Seneca on Cape Cod

Harwich pols don't get it

2005-07-08T09:20:00.000-07:00

Threat to close the fire station is another example

Decades ago, when our tax rate and burden were half of today's, Harwich built a fire station at the intersection of Routes 137 and 39 in East Harwich, the fastest growing part of the towns.

For decades it was funded by tax dollars when the town's budget was far less than it is today.

Now, showing the same genius that the Al Queda terrorists used this week in London, our town leaders think they can scare us into voting for the "new" override by telling us they will let our homes burn down if we don't give them what we've already told them they can't have.

Throw the rascals out

I for one was going to vote the new override, but these Harwich terrorists have changed my mind. We can no more surrender to their demands than we can to Al Queda's, and our reaction to this latest insult to democracy should be the same as London's reaction this week - throw the rascals out!

It's time for a clean sweep of these ungrateful, disobient fools. Let's start a petition drive to call a Special Town Meeting to remove not only the "old", unrepentent Selectmen, but the heads of both the police and fire departments as well.

The people, YES. The pols, NO. See The Cape Codder story here.

Is 38 comments a new record?

2005-06-11T09:10:00.000-07:00

Short story on Harwich override drew fire

When I penned a brief news report on May 24 to scoop the rest of the media on the effort in Harwich to "override the no vote on the override", little did I expect the response.

To date thirty-five comments have been added to the story, click here and scroll to the comment area at the bottom, or scroll down this page to the next item and click where is says "38 comments".

Selectmen must call Special Town Meeting

2005-05-24T13:07:00.000-07:00

Override supporters present 491 signatures

Harwich's town employees and supporters presented a petition at last night's Board of Selectmans meetung which will force the town to hold a special Town Meeting to re-vote the override which voters turned down last week by a 6% margin: 2,362 in favor of the tax hike and 2,505 opposed, a difference of 143 votes.

The petitioners led by Harwich businessman Dave Reese presented more than double the 200 signatures needed to force officials to call a Special Town Meeting within 45 days. The cost of the meeting and election to follow will run from $10,000 to $25,000 for the town which is already over budget.

This "petition process" of only requiring only 200 signatures in a town of over 13,000 population is a holdover of a earlier era when Lower Cape towns had populations a third or less of today's. Even in Maine, which is more rural than Massachusetts and where they also use the town meeting form of government, towns of over 2,000 population are required by statute to move to a more centralized type of government like town councils and representative town meetings.

If the same town employees pack the Special Town Meeting, as they did the annual meeting last month, the town will be forced to spend money it doesn't have to hold another election on the same issue which the town rejected by 143 votes, or 6%.

At the town disposal area during the past weekend, override supporters sought signatures from residents dropping off their trash. They wore signs asking people to stop and sign the petition and to approve the next override. Thirty-two town employees were laid off last week after the override was defeated at the polls.

By Wednesday Mr. Wiegman of the Harwich Taxpayers Association was quoted in The Chronicle as saying;

“We are shocked and appalled that a small group of individual supporters of the override now want a do over,” Wiegman said in a prepared statement on Tuesday. “We are even more surprised that, upon receiving the petitions for a special town meeting last night, that no member of the board of selectmen said a word about how inappropriate re-vote would be. The selectmen should have indicated their opposition to another vote even if they were required to hold one. We can only assume from their silence that they, individually and collectively, support another vote.”

Override proponent Dave Reese of Dave's Ribs had another view, “I’ve had some angry phone calls here today... I’ve been very surprised.”

You can leave your own feelings about this effort as a comment below.

Four Old Men in Blue Suits

2005-05-22T06:35:00.000-07:00

Sitting on stools staring into the past at Otis

Look at their faces, this queer quartet of enemies, Disney dwarfs if we ever saw them. In this photo from Saturday's Boston Globe, they resemble, from the left, Dopey, Sleepy, Doc and Grumpy.

