A small Washington County city is pushing again on a plan to scale back the hours of operation for the native Canadian border crossing, which they are saying may devastate households and the native economic system.
In keeping with U.S. Customs and Border Safety, the company is planning to scale back working hours on the border crossing in Vanceboro, about midway between Calais and Houlton, from 24 hours a day to 12 hours — 8 a.m. to eight p.m.
Vanceboro selectwoman Cheryl Lengthy is anxious that the discount in hours will make it tougher for interconnected households on each side of the border to see one another, and that the change will push extra vacationers from Canada to cross the border via different ports, which might hurt the native economic system.
“We don’t have a lot left right here on the town,” Lengthy stated. “We want our gasoline stations. And the Canadians are an enormous a part of holding Vanceboro alive.”
Maine State Rep. Jeffrey Evangelos, who as soon as labored for the city, is pushing again towards the plan.
When the crossing is closed, Evangelos stated, residents must drive to Calais, 60 miles away, to verify on members of the family who could also be only a few miles over the border.
“Think about you’ve a 90-year-old father or grandfather, or grandmother, that it is advisable verify on, after 8 o’clock at night time. You’ve obtained to drive 120 miles to go 4 miles,” he stated. “I imply, it’s absurd.”
The city has organized for a gathering to debate the state of affairs on July 5.
A CBP spokesperson says that many questions shall be answered then, and that “many components” go into selections to scale back operations, together with “port utilization and useful resource allocation.”
This story seems via a media partnership with Maine Public.
