Press Clippings and Press Releases

Cape Cod Times, June 30, 2010

Bill would help small businesses

By SARAH PEAKE

As a small-business owner for the past 18 years, I know the challenges many small businesses face and how important small independent businesses are to our Cape Cod economy. It is imperative to support this backbone of our economy on Cape Cod.

The House and Senate each have plans to support business growth, which I applaud, but I believe that the single most important thing we can do to help our small businesses here on the Cape and across the commonwealth is to ratchet back the skyrocketing costs of health insurance. It is for this reason that I am supporting H.3452, "An Act Relative to Small Business Health Insurance."

The act is brilliant in its simplicity. It levels the playing field when it comes time to negotiate and set new premium rates. The bill allows businesses to purchase health insurance as a group, organized as a chamber of commerce or trade association, for instance. There is power and clout in numbers, and H.3452 will allow businesses to band together so that taken as a group, they will have that much needed critical mass to negotiate at arms length with the health insurance companies. This practice is common in many other states and was legal in Massachusetts until 1996.

However, the law was changed, creating an inequity and making small businesses second-class citizens in the health-care marketplace. It's time our small businesses are given the tools to rejoin the ranks of first-class citizens.

Enactment of this law is more critical now than ever. Recently we learned that an appeals panel reversed the governor's cap on Harvard Pilgrim's premiums for small businesses. The result will surely be increased premiums. As these administrative attempts are turned back through legal challenges, the need for H.3452 becomes even clearer.

Big business and government bodies, like the commonwealth's Group Insurance Commission, are allowed to group buy, increasing their already sizable buying clout. The result? Small businesses face disproportionately greater increases in health care premiums than big business and have less power in the free market to combat out-of-control health care costs. If the free market is going to determine premium costs, then we need to ensure that everyone has the same tools and abilities to negotiate those premiums. H.3452 gives our small businesses those tools.

Here's a startling statistic to bring home the need for this bill: Since bipartisan health care reform passed in Massachusetts five years ago, small businesses are now paying 75 percent more for less coverage, while big business and government have seen an increase of only 25 percent. Some Lower and Outer Cape businesses report increases ranging from 30 percent to 52 percent this year alone!

Clearly, group purchasing power benefits big business and state government. Small business, which provides 50 percent of the jobs and 65 percent of job creation in Massachusetts, must have access to the same rights to enable future economic growth. The problem consumers are experiencing today with the cost of health insurance isn't the result of too much competition, but too little; and any effort to give small businesses more clout in dealing with the few companies offering these plans in Massachusetts has my support.

State Rep. Sarah Peake, D-Provincetown, represents the Lower Cape in the Massachusetts House.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 24, 2010
House of Representatives Passes Bill Allowing Drug Discounts
Promises Cost Savings to Consumers through Prescription Drug Rebates
(BOSTON) – State Representative Sarah K. Peake (D-Provincetown) joined her colleagues in the Massachusetts House of Representatives in passing legislation last week that would allow consumers to take advantage of prescription drug discounts in an effort to lower medical costs.

“This legislation will help consumers save money on medical costs when people across the Cape and across the Commonwealth are struggling to make ends meet,” Rep. Peake said. These coupons will help people, especially seniors who may be on a fixed income cover their co-pays. The cost of drug co-payments can add up quickly for people taking several medications. The bill we passed has the potential to save some people hundreds of dollars each year, said Peake.

“This bill will reduce some of the cost barriers that prevent patients from taking their medications as prescribed,” said State Representative Peter Koutoujian. “The most expensive pills are the ones not taken -– studies have shown it can lead to increased health care dollars being spent in the long run”.

This bill would allow consumers cost savings while reducing some of the barriers that prevent patients from taking their medications as prescribed. These savings can reduce co-payments by $10 to $20 or more every month.

These discounts do not allow consumers to choose a medicine but would give them the option to save money once their treatment has been prescribed by their doctor and approved by their insurer. Obtaining prescription medicine still requires coordination with a medical professional, and a provision included in the bill allows insurance companies to opt out if they choose to do so.

Massachusetts’ has a generic substitution law in place intended to curb the use of brand name drugs through the use of generic-first formularies. However, when generic drugs are not available or a physician determines a name brand drug is necessary for treatment, this legislation would allow patients to save money on needed drugs.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE        

DATE: May 24, 2010

STATE REPRESENTATIVE SARAH PEAKE FILES NOMINATION PAPERS TO GET ON BALLOT FOR RE-ELECTION

           Representative Sarah Peake (D-Provincetown) announced today that on April 21, 2010 she filed over 300 certified signatures to secure a place on the ballot in the fall.

Peake turned in over 300 signatures, well in excess of the 150 required by statute.  The deadline for filing nomination papers is tomorrow May 25, 2010. 

“I am very excited to be running for re-election to my third term”, said Peake.  I obtained over 600 certified signatures from across the district and am humbled by the support I received from the voters I met at Post Offices, transfer stations, and local grocery stores.  Thank you to my many volunteers who helped me! We had those nomination papers completed in just a few short hours.”  Rep. Peake went on to say.

“I have been successful in earning leadership positions, giving our giving everyone who works in the tourism, arts and fishing sectors a seat at the table and a strong voice.  I am running for re-election to build on these successes and to strengthen these sectors and grow jobs here on the Cape”, Peake said.

Representative Sarah Peake (D-Provincetown) is serving in her second term and is the vice-chair of the Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts, and Cultural Development, the House appointee to the Creative Economy Council, and the Legislative Appointee representing Massachusetts on the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.

April 26, 2010                                                                                                                     

House Passes Municipal Relief Bill  

Peake Amendment Allows for Dredging Costs to be Bonded

BOSTON – State Representative Sarah Peake (D-Provincetown) joined her colleagues in the Massachusetts House of Representatives in passing legislation facilitating mutual aid agreements, allowing pension systems to extend their funding schedules and permitting municipalities to enter into leases of up to 30 years without a home rule petition in an effort to provide cities and towns with new means for managing municipalities through these challenging economic times.

State Representative Sarah Peake amended the bill to address expenses unique to Cape Cod and coastal communities. Peake’s amendment will allow towns to bond the costs of dredging projects.  “These are often very costly projects and can be budget busters for coastal communities.  I know Harwich is particularly interested in this provision.  I’m very happy to have been able to get this into in the final House version of the bill”, said Peake.  “Often our towns are overlooked, but this amendment is specific to the Cape”, Peake added.

“As we work to create jobs and grow our economy on the state level, this legislation will give our cities and towns much-needed tools to guide our communities through the global economic downturn,” House Speaker Robert. A. DeLeo said. “This bill will help municipalities save money and manage their budgets without weakening Proposition 2 ½.”

The legislation establishes a statewide mutual aid agreement allowing mutual aid assistance – such as fire services, law enforcement and emergency medical services – during a public safety incident. The bill also creates a statewide public works mutual aid agreement for the sharing of public works resources across jurisdictional lines during public works incidents.

The bill allows pension systems, with the exception of the State Employees Retirement System and the Teachers’ Retirement System, to extend their funding schedule to 2040.

Additionally, the bill allows municipalities to enter into leases of up to 30 years without a home rule petition. Currently, municipalities may only enter into leases of up to 10 years without a home rule petition.

In an effort to control costs, the bill lets school districts reimburse parents of disabled children who drive their children to private day programs outside the municipality in which they live rather than allow only the school district to provide such transportation.

The package also allows any accepting municipality to establish an early retirement program for its employees. Municipalities would be restricted when filling vacancies created by early retirements and could pay only a fraction of the participants’ total annual salary in upcoming fiscal years.

