To the editor:

I have read and heard various diatribes against the proposal recently approved by city council (to study a potential local public electrical utility), and I am impressed with how easy it is to shout down an ambitious idea with negativity and skepticism, especially when ably supported by huge corporate resources seeking to protect a huge profit that not only leaves our island but leaves our country as well.

Now, I’m all for the valuable role that community watchdogs play, but they should not necessarily be allowed to carry the day. Any reasonably smart person can find things wrong with any idea.

Those of us championing this path are not irrational Pollyannas. We know this is a challenge that will take some years to fully implement. But we are convinced that it will probably prove to be a worthy one, for lots of good reasons, not the least of which is the stirring (and unanimous) testimony of the other 60-plus public utilities in this state, some in communities smaller than ours.

I refuse to believe that there is anything so intrinsically incompetent about our island that we can’t also manage to pull this off, should it withstand some appropriate scrutiny.

I applaud and appreciate the council majority for their courage toward possible innovation, which is always a more challenging path than the status quo, which is always more profitable to those already benefiting from it. Let’s be more a part of the solution than the problem.

JACO TEN HOVE

Winslow