with hopes of first understanding each other's positions and then trying to find a way that each may be satisfied."
"I have heard these statements [regarding problems between the Academy and town] before as well as accusations that the Academy has broken promises and agreements and have lied to the town. References to these events have never been specific which makes it all but impossible to respond. In my 13 year tenure as president, I am unaware of any broken agreements or promises. If people feel that promises have been broken I would like to know what they are so I can respond."
Small group is currently in the hundreds
From a letter by Tyler to Doris Russell, co-chair of the MMA's most recent development campaign
"Frankly, I have been very surprised at the reactions of a small group of
townspeople to the Academy's purchase of the property."