The bill includes an amendment stripping the legislation of a provision that would have allowed municipalities to raise property taxes to furnish overlay accounts used to fund abatements through the appeal of tax bills and other tax abatement programs. The House voted to remove the provision out of concern that it would have circumvented Proposition 2 ½ which limits annual increases in property taxes.

The relief package includes a local option tax amnesty program which allows cities and towns to waive portions of interest and penalties due on unpaid taxes as long as the taxpayer pays the principal amount and is not subject to criminal investigation for failure to pay taxes. The tax amnesty period could extend no later than June 30, 2011.

The bill gives municipalities the choice of accepting a section that requires school and city officials to meet each year to review the fiscal status of the school district and identify potential cost savings through regionalization initiatives. Furthermore, the bill empowers school committees to join with one or more other school committee to elect a superintendent to represent the partnering districts.

April 23, 2010 THE CAPE CODDER
NStar Agrees to Delay Herbicide Treatments
By Donna Tunney

CAPE COD — Cape Codders who for months have been fighting NStar’s plan to use herbicides to kill unwanted vegetation along its power line rights of way can stop holding their breath. The utility has agreed in principle to postpone the controversial chemical treatments.

After a meeting Tuesday between the power company, Cape Cod Commission and the state Department of Agricultural Resources, NStar is “working out the details” to delay chemical applications, said utility spokesman Michael Durand.

“It would give the commission time to locate and map any private wells in the [targeted areas],” said Durand, but he stopped short of revealing the length of the delay.

Published reports alluded to a one-year postponement, but that is unconfirmed by the utility.

“It’s too early to discuss those details. Anything could change,” he said, adding that a draft agreement between the three entities would be made public by April 30.

The commission got involved early this year, after town officials and citizens up and down the Cape balked at NStar’s herbicide treatment plan. The chemicals, they said, could seep into the aquifer, possibly contaminate wells and have other, unknown environmental and public health effects. Also, certain sections of the power lines run through watershed and conservation lands, and are nearby other water resources and the buffer zones that protect them.

The issue has been simmering for some 18 months, after NStar first unveiled its plan to replace hand cutting with chemical treatments. Following a public outcry last spring, it agreed to delay the plan until spring 2010 so that town officials could explore other options, such as an outright ban on herbicides. That idea failed due to state regulations.

In early March, state Rep. Sarah Peake (4th Barnstable District) called for a year-long moratorium on herbicide spraying so that Cape Cod Commission could do additional GIS (geographic information systems) mapping of the Cape’s water resources.

Cape Cod Chronicle, April 15, 2010

Chatham Marconi Maritime Center Dedicated

by Alan Pollock

CHATHAMPORT — A message that once hung like static in the ether is now coming in loud and clear. The Chatham Marconi Maritime Center (CMMC) has found a home.

For the first time in years, the wireless receiving station's operations building is humming with activity, as contractors renovate the town-owned building for its new purpose: a museum and educational center about Marconi and the history of radio. On Monday, supporters and dignitaries came out to celebrate the beginning of that construction project, which should be complete in time for the center to open in August.

Local dignitaries and CMMC organizers pose for a snapshot on the front steps of the operations building. They are, from left, CMMC Vice President Frank Messina, Selectmen Len Sussman (rear), David Whitcomb, Florence Seldin and Ronald Bergstrom (rear), State Rep. Sarah Peake and CMMC President Chuck Bartlett. ALAN POLLOCK PHOTO
“This is a fabulous day for Chatham,” Board of Selectmen Chairman Len Sussman told the group. After years of planning, CMMC has signed a long-term lease of the building, part of the town-owned Marconi campus on Route 28. The day was a celebration not just of Guglielmo Marconi, Sussman said, but of the patience and perseverance of CMMC founders and organizers.

Taxpayers paid to restore and repair the outsides of the brick buildings on the campus, which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and are also funding a new driveway and septic system for the property. Under the terms of its lease, CMMC is restoring the interior of the operations building. The work is being done by Rick Roy Construction of Chatham and several other local subcontractors, which is an achievement in itself, CMMC organizers say. Normally, such projects would be subject to the state's prevailing wage law, which tends to favor large, off-Cape construction firms.

State Rep. Sarah Peake, D-Provincetown, obtained a rare exemption from that law for the CMMC project. It was the only such exemption granted during this legislative session, she said, and it is fitting that the town will see local benefits from the project. While important in world history over the years, the wireless station has always been a benefit to the Chatham community, she noted. It is an important economic boost “to hire Chatham contractors in an economy where, it's no secret, it's a little soft out there for people in the trades these days,” Peake said.

In the years ahead, the museum and educational center will help draw visitors to the area, and will help improve the science and technology education for local students.

“On any number of levels this is a great tribute to Marconi, but it's also a wonderful economic engine,” she said. Peake said she hopes to invite Rep. Paul Donato, D-Medford, the chairman of the joint committee on municipalities and regional government, who helped facilitate the prevailing wage law exemption. “He did express some pride in being an Italian-American, and was happy to have Marconi recognized as well,” Peake said.

When the center opens to the public, visitors coming through the front door will see an information desk and a small gift shop, with handicap-accessible restrooms and a small office on the right. In the main part of the old operations center will be informational displays on Marconi the entrepreneur and inventor, and on the science behind radio. There will also be an exhibit on the station's role during the first and second world wars, when it was used to track the movements of enemy submarines, and there will be a corner of the building reserved for an operating amateur radio station.

CMMC First Vice President Frank Messina thanked Chatham taxpayers for supporting the project, and for having the foresight to acquire the property in 1999 and have it listed on the National Register. Chatham Selectman Ron Bergstrom said credit should also go to the Friends of Forest Beach and other community members who worked hard over the years to have the town purchase both the Chathamport campus and the South Chatham tract that once housed the wireless station's transmitter.

CMMC board member Bill Ryder of Chatham, who was chief engineer at that site and worked there from 1947 until 1953, urged organizers to remember that the station has an important history outside the Marconi years.

“To me, this is WCC Chatham Radio,” he said, referring to the station's call sign, which was known to mariners around the globe. Ryder read aloud a list of the names of the station managers throughout the years when the station was operated by RCA.

“We've been eight years without a home,” CMMC President Chuck Bartlett said. He thanked the Methodist Church for providing meeting space over the years, and praised charter members and CMMC donors for being faithful to the project's vision.

While work is proceeding inside the operations building, crews will soon begin carving out a new access road to the site, just south of the radio tower closest to Route 28. An existing driveway just north of the tower will be removed in order to protect a nearby wetland. Crews have already obtained all the permits necessary for the site work, with the exception of a curb cut permit from the state highway department. Peake pledged to help remove that last remaining roadblock.

“Hopefully now that we're here, we can help the town find other tenants for the other building,” Messina said, referring to the brick dormitory next door known as the Hotel.

