Weinstein: ‘A Fierce Protector’
To the editor:
Congratulations to Susan Areson and John Dundas on their election to the Truro Select Board, and thanks to Bob Weinstein for his service on the board for the past 12 years and on so many other Truro boards and committees for the past 40 years. Bob has served on the zoning board of appeals, charter review committee, Local Partnership for Economic Development, building committee, Pamet Harbor Commission, finance committee, planning board, and community preservation committee.
Bob has also served as the unofficial curb-cut guru, a self-declared budget hawk (with a particular disdain for the police motorcycle), a champion of Nauset High hockey, an advocate for our local families, a keen observer of contracts and the law, a Pamet Harbor aficionado, and a fierce protector of maintaining the tight-knit year-round community where he raised his son and grew his business.
I hope he will still stop by town hall to fill me in on how his garden is coming along and what issue in town he is currently chewing on and to share some of his fantastic banana bread. My wish for Bob is that he enjoys this new, more relaxing chapter, and my other wish (also for Bob) is that whoever is throwing Pabst Blue Ribbon cans on the side roads in Truro stops!
Thank you for your service, Bob.
Kelly Clark
Orleans
The writer is Truro’s acting town manager.
A Different View of Maurice’s
To the editor:
Re: “Wellfleet Says Yes to Funding Maurice’s RFP” [May 1, front page]:
Adding to the population without addressing the underlying needs of the community that lives here is missing the forest for the trees.
Many year-round residents are unemployed or underemployed for half the year, leaving them scrambling to make ends meet in an expensive town. There is a “bridge tax” on nearly all goods and services.
To truly help people with housing insecurity, we should rethink the plan for Maurice’s. People are opposed to the size and scope of this development, and if we’re creative we can build something to suit the needs of everyone here and the people who will relocate here.
For example, use 11 of the 21 acres for 1/8-acre lots with small, energy-efficient homes. Half of these could be rent-to-own, giving low-income families a path to home ownership.
Use three acres for apartments for seniors and seasonal workers.
On the other seven acres, build a community center surrounded by community gardens, a food forest, a tree-shaded playground, a bike pump track, and walking trails. The community center could provide things that are currently lacking: an indoor pool for year-round swimming lessons and aerobics; a climbing wall; game, fitness, and meeting rooms; and a healthy café. Also, a place to host the summer rec program so our children aren’t baking on hot days at Bakers Field. Using Maurice’s to create real community spaces is essential.
Zooming out our focus from the housing crisis, we see a struggling community that’s already here. Let’s build a new South Wellfleet district that will aid in providing food security, year-round recreation opportunities, and gathering spaces for members of the community from generational Wellfleetians to newcomers alike.
Ennie McDonald
Wellfleet
‘The Final Turn of the Screw’
To the editor:
In 10 short paragraphs, Ed Miller’s May 15 letter [“A Compliance Update”] gave us a crystal clear account of the Trump administration’s violation of freedom of speech by demanding that organizations and institutions of all kinds and sizes alter their language and their practices.
By threatening to withhold longstanding federal funding, the president has gotten huge organizations to comply with the demand to eliminate “diversity,” “equity,” “gender identity,” and more from their programs. And in the final turn of the screw, the government withholds the funding even from the businesses and organizations that reluctantly comply.
Miller brought this home to us: AmeriCorps funding necessary to small, local Cape social services is being withheld. An eloquent statement of constitutional violation, an unchained executive, and incalculable social harm.
Nancy L. Rosenblum
North Truro
The writer is the Sen. Joseph Clark Professor of Ethics in Government and Politics Emerita at Harvard University.
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.