Has any one of this public servants offered an single original thought about Otis? Is Donald Rumsfeld an innovative genius by comparison? These four in their dark blue Brooks Brothers suits are the same political palookas who decry generating renewable energy off our shores to save money at home and not spend money abroad for Arab oil.

A billion here, a billion there...

And yet they want to hold on to an out-of-date, environmental disaster called Otis when consolidating it with other Air Force units would save billions in tax dollars, dollars needed to protect America from other terrorist attacks. Has it even occurred to these four that Al Quaeda has never repeated itself in the form its terrorist attacks take? There is a zero chance of Ben Laden sneaking Saudi students into the U.S. to train as pilots again, and the F-15's from Otis got to New York City after the second tower was hit onm 9-11 anyway. They'll get there a lot quicker if they were based in New Jersey.

Why the diminished thought processes?

What brought on this eerie unity of purpose of this quartet of non-thinkers? Why votes for re-election of course - these ninnies actually believe the voters on Cape Cod give a hoot if Otis disappears and a new state park appears in its stead. Why is it that the only pols and papers suggesting "moving on" to a brighter use of Otis are from off-cape?

I bet my dear readers already know the answer to that question.

Terminate Police Chief Mason now

2005-05-20T13:26:00.000-07:00

He simply doesn't get it
Harwich is to be punished by its own employees for demanding good government

The arrogance of our "town servant" Police Chief Mason is breathtaking. To quote from this week's edition of The Cape Codde r,

Public safety took a front seat throughout the months-long debate, with Police Chief William Mason warning that the loss of six officers inevitably would lead to higher crime rates in town. Fire Chief William Remillard told the selectmen - and more than 1,000 people from the podium at Town Meeting on May 2 - that the proposed reduction in his staff would lead to longer emergency response times and leave the East Harwich station short-staffed.

This man is dangerous and should be terminated immediately. What the man SHOULD have said was, "I am a servant of the people, and I will find a way to protect and defend Harwich properly with whatever staffing I am given."

The first task the new Selectman should attend to is a search for a new Police Chief who will serve the community rather than threaten it. If any of our other present department heads can't do their jobs as "professionals", let's get new managers who can.

It shouldn't be difficult. Start with the nine officers being laid off due to incompetent management and planning of Chief Mason and our ex-Selectmen.

As a comment here on my previous column put it, "The town's mistake was underestimating the voter... It is not the responsibility of citizens on a fixed income to supporta pro rata increase in pay for town workers. I noticed the next day the sun came out the birds were singing so it was not the end of the world."

Harwich PD/FD PR NOT

2005-05-18T07:39:00.000-07:00

The Harwich Police & Fire threaten a slowdown?

In today's CCTimes article on the Harwich voters' failure to endorse the bad management of their town by defeating a nearly $3 million override, the local cops & firemen are quoted thus:
"Police officials say it will mean less time spent on crime prevention. Fire officials have predicted it will likely mean slower response time."
What an astonishingly stupid statement, PR at its worse. These coddled & protected public servants have been cocooned in the security of the public trough so long they haven't a clue about the "real world" where the Harwich voters live and work and pay for their own health insurance with no retirement or other bennies.

Blame the town's managers, not your neighbors

Six policemen and six firemen are about to learn a lesson in the American system of free enterprise. That's where "the customer is right" or the customer changes vendors - in this case the Harwich voters changed Selectmen, defeating the two incumbents.

I live in Harwich too, and I am unhappy that our town is forced to lay off any workers. I feel that way about ANY layoffs.

But in order to solve a problem, you first have to own it - ask any 12 Step Program member. In Harwich's case, Step One should be, "I admitted I was powerless over fiscal responsibility - my town budget was unmanageable" and go on from there.

Otis - love it AND lose it

2005-05-14T11:05:00.000-07:00

Cape Cod can fight & lose, or jump at this grand opportunity

As the Boston Globe Editorial on Saturday put it -

While the direct loss would be just 505 jobs, defenders of Otis say that the air base is such an integral part of the Massachusetts Military Reservation, which also houses Coast Guard, Army National Guard, and Air Force facilities, that maintaining the Military Reservation without Otis might not be practical.

