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plastic bottle bylaw

    LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

    Letters, September 17, 2020

    From Daniel Holt, Anne Stott, John Stossel, and Mac Gatch

    By

    Native American Stereotypes

    To the editor:
    People in Truro who are unhappy with the Massachusetts seal [“State Flag and Seal Question Is on Wellfleet, Truro Warrants,” Sept. 10, page A8] would do well to look a little closer to home and consider the problems with Truro’s official town seal.

    The Truro seal depicts a Native American standing on a beach, looking out at the bay, apparently oblivious to the European vessel sailing in the water behind him. His left hand holds a bow and arrow and his right hand rests on a corn plant. He wears a feathered headdress, what appear to be fringed leggings, and a cloth draped over one shoulder and wrapped around his torso. Behind him stand two tepees.

    What’s wrong with this image? Like the now-retired murals at the Provincetown Museum [“PMPM Exhibit Revises Story of First Encounters,” June 25], it incorporates and perpetuates stereotypes of Native Americans. Tepees are the traditional homes of Plains Indians, not Paomets, Nausets, or Wampanoags. Similarly, the headdress on the Truro seal is a war bonnet in the style of the Plains Indians, completely different from what a native inhabitant of Truro would have worn. The clothing is somewhat nondescript but also appears to be inaccurate. Even the bow is wrong.

    I have always loved the decision to place a Native American at the center of Truro’s seal and would never want to change that important choice. But it’s time to bring some accuracy to the image.

    Daniel Holt
    Truro and New York City

    Action, Not Just Words

    To the editor:
    I support Article 14 on Provincetown’s town warrant, which will ban single-use plastic bottles of noncarbonated, unflavored water.

    Between a pandemic and the resulting economic challenges, a contentious election, racial injustice, and the West Coast on fire, one might be excused for thinking that we shouldn’t have to talk about plastic bottles right now. But we do have to.

    The environmental damage our behavior does to the planet does not stop when other challenges arise. Single-use plastic water bottles compose more than half of all the plastic bottles used. We now know that only 28 percent are recycled, and we have all seen the trash cans on a midsummer day overflowing with plastic in the center of town.

    These bottles come from oil pulled from the ground, transported, and transformed into plastic in toxic processes. We consume the water (which we could get for free from a faucet) and throw the bottles in a blue can. Plastic lasts hundreds of years; the planet literally cannot contain our waste any longer.

    Thanks to Sustainable Practices in Brewster, the plastic water bottle ban is being considered at every town meeting on Cape Cod this year. Brewster, Wellfleet, and Falmouth have already approved it. We have a rare opportunity to take a huge step toward plastic reduction. We would be setting an example for millions of people each year who visit from around the world. They will see that we are not just saying we care about the planet; we are taking action.

    When I presented the plastic straw and plastic #6 bans in 2018, it was thrilling to see the town vote almost unanimously to reduce plastic in our community. In a time when so much is beyond our control, let’s embrace the positive changes we can make.

    Anne Stott
    Provincetown

    Disappointed

    To the editor:
    Reading your “Science at Risk” series about the Cape Cod National Seashore from this spring and summer, I was disappointed at how little I learned.

    I would have liked to learn who maintains the trails, how boundaries are determined, what erosion has been and what erosion plans are, what the policing issues include, what workers get paid, bonfire rules and problems, and so much more.

    Instead, I read about budget “cuts” even though one article included a table showing that the Seashore’s overall budget grew from $7.37 million to $7.86 million (from fiscal year 2018 to 2020).

    Only government bureaucrats and credulous reporters describe increases as “cuts.”

    John Stossel
    Wellfleet

    Editor’s note: As Sophie Ruehr reported in her series, since the early 2000s, the Seashore’s budget has remained flat while fixed costs have risen. Education and scientific research programs have been cut.

    We Got Cultcha

    To the editor:
    What other American regional weekly besides the Independent would have an article about the Metropolitan Opera streaming Werther [“Goethe’s Tortured Hero, Set to Massenet’s Music,” Sept. 10, page B4] — even one that admits the author doesn’t like French romanticism!

    Mac Gatch
    Wellfleet and New York City

    LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

    Letters, September 10, 2020

    From Laura Logue Rood, Michela Murphy, David A. Colton, and Mike Rice

    By

    The Town Manager Shuffle

    To the editor:
    Once again, the Outer Cape town manager shuffle occurs, this time in Truro [“Robert Wood and Truro Part Ways,” Sept. 3, page A4]. How could a select board choose someone for such a position without a socially distanced face-to-face meeting? Mr. Wood’s being unfamiliar with the Outer Cape, let alone never having set foot in Truro, should have been a point of discussion. A simple online search showed that he had his contract terminated in West Lake Hills and was involved in employment litigation in Flatonia.

