Truro’s DPW Dilemma
To the editor:
Your Feb. 17 article [page A8] on the Truro DPW facility discussion is slightly misleading.
First, while Mr. Alberti of Weston & Sampson did say the undeveloped portion of the public safety facility site was “the only site” that would accommodate a 28,000-square-foot building, the record shows that community members exposed inaccurate information on the alleged contamination at Snow’s Field, where none exists. The DPW director now concedes that is correct.
Snow’s Field would provide potable drinking water to town hall, eliminating the Dept. of Environmental Protection Zone 1 restrictions on that site. Without those restrictions, Alberti’s own plans showed the current site could accommodate a facility of the size proposed.
Thus, the current site is the most suitable candidate for a new DPW. It is far cheaper and safer and less disruptive and contaminating than anywhere else.
Second, does Truro need a nearly $25-million (including site development costs of $2 million) 28,000-square-foot facility that would increase debt service by $1.2 million per year — the equivalent of the current debt service on all other projects combined?
Third, your article omitted the neighbors’ contention that KP Law’s analysis of the “wooded buffer” question was in error. It also did not mention that safety and traffic are afterthoughts for the Route 6 corridor — with many accidents and fatalities — though Town Hall Hill has had none. Also, there was no mention that 160 homes will be affected by salt and other contamination in a virgin flyway, greenway, and water-sensitive area.
This is a project that will cause division and danger if it leaves Town Hall Hill. The DPW deserves a decent facility that should stay at the current site.
Michael Janoplis
Truro
The ‘Cesspool’ of Social Media
To the editor:
Kudos to Dan Wolf for “The Death of Democracy and Capitalism” (Feb. 17, page A3).
If we’re ever to reclaim a “functioning democracy” and a “healthy capitalist system” (as defined by Mr. Wolf), we have to first relearn to speak and listen to one another. We’ve lost that critical ability, largely due to the cesspool of social media and its addictive ease of finding and then joining with like-minded shallow thinkers.
Sadly, our political leadership has left us wanting. We count on our leaders to stretch beyond the lowest common denominator of groupthink, but that has seemingly proven to be a bridge too far.
I fully agree with Mr. Wolf that a functioning democracy is defined by the “civic expression of our collective will,” but it is sadly impossible to maintain a grip on hope when the open, free, and honest dialogue necessary to finding the collective will is so cheapened, so often met with inflammatory ridicule, and too often ending in entrenched division.
Mr. Wolf writes, “For hope to survive, however, we must be willing to tell the truth.” Unfortunately, willingness to tell the truth won’t be enough. The truth will likely remain a victim of the suffocating and destructive organizing force of social media.
Paul de Ruyter
East Orleans
Democracy as Team Sport
To the editor:
The two essays on your “Inner Voices” page last week presented two sides of the same coin. Dan Wolf outlined how unbridled capitalism has consumed our government. Dennis Minsky showed a local example of why the Cape is becoming unlivable for ordinary wage earners.
The saddest part is that we have become bitterly divided over how to correct the inequities created by the oligarchs who have spent billions to take control of our government. One side wants more government intervention; the other believes government is the problem and is trying to shut it down.
Our freedoms come from us all accepting that republican democracy is the best way to implement protections and policies for the common good. They also come from understanding that democracy is more like a team sport than a fight to the death. People with common and competing interests come together in an agreed way to get results they all accept. It needs a level playing field — and umpires — for a fair outcome. If we play by the rules, whatever the result in each election, we all come out stronger. If we ignore the rules and injure each other along the way, everyone is weakened.
John Lamb
Brewster
A Great Feeling
To the editor:
I was pleased to see the piece on Pure Vita Modern Apothecary in your Feb. 17 issue [page B9].
It’s a great feeling to purchase cleanser refills knowing I’m not adding to the accumulation of plastic.
Emily Greenspan
Wellfleet and Brooklyn
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Letters to the Editor
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