Editor:

I always enjoy Mary Richmond’s column in your newspaper. The columns of the Oct. 17 and 24 editions were especially thoughtful and moving. Thank you and Mary so much and I hope she keeps writing her column for a long time to come.

Peggy Bertolino
North Chatham

Editor:

This past weekend I visited Chatham Paint and Hardware on Main Street in Chatham to purchase some paint for a small classroom mural project. The gentleman at the paint counter could not have been kinder in helping me to select the perfect colors needed to complete the project. When Paul, the owner, overheard that I was a teacher, he inquired where I taught and what the project was for. He then graciously told me that they would be happy to donate the paint I needed. The folks at Chatham Paint and Hardware are always so kind and helpful. I love that small town, mom-and-pop type feeling you get when you walk through the door, and I most certainly appreciate their generosity. Thank you to Paul and all your staff for consistently going above and beyond to take care of your neighbors.

Kendra Whitney
Stony Brook Elementary School

Editor: 

The article in the Oct. 31 Chronicle on Chatham officials holding an annual budget summit discusses the $11 million current level of “free cash.” That’s really a misnomer as it represents taxpayer money unspent at the end of the fiscal year which the town has traditionally used to fund capital expenditures. The reason the level is so much higher than the goal of $2.6 million is cited as “timing issues” by the town manager. Sustaining a thriving year-round community rather than a summer resort should be a priority according to select board member Shareen Davis. Board member Dean Nicastro suggested that some of the money should go back to taxpayers. How about “killing two birds with one stone” and instead providing a residential exemption to year-round residents as other towns on the Cape do? My guess is that might increase the official count of year-round residents.

John Sweeney
South Chatham

Editor:

Another spirited Halloween success here at our Elkanah Street neighborhood in Chatham, serving over 700 trick-or-treaters this year. Thank you to all who made it a success with the generous donations, including the toothbrushes. But please parents, because, tell your children to properly dispose of their wrappers. They are carrying around a bag for goodness sake. 

Until next year, same bat time, same bat channel. 

Gayle Capulli
Chatham

Editor:

The town of Brewster made a clear decision to acquire the Sea Camps properties, allowing town residents to guide how these unique, expansive properties would best serve our community. In 2021, we held a town meeting where nearly every voter supported this acquisition based on a vision that included open space, conservation and community housing.

Following this overwhelming support, the town established committees, including one I had the honor to serve on, to explore these uses in depth. We engaged with residents through educational forums, property tours, videos, and questionnaires, ensuring their voices were central to the process. We also consulted with experts in housing and environmental conservation to ground our recommendations in sound guidance.

Ultimately, the committee recommended that 56 acres of the Pond Property be preserved for open space and conservation, with a limited area along Route 137 set aside for community housing. Our community passed this plan by an overwhelming majority at May’s town meeting.

Now, as often happens, familiar organizations are attempting to undermine the decisions made at our town meeting. While they claim to support housing, they argue, “just not in that spot.” Despite expert environmental assessments and strong community support, they say they “know better.”

We’ve listened to our residents, respected the process, and made thoughtful, balanced decisions that reflect our town’s priorities. I urge us to uphold that vision and honor the voice of our community.

Stephen Ferris
Brewster

Editor:

With all due respect, Konrad Schult’s opinion piece criticizing Brewster leadership is out of bounds with the facts. An arduous and lengthy public process on the town’s utilization of the Sea Camps properties has taken place and continues. Such evaluation has included the interest of the community’s needs for affordable housing to maintain a healthy year-round work force and vibrant and diverse community holding paramount environmental quality in the context of nutrient control mandates.

The Long Pond property plan to integrate affordable housing with a decentralized sewage treatment plant and collection system to service area houses fits these varied needs. Where better to develop collection and wastewater treatment but in areas of our great ponds, Zone II and sensitive watersheds? Such has been premised upon significant net reductions in nutrients and other pollutants afforded by a modern wastewater treatment plant that meets stringent standards for wastewater treatment, affords environmental monitoring and documentation of performance and has full accountability by a single entity. 

Alternatively, we will have hundreds of homes without any sewage treatment discharging to groundwater and surface water in these valuable and important resource areas and no infrastructure to meet future needs.

Dave Bennett
Brewster