    The same search firm, Community Paradigm Associates, brought Provincetown Robin Craver, who resigned after six months. She also came with some baggage, having been bought out of her Charlton contract for almost $500,000.

    These would have been red flags to any search committee. Do these boards, despite many talents, have enough experience in professional hiring to appropriately assess candidates? Given what I read about the Provincetown and Truro candidates, I would have suggested that the search firm dig deeper.

    More important, these towns need to think differently about what is needed in a manager. Many candidates are simply recycled from one community to another, some for good reason.

    Rather than exclusively looking for municipal experience, the boards might look for persons with translatable management and fiscal experience. Much about municipal issues can be learned and supplemented by the talented staff that each of these towns have on board. Perhaps that would improve, diversify, and increase the applicant pool, so that our towns can seek the best and brightest. It also might encourage administrators who can bring some other relevant experience and diversity of thought to the table.

    Laura Logue Rood
    Provincetown

    A Small, Necessary Step

    To the editor:

    Over the next several weeks, voters on the Outer Cape will be asked to consider town meeting articles proposed by Sustainable Practices, an environmental advocacy group, which would make it illegal to sell noncarbonated, unflavored drinking water in single-use plastic bottles smaller than a gallon. This campaign is Cape-wide. The first vote is Saturday, Sept. 12, at Wellfleet’s town meeting.

    Voting to support this ban is a small but necessary step we must take to combat the imminent threat of plastic pollution.

    Plastic surrounds us, not just in our daily life but in the water we swim in and the food we eat.

    Since the year 2000, we have created more plastic than was made in all the years before 2000 combined. The fossil fuel industry plans to increase plastic production by 40 percent over the next decade. This will be detrimental not only to sea life, seabirds, and mammals, but to the human race. We who created it must be the ones to stop it.

    I am a member of the Provincetown Portuguese Festival Committee. Before we had to cancel our annual events due to Covid-19, we discussed banning single-use plastic water bottles and being the first festival in Provincetown to sell reusable water bottles that visitors could refill around town.

    Organizers of tourist events on Cape Cod should follow suit, so we can begin to reclaim our planet and protect the home we all love so much. We have already banned single-use plastic bags and plastic straws. This does not seem too great a stretch.

    We must act before it is too late. We will not have many more opportunities to reverse the devastation we have already caused to our planet.

    Let’s make sure future generations of poets aren’t writing odes to a Cape Cod Bay trash island.

    Michela Murphy
    Provincetown

     

    Celebrate With Caution

    To the editor:

    It’s time to recognize the successful efforts of many in Provincetown who kept Covid-19 in check.

    First, the people who insisted on a mandatory mask policy. Even though the initial implementation was uneven, the mandatory zone that was eventually adopted and enforced was mostly a success.

    Second, the vast majority of business owners, who embraced sane social distancing rules, re-imagined their business plans, and worked double-time to keep a diminished economy running.

    Third, the town government (board of health, select board, staff, police, and volunteers) that adopted and enforced restrictions that kept people safe from the virus. We all miss our favorite events and celebrations, but we can take comfort in the fact that more of us will be around to enjoy them when they resume.

    Finally, the full- and part-time residents, renters, and visitors who followed the rules and adjusted their plans to protect public health.

    That’s the good news, but caution is in order. Provincetown has always welcomed all who enter, resulting in a vibrant economy of independent small businesses, massive creativity, and a safe haven for all who seek its embrace. But the future is uncertain, as many of those businesses survived this year on government aid that has dried up. There are some empty shops, and their number could grow, leading to cascading economic failure that will leave no one untouched. Closed businesses mean fewer jobs and less money in the local economy. Lower commercial property values means residential tax bills will be higher. Fewer tourists means fewer patrons of the galleries and entertainment venues.

    Despite the romanticized notion of the “starving artist,” I don’t know of any who really want to live that reality.

    We need a strategy for going into 2021 that will keep all our boats afloat until this storm passes.

    David A. Colton
    Provincetown

     

    Get High or Hydrate?

