PROVINCETOWN — The most consequential vote at Tuesday’s select board meeting came after most of the audience had left: a unanimous decision not to recommend Fire Chief Mike Trovato’s petitioned article at the Dec. 2 special town meeting. The board members’ statements against the proposal were wide-ranging and emphatic. They came at the end of […]
ELECTIONS
Wellfleet Scraps Wooden Ballot Box
Questions about election security are dismissed by select board
WELLFLEET — The select board voted 3-2 on Oct. 22 to “retire the horse and buggy,” as board member Kathleen Bacon put it, and replace the town’s 95-year-old hand-crank ballot box made of wood with a $5,200 optical scanning machine to count votes. Interim Town Clerk Jennifer Congel requested the change in an Oct. 18 […]
CIVICS
After Lagging, Local Planning Efforts May Now Pick Up
Cape Cod Commission works to spark plans that are actually implemented
Every town on Cape Cod is encouraged to have a local comprehensive plan, developed in accordance with its residents’ expressed priorities, updated every 10 years, and certified by the Cape Cod Commission — the Cape’s regional planning agency. Only two of 15 towns do. “Ten years goes by pretty quickly,” said Jon Idman, the commission’s […]
CANNABIS
Town Officials Subpoenaed on Marijuana Agreements
Federal grand jury has questions for Gardner, Hoort, and Beebe
U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling has questions for towns that have issued host community agreements to marijuana businesses. Provincetown, Wellfleet, and Eastham town administrators all received subpoenas last month ordering them to produce documents, emails, and any other correspondence associated with the agreements. They must appear at the John Joseph Moakley U.S. Courthouse to testify before […]
civics
Select Board Eyes Shake-Up of Harbormaster’s Dept.
Employees could be moved from Pier Corp. to town staff
PROVINCETOWN — The select board will hear from the Pier Corp. on Nov. 12 about the harbormaster’s budget, money that the town has paid to the Pier Corp. for years. This arrangement dates to 2005, but the agreement defining it expired in 2017. The select board must now either develop a new agreement with the […]
Halloween 2019
An Outermost Halloween, 2019
Outer Cape kids celebrate the holiday despite the weather
VETERANS DAY 2019
Veteran of War of 1812 Gets Long Delayed Tribute
Timothy Parker Johnson is honored 155 years after his death
PROVINCETOWN — The pride with which this town has always acknowledged the sacrifices of its veterans is evident in the many tributes one sees here. Keeping vigil over Commercial Street at town hall, the Doughboy Monument beckons passersby to reflect on the more than 250 Provincetown residents who served in World War I. The town’s […]
VETERANS DAY 2019
Provincetown to Honor Its Veterans
PROVINCETOWN — Veterans and volunteers have organized a number of activities to commemorate Veterans Day on Monday, Nov. 11. The first event honors those who served in seagoing services and will be held at MacMillan Pier at 10 a.m. At 11 a.m., a ceremony paying tribute to all veterans takes place at the Veterans Memorial […]
CIVICS
Fire Chief Triggers Dec. 2 Town Meeting
Lone article would reserve VFW site for police and fire stations
PROVINCETOWN — Longtime Fire Chief Mike Trovato has turned in a petition with 203 signatures on the future of the VFW site, enough to trigger a special town meeting now set for Monday Dec. 2. The meeting will consider a single article, Trovato’s plan to dedicate the former VFW property at 3 Jerome Smith Road […]
HOUSING
51 Affordable Units Envisioned for VFW Site
The last of 3 community meetings will be held on Nov. 13
PROVINCETOWN — Development of the town-owned VFW site on Jerome Smith Road, long envisioned as a likely spot for affordable housing, appears to be moving forward with a plan for 51 units — primarily rentals for tenants making well below area median income. A series of public meetings have helped town officials narrow the choices […]
them apples
Appraisal Cleared Way for Purchase of Flats, Town Announces
But appraisal document is withheld as officials contradict each other
WELLFLEET — “We got the money, baby!” crowed Edward Englander, the Boston attorney who represents the HDYLTA Trust, on Tuesday following the closing of the sale of the trust’s shellfish flats to the town for $2 million. “We like them apples!” Englander was referring to the trust’s name, which stands for “How Do You Like […]
civics
Licensing Board Urged to Keep Art Everywhere in Provincetown
Gallery owner Ray Wiggs wants to protect the ‘gallery system’
PROVINCETOWN — Artists, gallery owners, and retailers gave resoundingly bad reviews to Ray Wiggs’s attempt to have the town ban the sale of fine art in restaurants, bars, and inns at an Oct. 22 meeting of the Provincetown Licensing Board. “I don’t think anyone here can honestly say it’s fair that someone can host a […]
LEARNING
Provincetown’s Middle Years Students Celebrate Their Place in the Global Community
Photos by Marian Roth
FIRST RESPONSE
Police Station Gets First Renovation Since 1989
Roof, locker room, kitchen, and training room improvements under way
EASTHAM — The town’s police station was built 30 years ago and has stayed virtually unchanged ever since. But now some much needed exterior and interior renovations are under way. The building received a new roof this fall and renovations to the locker rooms, kitchen, and training room are expected to begin in January and […]
CIVICS
Town Manager Will Leave Truro June 30
Palmer proud of her work despite extreme challenges
TRURO — Town Manager Rae Ann Palmer has announced she will retire on June 30, 2020 after five years as the town’s municipal chief. “It’s time,” she said on Tuesday. “It’s been a great five years. I feel we’ve done a lot of great work together.” Palmer, who lives in Eastham, told her department heads […]
