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Cash piles up: PI group raises $35,000 in weeks

By Victor Tine
Staff writer
Published: April 3, 2008

PLUM ISLAND — After only a few weeks, a nonprofit organization formed to preserve Plum Island's beach has raised $35,000 of the $40,000 it needs to pay a Washington, D.C., lobbying firm that specializes in getting Congress to fund beach replenishment projects.

The fledgling Plum Island Foundation held its first official fundraiser last night, with about 150 people gathered at the Plum Island Grille to nibble appetizers and sip beverages. Foundation board member Robert Connors of Annapolis Way said organizers had stopped selling the $100 tickets to the event after 135 were purchased.

The foundation has retained Washington lobbyist Howard Marlowe's services in the hope that he can bring to Plum Island the results that earned him the nickname "Sand-a Claus" in the national newspaper USA Today.

Island residents have expressed concerns that beach erosion, especially north of Plum Island Center, has reached a dangerous point. Dunes have eroded to a point only a few feet seaward of several buildings near the center.

The foundation is hoping that Marlowe and the area's congressional delegation can obtain funding to dredge the Merrimack River channel and deposit the dredged sand along the beach, and to fix the stone jetties at the mouth of the harbor. The jetties have not been tended to since the early 1970s. Local officials have said the deteriorated jetties are actually making the erosion problem worse.

Several speakers at last evening's fundraiser said they were confident of ultimate success but that much work remains to be done.

A group of island homeowners had sought public funding for Marlowe's fee — $18,000 each from Newburyport and Newbury to go with $4,000 raised privately — but were rebuffed, so they formed the foundation and undertook their own money-raising effort.

"With a team effort like this, we're going to get this done," Connors told the gathering.

Fellow foundation board member Marc Sarkady of Northern Boulevard announced that the group had raised $35,000 in just a few weeks.

Newburyport Mayor John Moak praised the foundation's perseverance.

"In politics, we talk about issues, and talk about issues, and talk about issues," he said. "You in the Plum Island Foundation took the next step."

He said Newburyport and Newbury "need to protect our investment out here," in terms of the island's tourism attractions, its rising property values and its newly installed water and sewer systems.

Moak said he and Newbury selectmen Chairman Vincent Russo recently went to Washington, D.C., to meet with Marlowe and staff members working for Sens. Edward Kennedy and John Kerry and Congressman John Tierney, D-Salem.

He said Marlowe's staff had laid the groundwork for their visits.

"Howard Marlowe's office did a great job," he said. "Our congressional delegation understood our needs."

State Sen. Bruce Tarr, who has been working to organize a regional approach to beach preservation from the New Hampshire border to Cape Ann, said the island group needed to retain its "common purpose."

"We've got a number of goals that are in reach, as long as we work together and don't take no for an answer," the Gloucester Republican said.

Russo did not attend last night's gathering, but fellow Selectman Joseph Story also spoke, and Tarr recognized the efforts of state Rep. Harriett Stanley, D-West Newbury, whose district includes Newbury.

Connors praised the efforts of Newbury Board of Health Chairwoman and island resident Alba Gouldthorpe.

"Without her involvement, nothing would happen," he said.

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