After four long years of public debate, most Kennebunk residents have likely made a decision on the sale of Park Street School to Avesta Housing. I hope that everyone takes the time to attend Town Meeting and cast their ballot – Saturday, Jan. 31, 9 a.m., at the high school gymnasium.

Unfortunately, many voters will be disenfranchised, since no absentee ballots are available for town meetings. If you’re not in the seat, you don’t get a vote. The CAKE group repeatedly promised us a referendum vote on this issue, but they were wrong. Legally, due to LD1, this has to be a town meeting vote. (If there are questions about the other “information” they’re alleging as “accurate” on their proposal, like the renovation figures, this should serve as a warning). If you have to miss the meeting on Saturday, and can’t cast your ballot, you can thank the CAKE group, who failed to deliver.

It’s doubly unfortunate that the town can’t combine this election with the Jan. 27 school board vote, since we have to pay for two elections, instead of one. The town could have used that money for many other needs, as well as all the town legal fees expended due to the petition. Next time you hit a pothole on Brown Street, or another town road, don’t forget to thank the CAKE group. 

If we’re all forced to pay for the Park Street boondoggle this year, same thing goes for the new rescue equipment needed by the fire department, or having our police cruisers on the road 24 hours a day. When the selectmen have to again tell those departments “sorry, no more funding this year,” you can thank the CAKE group.

When CAKE first organized, several years ago, I thought the acronym was hilariously accurate, for all the wrong reasons. Instead of their intended meaning (Concerned About Kennebunk’s Economy), CAKE merely brought forth visions of Versailles, and Marie Antoinette.

The rest of us are out here struggling just to buy bread, but they’d prefer that the town purchase “cake,” instead, by forcing us to fund an unnecessary social services palace. Who says history can’t repeat itself?

Please cast your vote Saturday and send the CAKE proposal for Park Street School to a very public guillotine.

Naran Row-Spaulding

Kennebunk