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April 21, 2006     Barnstable Patriot
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April 21, 2006
 
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By Paul Gauvin pgauvin@barnstablepatriot.com Housing not the problem: It's the economy, stupid A recent "workforce housing" sum- mit in Chatham lumped in policemen, teachers, firefighters, even doctors (with $100,000 student loans to pay off) with lower-paid nurse's aides and minimum-wage hospitality workers as needing some kind of subsidized housing. Really? Does the middle class also need someone to warm its milk and hold itshand to cross the street? It was a surprising linkage in view of a stan- dard joke in town that the municipal workforce - the new elite of the com- mon man - earns too much to qualify for housing subsidies anyway. It may be a laughable observation , but it isn't a joke. There is more than amodicum oftruth to that assessment if one looks at the gross wages of the police, firefighters and teachers with a few years of experience under their belts. Policemen have built-in overtime, generous educational perks and a surfeit of extra-detail duty to lift their income to envious levels, between $80,000 and $100,000 and over IF they want to put in the time. Firefighters have access to overtime and in some cases are able to hold down another job because of work schedules that also include sleep time. Teachers are off summers and able to pursue paying avocations, such as running restaurants, summer camps, tending bar, summer policeman or other such and varied means of income. What allthese people have in common, however,isthat they put in the hours to meet their financial obligations and/or reach their dreams. Giventhat,arecent piece inthe Cape Cod Times told of a 28-year-old single worker fresh out of graduate school earning $36,000 as atown planner afew years ago. This worker could not afford to live close to work in Eastham. This worker had car and student-loan pay- mentsto make and of course escalating utility payments and could not afford to buy a house. Then again, how many 28-year-olds just out of school can? So this worker turned to subsidized workforce housing although this worker could have lived with parents in Bourne -admittedly a fairly long com- mute -and left the subsidy to someone earningonly $20,000. This worker could also have considered a housemate, or maybe part-time work. Plausible? The immigrantwork ethic shows the way to make do with what one has, to be innovative with housing and to work twice as hard when one wants twice as much out of life. But these are moves that perhaps too manyAmericans with great expectations consider beneath them -options they reject even if it is the prudent thing to do. If taxpayers have to begin funding housingfor the middle class,the econo- my and the country are in trouble. Can taxpayers support housing for the poor masses and housingfor the vast middle economic class as well? Is that really doable in the real world? When it comes to the mentally and physically able and fit working middle class,whatever happened to individual responsibility for one's own human condition? Is it fair to provide housing for 10 of them and not the other 90? The notion of having businesses that already carry the burden of health insurance for employees also provide housingfor their workers isan old horse indeed and conjures up images of im- migrant grandparents and entertainer ErnieFord -grandparentsbecause they labored in millsand mines for the com- pany,lived (and paid rent) in company housing and bought groceries at the company store with script -and Ernie Ford who sang about them: "You load 16tons and what do you get, another day older and deeper in debt; St. Peter don'tyou callme 'cause Ican't go,I owe my soul to the company store." Subsidizing middle class housing is alarming: Why is it the middle class can no longer afford decent housing? On Cape Cod, it'sbecause demand for second and retirement homes by up- per class citizens and investors from elsewhere have created an overpriced market with the complicity of land- owners, heirs, brokers and businesses profiting from the booming demand. Tryingto counter this powerful force of the economic system with piece- meal housing subsidies is like trying to unring a bell. There is no housing problem, just an economic one that only the economy can correct. CJO M CORNER Regional greenhouse gas initiative FRSM THE SENATE By Sen.RobO'Leary Scientific consensus is clear that the long-term affects of global warming are mounting. Polar ice melt, catastrophic hurricanes and sea level rise are all among the signs that the impending- negative effects of global warming are multifold , threatening our economy and environment. The effects are being felt locally, as new hurricane models arepredicting increasingly severe storms for the Cape and more homeowners ' insurance companies are dropping coverage. It is increasingly apparent that now is the time for action to address global warming; however, leadership from Washington is absent. In response , two years ago.governors from nine Northeastern states, including Massachusetts . began negotiating aregional strategy for reduc- ing carbon dioxide emissions. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is the result of these efforts. The governors of New York, New Jersey, Vermont , Maine , Connecticut , New Hamp- shire, Delaware and Maryland have all signed a landmark agreement to set ground rules to enter the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Noticeably absent from the signing was Massa- chusetts. Alter Massachusetts agency staff spent over two years helping to design the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative , Governor Romney at the last minute , perhaps influenced by other political concerns , refused to sign the pact. As of today, eight Northeast and Mid-Atlantic governors have signed the agreement that will control carbon dioxide emissions by utilizing a cap-and-trade system. In the face of Governor Romney 's inaction , I havejoined with other Massachusetts legislators to file legislation that would sign Massachusetts onto the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The legislation , Senate Bill 2475 "An Act to