‘An Elderly Town’
To the editor:
You recently reported on the isolation felt by the parent of a newborn [“New Moms Find Company and Comfort in Eastham,” March 28, front page]. Last week your letter from the editor quoted Amelia Roth-Dishy’s article on the Cape’s demographics, which researchers found are a “legitimate cause for alarm about sustaining any sort of economy here.”
Both pieces bring to mind Truro’s lack of affordable housing. To quote the Community Development Partnership’s housing campaign: “We can’t afford to lose the people who can’t afford to live here.”
We have become an elderly town because there is no affordable housing for the workers vital to our community. Truro has added only 16 units of affordable housing in the last 20 years — at Sally’s Way, which has a waiting list of about 200.
Plumbers, electricians, contractors, health workers, managers, teachers, and public safety people have turned down job offers or have moved away because they could not find housing. Others have lost their year-round rental housing or are living in their parents’ basements.
Your neighbors and friends took nearly three years to create the Walsh Property Community Planning Committee recommendations. They carefully and diligently developed a plan for the Walsh property that includes housing. The select board has accepted these recommendations. Now it is up to us.
Don’t believe the false narratives that plague Truro’s debate about housing. Read the special town meeting warrant on the town website. Article 5 allows the town to begin the process of building the recommended Phase 1 housing of 50 to 80 units. Article 6 establishes a citizens advisory committee. Want transparency? Apply to serve on this committee.
Don’t let Truro continue to slide perilously closer to becoming an underserved warehouse for the elderly. On May 4, vote yes on Articles 5 and 6.
Lisbeth Wiley Chapman
North Truro
‘Take Action Now’
To the editor:
I was happy to see that the two additional candidates, John Dundas and Tim Hickey, who have entered the race for Truro Select Board both say they are supportive of the need for housing in our community, as reported in the March 28 Independent [front page].
As a longtime resident of Truro, I’ve watched the situation become more dire for people who want to call our wonderful community home. I’ve attended countless conferences over the years on the need for affordable housing, and I am encouraged that more and more of us are seeing the need to take action now.
I commend Betty Gallo and the work of the Walsh Property Committee for developing a strategy for moving that project forward. We’re living in an era of disinformation; kudos to the committee and to the Independent for providing the details on the proposed phased rollout of new housing.
As Gallo stated in her letter to the editor last week, the committee agreed that, after the first phase of housing is built, “there should be community input.” In a town that has suffered from much divisiveness on the issue of housing, it’s encouraging to know that the committee wants to hear from all of us as the project moves forward.
Beth O’Rourke
North Truro
Sticker Shock
To the editor:
I’m a woman who is trying to stay as young as possible as long as possible. I wear lipstick and mascara every day and color my hair, which is no fun.
So, you can imagine my dismay when I got out of my truck the other day and noticed that in bold white letters against a black background was the word SENIOR on my Provincetown parking sticker.
How had I not noticed this before? Why, why, why is that there? I realize that parking permits for seniors are free, but do I get any special privileges — like parking in taxi spaces? Can I park on Commercial Street in the summer? Even worse, I noticed that the sticker doesn’t expire until 2028.
Is any other age demographic being singled out on parking stickers?
I’m putting black electrical tape over it, and then I’m putting on more moisturizer.
Ardis Markarian
Provincetown
