Wisotzky Is Running
To the editor:
I’m excited to announce my candidacy for Truro moderator as a write-in candidate in the May 9 election.
Truro has been a part of my life since childhood, and I’ve been a full-time resident for 16 years. I’m running for moderator because I believe strongly in participatory democracy and have consistently been a committed citizen of our beloved Truro.
I have a long history of bringing people of differing viewpoints together for productive, informed conversation and decision-making. I served six years on the Truro Select Board, with three as chair. I served on the community preservation committee, the open space committee, the conservation commission, and the Puma Park organizing committee. I am currently vice chair of the Truro Conservation Trust and the governor’s appointee to the Truro Housing Authority, and I serve on the Walsh Property Community Planning Committee, with two years as co-chair.
If elected moderator, I will uphold a town meeting process that is fair, organized, respectful, and inclusive of diverse viewpoints. I will ensure that all individuals have an opportunity to voice their opinions and concerns without fear of bias or prejudice.
The moderator is charged with the responsibility of appointing the finance committee, and in that role I pledge to conduct an appointment process that is open and transparent, with appointments made on the basis of experience and qualifications.
I have great respect for the people who call Truro home. I am confident that together we can create a stronger and more vibrant community where all members have a say in shaping our future. I pledge to do all that I can as moderator to make that possible.
Paul Wisotzky
Truro
Free Meals for Kids
To the editor:
Article 25 on the Wellfleet annual town meeting warrant seeks to continue to provide free breakfast and lunch to all of Wellfleet’s children regardless of family income.
During the pandemic, school meals were funded by the state. Unfortunately, that funding is expected to end with this school year. This means that towns are tasked with picking up the slack.
Data show that access to healthy meals at school increases academic performance, well-being, and focus in class. While it’s true that the federal free and reduced-price lunch programs will remain for those who qualify, it’s important to note that eligibility for these programs is based on federal poverty level guidelines. For 2022-2023, a family of four would need to make less than $36,075 to qualify for free lunch, according to the Dept. of Elementary and Secondary Education. That threshold is not high enough to include all the Wellfleet families who need assistance.
Given Wellfleet’s housing crisis and the intense pressures on working families, this article is essential to alleviate at least some of the stress on our year-round families.
In these times, and with the state of our town’s finances, a vote for yet another expense for taxpayers seems like a big ask. Yet this article is vital to our community. The overall cost, $100,500, is relatively small and would mean about $20 per year in additional tax on the owner of a house of median value.
This is a small price to pay to provide healthy, nutritious meals for all of our students and to provide a sense of security for all of our families.
Liberty Schilpp
Wellfleet
The writer is a member of the Wellfleet Elementary School Committee, which requested Article 25 on the warrant for the April 29 town meeting.
Having the Discussion Now
To the editor:
Thanks to Emma Fillion for continuing the conversation about housing in Provincetown [“Why We Have to Talk About Short-Term Rentals,” April 20, page A3].
No one was robbed of the opportunity to discuss and understand these issues more fully by the postponement of the town meeting articles. We’re having that discussion and learning about it now, as shown by Fillion’s essay.
Those three articles weren’t ready for town meeting. Town meeting is more where we finish a conversation and take action rather than start conversations.
There was no need to have three short-term rental articles. It was confusing. We need more studies about who is renting short-term. Is it my friends who want to be in P’town but can’t afford it, so they make some money renting their cottage short-term at an affordable rate?
I doubt it’s the “ultrarich” who are mentioned in Fillion’s piece. The ultrarich buy property and visit a couple times a year. Then the property stands empty for the rest of the year. The ultrarich don’t need to rent short-term.
There should be limitations on short-term rentals, but we need studies and not just anecdotal evidence. I hope that the next town meeting will see one comprehensive article limiting or restricting those rentals after a year of discussing and studying it.
The motion to indefinitely postpone the three articles passed 270 to 170 after a 30-minute discussion. That’s significant. Over 60 percent did not think the articles were ready for town meeting. Take that as a challenge. Make it ready for 2024.
Peter C. Bullis
Provincetown
An Exception to the Rule
To the editor:
Re “A Tense Town Meeting Left Lingering Questions” [April 20, page A7]:
Your article suggests a conflict with my suggestion in an April 13 op-ed column that a fuller debate and vote on Article 18 at Provincetown’s town meeting might have been accomplished with a motion to divide the question of indefinitely postponing Articles 18, 19, and 20. You reported: “According to Town Meeting Time, a motion to divide the postponement question might not have been in order because such a move ‘may be applied only to main motions, amendments and instructions to a committee.’ ”
Section 4.g of Provincetown’s Charter states, “In all procedural matters, the Town Meeting shall follow the latest revised edition of Town Meeting Time: A Handbook of Parliamentary Law, … except as otherwise provided by the Massachusetts General Laws, the Provincetown General By-Laws, or this Charter.”
That exception applies here. Section 4-2-5 of Provincetown’s By-Laws states: “If a motion be susceptible of division into separate parts, votes must be taken on each part if ten (10) or more voters so request.” The motion to indefinitely postpone all three articles was easily susceptible of being divided into at least two if not three separate parts. The bylaw would thus have overridden the handbook, and the town moderator would have been required to accept that motion for division if it had been made.
Alan J. Roth
Provincetown and Lewes, Del.
Protecting the Crabs
To the editor:
Most people are either fond of horseshoe crabs or don’t like them at all. Whatever your feelings, it is hard to deny how important they are to our coastal environment, shore and migrating birds, fish, turtles, and humans — for their critical biomedical uses.
At long last the Mass. Div. of Marine Fisheries is considering new regulations that will begin to protect horseshoe crabs, at least during their spawning season. Considering that it takes 10 years for a female to mature and lay eggs, which are among the most important food resources for many coastal animals, it is past time for these rules. New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina have all put these protections in place.
If you want to help, email your comments before May 1 in support of protections for horseshoe crabs —even calling for an end to the bait harvest entirely — to [email protected].
Kathy Miller
Brewster