    To the editor:

    As reported in this newspaper last week, it won’t be long before some pot shops open here in Wellfleet. At that point, they’ll be able to sell these popular brands of marijuana: 9 Pound Hammer, Northern Lights, AK-47, Cannatonic, Chemdawg, Amnesia, Permafrost, Death Star, Trainwreck, White Widow, and Green Crack. The list goes on and on.

    But if Article 23 passes at Wellfleet’s annual town meeting on Sept. 12, it will be unlawful to sell noncarbonated, unflavored drinking water in single-use plastic bottles in the town of Wellfleet effective Sept. 1, 2021.

    Anyone care to explain that contradiction?

    Seems to me that a majority of those vacationing in Wellfleet would rather be hydrated than stoned.

    Mike Rice
    Wellfleet

     

    LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

    Letters, September 3, 2020

    From Alan J. Roth, Sheila McGuinness, and Shawn Nightingale

    By

    FinCom Chair’s Conduct

    To the editor:

    You were right to question the Outer Cape’s perception of itself as an “enlightened community” [Aug. 27, Letter From the Editor, page A2], and not simply because an anonymous bigot sent a hate letter to Barbara Rushmore.

    One of Provincetown’s most important public officials, Mark Hatch, the chair of the finance committee, has repeatedly posted hateful and degrading messages on social media. He is a serial violator of the finance committee’s code of conduct, which calls on members to “Remember that you represent the entire community at all times,” not just when sitting behind a dais.

    Mr. Hatch may think he has a First Amendment right to post whatever he wants online. But he has no constitutional right to hold appointive office. That is a public trust. Yet his comments have been met with cowardly silence from the elected leaders responsible for dealing with his misconduct.

    In an enlightened community, one would think the town moderator would take the steps prescribed by the charter to remove an appointee who treats people this way. Failing that, one would hope the select board would exercise its own powers under the charter to discipline him.

    I have repeatedly addressed the select board this summer during the public comment period in an effort to pursue action on this matter. But as though we were living in a small Southern town, they have circled the wagons in a conspiracy of silence to sweep this cancer under the rug.

    As your editorial noted, hateful sentiments aren’t absent here, they’re just “pushed out of sight.” Sadly, we never expected Provincetown’s leadership to be doing the pushing.

    Alan J. Roth
    Provincetown and Washington, D.C.

     

    For Banning Plastic Bottles

    To the editor:

    It wasn’t the islands of plastics floating in distant oceans, the mountains of plastics growing in distant countries, or the close-ups of guts compacted and throats compressed by plastics that made me rethink my pervasive use of them.

    It’s nothing so altruistic; rather, it’s the way microplastics personally affect me. While I appreciate plastic body parts, like knees, I loathe the notion of accumulating particulate plastics in the tissue of my heart, brain, lungs, liver, spleen, and kidneys.

    While scientists work to determine the sources and effects of micro bits of polypropylene and polyethylene found in human stool, I am reducing my use of plastic for my own good — and for the greater good of humans, fish, mammals, reptiles, and birds — at least until scientists can reduce the 450 years it now takes plastic to break down in our environment.

    My family has stopped using single-use water bottles, and, when possible, produce containers. We have successfully eliminated water bottles because it is cheap and easy. Thermoses have come a long way since my cartoon lunch box days!

    Because single-use bottles and caps make up more than 15 percent of total marine waste, Cape Codders now have a chance to address effectively such environmental degradation.

    I ask you to join my family by supporting a Cape-wide effort to ban the sale of noncarbonated unflavored water in plastic bottles smaller than one gallon. It’s simple to do: vote for the bylaw in your town.

    Sheila McGuinness
    Provincetown

     

    A Good Story

    To the editor:

    I am writing to compliment the Independent on its creative and interesting story lines, in particular, last week’s front-page story about spotter pilots by Johnny Liesman. The story was not only informative but very entertaining as well.

    Congratulations on bringing additional high-quality weekly reading to the Lower Cape.

    Shawn Nightingale
    Provincetown

    currents

    This Week in Eastham

    By

    Meetings Ahead

    Meetings are held remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on the meeting you’re interested in to read its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and take part remotely.

    Monday, Aug. 31

    • Eastham 400 Commemoration Committee, 10:30 a.m.
    • Select Board, 5:30 p.m.

    Tuesday, Sept. 1

    • State Primary Election, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
    • T-Time Development Committee, 5 p.m.

    Wednesday, Sept. 2

    • Board of Assessors, 11 a.m.
    • Cape Cod Regional Governmental Assembly of Delegates Public Hearing, 4:30 p.m.
    • Community Preservation Act Committee, 5:30 p.m.

