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Money toburn?
On March 5, Hyannis Fire District voters - those who j
can take the time to turn out at 7 p.m. in Barnstable High ;
School's Knight Auditorium - will be asked to pony up •
almost $20 million to build a new fire station.
That the department needs a new facility is clear to !
anyone who's visited the half-century-old building on I
High School Road Extension. It's as jammed as your !
favorite Ocean State Job Lot, its inefficiencies apparent I
to the tightest of tightwads. \
Recognizing this, the board of fire commissioners won j
voters ' approval in 2010 to buy land and prepare designs j
for a new station. The May 19 vote was 63 to 10 in favor, j
and foreshadowed what was to come. j
Asked about the potential cost of the station back then, ;
Commissioner Richard Gallagher said it "mightbe $10 mil- j
lion , it might be $15 million." Resident Peter Cross told the j
commissioners at that time to "come out of the shadows" i
and hold meetings at locations other than the fire station, •
televise their sessions, and post their minutes on-line. j
"Be more visible," Cross, the son of a Barnstable select- !
man, said. "You'll get the support of the people." I
In ensuing months, the price of the station's construe- I
tion and "soft " costs hit $25 million before being whittled j
down to the current asking number. A building committee j
including representatives from the civic and business com- \
munities worked with the commissioners, the architect, \
the owner'sproject manager and department staff to reach ;
a more acceptable number -and succeeded. ;
And, to its credit , the district opened up to the Greater j
Hyannis Civic Association, sharing plans in develop- j
ment and listening to cost-saving suggestions, including j
a reorientation of the new structure that will keep the j
department on-site throughout construction, saving mil- •
lions in relocation costs. •
Meetings were moved from the cramped conference j
room outside the chief's office to the Steamship Author- I
ity, but the district , unlike all others in town, didn't take j
advantage of the town's website to post meetings. It's only j
in the last couple of months that a website, www.hyan- j
nisfire.org, has been devoted to the project. \
Critics say millions can still be cut from the project , but j
the proponents really have squeezed most of the air out ;
of the new building. ;
Other objections include the timing of the vote, which j
the owner's project manager claimed is necessary to com- j
plete bidding before the end of the year and thus obtain •
more favorable quotes. This seems a skimpy justification j
for not holding the vote at the district's annual meeting in I
May, and we wish the commissioners had heeded public i
opinion on this matter. j
There are those crying foul over the vote itself because j
business owners in the district have no say in the matter, j
Yet neither do these business owners, if they are not resi- j
dents of the district, have a say in who represents them \
on the Barnstable Town Council and votes to spend their j
tax dollars. j
Just as today's station is aburden to the men and women ;
who provide services from it, a new station will be a bur- j
den to the men and women of Hyannis who pay to build j
it, probably over the next 30 years. That 's a long enough j
period to share the weight among generations.
If there is truly communitywide discontent with the •
manner -a voice vote or hand count -in which the vote j
will be taken March 5, the people of the district need to i
turn out in droves at the high school and win a two-thirds j
majority for a paper ballot. . j
The case has been made for a new station. It's time j
to end the bickering and posturing on all sides and start \
building it. j
EDITORIALS
By Paul Gauvin
How
many people does it
take to milk 20 million
bucks from the taxpay-
ers' piggy bank? Not many
according to the Barnstable
History of Apathy, Volume 1,
Pagel.
There are approximately
7,800 votes milling about the
Hyannis Fire District's 9 square
miles of shingle, brick, blacktop
and glass, according to the town
clerk's office, yet only 15 of
them are required to constitute
a quorum necessary by law to
spend that much cash.
We bring this up courtesy
of letter-writer Richard Som-
mers who asked the question
in another, more interesting
way. Ask not how many will
vote, he inferred, but "How
many people will be excluded
from voting in the upcoming
Hyannis Fire District $20 mil-
lion bond issue?" ...for a new
fire station.
Sommers isn't referring to
the usual lethargy that plagues
local elections with minimalist
turnouts of 10 to 20 percent.
He suggests the method of
election adopted by the fire
commissioners is systemically
designed to "exclude" various
categories of voters.
Barnstable being a small
city of average God-fearing,
conscionable people with a
lingering Yankee ethic, one
cannot imagine it is anything
like the mean-spirited southern
folk who would keep their black
brothers away from the polls
with manufactured, transparent
subterfuge.
Yet, Sommers has compiled
quite a list of constituencies
that could be disenfranchised
by the fire district's method of
voting on the fire station expen-
diture, requiring people to show
up at a district meeting and vote
the funds by show of hands.
