One of the reasons so few developers are interested in building affordable housing on the Outer Cape is the extreme complexity of funding such projects. Another reason: the profits are […]
FRAUD ALERT
Online Rental Scam Targets the Desperate
Craigslist users are victimized, with no recourse
WELLFLEET — Gordon Kahn had spent an entire day searching online for an apartment for his daughter when he found a cute cottage on Craigslist. The 14 interior and exterior […]
THE HOUSING CHALLENGE, PART 2
Towns Pay Little to Develop Affordable Apartments
Large projects are a bargain, but finding land is the problem
PROVINCETOWN — For Outer Cape communities that have been relentlessly squeezed by the housing crisis, producing new housing has been a primary policy response. In particular, affordable housing developments — […]
HOUSING CRUNCH
A Neighbor-to-Neighbor Rental Market Falls Short
Six months in Facebook’s outermost housing rental group
PROVINCETOWN — Someone in the Facebook group “Provincetown: Housing for Rent” called finding housing here “an impossible dream.” The page is a trove of tales of housing plans that have […]
THE SCUTTLEBUTT
Weekend Nor’easter Turns Waterfront Into Dead Zone
The storm demonstrated the value of new wave attenuators
The Provincetown waterfront season certainly has gotten off to a less than auspicious start. We had a classic winter-like nor’easter for the holiday weekend. This one was in no hurry […]
COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Great White Realty and Zehnder Take Zoning Board to Court
They seek to reverse decisions blocking controversial property use
WELLFLEET — The Great White Realty Group has filed suit in Mass. Land Court to overturn recent decisions by the zoning board of appeals that stopped the development of 1.3 […]
THE HOUSING CHALLENGE, PART 1
Who Builds Affordable Housing Here?
The list of interested developers on the Outer Cape is short
The list of developers expressing interest in a handful of affordable housing initiatives now in the works on Outer Cape Cod will likely be short. Taking on such a project […]
THE SCUTTLEBUTT
A Puzzle: Huge Schools of Very Small Bass
The conditions are optimal, but the big stripers are MIA
Striped-bass fishing has gone from looking like it was going to develop earlier than usual to now looking like it will start a little later than usual. We are wondering […]
FISCAL CRISIS
Wellfleet Funds Not Certified by State Since 2018
The town has no general ledger or access to ‘free cash,’ says Interim Administrator Sumner
WELLFLEET — The town’s “free cash” account has not been certified by the state Dept. of Revenue for the last three years. This is just one of the mind-bending problems […]
COVID-19
Baker Ends Nearly All Pandemic-Related Restrictions
Business closures, rules for gatherings will disappear May 29
PROVINCETOWN — Citing a first-in-the-nation vaccine rollout and a plummeting count of Covid-19 cases, Gov. Charlie Baker moved the state’s “end of restrictions” date from the previously announced Aug. 1 […]
ECONOMY
The Housing Crisis, Up Close and Personal
Staff members at one small business share a work ethic and worries
PROVINCETOWN — When Relish owner Frank Vasello opened his West End deli and bakery in 2001, attracting customers was his main concern. Now, it’s finding staff. The trouble, Vasello says, […]
CANNABUSINESS
Wellfleet’s First Pot Shop Doesn’t Look Like One
Cape Cod Cannabis has no visible sign — for now
WELLFLEET — For the past month, since the Cape Cod Cannabis dispensary opened its doors at the old South Wellfleet General Store on April 20, Allan Kronfeld, the manager of […]
SHELLFISHING
Wellfleet Select Board to Hear Change in Residence Rule
A stopgap for local shellfishermen who can’t afford housing in town
WELLFLEET — For seven weeks, a proposed exception to the Wellfleet Shellfish Regulations’ domicile requirement has pinballed from the shellfish advisory board (SAB) to the select board and back. But […]
TAXES
3 Towns Consider Raising Short-Term Rental Tax Rate
But few decisions are made on how to spend the money
Town meeting voters this spring in Truro, Wellfleet, and Eastham will be asked to raise the short-term rental tax rate from 4 to 6 percent, to maximize what state law […]
THE SEASON
The Missing Summer Workforce, by the Numbers
How Trump’s ‘travel ban’ is reverberating through the local economy
PROVINCETOWN — Every spring, the Outer Cape’s population, and payrolls, swell, as about 5,000 people pick up seasonal jobs here, according to Cape Cod Commission data. Some of those 5,000 […]
