Is the Greenport Fireboat Worth All the Trouble?

For months now there has been a very public debate over the fireboat museum ship the "Firefighter" docked at Greenport's railroad dock. Commercial fishermen have complained that the boat takes up too much room on the dock that should be spared for working vessels. On the other side of the coin, people said they enjoy the fireboat's presence and it will help to bring income and visitors to the village.

Ove the July 4th holiday weekend, the fireboat delighted the crowds with a water display prompting an immediate response on the Patch boards. 

Mike Edelson wrote in our opinion section that the display was a "fiasco." He said that the  fireboat "hoses Greenport residents with expense for the benefit of a few."

Have a gripe? Click here to post it to our Speak Out section on Patch's boards.

The condition of the railroad dock, liability to the village and the ultimate permanent home for the fireboat are also at issue.

Some say that the complaints by fishermen are just sour grapes over losing prime dockage that they get for cheap.

Greenport resident John Saladino was quoted in Patch in March as saying that fishermen who dock their boats at the railroad dock for a "ridiculously low sum" are "that unhappy with the conditions of the dock, they should just move their boats elsewhere. They decline to do that because it would cost them eight or nine hundred percent more to do so."

He added, "The bottom line here is the dock is a valuable village asset and should be used to benefit all residents, not a select few from a special interest group, especially since that mentality it is contrary to the intention of the lease."

Where do you come down on the fireboat debate? Do you like having the museum ship in Greenport or does it pose too much cost and take up too much space in the harbor? Tell us in the comments below.