Here is Sommers' view and a
partial list of the castaways as
complied by Sommers:
"I don't know how many
eligible voters there are in the
Hyannis Fire District," he
writes, "but I will bet a very,
very small percentage have
voted in the past. With an eve-
ning vote by hand, rather than a
ballot vote and with no absentee
ballots, the following are a few
groups that I think will be ex-
cluded and I'm sure you could
come up with a lot more.
"People with disabilities who
depend on the B Bus for
transportation; people with
back problems who cannot sit
through two to three hours of
a meeting before voting; elderly
people who cannot drive at
night; those who work the eve-
ning shift; single parents who
cannot afford a sitter, but could
take their kids to the polls to
cast a ballot.
"College students taking
night classes; people who have
just worked an 8-hour day and
are exhausted and can't afford
to sit for two or three hours to
vote; people who are too intimi-
dated to stand up to vote for or
against and have their picture
taken.
"Without absentee balloting,
elderly snowbirds who winter
in a warmer climate and return
in April are disenfranchised as
are those who booked vacations
months ago only to find out last
week about a March vote. Then
there are people in assisted liv-
ing who might be able to cast a
ballot, but not go out at night
and sit for hours and people in
rehab for an operation or in the
hospital."
"So who is left to vote?"
Sommers asks, then answers
his own question: "The five fire
commissioners and 10 of their
privileged friends. Guess what?
That is a quorum."
Sommers and frequent letter
writers John Julius and Gary
Lopez, both of whom com-
mented on other aspects of the
proposed fire station vote, have
intentionally raised suspicions
that the proposed method of
voting is illegal in their interpre-
tation of state law, albeit none
are members of the bar. But
Lopez and Julius are known for
their laymen's research while
lawyers in general are equally
known for finding ways to cir-
cumvent the letter of the law.
If the vote is allowed to
proceed as now designed, the
sour taste, rather than com-
munity pride, that has defined
this project from the get-go will
accompany the resulting edifice
for some time to come.
It has already been estab-
lished in the public mind that
proponents of a new fire station
should have adopted a user-
approved budget limit for the
project. Instead, they started
out designing another Empire
State Building when all they
really needed was an oversized
Cape Cod cottage. Then they
had to eliminate 100 of its 102
floors. Architects and design-
ers don't work for nothing. In
this case, district taxpayers first
funded a wish-list design then
funded the same designers to
un-design down to a practical,
utilitarian building.
One thing stands out about
the proposed voting method:
District voters have given com-
missioners through the years ev-
ery reason to believe that voters
really don't care to show up at
the polls and participate in the
decision-making process.
If past is prologue, the ques-
tion we ask ourselves is this:
Would all those constituencies
mentioned by Sommers actually
cast a vote anyway?
Historyofvoterindifferenceplays
roleinfire districtpollingchoice
Selected by JohnWatters
1964 PATRIOTFILE PHOTO/WALTER BEDNARK
WHATEVER THEY SAID,ITWORKED - Barnstable High School hockey team
captainBobMacallister conferswithcoachElliottMacSwan before amakeup
game with Bourne atthe Kennedy Rink in Hyannis. The hometeam won 7to1.
1844
We are informed that the
steamer Express has been al-
tered in her build by adding
twenty feel to her length, and
that she is not to be put on the
Cape route the coming season
but that her owners intend
running the Splendid (which is
understood to be a much inferior
boat) in her place, this way.We
are further informed also, that
our Cape friends, with the aid
, of the Boston merchants, will
not suffer a boat of any inferior
strength , speed or capacity to
the Express, to monopolize the
whole travel on the Cape route
this year.
1864
Two scamps who sought sup-
per and lodging at Eldredge's
Hotel, in this village, a week or
two since, decamped sometime
during the night, taking with
them some $75 worth of cloth-
ing belonging to their host, Mr.
K. H. Eldredge — The robbery
was not discovered until several
days after its occurrence.
1894
Mr. A. G. Guyer has bought
the lot between the Bank build-
ing and Mr. H. H. Baker 's,
and the building occupied by
the Free Reading Room and
Library, owned by Mr. Joshua
Baker. The lot runs back to the
railroad track. It is one of the
best locations in town for busi-
nesspurposes. Our business men
who are now located on leased
land, are gradually acquiring
building lots of their own in
other locations, where they can
improve their own property. It
is curious that nearly all of the
business section of Hyannis is
built on leased land—land so
held that it will probably be
many years before it can be put
upon the market.
