The Seasonal Community Designation
To the editor:
On April 7, town meeting will vote on Article 17 to reject or accept the state’s new designation of Provincetown as a seasonal community. While this designation promises possible benefits including lower property taxes for year-round homeowners and access to funds for housing, little has been said about risks or unintended consequences.
Without a full understanding of this proposal, it seems premature to ask for a vote.
Will Provincetown have to accept zoning rules that do not make sense in our very dense community? While “tiny houses” may provide some seasonal and year-round housing, we should carefully consider where and how this housing fits in our community. Will the sewer system need to be expanded? Will mobile recreational vehicles count as “tiny houses”?
What benefits can the town count on? Is this simply a way of extracting higher taxes from part-time homeowners who already are paying more because of the residential tax exemption? And if higher property taxes result for part-timers, will there be an unexpected and unintended impact? For example, will part-time homeowners have less discretionary income to contribute to town nonprofits, eat out, or shop in town?
Can we be sure that funds for housing will find its way to our community? Will municipal workers benefit as the designation promises? How will all of this be monitored to assure these results?
Housing is a challenge for year-round residents and for seasonal workers. It is important to continue to find new ways to address this challenge. But it is equally important to know that a solution has a good chance of addressing the problem and not just creating new ones.
Let’s understand the important facts about this designation first, not after it’s passed.
Kathleen Cote
St. Petersburg, Fla. and Provincetown
It Has Happened Here
To the editor:
Thank you for Aden Choate’s excellent article on the actions of agents from four federal agencies — ICE, DEA, ATF, and Homeland Security — on March 4 [“In Dennis Port, an ICE Raid Draws 20 Witnesses,” March 20, front page]. Even though Dennis Port is outside your usual area, this coverage is of major interest to all who live and work on the Cape.
Many have naïvely assumed that we are beneath the notice of the current administration’s attacks on our immigrant population. You have shown us that the notion that “it can’t happen here” is no longer valid. It has happened, it is happening, and we must do what we can to prevent it from happening again.
Making sure that people know their rights — that they may demand an original paper copy of a judicial warrant — is essential. Thank you for bringing these issues to our attention.
Betsy Smith
Brewster
Advice for Republicans
To the editor:
Republican members of Congress who are brave enough to face their constituents cannot be happy about being repeatedly shouted down. Their consternation reflects a lack of understanding that successful town halls require representatives to do less talking and more listening. Some simple guidelines might help them maintain decorum.
The representative should invite those in attendance to set the agenda by asking questions according to their priorities. After the introduction, the moderator should speak only to respond. The answers should be polite, even when the questions are rhetorical, combative, or disruptively shouted out of order. (Courtesy can be contagious.)
This strategy should make town halls more civil and productive. It might even force Congressional representatives to realize that remaining in office may require them to vote for their constituents’ best interests, not their personal ideology or fealty to the president.
Ronald A. Gabel
Yarmouth Port
The Dictator’s Checklist
To the editor:
In 2022, four Europeans wrote “The Dictator’s Handbook — How to Overthrow Democracy.” Their focus was on Russia, Belarus, and the fragile democracies of Eastern Europe. Tero Lundstedt, one of the four, wrote a chapter that included the Dictator’s Checklist.
It is useful to review Lundstedt’s checklist below — and reflect on current events in the United States.
1) Reduce factors limiting political power, declare a state of emergency if necessary;
2) Attack democratic checks and balances;
3) Attack the prosecutor’s office;
4) Make the maximum number of political appointments and occupy key positions in society with loyalists;
5) Use the language of democracy to justify actions that undermine democracy;
6) “Majority First” — Ignore the rights of minorities and define civil liberties through the interests of the majority;
7) The system must look democratic, so elections must be held, but victory must be certain;
8) Seal new power structures by controlling citizens’ access to information and by suppressing freedom of expression;
9) Strictly supervise the school system, the production of learning materials, and teachers;
10) Sustainable autocracy needs a coherent ideological basis;
11) Make citizens dependent on the State;
12) A proper sustainable dictatorship is impossible without corruption;
13) Undermine the rule of law through legislation and get the lawyers on your side;
14) Once the Homeland is secure, be prepared to resist pressure and demands from outside.
John Morrissey
Wellfleet
Energy Independence
To the editor:
People are naturally upset with their high electric bills this past winter, as you report in “Why a Cold Winter Meant Higher Electric Bills on the Outer Cape” [March 20, page A5]. The reason is that most of the energy we consume is from imported sources.
The expert who was quoted stated that liquefied natural gas (LNG) comes from Louisiana. This is incorrect. A maritime law, the Jones Act, prohibits foreign vessels from transporting cargo between two U.S. ports, and because there are no U.S. ships equipped to carry LNG, New England must get it from South America or the Middle East. (The president could suspend the Jones Act, but he hasn’t done so.)
The bigger point is that we have a huge source of energy — offshore wind — that would go a long way toward reducing the risks of fluctuating supplies from outside the region. The Trump administration is trying to kill offshore wind in its infancy, denying New England the energy independence that other regions of the country enjoy.
Frederick Hewett
Cambridge
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.