The Barnstable Patriot, April 2, 2010

TRANSPORTATION: A lesser-known women’s issue
Written by Ellen Chahey

Transportation on Cape Cod is, among other things, a women’s issue, and thanks to a lot of work by women and men, it’s an issue that has good news on the horizon.
The majority of her agency’s consumers are women, said Paula George, deputy administrator of the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority (RTA). If they don’t need rides for themselves – and many do to get to work or to school – then they are concerned with rides to school for their children and rides to services for their parents.
Federal stimulus money is allowing the RTA to buy five new buses in the next month and another five in the near future, she told a gathering of the Cape Cod and Islands Commission on the Status of Women at Cape Cod Community College on Tuesday night.
In her testimony before the commissioners, George said that her office, directed by Thomas Cahir, will be offering wheelchair transportation “at a reasonable cost” and also ”mobility management with just one phone call – even if someone’s in Poughkeepsie, New York, we’ll be able to tell them how they can get to Cape Cod and get around without a car.”
Right now, said George, a chair-car to Boston for a medical appointment costs $250 one-way. “With mobility management, with just one phone call people can contact transportation providers at a much, much reduced rate.” Although there will be business hours for the phone calls, George said, the transportation services will be available 24 hours a day and seven days a week.
Ways to reach the Regional Transit Authority are 800-352-7155 or www.capecodrta.org

A second theme of the evening was the importance of women mentoring each other.
“I like the Girl Scouts,” said State Rep. Sarah Peake of the fourth Barnstable district. “They work collaboratively on their honor badges.” Peake told a story of a senior Girl Scout troop who had made an honor project of mentoring a troop of younger girls.
“I told the troop,” Peake remembered of giving an award to the senior girls, “that I don’t think that mentoring ever ends. I receive and I give mentoring myself.”
Peake talked about the ways her work as a legislator has contributed to the quality of life for the Cape’s women. She is working on bills that will protect health care workers – so many of whom are women – from assault and battery on the job. “We want to make sure,” Peake said, “that there are consequences for people’s behavior when they become violent toward nurses and other health-care workers who are trying to treat them.”
Another bill that Peake said would benefit women was a one that addresses stalking. The current law, she said, how has “a giant loophole” that restricts stalking laws to people already in a relationship, but now, Peake said, there is a bill that would expand the definition of stalking outside of domestic relationships.
One of Peake’s interns has worked on a bill, not yet law, that would require radiologists to report the results of mammograms to their consumers immediately. Peake said that as her intern arranged an informational meeting about this bill, one of the speakers died of breast cancer that spread because she and her radiology center did not communicate right away.

Estella Fritzinger, executive director of the Community Action Committee of the Cape Cod and Islands, Inc., added to the list of concerns about women that “it’s all about the economy…”
Economic problems “are not gender-specific,” said Fritzinger, “but women may feel them more,” she said. “Low-income women need transportation and childcare. They may be single moms or women whose husbands have been laid off. There are the high costs of housing.”
Often, Fritzinger said, the choice for these low-income women “has to be not to work.”
The Cape Cod and Islands Commission on the Status of Women has 13 members. Five are from Barnstable: Janice Barton (Chair), Marstons Mills; Evelyn Young (Vice Chair), Cotuit; Helen Bresnahan (Treasurer) Centerville; Janet Swain Joaquim, Centerville; and Cheryl Osimo, Barnstable.

Wicked Local Cape Cod, March 26, 2010

Dr. Seuss Celebrated as Part of Elementary Reading Program

State Rep. Sarah Peake was one of the guest readers in past week’s reading program at Veterans Memorial Elementary School.

Cape Cod Times, March 27, 2010

Birding hot spots (in the news from a favorite hobby)
E. Vernon Laux

This past weekend, Provincetown was a birding hot spot.

Most impressive and becoming almost a trend was the sighting of two Pacific loons off Herring Cove Beach Sunday morning by Blair Nikula of Harwich. He also reported seeing six species of marine mammals, including four northern right whales and several fin whales.

Also from Provincetown, Sarah Peake, state representative from the 4th Barnstable District, sent me some excellent digital photos of an adult peregrine falcon undoubtedly prospecting for a nest site on the Town Public Library. Currently, there are no known nesting peregrines on the Cape and Islands. The falcons could be encouraged to raise young in Provincetown by providing a nest box either on the library or the Pilgrim Monument, which would seemingly be perfect for a nesting location for this species.

The spring's first adult little blue heron in the region appeared on the west end of Nantucket Sunday and was still there as of Thursday. These lovely southern herons breed in small numbers at a couple of places in Massachusetts but not on the Cape and Islands.

The first reported great egret in the region was reported from the shores of Miacomet Pond on Nantucket Thursday morning.

Snowy egrets, black-crowned night herons and great blue herons are all on the move and may be encountered at favorable spots or flying over Cape and Islands neighborhoods at any time.

American oystercatchers are back on area shores and piping plovers are beginning to trickle in. Ospreys are slowly returning, American woodcock are performing their courtship displays nightly, and spring is breaking out all over.

Until next week — keep your eyes to the sky!

birding column appears every Saturday in the Cape Cod Times. Laux is the resident naturalist for the Linda Loring Nature Foundat

Cape Cod Times, March 27, 2010

NStar spray fray grows

By Doug Fraser

The state had to step in yesterday on what threatened to become a dogfight over NStar's plan to use herbicides to control vegetation under power lines on the Cape.

Cape Cod Commission director Paul Niedzwiecki said yesterday he thought he'd forged a good working relationship with NStar in trying to achieve a compromise to protect Cape water supplies while allowing the power company to take necessary steps to access high power lines.

But his belief that NStar was on board with a one-year moratorium on herbicide spraying was shaken Thursday by the utility's harder line on the time frame, prompting action from the commissioner of the state Department of Agricultural Resources.

With Cape towns almost unanimously lined up against the utility's herbicide use, the power company said Thursday it had agreed to a 30-day moratorium to work with towns and the commission on environmentally sensitive areas but said a longer moratorium was unnecessary.

In an e-mail to the Cape Cod Commission yesterday, commissioner Scott Soares said the power company's request does not, in fact, indicate that his agency won't grant other extensions. Public comment on the plan was supposed to have ended yesterday at 5 p.m.

A moratorium would allow towns time to locate environmentally sensitive areas, private wells, and to explore alternatives. There will be a moratorium on spraying during any public comment period.
Mixed responses

State Sen. Robert O'Leary was optimistic there will be a longer delay. His office filed a comment letter yesterday signed by the Cape delegation – including Senate President Therese Murray – supporting the commission's plea for more time.

“I think (Soares) is pretty realistic and sensitive to local communities. His ear is well-tuned and he knows that people are upset and that they want to move more cautiously than NStar does,” O'Leary said.

While she was cheered by the possibility that towns will have more time to investigate the potential ramifications of continued spraying, State Rep. Sarah Peake, D-Provincetown, worried that NStar's actions of the past week might indicate the utility will be an unwilling partner in finding alternatives to herbicides.

Niedzwiecki said he felt blindsided by when NStar sought the 30-day hold-off as a preclusion to further delays, saying it was not in the spirit of cooperation that he felt existed between his agency and the power company in trying to find a regional solution to the herbicide question.

“I think this is just the beginning of the discussion. I'm not feeling as good today as I did last week. There's been a lot of confusion over the past few days,” he said.

Protecting water supply
The Cape depends completely on groundwater collected within its boundaries. In effect, what is put into the ground gets into the supply of water for drinking, cooking and bathing. The commission's position is that extra care must be taken to discover and pinpoint where extra protections may be necessary.

Originally, towns were given a 45-day period to provide NStar with maps showing drinking water wells and other environmentally sensitive areas. In Eastham, for instance, town staff and AmeriCorps volunteers have been working since September to pinpoint 76 private drinking water wells along the power lines.

With commission help, they produced maps detailing the wells and previewed them for NStar this week. But health agent Jane Crowley worried that the satellite positioning tools they used to denote well locations were not precise enough and that they hadn't found all the existing wells on every parcel.

“We have missing information,” she said. “If we move forward without a complete look at all the factors, it could be detrimental and have long-lasting effects.”