Reduce Carbon Dioxide Emission through Par- ticipation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initia- tive" had its public hearing on April 13, 2006 , in front of the Environment and Natural Resources Committee. Corporations , energy providers and environmental advocacy groups joined together to express support for the regional initiative and the companion legislation. With the passage of this legislation , the legislature has the opportunit y to overcome the Governor 's misguided decision and join a CONTINUED ON PAGE A:11 By Michael Daley columnist@barnstablepatnot.com The Osterville land easement debated and voted recently by our town council provides a splendid example of the diversity of political skills representing us at town hall. During this battle , there were various levels of brilliance offset by similar levels of poor performance. Let's start with a winning performance. The councilor from Osterville clearly wins the prize for the most successful political behavior. This town legislator got his mission accomplished. The means he used leaves very much to be desired. However in this category it is only the ends that really count. The meeting showed some rays of hope amid a considerable amount of despair. The whole objective was properly laid out by one experienced councilor. He painted the process with a coat of reality. This councilor properly exposed the action as a means for the political leaders of a region of the town to obtain legal leverage against the town'sproposed affordable housing plan. One council member demonstrated an incredible inability to ask a question. This representative couldn 't get the question out until she went on for more than five minutes incoherently disclaiming not being against just about everything. This was one of my greater moments of despair. There were 13members attending and capable of voting at this meeting. They allrepresent all of us. This representation is unfortunate givenour inability to elect more than one of the 13. Clearly we were all represented. However, some of us were better represented than others. There were four members that voted against the proposal . Six others voted for the proposal. These ten voted and for that reason they all contributed to lowering the level of my despair. There was one other member of the council who voted favorably for the easement. This voter was opposed to the action and yet he voted favorably. This was done as a parliamentary tactic. The true count during the heat of the vote was six to five. That leaves two votes missing. One of the missing is elected from the village of Hyannis and one is from the village of Barnstable. The absolute reason for my despair lies in the failure of two members of our council. These two representatives totally let us all down. We elect 13 people to represent us. Only 11 members showed up and voted that night. The other two members might as well have stayed home and watched it on TV like me. This matter was very volatile and it created multiple political mini-dramas. It clearly wasn't CONTINUED ON PAGE A:14 Performance & performances LETTER Does BHMCS hold the answer for schools' tech woes? Re: "Technology problems for schools: Aging computers are holding back students, teachers " (Barnstable Pafrfof,April 13). Barnstable Public Schools has a leadership prob- lem, not a technology problem , and definitely not a funding problem. The school budget , particularly that of the Central Administration, isincreasing, even as enrollment declines. Solving the leadership prob- lem is simple, but will require strong, concentrated , and unrelenting pressure from parents , teachers , and taxpayers. The solution? Barnstable Horace Mann Charter School (BHMCS) has a surplus of $1,000,000 at a time that Barnstable Public Schools needs to spend that amount on computers. All the district has to do to reclaim that money is withhold it from future payments to BHMCS. Simple. But legal? What about fair? Legal, yes. The district has no obligation to en- rich the Horace Mann school or help it maintain a cash surplus at the expense of district schools. The district can choose to withhold -without penalty or the possibility of a successful legal challenge - an amount equivalent to the surplus. But , would such a course of action be fair? First , consider that no BHMCS students actu- ally benefit from the $1,000,000 BHMCS surplus , since the cash sits in a BHMCS money market fund. Originally justified as a contingency fund to retain BHMCS teachers during a time of projected declines in enrollment , the fund no longer satisfies even this dubious purpose. (The school committee never agreed to such a fund: no other Barnstable teachers enjoyed such aperquisite ; and the projected declines at BHMCS never occurred.) Second , recognize that BHMCS students already possess late-model computers -purchased by district f unds. (In 2004, the BHMCS principal - now BPS interim superintendent -misrepresented the discre - tionary purchase of $250,000 of BHMCS computers as non-discretionary "moving" expenses, thereby CONTINUED ON PAGE A:11 Wm FLOORIN G FOR EVERY ROOM IN YOUR HOME l fl§ K^^NMti iB*a*aVB>B>BBB*BVa*aVa*a*a*B*a*a*a*a*a*a*BBBBa*BBBVMIB*a*JMBBV)aBBBaaBBB^^ r^BBW^^K. im LAMINATE PORCELAIN CARpET JH US $2 19<*f* Our Entire $ * -f * WWL HH m C . I & S f Offering 1. t HSf* W Kg y E t f Quality and value See our large Great choice for U ^ a l WJMJ shows in every assortment of budget minded K l p j j yt plank. Its long- floor and wall customers H Jp i WW2 wearing and low tile The most looking for value. JtjSUgjI & ?^ sure to please the most elegant » W»J JK J&K rloorcovering | H *$j3' Route 28 #800 • Summerfield Park • Mashpee $|j£* M ^,=t "'" SMJ/MOM ' '"'' _ _ Jj1 SIR —--1 Sum hours: Mon. In. S ^ • S.,, •> , (M TunwmWwrt EIW ACROSS TIME 6 PLACE RETROSPECTIVES FROM THE ARCHIVES A NATTY COUPLE - Perhaps out for a Sunday drive, this couple was not too far from their likely home. Railway Bluffs resident Bob Coleman provided this picture, found in a house he once owned and helped renovate on Camp Street. Judging from the buildings, this was taken on the East end of Main Street in Hyannis. The building to the back appears to be the former Hyannis Board of Trade , now the Furhman building. It appears to be in the 1910s.