    Thursday, Sept. 3

    • Zoning Board of Appeals, 5 p.m.

     Conversation Starters

    No Residential Exemption This Year

    While Eastham’s select board agreed at their Aug. 17 joint meeting with the board of assessors not to adopt a residential tax exemption this year, the board will give the exemption another look for 2022 as a means to assist Eastham residents struggling economically as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

    “It’s not the best tool,” Chair Jamie Rivers said of the exemption Saturday. Establishing the exemption for this year would have resulted in additional costs, as it would have delayed the issuance of tax bills, resulting in more borrowing.

    The select board will schedule discussion of the exemption for tax year 2022 later this year and will continue look for new tools to help Eastham families, said Rivers. “If we have to use it, we will,” she said Saturday.

    Both Aimee Eckman and Rivers spoke in favor of the family support package as a preferred means to assist local families financially.

    “We have to pull out more tools as we move through a year that has been so challenging for so many families and now moving into a school year where parents are going to find it even harder to work full time,” said Rivers.

    The family support package will be Article 8 on the draft warrant for next month’s town meeting.

    Warrant Articles Approved Again

    The select board voted Aug. 17 to approve the entirety of the draft town meeting warrant with few changes to the similarly approved warrant put before them last April. Six articles from the April warrant were dropped, the most notable being the Nauset Regional High School building project.

    A special pre-town meeting discussion of articles is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 10, from 6 to 8 p.m.

    Eastham 400 Plus

    Funding for the 400 Commemorative Committee survived a motion to shift $5,000 of its $10,000 request to the T-Time Development Committee. The two committees share Article 11, which asks for $20,000 for the T-Time project and $10,000 for the 400 Committee.

    The shift was recommended by the finance committee as the T-Time committee would face greater needs, said board chair Jamie Rivers.

    Town Administrator Jacqui Beebe described the 400 committee’s work so far as “exceptional,” but expressed concerns over its growing budget. “It just seems we agreed on a budget and the budget got larger. It should be wrapping up at this point and not escalating even more.”

    400 Committee vice chair Tom Ryan noted that, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, other towns including Plymouth and Provincetown had extended their commemorations a year.

    “I think we really have to be part of that, to have the voice of Eastham and the benefits to Eastham be extended,” said Ryan.

    Board member Aimee Eckman suggested the board recommend the full request.

    “I think they did submit a pretty solid budget as to how they’ve been spending their money and what they plan to spend it on,” she said.

    The board voted unanimously to support the $10,000 request.

    Single Use Water Bottle Ban

    The board voted to recommend a petitioned article prohibiting the sale of single-use plastic water bottles in Eastham, with the caveat that the ban would be rescinded before its Sept. 21, 2021 effective date should surrounding towns reject the proposal.

    “I would like to see Eastham in line with its neighbors on something like this,” said chair Jamie Rivers. “For us to step out of line and to make it more difficult for the towns around us would be doing a disservice to the movement.”

    The finance committee had voted unanimously not to recommend the article out of concern that should the ban pass in Eastham but not surrounding towns shoppers would just purchase the bottles in those towns, board member Arthur Autorino noted.

    According to board member Aimee Eckman, the ban had already passed in Orleans. —Linda Culhane

    LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

    Letters, August 27, 2020

    From Shirley Spatz, Nancy Kete, Felice Coral, Beth Greenspan, and Ellen Anthony

    By

    Don’t Compare Bottles to Bags

    To the editor:

    A comparison of plastic bags and plastic bottles, as was suggested by a letter to the editor in the Aug. 20 edition [page A2], is highly inaccurate.

    Plastic bottles containing water make available a product essential to health. For those visitors unable to access filtered water, or those renters unable to install a reliable filtration system, water in plastic bottles is a staple.

    Furthermore, the question arises why water bottles are being singled out. Why not include the plastic packaging encasing greens, nuts, dried fruit, and so on? The problem is certainly not plastic water bottles; it is plastic, ubiquitously so.

    Some plasticity of approach might be to encourage research into a material that is equally maleable, equally hermetic, and not so troublesome to the environment.

    Shirley Spatz
    Provincetown

     

    On Capitalizing ‘Black’

    To the editor:

    I appreciate the importance and comfort of following one specific style manual for any publication. Your publication has chosen the venerable Chicago Manual of Style instead of the Associated Press Stylebook, and 99 percent of the time no one would notice or care.

    But this time is different. Sometimes you just have to break with the rules and respond to the exigencies of the moment.