March 14, 2010 Cape Cod Times

My View: Film Tax Credit Should Stay

BY REPS SARAH AND JOHN D. KEENAN

As we begin the FY 2011 budget debate at the Statehouse, it is imperative we identify our successful and growing economic engines that create and provide jobs in the commonwealth during the worst economic recession since the Great Depression. We need to stoke these engines because their success means putting people to work and growing our lagging economy. People's lives and livelihoods depend on this.

The film and television industry has become an incredibly successful economic engine, creating and growing jobs in the few short years since the film tax credit program was instituted by the Legislature. The film industry in Massachusetts is energetically outperforming the overall economy, creating jobs and growing. It has generated more than $1 billion in new direct spending in just its first four years!

The bipartisan film tax credit law was signed by Gov. Mitt Romney in 2005 and upgraded by Gov. Deval Patrick in 2007. As a result of this incentive, new local spending on film and television production has increased from barely $6 million in 2005 to nearly $400 million last year, according to the Department of Revenue.

DOR's figures also indicate that during the first four years of the program, the actual cost to taxpayers has been roughly a dime for every new dollar of spending generated in the Massachusetts economy. That is a very good return on investment by anyone's standards.

At a time when cities and towns in Massachusetts have seen local aid slashed to the bone, this economic growth and jobs creation has benefited locations throughout the state, including Andover, Burlington, Gloucester, Haverhill, Lawrence, Rockport and Salem, to cite a few.

We have both received many calls from our constituents recounting their stories of being out of work for years. Now, because of jobs in the film industry, they are once again able to work and bring home a paycheck to their families.

Unfortunately, there are those who either out of ignorance of the facts or because of some other agenda, want to end this successful program, shut down this humming economic engine and needlessly cause the thousands of people who work in this growing industry to lose their jobs.

One myth is that rich Hollywood actors are being subsidized. This is not true. Big stars don't get any tax break under this law; in fact, they pay a lot of income tax to the commonwealth. Actor Leonardo DiCaprio, for example, will pay more Massachusetts income taxes for his work on "Shutter Island" than most of us will pay in our entire working lifetimes!

In addition to this revenue, the ripple effect in our economy is estimated by a recent UMass study to be 95 cents in additional indirect spending for every dollar that film producers spend. This means that the total economic benefit to the state over the past four years is close to $2 billion. Restaurants, hotels, paint stores, lumber yards, coffee shops, fitness centers, even antique stores, have felt the benefit of the film tax credits.

The budget just released by the governor proposes to cap the film credit in FY 2011. Why cut one of the most successful economic incentive programs we have? People are working, new jobs are being created and existing industries are being bolstered by this program.

We must stand by this investment. People's livelihoods depend on it. We are fighting hard to keep this engine running smoothly!

Reps. John Keenan, D-Salem, and Sarah Peake, D-Provincetown, are House chairman and vice chairwoman of the Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development.

March 05, 2010 Cape Cod Times

Spraying Moratorium Urged

By Doug Fraser

Cape legislators and the Cape Cod Commission are hoping their combined efforts will lead to a yearlong moratorium on NStar's program to spray herbicide on vegetation under its high-power lines.

According to state Rep. Sarah Peake, D-Provincetown, Department of Agricultural Resources Commissioner Scott Soares laid out the path to gaining that delay at a meeting with the Cape's state legislators yesterday afternoon in Boston.

Peake said Soares told them they would have to submit a letter detailing the scientific and legal reasons for imposing a delay on the herbicide program by the end of the comment period on March 26.

Legislators are responding to complaints from some of their constituents that the spraying of herbicides on the Cape, with its porous sandy soil, could result in contamination of wells and affect animal and plant life in water bodies along the power lines.

Cape Cod Commission Executive Director Paul Niedzwiecki told Soares and the legislators that his agency would be able to write a comment letter laying out its plan to map all sensitive water bodies and wells along these utility rights-of-way in towns across the Cape.

He said the mapping would allow more surgical use of herbicides.

NStar had made a request that towns notify it of any sensitive areas, but municipalities didn't have the manpower or time to do that by the March 26 deadline.

Niedzwiecki said the commission would like to explore alternatives to using herbicides and would expand on a plan it has created for Eastham as part of its letter requesting the 12-month delay.

He hoped to gain NStar's support for the plan and has scheduled a meeting with the power utility to go over details of the proposal. Legislators said they would write a letter in support of the commission plan.

"We don't have a lot of details on the commission proposal, but we are looking forward to the meeting," said NStar spokesman Michael Durand. NStar was not included in yesterday's meeting.

Durand said one major question was why it would take a full year to do the mapping. He pointed out that his company already has the state permits it needs to do the spraying.

Power utilities are required to keep the vegetation under high power lines clear to stave off blackouts and maintain access for repair work.

NStar's plan was to selectively use low amounts of less poisonous herbicides in conjunction with the felling of taller species to encourage low-growing shrubs and grasses.

"Our program has been accepted and approved by every regulatory body," Durand said. "Delays we have voluntarily agreed to have been our efforts to be a good neighbor."

March 03, 2010  Cape Cod Times

OpenCape awarded $32M

By Sarah Shemkus

WEST BARNSTABLE — The OpenCape Corp. has been awarded $32 million in federal stimulus money to pursue its plan to construct a new broadband network across southeastern Massachusetts. "This is probably the single most significant development in the 14 years that I've represented the Cape and Islands, as far as enhancing the potential for "» the entire regional economy," U.S. Rep. William Delahunt said after he announced the grant at Cape Cod Community College yesterday.

The OpenCape system will consist of a wireless network, a regional data center and 350 miles of fiber-optic cable connecting more than 60 anchor institutions: hospitals, schools, municipalities and research institutions where direct connections to the network will be built.

In the short term, construction of the network will create more than 200 jobs, according to estimates from the OpenCape Corp., a local nonprofit entity formed to develop and oversee the system. In the long term, the network is expected to improve public safety communications, enable towns to better band together to create regional services and aid economic development by giving businesses access to more robust broadband service.

"It's kind of like we're opening the Cape up for digital development," said Teresa Martin, a member of OpenCape's board of directors.  The $32 million grant was awarded by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration as part of the $4.7 billion Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, which was created as part of federal stimulus legislation.  "It's a great shot in the arm for the Cape," Sen. John Kerry said in a telephone interview after the announcement was made. "It's a great example of the Recovery Act working for the people."

An additional $8 million in funding is being provided by the state, Barnstable County, and RCN Metro Optical Networks, the project's commercial partner, which will oversee construction and manage the completed network.  Because the news of the award is so new — the OpenCape board of directors was informed less than 24 hours before yesterday's announcement — the group has not had time to turn its proposed plans into a firm timeline for action.

"Now that this is real, it's the appropriate time to sanity-check everything," Martin said.  The first steps will involve engineering and legal work, before construction can begin, said Dan Gallagher, president of the OpenCape Corp. The renovation of the county public safety building, where the project's data center will be located, will be another early step.

Some parts of the broadband network, however, may be done before 2010 is over, Martin said. And segments of the network will come online as they are ready, even before the entire system is complete, she added.  The first stage of construction will create a loop connecting Hyannis, Sagamore and Woods Hole.

This link will have immediate benefits for scientists in Woods Hole, said Art Gaylord, an OpenCape board member and the director of computer and information services at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. "We collect data from around the world, and a lot of it is coming in in real time," he said. "If the instruments can't send us data, we could lose data. By having more paths, the chance of a failure is much less."

For the Outer Cape, the construction of OpenCape will mean that households still dependent on dial-up Internet access will finally be able to get broadband, said state Rep. Sarah Peake, D-Provincetown.

The network will also make it more viable for businesses to relocate to the area, which will have a long-term economic benefit, she said.