So what we face today is what to do with this priceless opportunity. After decades of helter-skelter development, Cape Cod has the unexpected chance to "do it right this time." By Sunday the local daily was whining about Otis being "a fabric of Cape life."

Sure, the rich folks in New Seabury just love being awakened or having their golf swing disturbed by the roar of an F-15. I bet the plain folks in the 'hood won't miss the clamor either.

Pay me now, or pay me later, remember Fort Devens?

If Otis didn't go in this round of base closings, it would have gone in the next... or the next. During previous base closings most of the communities affected have wasted millions of tax dollars fighting these rational changes in our defense stategy, and they've mostly failed.

When Massachusetts lost Fort Devens in a round of five base closings in 1968 in out state, Route 128 became "America's Technology Highway" staffed by the people who stayed here to work, read Spyro's April 21 blog here. Or, as the Worcester Telegram said in their lead story "As the closing of Fort Devens has demonstrated, shutting down redundant or obsolete military operations can open the door to major economic opportunities for surrounding communities.."

In the case of this huge hunk of Cape Cod, we should rejoice at the opportunity The Pentagon has given us.

Let's take whatever monies and political clout we would have wasted in a futile attempt to fight the inevitable closing of Otis AND the inevitable closing of the Massachusetts Military Reservation as well, and open public discussions about what to do with these thousands of acres.

For starters, back to the future

How about creating an Otis State Park with two 36 hole golf courses encircled by walking and bike trails, our own version of "Boston's Emerald Necklace" or New York's Central Park? As the comment below suggests, the whole schmeer reverts to state park status when or if the base lease ends, so all we need to do is plan what to include in the "new" park.

Let's search for a Cape Cod Frederick Law Olmsted to design it for us.

The 18 month Governor's campaign started today

2005-04-29T11:11:00.000-07:00

First "Romney for President" commercial on WBZ this morning

It's less than 6 months since the last election and over a year and a half before the next one in November 2006, yet our steely-eyed governor ran a paid political commercial on WBZ at 9-something this morning bemoaning the Democratic State Legislature's reluctance to lower the Massachusetts income tax to 5%. Of course, it's really the first "Romney for President in 2008" commercial.

No one can fault his point about the venal pols on Beacon Hill, but he can comment on that or any other current issue any day in a press conference or other public gathering. The issue is mot since the Great & General Court, as that benighted body is known, has already decided the voters diodn't mean it two years ago when they passed the tax roll-back initiative overwhelmingly.

Running a paid, political ad a year early however is something entirely new - and disgusting - all by itself. It speaks volumes about this man's ambitions and total lack of common sense.

A Sanctimonious, Anti-Gay Marriage, Death penalty freak

The day before he asked us to re-impose the death penalty for the most heinous crimes, another obvious move to curry favor with the most extreme elements of the Republican party nationwide. This despite the fact that several Republican US Senators have backed away from this issue.

Who said yesterday that he "knows" the death penalty deters murder. Someone should have told the Mighty-Mitt that the three states which execute the most people are also the state with the highest murder rates.

He must pe-empt Senator Bill Frist on being a good enough Christian

The Mighty-Mitt was running well for the 2008 Republican Presidential nomination until this week when Senate majority leader Bill Frist sold his soul to the religeous right when he told the conservative Christian leaders that it was anti-God, etc. to filibuster against judicial appointments despite the fact Republicans have used the same tactic when the Democrats controlled congres.

I couldn't help being reminded of that 1970's border sticker "Nuke the Gay Whales for Jesus".

The man's an blithering idiot. I hope the GOP takes him away from us.

Harwich asks for a BIG raise

2005-04-25T14:32:00.000-07:00

And guess who they want to pay it

Harwich is asking for a pay raise. A $3.2 million dollar pay raise. That's 8% raise on a $40 million town budget. I don't think the town's "employers" (that's you & me the taxpayer-citizens) can afford to give it to them.

Hey, if even if we could afford to, we shouldn't.

