Condos or condoms? Be careful when you refuse to adjust zoning.

A recent survey by the Donahue Institute at UMASS and Citizens Housing and Planning Association found that “more than seven in ten (71.3%) Cape and Islands residents support building affordable housing in their neighborhood,” higher than the statewide average of 64.8%.

We have a hard time believing that statistic tells the whole story. We can believe that most Cape and Islands residents understand that affordable housing is necessary to their security and a viable economy, but they do not want to do what is necessary to let that housing be built in their towns. Nearly every attempt to change zoning in a way that would allow multi-family units of any kind, including cluster zoning designed to preserve open space, seems to run into a buzz-saw of opposition.

Too often people talk the talk instead of walk the walk; ” I support affordable housing, just put it somewhere else!” Anything other than single-family homes on acre (or greater) lots is anathema to many Cape residents, and you simply cannot build affordable housing on Cape Cod with single-family homes on an acre.

One of the ideas we have advanced in the past is to allow development of multi-family units – apartments or small condos – on any land zoned for commercial development. But even this idea can meet a lot of resistance.

Recently, the Wall Street Journal reported on a development proposal in San Francisco. When an old armory closed in the Mission District near city hall, developers bought the building and started to work at getting approval to change the zoning from industrial to residential.

Over time, developers sought permission to remodel the building into a church, a storage space or an apartment complex. But every proposal ran into a maze of zoning rules and objections from various interest groups, including those interested in preserving the site as historical and those who wanted it to be exclusively low-income housing.

In the end, one developer decided to stop fighting and find a use that did not require rezoning. Before long he found someone who wanted to turn the building into a film studio, and the city agreed that film production fell within existing zoning. But they overlooked one detail in the paperwork. The movies being produced were to be hardcore pornography.

Seems that the large stone rooms, winding staircases, marble columns and dank basement are perfect for some of the film ideas in the hopper at “Kink Films,” the new owner of the building.

Soon, where soldiers use to march, there will be a bunch of naked people playing paintball for the cameras. And the basement is perfect for a movie about zombies (naked of course)!

Reflexive opposition to any change in one’s neighborhood can sometimes lead to much worse development than that being opposed.

Affordable housing on Cape Cod is essential if we are to just maintain the conditions we have come to appreciate and expect. If we are unable to make reasonable accommodations to fit our needs we all may lose.

How pols hide their compensation

(Submitted by John Feeney)

Whenever we the people try to exercise some control over the compensation of those who lead our governmental and business organizations, the officials we are trying to control show extraordinary cleverness at finding ways around the limits we try to set.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported on how chief executives have managed to turn stock options – which were designed to align the interests of stockholders and management – into a feeding trough for themselves, their board members and their top executives, at the expense of stockholders.

Examples of the same sort of chicanery in government have been reported recently in the Cape Cod Times. The Times tells us that some state officials are manipulating state pension rules to pad their retirements. Former State Senator and UMASS president Billy Bulger, for example, got his perks (like housing allowance) added to his salary and raised his pension by $29,000 t(o $196,000 a year.

Now, the Times tells us, former Representatives Thomas George of Yarmouth and Marie Parente are trying to get travel and office allowances calculated as part of their compensation so they can get thousands of dollars per year added to their pensions. (George has already managed to get credit for years of service as town moderator, boosting his pension by about $24,000 a year.)

One such manipulation that has yet to make the news as far as I can see is the attempt by Sandwich selectmen to grant some of them lifelong health benefits despite the vote of Sandwich Town Meeting.

At the town meeting last spring, the voters of Sandwich voted to stop giving paid health insurance to town officials who work part time. This article had to be submitted to the state legislature as a home rule petition, which took several months.

The legislature passed the home rule petition, making it law in Sandwich, but the Selectmen decided that it needed some interpretation. They submitted it to attorneys to decide whether or not it covered current selectmen.

After asking Representative Jeff Perry (who was not at Town Meeting when the vote was taken according to records of Town Clerk’s office), what he felt the legislature was voting on, the lawyers (who were paid by the selectmen out of town funds for their opinion) decided that the bill did not apply to current selectmen. In the end this will probably give lifetime benefits to one Selectman elected just after Town Meeting passed this petition and will do the same for two more selectmen if they get reelected this year.

This legal opinion could cost the town more than one million dollars per individual over the lifetime of those eligible and their spouses! Not bad for a $1,500 a year job and six years of service.