"We cannot even imagine how this $32 million investment will be repaid over and over again," Peake said.

The idea for OpenCape first emerged in 2006.

Though many parts of the Cape are either unserved or underserved by existing broadband services, the relatively sparse population in these areas has made them unappealing to commercial providers. The OpenCape plan was created to address this gap, with the goal of aiding economic development and preserving communications in case of a natural disaster or other emergency.

Consumers will not be able to purchase service directly from OpenCape. Businesses, towns, school districts and other groups will strike deals for access to bandwidth and then manage connections for individual users.  In July 2007, a wireless broadband connection between Dartmouth and Woods Hole was established, a move intended to prove the viability of the plan. In August 2008, Gov. Deval Patrick signed broadband legislation that included $5 million for OpenCape.

When federal broadband funds became available, the OpenCape board began to think even bigger, adding links from the Cape to Boston and Providence to its plan.  Yesterday's federal funding announcement means that OpenCape will now be scrambling to push quickly ahead with its full plan, because projects awarded money in the broadband grant program must be completed within three years.

"The good news is, we got the grant. The bad news is, we got the grant," Gallagher joked. "There's a lot of work to do and it's going to be very challenging."

March 02, 2010 Cape Cod Times

State legislators to review NStar's herbicide use
By Doug Fraser

EASTHAM — Last night's selectmen's meeting was billed as a discussion with NStar representatives on their plan to use herbicides to help clear land under high-voltage utility lines in town.

But before the power company panel had even entered the room, state Rep. Sarah Peake, D-Provincetown, announced a meeting Thursday between NStar and members of the Cape state legislative delegation, state Senate President Therese Murray, D-Plymouth, and Scott Soares, state Department of Agricultural Resources Commissioner.

Peake said the goal of the hearing was to secure a year-long moratorium on the herbicide program with the intent of investigating other methods of keeping vegetation from growing into overhead high-power lines.

"This is a regional issue," Peake told selectmen, noting that NStar planned on using herbicides in 13 of 15 Cape towns, and three Martha's Vineyard towns.

Paul Niedzwiecki, Cape Cod Commission executive director, then told the board that his agency had also spoken with NStar and was willing to devote the next year to mapping well locations and other sensitive water areas for the towns to prevent accidental contamination.

Although Eastham is unique in that it is the only Cape town totally dependent on small private wells instead of a municipal water system, Peake noted there is "great concern about the use of the chemicals, even if we are able to locate all of the wells."

NStar Vegetation Management director David Polson was quick to point out that his company had heard of the moratorium proposal only yesterday and had not agreed to, or even officially discussed, the plan yet. Polson also told the audience that his company had been using herbicides on the Cape since 2000, although not in Eastham.

NStar Senior Arborist Bill Hayes explained that the company was following accepted practice that had been in use in the industry for 50 years. Federal law requires that NStar control trees and other fast-growing vegetation under high-power lines to safeguard against damage and possible blackouts, and to give repair workers access.

Hayes said the overall plan was to identify species to be eliminated, and then hand-cut tall vegetation and spray the leaves of shorter plants with herbicides using low-volume backpack sprayers.

Herbicide would also be applied to cut stumps with the goal, in both procedures, of eliminating roots and the possibility of new sprouts. This would hopefully encourage the proliferation of low-growing plants that would crowd out the taller species.

Instead of six people walking the power lines with sprayers on the first-treatment phase, only one person would be needed for the next phase to kill any new growth from seeds, Hayes said. He estimated the first treatment would use about a pint of herbicide per acre.

Hayes also pointed out that the company was using the safest of the herbicides recommended by the state Department of Agricultural Resources, which oversees the clearing of these rights of way by power companies.

Polson said the company would not agree to any plan that called for allowing property owners abutting the power lines and other volunteers to control vegetation there instead of NStar. He did say that they had discussed partnering with the anti-herbicide group GreenCAPE to "look at other opportunities."

Comments from the audience were critical of any herbicide use.

Thom Schoepfer pointed out that scientifically acceptable levels of other poisonous chemicals like DDT had been proven to be harmful generations later. He urged officials to use an alternative to poison whenever possible.

Laura Kelly asked that they try safer, organic herbicides, and Selectman Martin McDonald cautioned that the state agencies that oversee public health and the environment are not always right.

Town Administrator Sheila Vanderhoef told selectmen that they might be able to gain some traction by asking NStar to come before the town's conservation commission to work out how best to protect the 20 percent of the power-line land that falls under the commission's purview.

The town has until March 21 to comment on the NStar plan, which is scheduled to begin on March 29 and continue through Oct. 16.

For Immediate Release                                                          

ED REFORM BILL PASSES WITH REGIONAL SCHOOL AMENDMENT  

Prevents further deep cuts by tying to Chapter 70 account                                                                   

 Boston, MA – Today the Massachusetts Senate passed, and the House of Representatives began debate on, the first major piece of education reform legislation in 16 years. As part of the package of reforms, the bill protects regional school transportation funding. These funds have been easy targets for cuts in the past. This legislation guarantees that in the future, regional school transportation funds are not proportionately greater than reductions to chapter 70 funding.

“Overhauling the state’s education system required updating and improving many of the previous funding structures that had been in place for schools,” said Senator Robert O’Leary (D-Barnstable), Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Education and conference committee member who worked on the education reform bill. “If the state can save money by having towns regionalize services we should be encouraging, not punishing school districts. Allowing regional school transportation to remain vulnerable to future budget reductions, when so many of my constituents utilize it, was not an option and I am proud the changes we made to protect it in the final bill.

In an effort to protect regional school transportation funding, the House filed an amendment aimed at preventing deep cuts to the regional school transportation account that was co-sponsored by Representative Sarah Peake and strongly pushed by Representative Cleon Turner, in his role as chair of the Regional School Caucus.  Governor Patrick made an initial cut to the program this October through his 9C powers, but reversed his decision after intensive lobbying push from the Regional School Caucus, schools and teachers advocates.

“Having this protection included in the bill will be able to give all regional school districts, including Nauset, piece of mind around their school transportation budget,” said Representative Sarah Peake (D-Provincetown). “This is critically important to towns so they can craft their local budgets and be able to count on funds from the state.”

“We worked with Members from across the state to get this language in which shows this isn’t just an issue for Cape Cod or Western Mass; it affects the majority of communities in the commonwealth,” said Representative Turner (D-Dennis).

In addition to reforming how regional transportation funding is determined, the bill also establishes a new category of public schools, provides options to improve existing school districts that are underperforming, and puts the Commonwealth in better position to secure federal funds to help all public schools in Massachusetts.

For Immediate Release                                                          

REPRESENTATIVE PEAKE ELECTED VICE-CHAIR REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION CAUCUS

          Representative Sarah Peake (D-Provincetown) announced today that on Thursday, January 7, 2010 she was elected Vice-Chair of the Regional Transportation Authority Caucus, a legislative group co-founded last year by State Senator Stan Rosenberg, (D-Amherst) and State Representative Daniel Bosley (D-North Adams). 

“I am very excited to have a leadership position in this caucus.  I am humbled by the confidence my colleagues have shown in me by electing me the House Vice-Chair”, said Peake.  “I’m looking forward to working with the new Senate Vice-Chair Ben Downing (D-Pittsfield).  We literally have the state covered, from Pittsfield to Provincetown!” said Peake

Rep. Peake went on to comment “it’s no exaggeration to say that the lives and livelihoods of a lot of people, especially in rural areas like ours, depend on safe, reliable public transportation.  Roughly two-thirds of all Massachusetts communities are served by RTAs, adding up to about 25 million rides a year. This is an important service that simply cannot be taken for granted.”

