Port threatens farm momentum

We have been active in civic affairs for many years in Seattle and on Whidbey Island. We own the Inn at Langley and are part owner of the Boatyard Inn. From this perspective, it is particularly surprising and disappointing to follow the actions the Port of Coupeville has directed against the Greenbank Farm Management Group.

The Greenbank Farm is a non-profit organization that has made the farm a welcome gathering place and commercial center for the central island. It deserves the support and encouragement of the port and the citizens for the role it is playing in the life of the island, not the public harassment that the port has pursued in the last six months.

The port’s complaints seem to revolve around routine management issues that, in my experience, are handled in mature discussions between organizations, not in public name calling and finger pointing which can only serve to harm the progress of the farm.

The important message for all is the critical island role the Greenbank Farm is playing and, if supported, will undoubted play in the future. At the inn, we send our guests to the farm and this last summer attended the very successful Loganberry Fesitval ourselves.

It would be a tragedy to lose the farm’s current momentum. People will contribute to the farm but think they have paid enough taxes to the port. If the farm is to succed it needs the support of its supporters from all over the Island.

Paul and Pam Schell

Langley