I wrote the petition on which the town voted and I can assure you that I intended to have it apply to current selectmen. Nothing that was said at town meeting contradicted that interpretation. But no one asked me. Instead they relied on the testimony of someone who was not present!

There is no easy way to stop this sort of thing. Those who benefit are very clever at hiding the benefits they receive. My suggestion is that we switch all state, city and town employees to a “defined contribution” plan for both pensions and health insurance.

A defined contribution system would do two things. It would make it much easier for taxpayers to know how much they are giving to their elected officials and employees, and it would limit our obligations to the defined contribution.

John Feeney is the former Chair of the Finance Committee in Sandwich

Where will the wind farms go?

The first time I drove through Southern California, I was struck by the unique beauty of the beaches. Then I drove by a cluster of oil wells! Oil wells? Yes, right on the beach?

I think of those machines moving up and down slowly, like a drinking duck, as they pumped out the last bits of oil from under those beautiful beaches every time I read another aesthetic objection to wind farms.

We expect California to put ugly metal derricks on its beaches. We do not object when huge drilling platforms are floated out into the gulf off Louisiana. We tear down whole mountains to mine coal for electricity. But when someone wants to put a silent, sleek wind tower anywhere near us, we say “Oh, no, not here. Our place is special –unlike any other. Windmills will ruin the unique view!”

Recently, Maine was the scene of a particularly bizarre example of this sort of thinking.
A company called “Maine Mountain Power” proposed a 30-unit wind farm in the northern woods of Maine. The wind farm could provide enough electricity for 40,000 homes and replace 730,000 pounds of pollution per day generated by a conventional fossil fuel plant. It would be built near Reddington, on old logging roads, in a relatively unpopulated area of Maine.

Some of the towers would be visible from the Appalachian Trail and others from the Sugarloaf Ski report, but mockup photographs show that they would appear small and distant.

Approval of the project was put into the hands of the Maine Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC) and on December 22nd, 2006, Maine papers reported that the LURC staff had recommended “…approval of a proposed wind farm project for Reddington Pond Range and Black Nubble Mountains near the Sugarloaf ski resort.”

“The staff’s analysis noted that the LURC had received more than 200 letters in support of the project, as well as support from former Maine Governor Angus King and several legislators, the president of Sugarloaf Ski Resort, and the Franklin Journal, Kennebec Journal, Lewiston Sun Journal, and Portland Press Herald.“

Sounds like a “win-win” right? Nope. At the end of January the board of the LURC, which supervises ten million acres of largely uninhabited “unorganized land,” rejected its staff’s recommendations and vetoed the Reddington project citing “concerns about its visual and environmental effects.”

If we cannot put wind farms where they will never be seen by 99.99% of all Americans; if we cannot put them in a small part of ten million acres of woods; if we cannot have them on land that had previously been cleared by loggers, then where can we put them? And if we don’t start building them right now, might it not be too late to save the planet for our grandkids?

Thanksgiving 2006

Americans are truly a fortunate people to live in a country where freedoms and rights are guaranteed in our Constitution and Bill of Rights. We are blessed with an overwhelming majority of good solid citizens who form the united strength that has held our country together in the past and who hold out the hope for its future. There is much Americans should be grateful for on this Thanksgiving. Hundreds of things we take for granted are still unattainable dreams for millions of people on this tiny planet. In addition to our health, our families, our friends, our prosperity, our country and our rights and freedoms we should be especially thankful for:Parents who care for and inspire their children;

Teachers who are devoted to training our youth;

Doctors, nurses and other medical workers who care for our sick;

Policemen, firemen, and other public employees who risk their lives in service to their communities;

Members of the military who protect and defend;

Religious leaders who give comfort and encouragement and who strive to instill and preserve moral and spiritual values;

Political leaders who seek serve their fellow citizens;

Public spirited individuals who donate time, energy and financial resources to the less fortunate.

Yes, there is much to be thankful for, but we do not live in an earthly paradise and we face continuing challenges. We have a responsibility to take up our God given blessings and use them to make life richer and more meaningful for ALL human beings. We live together; we must work together;

To end war, eliminate prejudice in all its forms, feed the hungry, shelter the homeless and create jobs for the unemployed.

Rid the country of corruption and scandal, improve educational opportunities for all peoples.