“I appreciate Rep. Peake’s willingness to serve as the House Vice-Chair.  Since its inception, Rep Peake has been an active and valuable member of the Caucus.  I look forward to working with her in this new leadership role,” Rep Bosley said. Daniel Bosley went on to comment that “There are 27 senators and 80 representatives with RTAs in their districts. Together, we can focus our energies and do some good work for our constituents.”

Some of the issues the caucus will take up immediately are funding for FY 2011 and insuring that the funds from the state are distributed to the RTAs in a fair and equitable manner.

November 9, 2009

Editorial, The Cape Cod Chronicle

Thanks, Sarah 

            We’re not sure how she did it, but State Representative Sarah Peake surprised almost everyone on Saturday by announcing that Gov. Deval Patrick had signed legislation exempting the Chatham Marconi Maritime Center from the state’s prevailing wage law.  The last time the legislation was discussed, just three weeks ago, town officials were not optimistic of its passage. 

            The bill languished in committees for months after being introduced by Peake in January.  It finally went before both the House and Senate in October and was passed by both chambers on Nov. 5.  The governor signed it last Friday, Nov. 13.

            The bill will save the Marconi group some $125,000 as it undertakes renovations to the interior of the former operations center at the Orleans Road campus, which will serve as a museum and education center.  It helps bring the end of a long road for the group into view, and ensures that the museum will become the centerpiece for the town-owned property.  The town must now make an effort to find appropriate uses for the other structures, all of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places for good reason --- they played a vital role in the development of the communication technology we all take for granted today, and were involved in historic events too numerous to name.  Voters will also be asked to appropriate community preservation funds to complete work on the infrastructure of the site, including septic facilities and new, safer driveways.

            CMMC officials expressed their gratitude to Peake at Saturday’s annual meeting.  She also deserves the thanks of the community for shepherding the bill through the complex legislative process in order to help preserve one of the town’s most important cultural and historic treasures.  

September 24, 2009

STATE CULTURAL GRANTS BENEFIT LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS

Representative Sarah Peake, D-Provincetown says state grants totaling $74,150 will go to nonprofit cultural groups in the 4th Barnstable District.

CONTACT: Representative Sarah Peake; 617.722.2210 

Provincetown, MA -- Representative Sarah Peake announced today that grants totaling $74,150 have been awarded to cultural organizations and communities in her district by the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC). Representative Peake said that these grants support a variety of cultural activities that benefit local residents and the local economy.

The announcement was made as part of a statewide funding program by the MCC. Rep Peake is the Vice Chair of the Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development.

Local recipients awarded grants include:

Cultural Investment Portfolio, $3.53 million

The Cultural Investment Portfolio (formerly Organizational Support) provides unrestricted

operating funds to nearly 400 arts, humanities, and science organizations with track records of

excellence, education, and community service. These organizations allow Massachusetts

children and adults to experience everything from theatre and music to visual arts and dance,

and learn about history and nature, new languages and cultures. These grants must be

matched one to one, and range from $2,500 to $50,500.

Those receiving awards in the 4th Barnstable District are:

Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, Inc. $2,600:

To present classical and contemporary chamber music performances by

world-class ensembles and exceptional emerging young artists during a three-week summer festival, at

benefit performances and off-season concerts on Cape Cod; to develop new audiences for chamber music;

to commission new works whenever possible; and provide educational activities that encourage, broaden

and deepen the chamber music art form.

Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown $18,100:

To encourage the growth of emerging visual artists and creative writers, to

restore the year-round vitality of the historic town of Provincetown as an arts colony, and to propagate

aesthetic values and experience.

Lower Cape Communications, Inc. $9,500:

To provide a broadcast service to Cape Cod presenting educational, artistic

and informative programs produced by members of the Cape Cod community.

Payomet Performing Arts Charitable Trust $2,500

To provide year-round, affordable performing arts and educational

programming to target audiences of Outer Cape Cod, visitors and children, while positively impacting the

region’s creative economy.

Provincetown Art Association and Museum $7,300

To promote and cultivate the practice and appreciation of all branches of

the fine arts; to assemble and maintain in the town of Provincetown and environs a collection of art of merit;to hold exhibitions; and by forums, concerts, and similar activities, to promote education of the public in the arts and social intercourse between artists and laymen.

Provincetown Arts Press, Inc. $7,500

To focus broadly on artists, performers, and writers who inhabit or visit the tip of Cape Cod, and to stimulate creative activity and enhance public awareness of the nation's oldest continuous art colony.

Provincetown International Film Festival $4,400

To showcase independent American and international films, to nurture

aspiring independent filmmakers, to honor industry luminaries, to preserve and sustain cinema as an art

form and educational forum, and to increase the economic and cultural vitality of our community.

Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill $5,300

To foster and encourage the arts and crafts by providing a wide range of

instruction and by holding exhibitions, lectures, forums and similar activities that promote social intercourse among artists, craftsmen, laymen and the community at large.

Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, Inc. $5,800

To present professional quality theater to the audiences of Cape Cod and

to provide an alternative theater experience not otherwise available in the region.

YouthReach, $448,100

MCC’s nationally renowned YouthReach program supports partnerships between cultural and

community organizations that integrate rigorous out-of-school arts opportunities for youth at risk

of failure because of poverty, illness, crime, or neglect. The grants will fund 48 organizations

across the state including:

The Provincetown Art Association and Museum $11,150

For in-depth sustained arts programming that includes cultural and environmental mapping of the town and seashore, a community portrait painting project, a web site design project, and individual youth-designed projects.

Total FY 10 Grants $74,150

 “I’m proud to support these cultural organizations and community groups in their work to enrich our lives and improve our communities through arts and culture,” Rep Peake said. “In addition all of these organizations play an important and significant role in our economy here on the Outer and Lower Cape”, Peake added.

In addition, the MCC also approved $28,000 in funding; $4000 for each of the seven Cultural Councils locatedin the Fourth Barnstable District. The LCC Program is the most extensive cultural funding system of its kind in the nation. This grassroots network provides funding to every Massachusetts city and town through 329 LCCs and 2,500 volunteer members. The councils support community-based projects that explore local arts and history, expand education and accessibility, and celebrate diversity.

About the Massachusetts Cultural Council

The Massachusetts Cultural Council is a state agency that promotes excellence, access,

education and diversity in the arts, humanities and sciences, in order to improve the quality of

life for all Massachusetts residents and contribute to the economic vitality of our communities.

The MCC is committed to creating a central place for the arts, sciences and humanities in the

everyday lives of communities across the Commonwealth. The Council pursues this mission

through a combination of grants, services, and advocacy for nonprofit cultural organizations,

schools, communities, and artists.

Wicked Local Eastham, July 24, 2009

How old is too old behind the wheel?

by Scott Dalton

CAPE COD - As state officials debate the merits and drawbacks of restricting or even rescinding the licenses of elderly drivers, local seniors and their advocate agencies are looking at how such restrictions might be structured and how they may affect them.

Barbara-Anne Foley, director of the Harwich Council on Aging, said she has been a little surprised by how many seniors have said that retesting at a certain age would be a good thing.

“I thought I would hear a lot more, ‘They can’t do that to us’ Gray Panthers sort of thing, but I haven’t,” Foley said. “There’s been more, ‘Why don’t they give up their licenses if they can’t drive?’”

(Gray Panthers is an intergenerational education and advocacy organization.)

Jeanne Decker, a volunteer at Harwich Council on Aging, agreed that there should be some restrictions on older drivers, but cautioned against such rules being too restrictive.

