- President's
Message
Psychologists
maintain that above and beyond the basic physical needs that
we have as human beings, there are four other equally important
psychological needs: recognition, belonging, being right,
and control.
In today's world so much seems out of our control. The newspapers
are full of reports of crises around the world, a war with
Iraq, the poor performance of our stock market, massive budget
cuts by our new Governor, and next years 3 Billion dollar
deficit for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. We don't exercise
direct control over these and other important issues, but
as things get closer to home we can make a difference and
must get involved.
In the current political climate of budget cuts where we see
vital services to schools, Medicare, and police and fire departments
being cut to balance the budget, our industry may appear an
easy target for increased fees and infrastructure reductions.
If we are not diligent, we could witness another fiasco similar
to the "luxury tax" debacle pressed upon our industry some
years ago. The legislature nearly killed the Golden Goose.
Boating becomes an easy target and bad decisions are made
when legislators and regulators begin to make decisions concerning
our industry without our input. It is extremely important
that we as an industry work to pro-actively become a part
of the solution as the State begins to re-vamp Chapter 91
and re-write Harbor Plans. We must be at the table. It is
imperative that as these sweeping changes come to fruition
we, as an industry, voice our concerns and educate the legislators
as they make decisions that directly impact our future.
Our industry should not take a back seat. We should be proud
of our contributions to the economy, the rebuilding of blighted
waterfront areas, and improved life style that recreational
boating provides to the public. In Massachusetts our industry
represents over 1200 businesses and employs well over 17,000
fulltime, year round employees, producing over half a billion
dollars in payroll and over 25 million in income tax revenues.
The peripheral spending associated with our over 35,000 moorings
and slips in the state produces a net effect of spending in
our local communities of over 1.2 billion dollars.
Your Marine Trades Association recognizes the challenges before
us and we will be taking steps to ensure that our future remains
strong:
We are making a concerted effort to make our issues known
on Beacon Hill
We are strengthening our out-reach program to regulators and
legislators.
We are focusing a major portion of our Public Relations efforts
to educate the public and the Congress about the very positive
economic impact of our industry.
We are going to visit and we are going to encourage our members
to visit with their representatives in order to supply them
the information they need to make informed decisions concerning
our industry.
The Massachusetts Marine Trades Association is working for
you. Our request of our members is that you work with us and
make an effort to meet with your area legislators. We can
and will make a difference if we work within our sphere of
influence to gain some control over our industry's future!
Tom Cox
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