Part-Timers and Voters
To the editor:
Your July 18 article “Truro Now Has Two Part-Time Residents Groups” [page A9] was factually in error about me in serious and harmful ways.
First, contrary to your article, I remain an active (and longest serving) board member of the Truro Part-Time Resident Taxpayers’ Association. Second, your irresponsible speculation that I leaked a confidential document was fabricated. I did not. And third, I cannot confirm any inquiry by phone or email from your reporter.
A correction does not undo the damage caused by your article. Nor does it undo the harm your paper has caused other board members or the TPRTA, a remarkable, essential, honest, and independent organization I helped to co-found more than 25 years ago, with your yearlong campaign of false, misleading, and disrespectful reporting.
Even your headlines — especially your headlines — are repeatedly incorrect, including this one. Truro does not have two “part-time residents groups.” It has TPRTA, a large, well-established, and trusted organization that represents the voices of thousands of Truro’s part-timers; and it has a town committee of six whose members represent themselves in advising the select board. Our complemetary roles are different. So, too, are our structures — the committee is not an organization.
The Independent’s campaign against part-timers and TPRTA also harms potential voters. Perhaps you do not care, but I do, and the public should.
It is obvious that the Independent now lacks balance, perspective, and factuality in reporting on matters related to Truro, TPRTA, voting in Truro, part-timers, and controversial issues like water, housing, and more. I sadly join with many who understand that your paper cannot be trusted to report accurately on these topics or others about Truro.
Frank Korahais
Truro and Forest Hills, N.Y.
‘The Indie Cannot Be Trusted’
To the editor:
The July 18 article on part-timer groups accurately quoted my statements to a reporter about the membership of the TPRTA, but I was unclear in that conversation. We have well over 1,500 (not 400) individual voting members and over 1,100 associate members.
We definitely encouraged our members to register to vote in Truro, which is their right and our privilege to help them exercise. My comment that there was “no encouragement to do anything” was about our not telling members how to vote.
David Sullivan is finally correct: “actual residents” have a right to vote. Part-timers can be actual residents and thus rightful voters. The amount of time spent in Truro is not the only criterion for determining residence. Sullivan affirms that “There’s nothing wrong with encouraging people to register to vote if they’re eligible….”
That is what TPRTA did, properly and proudly. TPRTA lawfully and accurately encouraged eligible residents to register. Some of the best-known officials in Truro — Nancy Medoff, Anne Greenbaum, and Bob Panessiti — vote in Truro and have served in elected and key appointed positions as part-timers.
TPRTA priorities are set by our members as seen in our 2024 survey results. Opposition to the residential tax exemption is much higher than the 70 percent you reported. It is now over 80 percent.
This misreporting confirms why the Indie cannot be trusted to report accurately on Truro.
Anthony Garrett
Truro and Montville, N.J.
The writer is president of the Truro Part-Time Resident Taxpayers’ Association.
The DPW Mandate
To the editor:
Re “Old Leaking Oil Tanks Unearthed at Truro DPW” [July 18, page A5]:
It is misleading to write that “Citizens and elected officials have disagreed about whether the May 5 vote precludes use of 340 Route 6” for the future DPW. Only one elected official, the select board’s Bob Weinstein, is at odds with citizens. That site was rejected by voters at two town meetings and on the June 27 ballot with the highest voter turnout ever in Truro. It would grievously break citizens’ trust to even reconsider it.
Town attorney John Giorgio was quite clear in telling the select board that voters rejected the 340 Route 6 site for DPW use definitively and that Weinstein’s position “didn’t even have a majority” for an article requiring a two-thirds vote. Voters affirmatively placed the new DPW at Town Hall Hill twice by wide margins.
Giorgio noted that the select board’s real concern was “political” — as it should be. This board must regain the trust of the voters who gave them a mandate: keep the DPW on Town Hall Hill.
Weinstein is trying to reverse that mandate, undermining the voters’ will, and derailing work needed to get a new DPW moving forward. Weinstein has gone rogue and is out of control, and it is time for the select board to use its investigative and other authority to rein him in and remove him as liaison to the Ad Hoc Building Committee.
Dennis O’Brien
Truro
Winter Losses
To the editor:
I always enjoy Dennis Minsky’s columns. They are well written and usually funny.
But in his July 18 column, “Truro: It’s Not Provincetown,” he writes, “Provincetown loses people in the winter, too, but relatively fewer.”
On Wikipedia I found that P’town goes from 60,000 in the summer to 3,664 in the winter, while Truro goes from 20,000 to 2,554.
So P’town loses more than 56,000 people, or 94 percent of the summer population, while Truro loses more than 17,000, or 87 percent of the population.
I think Truro loses relatively fewer.
Harry Irwin
Truro
Children Sailing
To the editor:
I was glad to read the story in your July 18 issue [page A10] on West End Racing Children’s Community Sailing (FKA West End Racing Club).
I attended many years ago, under Ms. Avellar’s, Dan’s, and Flyer’s direction. With only seven or so kids in my grade at the Veterans Memorial Elementary School in the mid-1990s, the club opened up my world.
In spite of excellent, nearly free instruction, I was not a good sailor: I got tangled up in the Coast Guard pier, I never won a race, and I capsized frequently. I got pretty good at righting boats and bailing them out.
That resiliency has served me well. As a sign that hangs on the club’s door says: we can’t control the wind, but we can adjust the sails. Here’s to many more summers.
Mary Bergman
Nantucket
A Chance to Thrive
To the editor:
I was grateful to read your joyful and hopeful article “Nine Young Adults and Two Advisers Make a Sassy House” in last week’s Independent [page A15]. With more than 500 pieces of anti-LGBTQ legislation being tracked across the nation, it is more important than ever that we support queer young adults. They deserve a chance to thrive in a safe, welcoming community. They deserve to know that we see, value, and love them. It must be the priority of our community to lift up the next generation. Together, we can ensure a healthy and happy future for our queer youth.
Shawn Fiedler
Provincetown
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Letters to the Editor
The Provincetown Independent welcomes letters from readers on all subjects. They must be signed with the writer’s name, home address, and telephone number (for verification). Letters will be published only if they have been sent exclusively to the Independent. They should be no more than 300 words and may be edited for clarity, accuracy, conciseness, and good taste. Longer pieces (up to 600 words) may be submitted for consideration as op-ed commentary. Send letters to [email protected] or by mail to P.O. Box 1034, Provincetown, MA 02657. The deadline for letters is Monday at noon for each week’s edition.