1904
Schr. Bonnie Doon Br., for
Windsor, N. S., sailed for the
third time Tuesday, 9th, and got
clear of the ice and anchored off
Bass River Wednesday,a. m. She
was in a field , of ice, and parted
one chain, and had signals in her
rigging for assistance. The U. S.
stmr. Azalea passing by took her
in tow and brought her here to a
safe harbor. The Bonnie Doon ar-
rived here Jan. 4th. The captain
says it he ever gets to his home
port he will not attempt to try
to weather the old Cape in the
winter season again.
1914
It was with much regret that
the people of Hyannis learned
of the accidental poisoning
of Mrs. Wm. A. Roleau, last
Tuesday afternoon. On her
return from work she went to
her room for some headache
tablets aid took tablets from the
wrong box. On discovering her
mistake she realized her danger
and called her husband from
another part of the house and
told him what she had done;
he upon looking at the tablets
and knowing the nature of the
poison promptly administered
an antidote and called twice
for a doctor , locating Dr.
Binford with the second call,
who arrived fifteen minutes
after the tablets were taken and
confirmed the antidote chosen
and went to work on the young
lady to rid her system of the
poison as quickly as possible.
While not out of danger, there
are hopes for her recovery.
1924
Icehouses were filled last
week. Mr. Starck of Centerville
gave a dinner to the men. Not
even the French chefs can beat
the Swedish cooks. Mr. Doubt-
fire 's icehouse was filled and
Saturday E.S. Whitford's small
icehouse was filled with good
six inch ice.
1934
On the allegation that estab-
lishment of a military camp
would be detrimental to the best
interests of Cape Cod, the Cape
Cod Chamber of Commerce
and others are still fighting
the proposed military camp at
Bourne, Sandwich and Falmouth
as favored by Major General
Brian H. Fish, commander of
the National Guard. The word
is that it would discourage lots
of summer folks coming to the
Cape.
1944
Lt. John F.Kennedy,son of Jo-
seph F.Kennedy, former ambas-
sador to the Court of St. James,
gave a talk at the Jordan Marsh
war bond rally. Lt. Kennedy then
visited his grandparents at the
Hotel Bellevue and was in time
for the 81st birthday celebration
of the former mayor.
1954
Every kid in Barnstable Vil-
lage and many adults leaped
out of bed today (Feb. 11)
like it was Christmas morn-
ing to make a beeline for the
telephone and try out that new-
fangled instrument. Actually,
many older folks couldn't wait
until morning to give the dial
phones a whirl. The operator
on duty at the county police
radio shack said his telephone
started ringing shortly after
midnight and there had been
no let up.
1964
John J. Bowes, candidate for
selectman-assessor, stated last
night that townspeople should
be alerted on Article 13 in the
Barnstable annual town meet-
ing warrant which provided for
another $750 pay raise for his
opponent , incumbent George
L. Cross, and two other select-
men. Bowes pointed out that the
boost, if approved, would bring
the salary for selectmen-assessor
in Barnstable to $7,500, highest
on the Cape.
1974
All three selectmen think
the move to study Cape Cod
secession is less than fruitful.
Selectmen Chairman Martin
has doubts he would vote for it,
and Paul Brown says it's worth
studying "only if it doesn't
cost any money." E. Thomas
Murphy said, "It's absolutely
ridiculous."
I984
State Guard official will
meet with Cape legislators and
Barnstable selectmen on pos-
sible disposition of the Hyannis
Armory. The State Guard asked
the town to come up with alter-
nate site for a newbuilding, said
Selectman Marty Flynn, "and
we did." The site selectmen
have come up with is five acres
at the Phinney's Lane-Route
132 intersection diagonally
opposite the Barnstable Police
Station.
1994
Tucked awaybehind the stage
in a temporary office like a
Cape Cod version of the Wiz-
ard of Oz, the first principal
of the brand new Marstons
Mills Middle School has her
windowless walls adorned with
blueprints and layout plans.
Nancy Mrzyglod has building to
do. She wili be the point person
for Barnstable's newest school
and while Architectural Digest
won't be doing any features on
her bunker-like office at Mar-
stons Mills East Elementary,
Mrzyglod ha found the silver
lining in this location. "The
third and fourth grade kids
who were taking violin lessons
were having a little mini-recital
recently," she said, recalling
with a smile. "It w.as long, but
they did a nice job." *
2004
The Village Green at Marstons
Mills, a 30-unit housing develop-
ment coordinated by the Hous-
ing Land Trust for Cape Cod, has
all of its permits and is expected
to have its units occupied by
year's end. The project, the first
of this scale for the four-year-old
Housing Land Trust, is seen as
somethingof amodel for public/
private partnerships in creation
of affordable housing.
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