If I don't handle my own household budget properly, I can't go to my boss and ask for a big enough raise to cover my extravagances, and neither should the town.

And the reason is so simple even a local politician should be able to understand it:

Vote NO! for Harwich

If the owners of Harwich (that's you and me the taxpayer-citizens) give our employees (that's the town officials we elected to do the job) the money they ask for, why should they become careful about the town expenses in the future?

I have known a few town employees in my day. Most had admin-level skill sets and managed to avoid learning to use a computer for the last ten years they held their jobs. They got a benefits package any Cape Codder would kill for--sick days, personal days, accumulated sick and personal days, three to four weeks of paid vacation, health insurance, and get this--a pension! Pensions, those dear sweet old things, are a thing that almost no private sector, non-union job offers any more anywhere in America.

Imagine if you owned a company and had to make a profit while paying hundreds of dollars per month to employees who retired 20 years ago from jobs they were getting paid too much to do too little at in the first place. Pretty soon you'd be broke and begging your banker, or customers, for more money. Except in this case , the Town of Harwich is begging the taxpayers.

Now is the time for all town governments to adhere to a realistic business agenda--trim the fat now by layoffs, outsourcing to private companies, and cutting back on benefits. What are the employees going to do, quit? If they do, could you not hire a replacement in 5 minutes who will do more work for less money and benefits?

And BTW, if you want to know where your town employees live, check out the forest of "Vote YES for Harwich" signs sprouting along town roads. Those are the folks who want the raise.

Of course, they'll probably get it because they will pack the next Town Meeting to vote for their money.

And you'll probably stay home and watch tv. And pay for the raise. Or read this article in the Harwich Oracle for what you're buying.

The Next Reformation

2005-04-19T13:50:00.000-07:00

The lessons of history unlearnt

If those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it, then the elevation of a eurocentric, conservative Pope harkens another mighty Reformation of the Roman Catholic Church.

Whether this time a new age Martin Luther nails a new Ninety-Five Theses to the door St. Francis Xavier in Hyannis as the 16th century Luther did on the front door of the Wittenberg Church in Germany declaring his intolerance for the Roman Church’s corruption on Halloween in 1517, the result will be the same.

Once again, half a millennia later, the old, male hierarchy of the mother church has cut itself off from the vast majority of its faithful.

How many women who have held out hoping for another Pope John the 23rd will now give up and leave the church?

No number would surprise me.

I am only suprised when any woman stays, and we can only hope that a New Renaissance follows.

Barnstable's Anti-Business Agenda

2005-04-11T05:33:00.000-07:00

Biting the business which feeds you

In an editorial on capecodtoday by Spyro Mitrokosta s, the writer points out the inequities of the local tax burdens.

Apparently the people who get most of the town's services, residents, are the ones who want to shift added expenses to others like area businesses. Since businesses can't vote and residents can, guess who gets whacked.

Six extra cops to do what cops are paid to do anyway

For the past several years a Hyannis group of merchants have managed to make that town a delight on Thursday evenings with their Hayannis Main Street Festival. The event drew thousands to the downtown area, many of who had never shopped or dined there before.

It was very good for Hyannis businesses.

If you build it, they will destroy it

So the town fathers & mothers have managed to destroy it.

Since the event drew so many happy, money-spending people to what recently was nearly an urban blight, the geniuses who run Barnstable have invoked regulations to force the Main Street Festival organizers to hire six police to stand around and watch people spending money.

The cops will probably spend the time eating donuts since there are no police matters to concern them.

Remember, this is the same town government which proposed spending millions to import sand to Barnstable.

Of course, we always assumed that Barnstable employed police to do precisely this - handle crowds, control traffic, eat donuts.

Now that the Town of Barnstable has destroyed a wonderful summer event, and those six cops won't be needed, are we to assume that they will lay off six police?

Don't hold your breath. In the meantime, read the story in The Barnstable Patriot here.

What's black & white & not read all over?