Drivers of a certain age

“Eighty would be a fair assessment to start with because you already have something on the books,” Decker said, referring to a provision instituted by Harwich Friends of the Council on Aging that prohibits anyone age 80 or older from driving COA volunteer buses. The measure was put in place because of insurance costs. “Certainly it should not be any lower.”

Fellow volunteer Nan Bailey said she has seen plenty of younger drivers on the road whose abilities were questionable at best.

“Frankly, as far as I’m concerned, everyone should be tested once in a while,” she said. “I think the biggest mistake of elders is that they drive too slow. This makes other drivers frustrated.”

Still, she expressed concern that there should be some sort of rules to make sure that those who are no longer capable are kept off the roads.

“My mother. Never in God’s name should she have been behind the wheel, but I couldn’t stop her,” Bailey recalled.

The question of whether elderly drivers should, at a certain age, give up their license or at least be retested, has been hotly debated for a number of years. But several recent crashes involving older drivers on the Cape and elsewhere in the commonwealth have again put the focus on whether the state should take action.

In one high-profile case last spring, an elderly driver who apparently mistook her gas pedal for her brake pedal crashed into the waiting area of an Orleans hair salon on Route 6A, seriously injuring a man sitting inside the salon.

Lawmakers take stands

State Rep. Sarah Peake (4th Barnstable District) said a bill filed in the state senate would require re-testing for drivers starting at age 85, but added that she is not in favor of an age-based approach.

"I am certain that is not the route we want to go down," she said. "Who is to say that 85 is the right age?"

Instead, Peake said she prefers a plan proposed by Rep. Kay Khan (D-Newton) that would require physicians and health care providers to report to the Department of Motor Vehicles anyone age 16 or older who has cognitive or physical impairments that would have an impact on his or her ability to drive. Peake noted that simply putting seniors through an updated road test may not reveal a problem that could lead to a car crash.

"These accidents are not about a failure to signal or a failure to yield," she said, adding that most accidents involving seniors are caused by an inability to react as quickly as needed. "We don't need to be asking our elderly drivers to parallel park."

But Senator Robert O'Leary disagreed with Peake. O'Leary said he favors an age-based testing requirement, although he said he would like to see more statistical evidence before deciding what that age should be.

"If you lose your license, that is quite a burden," he said. "We have to be careful about picking the right age."
O'Leary added that any such driving test must be fair and reasonable and that provisions should be put in place for elderly drivers who should perhaps have their driving restricted rather than eliminated.

"For example, clearly there are people out there who are 85 who should not be driving at night," he said. "But they may still be able to drive during the day. It may not be necessary to take away a license, I'm just saying at some point driving skills need to be revisited."

O'Leary added that the topic of re-testing elderly drivers has been discussed by state officials several times in the past few years, but that this year might be different.

"This time I sense more of an appetite legislatively for it to get on the senate floor," he said.

Both Peake and O'Leary said the issue is a particularly sensitive one on the Cape because of the number of older drivers. O'Leary noted that a license provides access to groceries, shopping, and medical treatment.

"When you lose your license, all of these things become very difficult to do," he said. "Only those who are really a threat should lose their licenses."

Initiatives on tap

Some insurance companies have already moved on the issue. Commerce Insurance Company recently announced a partnership with In Control Advanced Driver Training, a state-certified crash prevention program, to offer elderly drivers a $75 class to hone their driving skills and reduce the chance they will be involved in a crash. The idea of the course, according to Commerce Insurance, is to help train older drivers in newer automobile technologies and in avoiding dangerous road situations.

Some of the Cape’s councils on aging have also made headway on the issue, offering driving seminars to interested seniors so they can assess their own skills.

“We are planning to offer in September a safe driving course, the Safe Driver Program by AARP, 55 Alive,” Orleans COA director Liz Smith said. “We included a safe driver checklist in the last newsletter for our readers to see if they are having any of these problems. Some are concerned and some are taking the driving class.”

Smith said that some older drivers are unaware of the possible risk they may pose to themselves and to other drivers. Foley said she has seen the same thing, and that the Harwich COA offers the AARP programs annually, as well as a computer program put out by AAA called Roadwise Review that allows seniors to check their skills.

“I asked Dr. Gregory Wright to come in. He is a chiropractor and has experience in accident reconstruction,” she said. “He does tests, like looking over your shoulder to check back-up skills, leg and knee reactions. The program tests visual acuity in daytime, nighttime, and overcast weather. It also tests memory and dexterity.”

Identifying difficulties

Seniors can gauge their own risk factors based on the results. Foley said she sometimes recommends that the subject share the results with his or her doctor. The tests can indicate a driver still has all the necessary skills to travel safely. Or it may reveal a need for physical therapy, or even an underlying medical condition. In one case, she said, a woman was so shaken by the results that she set up an immediate appointment with her doctor. After several medical tests, doctors discovered she had an as-yet-undetected brain tumor, which was affecting both her visual and cognitive skills.

Foley added that the COA works closely with Harwich Police Elder Affairs Officer Donna Tavano to try to identify seniors who may be experiencing driving difficulties. She said they sometimes recommend an off-Cape driving school that works specifically with seniors, or Rehabilitation Hospital of the Cape and Islands which offers a combination of a written and road test.

Ideally, Smith and Foley said, elderly drivers will surrender their licenses voluntarily if they see that their skills have diminished to the point of being dangerous. Both directors said they are working to develop programs to reward such drivers, possibly with gift certificates from local businesses or from the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority.

Smith and Foley noted that the testing at the senior centers is meant to educate older drivers, and that they are not there to take people’s licenses away. Smith said she believes many seniors see the logic in retesting from a safety perspective, but that it is never an easy step to take oneself off the road.

“When you think of the fact that you got your license when you were 16 or 16 and a half, I don’t think it’s a bad idea,” Smith said. “In fact, I think it’s a good idea. We need to look at driving not as a right, but as a privilege. It’s a very difficult thing to give up, I know. We do have a wonderful van service in Orleans, but it’s not the same as getting in the car and going wherever you want to go.”

The convenience factor

That element of convenience plays a significant role in seniors’ desire to hold onto their licenses. Although some public transportation alternatives, such as the RTA’s Flex bus, b-bus, and the Harwich to Orleans (H20) line, provide regional options, and local vans, such as those offered by both the Orleans and Harwich COAs, can help get seniors around town, their scope remains limited. Other options, such as the FISH program coordinated through the RTA, can assist individuals who need to get to medical appointments in Boston. Cabs and taxis can fill the gaps in some communities, but Smith pointed out that no such option exists in Orleans.

It’s therefore no surprise that for many seniors the idea of giving up their licenses is the same as giving up their independence.

“It’s not as convenient, not by a long shot,” Bailey said of the various forms of public transportation. “And, it’s frustrating when they can’t get somewhere. It still leaves a lot to be desired. … Nothing’s in one place. You need to go here for one thing and then there for something else.”

“It’s like taking your legs out,” Decker agreed. “I’m at the mercy of having to ask people to drive me here or drive me there.”

Wicked Local Chatham, July 2, 2009

Demographer: Cape Towns Must Reinvent Public Education

by Tim Wood

            Since 2000, enrollment in school districts in the Lower and Outer Cape have declined by 15 percent, or 1,000 students.  In the same period, education costs have gone up by 32 percent.

            With retirees in the area outnumbering school children two to one — and perhaps growing to three to one by 2020, that sort of growth is not sustainable, demographer Peter Francese told a gathering of school and town officials last Thursday.  In order to prepare students for the new global economy, the eight communities must “reinvent the concept of public education,” he said.

