Editor:

The holidays are just around the corner. All of us at the Chatham Children’s Fund would like to remind everyone of the community-wide effort that exists to lighten the burden for those Chatham families with children in need.

For close to 40 years, many individuals and organizations have helped to provide warm winter clothing and holiday wishes for local children. If you or someone you know needs some assistance or if you would like to shop for a child or children, donate a wish list item, purchase a gift card or contribute money to our endeavors, please contact us at Monomoy Community Services, 508-945-1501, or at our confidential line, 774-207-7443. We welcome all to our Elf Team! Shopping is completed by Dec. 1, so there’s plenty of time to enjoy your personal holidays.

Thank you all for supporting the needs of Chatham’s children and for helping Santa fill the sleigh!

Attention current elves! Check your email — Chatham Children’s Fund Holiday Project information will be coming soon. We so appreciate Holy Redeemer Catholic Church for allowing us to operate out of the Our Lady of Grace in South Chatham again this year. 

Big News! Keep an eye out for the building project at Monomoy Community Services. It will provide us with a much-needed permanent home. We could really use and welcome your support! And don’t forget to buy your pumpkins at the First Congregational Church. Proceeds support us in our efforts!

Pat Vreeland
Theresa Malone
Chatham Children’s Fund

Editor:

The plan discussed at the Sept. 24 zoning board meeting on Pine Oaks Village IV utilizes Anassis Road, an ancient 12-foot wide cartway connecting Queen Anne Road to Main Street, which is currently shown as an emergency exit, is problematic. Town Planner Christine Flynn and Chair Brian Sullivan have suggested widening it to 22 feet to create a full secondary road, which they believe would alleviate up to 15 percent of the traffic on Queen Anne Road, and other board members agree it could help with local traffic issues.

This narrow cartway is directly across from my driveway on Main Street. The suggestion of implementing a three-way stop among homes and paddocks would force all vehicles on Main Street to stop, regardless of whether a vehicle is exiting the cartway or not. This would significantly disrupt traffic flow, especially given the poor line of sight and the fact that the developer does not own the property to improve them. 

There are compelling reasons not to transform Anassis Road into a full egress. Beyond funneling traffic through a currently tranquil neighborhood, a new public road would become a shortcut for all vehicles seeking to avoid the daily long traffic backups at nearby intersections. Increased traffic on Anassis Road would endanger the safety of both the residents of the proposed housing project and those on Main Street. If Route 6 is closed due to an accident, which happens several times a year, this new shortcut would be inundated with vehicles. This was brought to our attention in an earlier ZBA meeting by our own police chief, who in my opinion is the most reliable source of expertise regarding the traffic issues of North Harwich. 

I urge the Harwich ZBA to recognize this dangerous possibility and refrain from creating a public cut-through from Queen Anne Road to Main Street.

Kristen Crooker
Harwich

Editor:

Last year, the South Chatham Library donated three Little Libraries to Cockle Cove, Forest and Pleasant Street Beaches. During this summer, visitors and villagers made great use of the summer beach reads, and particularly books for kids flew out into the hands of children on our South Chatham beaches. The library ladies kept them well stocked and patrons and friends got involved as well, dropping off their favorites from time to time. But it's that time of year again — time to tuck in the Little Libraries for the winter. We couldn't have done it this fall without the help of Rick Roy Construction, who helped with the heavy lifting and have said they are able to help with this task in the spring and fall. We are so grateful for their help! We have a place to store them this winter but are looking for permanent winter storage here in South Chatham. If you can help us with that, please call the library at 508-430-7579 and leave a message. 

It takes a village — and what a village we have!

Peggy Holland, president 
South Chatham Public Library 

Editor:

I read your article last week on paid parking for three downtown parking lots. I don't understand how the stated purpose of the proposal, to drive use of outlying parking lots, is going to be served unless there is ample notice given of the non-paid alternatives, and the only way it seems to me that is possible is if there is signage at each of the paid lots calling attention to the unpaid lots. That seems complicated.

Isn't the best long-term solution to lack of downtown parking, or overcrowding, to put up a two- or three-story parking structure on the site of the current largest lot behind storefronts on Main Street? Since Main Street is much higher than that existing lot, there is ample opportunity to design a parking structure that will not be visible from Main Street, and perhaps even not from Stage Harbor Road on the other side, and that could otherwise be tastefully designed not to stick out like a sore thumb. There would obviously be significant cost, but it would be a very long-term investment.

I don't know whether this idea has been batted around. The article on unpaid parking did not refer to it, but it seems like a solution which would not require alienating visitors by having them worry about parking and tickets. People visiting are trying to have a stress-free experience and paid parking at the three downtown lots would be counter to that.

I am sending a copy of this to Cathy Lewis and Jill Goldsmith. When I recently interviewed for a position on the non-residents advisory committee, I mentioned the thought of a parking structure, but was not told that it had been considered.