Eliminate the pollution of our natural resources and reduce global warming.

These are but a few of the challenges that await us this Thanksgiving. The resolution of these and many other problems require our finest efforts if we are to fulfill the dreams of our founders.

Finally, let us strive to achieve peace in our world. Peace in Asia, peace in the Middle East, in Europe, in Africa, in South America, in our country, our state, our towns and cities. Peace in our families and in our hearts.

This is a large order, but a necessary one. There is no better time to start than this Thanksgiving.

Equal Rights for ALL

Wirt & King: Local politicians and the gay marriage question
By Tobin Wirt and Robert King/ Guest commentary

Joe Burns, columnist for the Upper Cape Codder newspaper, per usual was right on the mark when observing the absurdities of the Romney Administration and those who do his bidding. The Liberty Sunday gay-bashing rally in Boston that Joe wrote about (“Who Cares,” Oct. 19) for us is just another example of the blurring of lines between church and state.

Thomas Jefferson is widely quoted on civil and religious matters. In the preamble of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, Jefferson proclaimed, “Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry.”

The fact is, where there is more religious freedom one finds a society withmore religion. The Romney style of civic government would seem to curtail religious freedom by narrowing the diversity of creeds (or no creeds) in civil society.

Given the recent allegations that Romney is using his Mormon connections in Utah to advance his presidential aspirations, we hope that timing will ultimately derail his hopes for the presidency. Americans seem to be reaching an end point with awareness and alarm at the religious overreach into politics. We feel Romney fooled and misrepresented his views to the voters in 2002 and postured himself a moderate on most social issues but then swiftly moved to the right when the corner office was secured and Iowa and New Hampshire became more important to his future. Bashing the Bay State on his many trips around the country does not endear him to many proud Massachusetts citizens.

Locally, our state representative, a nice guy with many supporters, does Romney’s bidding in lockstep. Rep. Jeff Perry has never met a gay-rights bill he could vote for except one. It funded elderly gays as part of a larger bill tied to funding elderly affairs. It was unanimously passed in both houses, hardly a leap of courage on his part. Perry has reassured gay groups and us personally that he is supportive but is beholden to the views of what he says is the majority of his constituents and therefore votes against any advancement of gay rights. Most troubling are Mr. Perry’s votes, which are consistently against funding programs that help teenagers deal with the ever-present difficulties they encounter in our public schools. While wanting to give Jeff the benefit of the doubt with his assurances of support, we feel his voting record speaks for itself.

A seemingly purposeful omission on Perry’s Web site under Political Philosophy, where all the perfunctory groups who are protected in this Commonwealth against job and housing discrimination are listed, there curiously is no mention of sexual orientation. When asked why, Rep. Perry claimed that he hadn’t updated the Web site since the gay marriage issue had come to the forefront. While believing him at his word, it seems odd since civil rights protections have nothing to do with the ongoing marriage question. Those protections have been on the law books since the early ’90s for sexual orientation. Why then didn’t he include sexual orientation with the others to begin with? Reason would bring one to question if he does indeed support the state-mandated protections in jobs and housing for gay citizens (let alone gay partnerships of any kind). Mr. Perry said he was thankful for having the omission pointed out and that he would “re-evaluate” his Web site after the election. However, a check of the Web site last week showed that on Oct. 2 the site was altered and the references of the aforementioned in the Political Philosophy link are gone.

Cape Cod has witnessed an odd juxtaposition of stances on gay marriage by three GOP hopefuls in elections this fall. You have Aaron Maloy, 4th Barnstable District, an openly gay man who is against gay marriage but for civil unions. You have to wonder how much this guy wanted to win when he is willing to throw his gay brothers and sisters overboard to solidify “separate but equal” status on them.

Next we have Rick Barros, running for the Cape and Islands senate seat, a decent, good man of color who also says marriage is between one man and one woman and that the people should be allowed to vote on it. In the not so distant past (in the ’70s) only one out of three Americans supported interracial marriage and it was the courts that ultimately ended that bigotry, not the voters. Mr. Barros acknowledges his engagement to soon be married and it will be an interracial marriage.

Lastly, Rep. Perry, a gracious and respectful man who speaks openly of a close gay family member, continues to do the work of the people who demonize gay people, apparently forsaking people in his district as well as those close to him. We feel he eludes accountability for this.

