Meetings Ahead
Most meetings in Provincetown are held in person, typically with an online-attendance option. Click on the meeting you want to attend on the calendar at provincetown-ma.gov for a link to an agenda and details. All meetings are at Town Hall unless otherwise noted.
Thursday, May 16
- Board of Registrars, 12:15 p.m.
- Board of Health, 4 p.m.
- Shellfish Committee, 5 p.m.
Monday, May 20
- Public Landscape Committee, 3 p.m., Veterans Memorial Community Center
Tuesday, May 21
- Disability Commission, 9 a.m., online only
- Visitor Services Board, 1 p.m.
- Conservation Commission, 6 p.m.
Wednesday, May 22
- Harbor Committee, 2 p.m.
Thursday, May 23
- Planning Board, 6 p.m.
Conversation Starter
Blinking Stop Sign
At its May 13 meeting, the select board voted to accept town staff’s recommended changes to voter Jean Marino’s Article 23, a nonbinding measure passed at the April 1 town meeting that had asked for blinking stop signs to be installed at the intersection of Commercial Street, Standish Street, and Lopes Square.
Marino’s dog was run over in the crosswalk at Standish Street in December just after Marino and a friend had reached the sidewalk. Marino said the driver did not see that her dog was still in the crosswalk. Town meeting voters had endorsed her request almost unanimously.
Town staff agreed with the request that stop signs facing Standish Street and Lopes Square be changed to blinking stop signs, but they did not endorse adding a stop sign, blinking or otherwise, on Commercial Street at its intersection with Standish.
“I’m not a traffic engineer, but I did speak to a couple of them about this,” said DPW Director Jim Vincent. “One of the main problems with three-way stops is you have to be able to see all three ways.” A driver approaching the stop sign at Lopes Square could assume that oncoming traffic has stopped if the law requires it and then enter the intersection quickly when bicycles or scooters are still oncoming from Commercial Street, Vincent said.
“We really want this intersection to be safer,” Vincent said. Other interventions, such as a crosswalk raised to the level of the sidewalk, forming a wide speed bump, might be just as effective at slowing traffic and less dangerous, he said.
Town staff also recommended removing a parking spot next to the stop sign on Standish Street to make the sign more visible to approaching drivers.
Marino said she appreciated the alternative improvements.
The Cape Cod Commission will conduct a study of the intersection this summer, Vincent said. —Paul Benson
