Tag Archives: Wellfleet town character

The death, by secondhomes, of outer Cape towns.

It was a shock to read in a recent news story a summary of an independent study on Truro’s future. “By 2035, Truro’s population of year-round residents is predicted to fall from 2,003 to 1337, with new home-buyers choosing seasonal or part-time occupancy . . . . the number of young adults is expected to […]

December 10, 2015 – 12:26 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Wellfleet’s formula biz bylaw shot down

In 2011 Wellfleet voted in a bylaw to ban “formula businesses.” The logic of the bylaw is that such chains and franchises as McDonalds, Burger King, KFC and other usual suspects would have a deleterious effect on our quality-of-life and the character of our town. Some months later Cumberland Farms proposed enlarging its long-grandfathered store […]

December 1, 2015 – 2:35 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Wellfleet and the idea of safety

At Wellfleet’s recent town meeting we voted to hire another police officer. The logic of that seemed pretty obvious: another officer would make us safer. But that town meeting vote failed to get the required override ratification a few days later. Apparently, a lot of us are not worried about our safety. It does raise […]

May 29, 2015 – 12:23 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged | Comments (0)

Are solar panels ugly?

A recent letter to a local paper, evidently in response to the new Solarize Provincetown initiative, expressed the opinion that solar panels make houses ugly and that the town is unwise to make that sacrifice for energy efficiency. As a cautionary example he points to the cape-style house on Briar Lane in Wellfleet (across from […]

April 13, 2015 – 2:41 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Second-home owners in local government? Think twice.

The non-resident taxpayers are getting restless. “Part-time residents want more say in town,” headlines a recent “Cape Codder” story. “Second-home owners in Provincetown are calling for a bigger seat at the table when it comes to local government.” According to the president of the Truro NRT group at a July 5 meeting, “this is not […]

August 8, 2014 – 4:24 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Contradictions of affordable housing [op-ed CCT 25 June 2013]

Affordable housing is an issue with, it seems, very few opponents. There is m ore to its appeal than pure altruism. First, most of us aren’t rich and we naturally sympathize with those who can’t afford the average house in our high-priced town. Especially when they are our own kids. Naturally, we’d like them to […]

July 30, 2013 – 7:07 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Is this place becoming diluted? [op-ed CCT 16 April 2013]

Pretty soon, the word “place” may have nothing left to refer to. Corporate hegemony and the shrinking world of the internet and other forces of homogenization are making “place” an endangered phenomenon. What does it mean, “place”? It has always seemed too commonplace to need defining. (“You know: place, just a spot on earth, a […]

May 10, 2013 – 12:26 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Dunkin’ Donuts vs. the town of Wellfleet [CCT op-ed 22 January 22]

The point of this column is that there is nothing new in it. I know that’s not a very promising lead sentence, but it’s true that the latest Dunkin’ Donuts pitch to Wellfleet’s Zoning Board of Appeals is pretty much a repeat of the one about a year ago. A few days before Christmas George […]

January 23, 2013 – 12:45 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , | Comments (1)

Wellfleet non- resident taxpayers have their way [op-ed CCT 27November 2012]

Places change. And sometimes you may be able to catch a key moment in the process. In September a large contingent of Wellfleet’s non-resident taxpayers, people who live most of the year elsewhere, converged on a selectmen’s meeting to weigh in on a controversial issue. The issue was a proposal by two selectmen to give […]

November 28, 2012 – 9:49 am | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Little town, big tourist summer op-ed CCT [7 August 2012]

Midsummer’s evening, the sounds of summer wafting dreamily over the tree tops on the warm summer southerly. It’s irresistible. We are drawn, like the kids at the Pied Piper’s piping, to the tourist life over at the harbor. This romancing of us that transforms our town each summer. And it’s a familiar refrain each year: […]

August 8, 2012 – 11:25 am | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (0)