Mr. Perry will be asked to vote again on whether to advance the anti-gay marriage petition at the Constitutional Convention. And despite his past verbal assurances that he could probably not support this petition (which he expressed over a year ago to a small group of people of which one of us were in attendance) he has since backtracked and is on record already as voting to throw it to the populace for a vote.

We encourage all constituents to contact Mr. Perry’s office if you agree that he is wrong-headed on the matters of gay rights. Recent attempts by his office to poll citizens in his district regarding gay marriage predictably supported his anti-gay stances. We implore Upper Cape voters to speak up if you haven’t had the chance to do so thus far.

Maybe we should stop trying to “save” Otis AFB

Now that the F-15’s have been ordered out, almost every Cape Cod elected official is engaged in trying to “save” Otis Air Force Base and Camp Edwards for exclusive military use.

Before we go all the way down this road, I think we should take a careful look at what’s been going on at Fort Devens, in Ayer, Mass. After 79 years as one of the larger military bases in New England (I used to go there for summer training in the late 60’s), Devens closed in 1996, after a long and unsuccessful fight to keep it open.

That “failure” was the beginning of an incredible success story.

The stage was set by 1993 state legislation setting up a planned community. The community is governed by the “Devens Enterprise Commission,” a panel of six local residents and six representatives from the region’s business community. The Commission’s operations are supported by permitting fees and two percent of property taxes paid by Devens’ businesses and residents for municipal services.

The Commission has taken advantage of Devens’ large quantity of open space and good location to create an impressive mixed-use community. Not only does it have hundreds of units of housing, along with beaches, recreation areas and a golf course, but, thanks partly to its rapid permitting process (90 days or less) it has already enticed more than 80 companies to set up shop in the community.

Right now more than 4,000 workers are employed at Devens – twice the number of civilians employed by the Army when it ran the base. And Bristol Myers/Squibb recently announced that it will locate a $660 million manufacturing plant at Devens.

Wouldn’t Cape Cod be better off if something similar happened at Otis?

First we could move the Barnstable airport (along with it’s multi-million dollar federal subsidy) to Otis, which has much longer runways. This would allow the Coast Guard to stay at Otis and, at the same time, provide much better passenger service from the Cape. Planes could take off from here, fly to Green in Rhode Island and then go on to destinations all over the country.

For those who are worried about the noise, I can be reassuring. I volunteer at an office right off the end of a Barnstable runway and I am near the approaches to Otis. One F-15 taking off or landing is many times noisier than any four civilian planes added up!

With the airport right there, many businesses would be attracted to Otis. Add a quick permitting process, as Devens did, and we can expect hundreds, maybe thousands, of new jobs to be created.

Then there is the chance to add hundreds of units of residential property. I suggest small condos and rental properties to provide reasonably priced workforce housing for young families. This will keep hundreds of Cape Codders from having to cross the bridge to find good jobs and a reasonably priced place to live.

Is this something on which the Cape Cod Commission could do a feasibility study?

Dangerous Intersection

The most recent accidents on Route 130 at the intersection with Route 6 should serve as a wake up call for action. It is encouraging there is universal agreement that the intersection is very dangerous and that the State will finally study it and hopefully change the design. But while we wait, I have to wonder just how much effort it would take and how much money it would cost to lower the speed limit in the area from 40 MPH to 30 MPH? How much to add a couple of “CAUTION DANGEROUS INTERSECTION” signs to alert drivers to the risks? How much to trim the branches off the trees that block the existing signs? How much to add curbing to the north side of 130 in the area to restrict parking and illegal passing on the right? Might not a small investment save someone from injury or catastrophe?

Further complicating the problem are the numerous directional signs located on 130 directly across from the Route 6 exits. The objective of these signs is to direct travelers to specific businesses in downtown Sandwich. Over the years the number of signs has increased and their maintenance has fallen off. I wonder if they are not a dangerous distraction, especially to those not familiar with the intersections. Wouldn’t it make sense to make the signs larger, uniform and perhaps list the businesses in alphabetical order so they could be quickly read? Let’s not be victims of the old “shoulda, coulda, woulda and the accompanying heartache.

