There is only one contested race on the ballot of next week's annual town election in Chatham. Three candidates are vying for two three-year terms on the select board. We urge voters to return incumbents Cory Metters and Dean Nicastro to office. Both have shown an ability to think critically about the issues that come before the board as well as a willingness to hold positions they believe are best for the tow...

Airport, Aquifer Link Needs Investigation Editor: In the June 3 edition of The Chronicle, it was reported that a major source of Chatham’s drinking water, well 5, has been disconnected.  That should be of concern to all Chatham residents. The reason for such drastic action is that higher than acceptable levels of per- and poly-fluoridated alkyl substances (PFAS) were detected in that well.  PFAS are man-ma...

Chatham voters head to Veterans Field on June 12 for the annual town meeting, delayed a month due to the pandemic. Scheduled to begin at noon under (hopefully) sunny skies, the session includes a number of significant measures in the 64-article warrant. Among them are nearly two dozen requests for Community Preservation Act funding (half held over from 2020), and a final resolution to the long quest to build a ne...

Plastic Bottle Ban A Moral Imperative Editor: On behalf of the Earth-Honoring Faith Committee of St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church, I am writing in support of the proposed commercial single-use plastic water bottle ban in Chatham. We at St. Christopher’s are deeply concerned about the deterioration in the quality of the town’s natural environment caused in recent years by the steadily increasing volume ...

By every estimate, the summer of 2021 will be a busy one for the Cape. Rental bookings are way up, with many families coming for longer periods of time than ever before. Retailers, restaurateurs and owners of businesses in other sectors are ready to welcome an onslaught of visitors with a pent-up appetite for fun. As Memorial Day signals the unofficial start of summer, to you, our summer visitors, we off...

Let's Have A Parade! Editor: With Gov. Baker lifting all COVID-19 restrictions, let’s push Chatham to open up July 4th and have the parade. Bring the community together, help small businesses, bring families together. It would truly be a special day if we can make this happen! Let’s have a parade! Bill Underwood New York, N.Y.   Summer Beach Services Update Editor: Dear Summer Beach Worshi...

What are you looking forward to? For us, it’s interviewing people face-to-face. Asking people to smile for a photo – and being able to see it without a mask. And relaxing our relentless coverage of COVID-19, which has been uninterrupted for the past 15 months. We can’t wait for a good office party, too, so we can enjoy the company of our coworkers. But that’s us. What are you looking forward to when the sta...

Find Alternative Takeout Containers Editor: I'm writing to ask local restaurants and take-out places to consider the containers they use for takeout and leftovers. It is now a driving force behind my choices of where to go when I want to bring food home and I'd like to encourage other consumers to consider the same. Throughout the pandemic, my husband and I have been committed to supporting local restau...

Remove Stop Signs For Climate Editor: There are now some seven billion humans all adding gasses that trap sunlight. There is overwhelming evidence that it is increasing the average temperature. The town can take at least small steps to reduce the increase. A vehicle uses much more fuel when going up to speed from a stop or from having to slow down. There are a lot of stop signs that could be removed, a p...

When town meeting established an affordable housing trust, it wanted to shake things up. For years, the affordable housing committee had been trying to increase the stock of dwellings accessible to people of moderate means. Members would hear of an available property, but by the time they could bring its acquisition before town meeting, it would be off the market. So town meeting yielded some of its authori...

Harwich voters go to the polls next Tuesday, May 18, to choose among candidates running for the board of selectman and the water and wastewater commission. In these, the only contested races on the ballot, we recommend votes for Mary Anderson and Ed McManus. Mary Anderson has impressed us ever since she took over as executive director of the Family Pantry of Cape Cod in 2005. She took the pantry from a modest ...

As it nears completion, opinion remains divided over the West Chatham Roadway Project. The changes to the 1,700-foot-long corridor between Barn Hill Road and George Ryder Road, bookended now with roundabouts, are significant. The central turning lane, a feature for more than half a century, is gone, the roadway narrowed to two lanes and the sidewalks on the south side and multi-use path on the north side wider, w...