Sailfest 2014 again brought tax-free windfall profits in the many tens of thousands of dollars to New London property owners through the temporary parking of cars visiting for the fireworks July 12.

They charged anywhere from $10 to as much as $25 per car, assessed by several dozen private-property owners to allow for the few hours of parking during the night of the fireworks. These windfalls for some properties that had the capacity to park a hundred or more cars totalled $2,000 to $3,000, with no taxes collected or sales tax paid and without any permit from New London for this not permitted type of property use.

Of course, these tax-free windfall profits could be used to pay their New London property tax bills and for this reason only am I "green" with jealousy that all my New London properties are too far from the fireworks to attract any annual potential cash-paying car-parking customers.