Wakeup Global Warming is Here

FIRE AND ICE

by Robert Frost

 

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

Recently I saw Al Gore’s movie, An Inconvenient Truth, which details the changes in Earth’s atmosphere resulting from the increase in carbon dioxide levels. In the movie (and in his book with the same title,) Gore carefully details the problems our planet faces as the average temperature increases. He points out that virtually ever credible scientist accepts global warming, and man’s contribution to it, as fact. He asks if our leaders are “resisting the truth because they know that the moment they acknowledge it, they will face a moral imperative to act? ” Still President Bush resists, and says that any efforts to reduce carbon dioxide on our part, will “impact OUR economy.”

Meanwhile, the runoff from melting glaciers is raising sea level and altering thermal ocean currents that create climatic changes. Low lands will be inundated, forcing humans and animals to relocate and compete for higher elevation. In some locations higher temperatures cause wetlands, lakes and ponds to evaporate making it difficult and near impossible for life to exist. Animal species are becoming extinct at amazing levels. Unspoiled water is likely to become a more severe emergency than any oil crisis man has ever seen. Insects, viruses and diseases that for centuries existed only in the tropics are moving northward into higher populated areas raising concerns for infestations and plagues . Increased carbon dioxide is making the oceans more acidic, actually dissolving the shells of snails and most likely other shellfish. The frequency and severity of storms and wildfires are on the rise. Hotter climates directly impact agricultural production in America’s breadbasket and increase supermarket prices. And the list gets longer with every sunrise.

The message is clear, and it may be inconvenient, but how are people to be convinced?

Perhaps we simply need to stop whining about global warming and instead focus on the positive aspects of the changes. Warmer winters will allow the Cape to be a year round playground. “Snow Birds” will stay on Cape instead of driving south to Florida. These sun-chasers will save gasoline, tire tread and other travel expenses and spend that money here on Cape Cod. Fewer exhaust emissions from their cars will even help reduce the carbon dioxide level.

Warmer winters will mean less snow, less plowing and thus more money in government coffers, allowing for lower taxes. The need for heating fuel will be reduced. Coupled with the gas savings mentioned above, our dependence on Mideast oil will be reduced and terrorism eliminated.

Rising sea levels increase beach areas and more homes will have direct access to water views. Warmer winters will allow farmers to establish citrus groves. Locally grown oranges will allow children to have really fresh juice and improve their health, thus lengthening lives and reducing medical and health insurance costs.

So what if the ocean is more acidic and dissolving shells, just imagine the excitement of eating “oysters on the no shell”. Perhaps chicken and burgers will actually cook themselves on the way to your New Year’s Eve party.

We all know that where orange trees flourish, palm trees are plentiful and many folks think of these areas as a tropical paradise. Now we can have our own, real close. It’s not beyond belief to imagine that with our warm winters and higher water levels some of our harbors could become home to huge fleets of cruise ships. Vacationers will fill our stores and cash registers.

So, if you are not yet concerned about global warming, just think how warm those summer days winter days will really be.

Wrong Issues

You have to hand it to the Sandwich Selectmen for adopting a resolution targeting businesses that hire illegal aliens.  It’s just one more brick in the wall that is being built to surround and separate the town from the rest of Cape Cod.  It sends an anti-visitor, anti-business message as we move into the busy tourist season.

As one enters Sandwich heading east on route 6A, you can’t help but notice a great number of vacant businesses.  Guess they won’t have to fear the Selectmen’s zeal on this most important matter.  You have to believe that many of those considering a visit to the oldest town on the Cape may now be having second thoughts.  The last thing we need is more fear, encouraging neighbors to wonder about each other. Perhaps it would be quicker and easier to stop aliens if they just voted to put up blockades at the eastbound exits 2, 3 and 4 from Route 6. Its one more example of the go-it-alone pathway they have been on for some time. Sandwich has to have its “own” and the Selectmen have made it clear they want no part of county wide cooperative programs, again apparently believing they have all the answers.  A recent example is their rejection of participation in a regional sewage study.  Meanwhile, renovated septic systems along 6A are beginning to look like a New Orleans cemetery.

The saddest part of this story is that while the selectmen waste time on issues that are far beyond their purview, more important issues lie fallow.  Caterpillars eat away at out trees while wind and wave eat away at the sands of Town Neck Beach.  I guess if they are really lucky when the waves wash away the Boardwalk, Dewey Avenue and into Route 6A they will wash away the caterpillars, vacant businesses, septic waste and any remaining aliens.

As long as the focus of our attention and efforts is on the “I” and “Me” instead of commUnity we all lose.