2005-04-07T12:20:00.000-07:00

It's Cape Cod Times, New York Times & Boston Globe

I haven't received any daily newspapers since Sunday. How about you?

I live on the Lower Cape, and subscribe to the Cape Cod Times, Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal and New York Times. I have have an office in the Mid Cape area, and have not received our newspapers there either.

I sent an email to about fifty Cape Codders and asked if they are receiving their newspapers. A quarter of them repled that they weren't.

What's going on here?

When I call the Cape Cod Times delivery department (800-421-7887) which delivers all these daily newspapers and more, they tell us each day that "a management person will deliver your newspaper today."

They haven't.

I am also wondering why my local newspaper has not mentioned this obviously rather severe problem in the nearly a week since it's been occurring.

Surely it can't be that they don't want to let advertisers know they are getting shortchanged.

I really don't care. I just want my New York Times, Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal, and oh yes, Cape Cod Times delivered to me again.

I am wondering if this is happening to any of my fellow Cape Codders. If you have had a problem getting your papers delivered recently, please comment below (you do not have to be registered and may comment anonymously.)

P.S. Today is Friday and I didn't get any newspapers today either. But a guy who works in the next cubicle did. He AND his neighbor in Brewster got The Globe delivered this morning.

The trouble is, neither of them subscribe to any newspaper.

P.P.S. On Sunday I got the wrong newspaper, and on Monday, April 11, I finally got my newspapers !

Tired of Death

2005-04-07T00:01:00.000-07:00

What moribund corpse will next fill our thoughts?

I am sick of the in-your-face- death filling the pages of my newspaper and my television screen.

Enough, already !

This past Sunday the entire first section of our daily was filled with nothing except stories about a religious leader's death, a leader of a minority sect here on Cape Cod where the Fall River Diocese claims 115,000 adherents, but that figures includes the islands, so say 100,000 here of 40% of our quarter-million+ population.

I assumed, erroneously it turns out, that the local news on Sunday would be in the second section. It wasn't. That section too was wall-to-wall obits for a man who had for all intents and purposes died three years or more ago.

The curia behind the scenes at the Vatican has been running things for at least that long which at least helps explain the late pope's lack to concern about his pedophile priests. Right to his death he failed to criticize them, or even defrock some after they went to prison.

Sunday was bad, Monday was worse

There are, I understand, about 200 employees working for our local daily, yet on Monday again there was no local news in the first section - just more moribundity.

I was no longer annoyed by Tuesday, because that's when I stopped getting all newspaper delivery.

But that's my next column.

When is Spring around here?

2005-04-01T12:18:00.000-08:00

Cape Cod doesn't have a Spring.

We go directly from late Winter to early Summer. I should know - I've been here longer than any of you, and I' have never seen a Spring. You have to go to New Jersey or some place like that to experience that gentle season.

How many days until Krista K's?

For the ice cream mavens around here, April 15 when Krista K's opens is the real first day of Spring. They have 4,000 flavors including some which won't kill you, or at least raise your LDL levels much.

Keme 'n Kone across the street opens a few weeks earlier, but while it's "a taste of Spring" - they only have soft serve, albeit 28 flavors including a few you've never heard of before, and the Ben & Jerry's on Main Street in Hyannis opens sometime next week, maybe, but...

No, Springtime really begins with Krista K's on Route 28 just west of Route 134.

And Summer doesn't arrive until The Dog House on Lower County Road in Dennis opens.

Who will replace Rep. Shirley Gomes?

2005-03-30T07:30:00.000-08:00

Has Sarah "peaked", is Tom "marked" for defeat?

The silicon sandbar's silly season will open earlier than usual because the redoubtable and unbeatable Shirley Gomes has prematurely announced she is hanging up her political spurs. It's not too difficult to figure out who the initial players will be and what their chances are.

This district has become more and more liberal and/or Democrat, over the years. Perhaps only another Progressive Republican, like Shirley, can ever hope to stem this tide for the G.O.P.

