Monthly Archives: October 2014

OVD: how soon we forget

The other day I was walking on Ocean View Drive here in Wellfleet and realized that if I’d ever known when it was constructed I’ve forgotten that. OVD is the road that, as the name suggests, runs along the top of the dunes connecting four main town ocean beaches. I was surprised that I didn’t […]

Civilly disobedient grandmothers

Ralph Waldo Emerson, famous 19th century idealist, upon finding his buddy Henry David Thoreau in the local jail: “Henry, what are you doing in there?” Thoreau (in there for protesting a poll tax): “Ralph, what are you doing out there?” Once again the clear will of the community is being spearheaded by a handful of […]

A bridge too many? The Vineyard state of mind.

If ever there was an issue crying out for a plebiscite, the proposed third bridge is it. The decision on this dubious improvement is crucial to the quality of life of everyone living on Cape Cod now and into the future. The people who will be most affected by it, for better or worse, should […]

The responsibility of the 99% to itself

All I’m getting these days is gloomy email about how, as bad as things have been with a small Democratic majority in the senate, it’s going to get worse because the Republicans are headed for a big victory. That’s gloomy for progressives; the Republicans are rubbing their hands in glee. The conservative billionaires seem to […]

Truro vs. a wealthy citizen

Truro’s protracted battle with the Klines continues. The issue in recent months is the $178,000 it had cost the town by July to attempt to enforce the law—that is, tear down this house declared illegal by the courts—and whether the town can afford to go on enforcing its own zoning. A former selectman (who happens […]