Dissolving the Pier Corp.
To the editor:
Article 15 on Provincetown’s town meeting warrant is a request from the administration to dissolve the Provincetown Public Pier Corp. [“Select Board Is Set to Dissolve the Pier Corp.,” Feb. 15, front page]. The legislation that created the Pier Corp. requires, for such a dissolution, that the town find the Pier Corp. has either failed in its mission or has completed its mission and is no longer necessary.
It has fulfilled its mission. The amount of new economic activity on MacMillan Pier since 2002 is astonishing. The pier has a large new pavilion, restrooms, and a new wave attenuator on the east side. Add the artists’ shacks, bike racks, and bench seating, and it’s clear much has been accomplished. The many citizens who have served on the Pier Corp. board are to be commended.
But will the new management structure be an improvement? It’s not clear who will supervise the harbormaster under the new plan. It’s critical that the harbormaster and pier manager work together seamlessly. What is the staffing plan for these two departments?
A new pier management enterprise fund is proposed. A staff memo explains that all income from the pier will be credited to that fund but makes no mention of what expenses will be paid from it — a critical part of the equation.
The biggest change is that all future pier expenditures will happen only on recommendation from the select board and town manager and approval at town meeting. Any new pier projects will compete with all other town projects. That is part of what got us into the mess we were in in 1995.
We should challenge our town administration to work closely with the harbormaster and the pier manager to see that the improved economic environment and sound structural conditions of our pier continue.
Cheryl L. Andrews
Provincetown
The writer was a member of the Provincetown Select Board from 1998 to 2007 and from 2014 to 2019.
Mistrust in Truro
To the editor:
Your March 7 article “Ad Hoc Committee Will Oversee Truro DPW Plans” [page A11] reported that I referred to my “mistrust” of the select board in my interview for a spot on the committee. I never said that I did not trust the select board. I do trust the board members and believe they work very hard for our town and do the best possible job that they can.
Some of the town’s citizens feel mistrust. If the ad hoc committee is entirely independent of the select board, it will have a better chance of getting the DPW facility passed. I am a big proponent of the new DPW facility. We need it, but not at a price of $35 million.
Clinton Kershaw
Truro
Kopits the Candidate
To the editor:
Re: “Kopits Declares for a Seat on Select Board” [March 14, page A8]:
Wellfleet Select Board candidate Steven Kopits’s references to Communists and fascists and his definition of conservative and liberal (“liberal is about the individual, and conservative is about the group”) have me stymied.
But it’s his trickle-up theory of select board dysfunction (“things that should be handled at a lower level tend to bubble and become politicized”) that has my head spinning.
I applaud Mr. Kopits on his decision to run for the select board. But I question his ability to fix what he does not know is broken.
Kathleen E. Bacon
Wellfleet
Bikes Versus Walkers
To the editor:
The Provincetown Planning Dept. recently distributed a survey to get reactions to a proposal to make a “multi-use path” from Truro to Shank Painter Road. The survey asks where you would rather bike: along the shoulder of Route 6 or on an off-road path. It proceeds to suggest that the existing Old Colony Nature Pathway might be the “convenient and prudent” route for this path.
I totally disagree with the assertion that putting bikes on the Old Colony trail would be “prudent.” Bikes are, by design, made for faster travel than walking. If you add in the risks of electric bikes or motorized scooters, the potential conflicts are compounded. Even where there are only a few actual accidents, the discomfort experienced by people walking on these multi-use paths can ruin the enjoyment that the trails are meant to provide.
As the popularity of multi-use paths has increased, conflicts between walkers and people on wheeled vehicles have worsened. An online search for “conflicts between bikes and walkers on the Minuteman Trail” (picking one popular multi-use trail in the suburbs west of Boston) reveals the tensions among different users.
Recognizing these issues and with the experience of a few decades of building multi-use trails, planners now try to provide — wherever sufficient land is available — separate walking paths and biking paths for the safety and comfort of both groups. Multi-use paths are not ideal.
Rebuilding and paving the Old Colony Nature Pathway will mean that it no longer functions as a safe, shaded, and contemplative trail for the many people who want to walk there.
Don Eunson
Provincetown and Jamaica Plain
George Bryant’s Pottery
To the editor:
Re “The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of” [March 7, page C1]: Maybe everyone knows the following story about George Bryant. I certainly hope it is true.
Some years ago, well before his decline, Bryant told me he had done a service assignment in Peru as a young man. Could it have been in the Peace Corps? He said he was in a village where the paths were defined by inches of shattered pottery, which he imagined was centuries old, and that he had decided to appropriate the technique. I have always liked that story.
Thanks for the article about the work of Leah Dyjak.
Brian Carney
Philadelphia
The Science of Sourdough
To the editor:
Kudos for the clever double-entendre headlines: “The Rise of Sourdough Culture on Cape Cod” and “Local bakers love their starters and have the loaves to prove it” [Feb. 29, page B1].
Beyond the headlines, you reported that sourdough starter is created when bacteria and yeasts from the atmosphere feed off sugars in the flour. You told stories of home bakers who traced their starter’s lineage back many years, using remnants of one batch to seed the next.
But for a current starter to be identical to one created in another environment, the natural yeasts from the original biosphere would have to win the never-ending battle for supremacy with contemporary wild yeasts. No such super-yeasts exist, however, and all kitchens have their own yeast profiles. Also contributing to the unique local ecology are the many variants of lactobacilli in the air and on surfaces. Consequently, a relocated sourdough starter soon becomes a reflection of its new ecosystem.
One baker confided: “Every bread I make is like a Christmas present; I never know what it’ll be like.” Her experience supports the notion that sourdough starter is fundamentally unstable.
Food scientists confirmed this instability in a report published in the International Journal of Food Microbiology. Analyzing the data from many laboratories, they concluded that the ubiquity of various lactobacillus bacteria and wild yeasts “may be regarded as a trait guaranteeing the artisanal, irreproducible quality of sourdough-based leavened baked goods.” Home bakers hoping to perpetuate a treasured sourdough starter must overcome this biological reality.
Ronald A. Gabel, M.D.
Yarmouth Port
The Love of Sourdough
To the editor:
“The Rise of Sourdough Culture on Cape Cod” by Sophie Mann-Shafir [Feb. 29] was a joy. The beautiful photos and story about the small fraternity of sourdough bakers struck me as a meditation on life and community.
Not only were these loaves works of art, they appeared to express an inner need (forgive the pun) to celebrate the beauty of simple creation. It reminded me of the satisfaction of doing a task as best we can and the desire to slow down the maddening pace of our messy world — and that sharing the food we make is an act of love.
Perhaps there is a message here on building stronger connections in our Outer Cape communities. Might a few potluck suppers where we all brought our own homemade food to share be a small step toward reminding us of the privilege of living in a small town?
John Marksbury
North Truro and Palm Springs, Calif.