Democrat Sarah Peake, Provincetown Selectwoman, ran a good race against Shirley last November, but she was perceived as a "one issue" candidate even then, and that issue, Same-sex Marriage, may be moot by November 2006.

The other obvious Democratic contender is Tom Bernardo, Chatham, who is the Chairman (since 2001) of the Assembly of Delegates, whatever the hell that is. If you want some fun, ask what they do besides spend tax money. Most Cape Codders haven't the foggiest notion what this "county legislature" does with it's millions.

The problem is that Tom Bernardo may end up running against Progressive (read Liberal) Republican Mark Boardman, Orleans, who ran a good but losing battle against State Senator Rob O'Leary in 2002. Mark is a realtor and owner of a newspaper, Cape Cod Common Sense.

Boardman could win if he really tries even thought the district is the cape's most liberal, because Liberals, unlike their Conservative brothers and sisters, are capable of voting for the best candidate even when they disagree with some of that candidates positions. The proof is Shirley Gomes' easy victories all these years.

Tom may be "Marked"

The reason that Tom Bernardo, a thoroughly likeable candidate, will lose against Boardman is that he has been "carrying the spear" for John O'Brien and the "old guard" in the doomed battle to convince us all to set up another giant, county-wide bureaucracy called the "Wastewater Authority" which county officials have been promoting in an effort to get more do-nothing, no-show jobs for themselves and their friends.

Beside the obvious and odorous connection with do-do, Tom seems to think his being the front man on this issue will carry him to the State House.

Instead it will carry him to oblivion. This is sad because he is a good man with much to offer. But the thousands of Cape Codders who have spent up to $15K to put in new Title V septic systems will rile at a new real estate levy which is to handle the nitrate problem caused by rich, waterfront homeowners and not them.

And the winner is...

Mark Boardman, on the other hand, is as likeable and even "progressive" in the Massachusetts tradition of Frank Sargent and Elliot Richardson. He is equally articulate, and will only lose if he fails to try hard enough. He probably won't speak kindly of the proposed "Wastewater Authority", er, make that "Collaborative", a much easier word for voters to swallow.

Actually, by November 2006 Cape Cod taxpayers may be so frightened of another costly, county-wide bureauracy that they will vote for a yellow dog over a county pol if there was that choice.

'Twas the Night with no Snowfall

2005-03-24T05:33:00.000-08:00

(With apologies to Clement C. Moore)

'Twas the night before Good Friday, and all through the house,
Not a PC was humming, not even its mouse.
No one was hung-over from the day's wear and tear,
And our hope was for shut-eye, free from life's care.

When out on Route 28 there arose such a clatter,
We sprung from our beds to see what was the matter.
Away to the sliders we flew like a flash,
Tore open the doors and stared all aghast.

The moon on its crest on the bare road (no snow),
Gave a luster of midday to the objects below,
When, what did our rudely awakened eyes spy:
But a fleet of huge snowploughs thundering by.

One after another, they passed in our view,
But with no snow in sight, what could the lads do?
For the nearest Dunkin' Donuts was many miles too far,
So they drove back and forth, just scraping the tar.

The sidewalks of Cape Cod

2005-03-23T03:03:00.000-08:00

Most other Lower Cape towns are jealous of Chatham's success as a nearly year round retail mecca. They should be, but Chatham deserves its success.

I take a forty-five minute bike ride every morning before work. This past winter has been a real challenge. You can imagine how difficult it is biking after one of those Monday morning snow storms.

The first landfall of the east wind

I used to bike in Orleans and Harwich as well as most other villages within ten miles of my home, but this winter I've discovered that ONLY Chatham can be depended upon to get the side roads AND side walks clear, and to do it early enough.

A couple of Mondays ago I parked at the Northport on Route 28 area and headed into Chatham on local side streets. It was before 8 a.m. and the streets were already clear of snow, but the biggest surprise occured when I got near enough to downtown to need a sidewalk to avoid local traffic.

The sidewalks too were all cleared awaiting the first customers well before the stores opened at nine.

Instead of being jealous, the other Lower Cape towns should emulate Chatham.