Robert E. Goodman, Jr.
Dallas, Texas

Editor:

The proposed Pine Oaks Village IV (POV4) 242-unit 40B development could add approximately 1,000 residents, which would drastically increase the demand on our water supply. 

 Harwich has been under a mandatory nonessential outdoor water restriction from May to Sept. 30. Here are 2024 water consumptions for nearby 40B developments, but none are as big as POV4: Swan Pond Village, 150 units, 6,797,500 gallons; Simpkins School Residences, 65 units, 1,405,000 gallons; Yarmouth Gardens, 40 units, 1,799,000 gallons; Dennis Commons, 32 units, 1,489,000 gallons; Melpet Farm Residences, 27 units, 831,000 gallons.

These smaller developments used an excessive amount of water. A calculated usage for POV4’s 242-units based on the Swan Pond Village’s 150-units would be approximately 10,966,633 gallons/year.

Can the Monomoy aquifer handle an additional 11 million gallons per year on top of our current demand? The Monomoy Lens, our sole source freshwater aquifer, supplies drinking water to Harwich, Chatham and Orleans. It is recharged by rainfall and snow which seeps into the ground and is extremely vulnerable to contamination, needs careful land-use and protection to ensure a sustainable water supply for the community.

POV4 would function on Title V septic systems until the end of Phase 2, approximately four years, when their septic treatment facility would be completed. This site contains vernal pools and is very close to the fragile Herring River which has had extensive, expensive treatment for extremely high nitrogen levels. The Herring River is now facing more nitrogen contamination from POV4’s septic systems, fertilizers, pesticides, runoff from buildings and asphalt, etc.

The next public meetings are on Oct. 14 and 15. 

Teresa Johnson 
Harwich

Editor: 

If you are like me, you may have heard of Charlie Kirk, may have watched one of his podcasts, read one of his social media posts, an article about him or have heard someone speak of him. Before Sept. 10, I knew almost nothing about him other than that he was a MAGA firebrand with a large following among young people. Perhaps my age and politics led me to ignore or dismiss him as just another MAGA talking head.

After his murder, I was shocked by the uproar on the right as well as the left. Even more shocking was the reaction of Trump, Vance, Bondi, Miller and many others in the Trump administration. Some vowed that if you engage in criticism of Kirk, “we’re coming after you.” “You” meaning those exercising their First Amendment right to criticize Kirk despite his tragic and untimely death. The irony is that Trump and the right are apparently ignorant of Kirk’s First Amendment stand that he had a constitutional right to spew hate, racist, homophobic and transphobic speech, as he often did. His legacy should haunt those who snarl “we’re coming after you.” In Kirk’s words:

“Hate speech does not exist legally in America. There’s ugly speech. There’s gross speech. There’s evil speech. And all of it is protected by the First Amendment. Keep America free.”

Kirk is turning over in his grave knowing Trump, Vance, Bondi, Miller, and their MAGA followers are shredding the First Amendment and trampling Kirk’s “Keep America Free” legacy. I think Erika Kirk would agree.

George Myers
Venice Fla.

Editor: 

I had the pleasure of seeing the final preview performance of Kai Maristed's rich, haunting and beautifully written play, “Paul and Emile,” and I have been thinking about the play ever since. Yes, as your review notes, it is indeed a play that tackles big questions. But the review gave short shrift to a play that fully develops and deeply explores two fascinating artistic geniuses and two flawed yet relatable humans. In addition to posing questions about art, morality and mortality, this play captures the full bittersweet range of emotions of a long, loving and tortured friendship. 

 I'd urge the readers of this paper to go see this play for themselves while this fine production, which brought its opening night audience to their feet, is still running. Kudos to playwright Maristed and the WHAT team for premiering this vibrant new work of theater. 

Elizabeth Searle
Arlington

Editor:

Your recent “review” of “Paul and Emilie” in The Cape Cod Chronicle undercut the strength of what should have been a celebration of a local playwright’s achievement and of a community playhouse’s opportunity to premiere a new work. Your writer wasn’t negative but I wished she’d more accurately presented what she’d seen.

To my mind, Kai Maristed’s play was not only beautifully acted and staged — I particularly enjoyed how Cezanne’s paintings were depicted on the set — but compelling for its exploration of the ethical dilemmas of art. How do we understand observation when it comes to imaginative work? 

Though I perceived something off as the play began — clues in the opening scene only become clear in retrospect — the narrative appears to present a reconciliation between Paul Cezanne and Emile Zola, after a 15-year falling out. The rift is occasioned by Cezanne taking offense at how he is portrayed by Zola in Zola’s literary “masterpiece.” That Cezanne himself works from observation complicates the narrative. Art is about imagination but also about recasting the material of the world into something else. What is OK to depict and what not? And of what does true friendship/affinity consist? Like a Tom Stoppard play, “Paul and Emilie” is a dialogue-heavy play of ideas, one that reminds us of the biographies of both men, while addressing questions that are as alive today as they were in the late 1800s.

Debra Spark
North Yarmouth, Maine