The Housing Crisis Affects All
To the editor:
Thank you for your many articles highlighting the very difficult housing situation on the Outer Cape. I read with great interest last week’s front-page article about the “huge season ahead.”
As more and more properties become summer residences or short-term rentals, people who live and work here all year are squeezed out of the housing market. There are virtually no year-round rentals to be had at any price. This affects residents at all points of the income scale from the highest to the lowest paid.
It affects shellfishing families in Wellfleet in a particular way, since aquaculture grant holders are required by conditions of their licensing to live in the town. It affects business owners whose workers can’t find housing and summer visitors who may find businesses shuttered or overwhelmed because of a lack of workers.
We will all feel the consequences. We must all find ways to support housing efforts.
Wellfleet has not shelved its accessory dwelling unit (ADU) bylaw proposal, as you reported in “Businesses Foresee Huge Season Ahead” (April 8, page 1). The planning board was reluctant to pursue it, but a growing number of town leaders have been working on this proposal diligently for some time now and have submitted a proposal to the select board for consideration.
An ADU bylaw will not solve our housing crisis, but whatever number of affordable units may be created will be better than none. I hope everyone in Wellfleet will be attending upcoming public hearings to learn more. These will be advertised and posted on the Wellfleet town website.
I urge residents to attend Wellfleet’s annual town meeting on June 5 to voice their opinions loud and clear. The sustainability of our community is at stake.
Sharon Rule-Agger
Wellfleet
The writer is a member of the Wellfleet Local Housing Partnership.
After the Bullying
To the editor:
Brian O’Malley’s “The Rising Tide of Hate” [April 8, page 3] offers an inspiring example, in his story about the revived Barnstable County Human Rights Advisory Commission, of how to confront and combat the civic threat of discriminatory intolerance. As our country works to transition from the bullying culture of the previous administration, it is encouraging to see this essential effort succeed at the local level.
Alexandra Marshall
Wellfleet and Boston
Nowhere to Park
To the editor:
The proposed Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary Visitor Center will eliminate 55 to 60 much needed parking spaces and cost Provincetown over $135,000 in revenue [“As Stellwagen Visitor Center Takes Shape, Selects Take Notice,” March 25, page 5].
It makes no sense to build a center for visitors and then make it even more difficult for the visitors to park. During the tourist season, the lot is filled by 9 a.m. as it is, and I see no plans for new additional parking in town. This project is conceptually unsound.
Jack Knies
South Wellfleet
Is It Too Late?
To the editor:
It’s not too late! We still should put the police station where the CVS pharmacy is: downtown, accessible to visitors and citizens of Provincetown. And use the lot up on Captain Bertie’s Way for dearly needed year-round, affordable housing for year-rounders who work in Provincetown.
The stimulus money coming to our town will be a big help, as well as the tax dollars collected from cannabis sales. Let’s do what we can do to make Provincetown a better place to live and work. It’s not too late!
Barbara Rushmore
Provincetown
Palindromes
To the editor:
I’ve always liked palindromes, too [“Madam, I’m Adam,” April 1, page A2]. When I was a teenager, I independently discovered “so many dynamos,” and was crestfallen to learn that it was already known. Years later (2003), an indie band took that name, and released their first album, Are We Not Drawn Onward to New Era, for obvious reasons.
As far as being a palindronome, all I can say is that the middle three letters of my name are reversible. But that’s all I’ve got.
Jay VIVian
Truro