    For all the reasons the A.P. and other major publications have finally switched to capitalizing Black when referring to a person or people of a distinct culture, in just the same way they would refer to a European or an African, so should the Provincetown Independent. As a weekly covering the news, you need to move faster than the Chicago Manual does, but I bet they get there eventually.

    Nancy Kete
    North Truro

     

    Praise for an Essay

    To the editor:

    Deborah Ullmann’s essay, “Quahogs and Culture Change,” in the Aug. 20 Independent [page A3] is wonderful in so many ways — it paints an exquisite picture of a simpler and kinder life, of “simple gifts” that have so much meaning, of the rewards offered by Nature for hard work and jobs well done, and a recollection of Eastham at its best.

    It reveals lessons for us all at this difficult time, and always.

    Felice Coral
    Eastham

     

    Everyday Beauty

    To the editor:

    Your “Meet the Maker” column is one among many good reasons to read the Provincetown Independent. Providing a forum for the talented and committed craftsmen and women of the Outer Cape to bring readers into their world is a terrific example of what makes local journalism so special.

    I especially enjoyed the column in your Aug. 13 issue written by Donna Rickman about chair caning [page A10]. Her depth of knowledge, the context she provided, and her description of the materials and techniques used heightened my appreciation for the beauty of these everyday objects.

    Her story about recognizing an 1870 Chippendale chair from among a pile of chairs left at the side of the road and returning it to its glory for her son was a pure delight.

    Thank you for opening up new worlds close to home.

    Beth Greenspan
    Newton and Wellfleet

     

    Banish That Word

    To the editor:

    Regarding the violator of Truro Conservation Trust land [Aug. 20, front page]: the “N-word” has no place in our community, our town, our state, or our world.

    Ellen Anthony
    Truro

     

     

    currents

    This Week in Eastham

    By

    Meetings Ahead

    Thursday, Jan. 30

    • Recycling Committee, 5 p.m., Small Meeting Room, Eastham library 

    Monday, Feb. 3

    • Select Board, 5:30 p.m., Earle Mountain Meeting Room, Town Hall

    Tuesday, Feb. 4

    • Charter Review Committee, 5:30 p.m., Small Meeting Room, Town Hall

    Wednesday, Feb. 5

    • Board of Assessors, 11 a.m., Small Meeting Room, Town Hall
    • Community Preservation Committee, 5 p.m., Earle Mountain Meeting Room, Town Hall
    • Harbor Planning Forum, 5 p.m., Greg Turner Meeting Rooms A-B, Eastham library

    Thursday, Feb. 6

    • Zoning Board of Appeals, 5 p.m., Earle Mountain Meeting Room, Town Hall

    Conversation Starters

    Storage Unit Discussion Continues

    In a meeting continued from Jan. 2, the zoning board of appeals will hear from Barbara Niggel, owner of Willy’s Gym, on Feb. 6. She is seeking a special permit, in this case as owner of Goeroe’s Golden’s LLC and Stow Away LLC, to construct six storage units at the site of the gym, which remains temporarily closed.

    When Niggel presented her case to the ZBA on Jan. 2, citizens said the four current storage units on the property are in disrepair and unsightly. Steve Wasby of the ZBA said that until violations that led to the closing of Willy’s are cleared, and trash surrounding existing storage units is removed, the ZBA should not grant the special permit.

    Town Administrator Jacqui Beebe provided an update on the gym on Jan. 23, saying structural and architectural reports had been received and were being reviewed; the gym’s connection to the town water system was in the final stage of completion; and steps to bring fire suppression systems into compliance were underway.

    The special permit for the storage units needs approval from both the ZBA and planning board.

    Plastic Bylaws on the Warrant?

    The select board is scheduled to review and discuss the proposed Plastic Beverage Bottle Bylaw and Plastic and Marine Hazards Reduction Bylaw at its Feb. 3 meeting. The board may vote to place the bylaws on the May town meeting warrant. The public is welcome to attend, ask questions, and offer feedback.

    The bottle bylaw would make it unlawful to sell or distribute water and soft drinks in plastic bottles of less than 34 ounces, as well as distilled spirits in 50 ml plastic bottles (“nips”) in Eastham. Drinking water in plastic bottles would be allowed in a declared emergency.

    The marine hazards bylaw looks to replace plastic bags with reusable, recyclable, or compostable ones.

    Details are available on the town website: eastham-ma.gov/home/news/proposed-plastic-bylaws-information. —Ryan Fitzgerald

     

     

     

     

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