            “Do you have the political will to do it?” said Francese, director of demographic forecasts for the New England Economic Partnership and founder of American Demographics Magazine.  “It means changing the culture of the Outer Cape towns.”

            With Harwich and Chatham about to embark on serious discussions about school regionalization, last week’s day-long forum at Nauset Middle School brought together representatives from the eight towns in the region — Harwich, Chatham, Brewster, Orleans, Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro and Provincetown — to hear Francese’s demographic forecast and brainstorm ideas for addressing the changing face of education.  It followed two summit meetings of area superintendents of schools and school committee members organized by Rep. Sarah Peake, D-Provincetown, to help look for solutions beyond town borders.

            What has to happen, Francese told the audience of about 100 people, which included selectmen, school committee and finance committee members and residents from the eight towns, is to look at the Lower and Outer Cape “as a community, not eight separate communities.”

            That will not be easy, given the parochialism of Cape towns as well as the demographics.  “That has to change,” he said. “Everybody in the communities has to get interested and see that students get educated as they should be.”

            That does not mean combining all the region’s schools.  “I’m not talking about school consolidation,” Francese said. “I’m talking about administrative consolidation, which will create efficiencies.”  Given the 5,300 school-aged children in all eight towns, “Does it make sense to have five superintendents?” he asked.

            Chatham and Harwich’s talks — brought about by Harwich’s need for a new high school — are a step in the right direction. Both communities have approved a regional study committee and members have been appointed; the group is likely to hold its first meeting soon.  But for months now, the superintendents and representatives of the school committees from both towns have been meeting to identify possible areas of collaboration.  That type of regional cooperation is “absolutely moving in the right direction,” said Francese.

            Chatham Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mary Ann Lanzo said the forum validated many of the assumptions local school officials have regarding demographics as well as the direction being taken by Chatham and Harwich, and now the other school districts in the region.

            “I think it’s crucial to explore regionalization because we’ll be such a small school system” in the future, she said. Given the financial difficulties Chatham, Harwich and other areas towns have been experiencing, it’s unlikely town officials or taxpayers will be willing to provide more funding for education given the shrinking enrollment.  “After a while, you can’t sustain the program,” Lanzo said.

            One of the main points to come out of the discussion portion of the forum was the need for a communications plan to keep residents informed of the process and make sure people are involved, said Lanzo.  Many factors will make changes difficult, she added.

            “The only way things will change is if people come together,” she said.

            Francese noted the importance of communication and involving the local communities in the schools, including making school facilities available to the public and even partnering with local inns to use the buildings to host conferences. 

            But the demographics of the region are working against education, Francese said, due to the high number of retirees here.  Barnstable County is the oldest region in New England, and one of the dozen oldest in the country.  And the eight towns of the Lower and Outer Cape are the oldest on the Cape.  Only 17.5 percent of the Cape’s population is under 18.

            “There’s a huge deficit of young people on the Cape, anywhere from 20 to 30 percent fewer than elsewhere in Massachusetts,” Francese said.

            Since 2000, the total number of year-round residents in the eight towns has remained relatively unchanged at 49,000.  Despite that, the number of homes has risen 8 percent, or 3,600 units.  The area has 22 percent of all Cape residents, and less than 1 percent of state residents, but it hosts 45 percent of the Cape’s second homes and one quarter of the second homes in the state, Francese said.  In five of the eight towns — Chatham, Eastham, Provincetown, Wellfleet and Truro — there are more dwelling units than year-round residents.

            “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that,” he said.  “It’s very unusual.  It puts an enormous pressure on those towns to create services for many, many more residents than are there year round.”  Efforts to build workforce housing in the towns are laudable, but more units are one or two bedrooms. “You’re not going to get any more kids, not when you build one or two bedrooms,” Francese said.

            If school enrollment continues its downward trend — which is happening statewide, Francese said — cost per pupil will go “through the roof.”  Small schools won’t be able to offer the programs necessary to educate students to compete in the global economy.  The 65-year-and-old demographic dominates the region.  That group must be made to understand the “myths” that more young people means more traffic and more crime, he said.

            “I think it’s a matter of myth-busting, as well as every person in this room going out and being an ambassador,” Francese said.

            There’s still time to do something about the changing demographics, Francese said, though that will require a “deeper understanding” of the Cape’s human ecology.   The current human ecology is out of balance due to the lack of young people.  Changing that “is not a simple matter to engineer,” he said.

Wicked Local Wellfleet, Mon Jun 22, 2009

To market, to market we go (maybe)

By Rich Eldred

CAPE COD - How many seashells can a shellfish farmer sell at a seaside farmers market?

The answer was zero but that could change due to a bill sponsored by several local legislators and a pilot program at the state level.

The bill (S422) would allow aquaculturalists to sell at a farmers market without a seafood wholesale dealer’s permit. The permit costs $130. Wholesalers are inspected by the state Division of Food and Drugs and are able to acquire, handle, store, distribute, process, fillet, ship or sell raw shellfish, frozen or unfrozen.

Co-sponsors of the bill include Senator Robert O’Leary of the Cape and Islands as well as local state Reps. Sarah Peake, Cleon Turner, Tim Madden and Susan Gifford, among others, in the House.

“The advantage is it’s a win-win situation,” Peake said. “It’s a winning situation for aquaculturalists because it opens a whole new world to sell to. And for people who enjoy farmers markets, like myself, it gives us the opportunity to buy local products and good fresh seafood at a fairly acceptable price as well.”

It’s another income source.

“I think the going rate for oysters is probably 45 to 60 cents an oyster, depending on the wholesaler,” observed Bill Burt, of the Cape Cod Cooperative Extension Service. “If you sell at a farmers market you could probably get somewhere close to $1.”

Turner agreed with all of the above and noted that the produce would still be monitored for safety.

“The same people who keep an eye on it now (will continue to do so). The legislation didn’t waive any of that,” he said. “They still have to have a permit with all the elements of the selling place. It’s the same as if it was at Young’s Fish Market or the Chatham Fish Market. There are no shortcuts put into the bill.”

“Public safety is a paramount concern,” Peake agreed. “Local health agents can do random inspections (that) would mostly concern temperature controls to make sure they’re iced properly or cooled and stay at 41 degrees.”

The ice would have to be from a safe source and the melted water disposed of properly.

The bill amends the existing law (Chapter 130) by exempting the prospective seller, provided he or she holds an aquaculture propagation permit, from having to obtain a commercial shellfish permit and a wholesale dealer’s permit, and allows them to sell at a farmers market registered with the department of agricultural resources.

“In many ways an aquaculturalist farms the same way as a farmer who picks grapes on the vine or provides farm fresh eggs or anything else. They’re just spread out on the flats,” Peake observed. “And it is absolutely sustainable farming.”

Orleans public health agent Bob Canning noted that while this could mean a little extra work, it would not be a problem.

“We’d be doing that if they were an actual dealer,” he said. “If the board of health issues them a (retail food) license, it’s up to us to do the inspections and enforce it. Once it leaves the truck, everything is as it would be if it were a retail store. It’s not much different than a temporary food vendor.”

Peake noted aquaculture is already heavily regulated.

“If you want Wellfleet oysters at a restaurant in Boston and go into the kitchen, he can pull the tag of the bag and say these oysters are from so and so’s grant in Wellfleet, tell you what section of the grant, when they were harvested, what wholesaler handled them and so on. So they are already among the most highly trained professionals dealing with food safety and quality. They’re already adhering to strict guidelines,” she noted.

A hearing on the bill was held last week.

“A companion bill was filled that would allow Massachusetts-produced wines to be sold at farmers markets,” Peake said. “They came out of the committee at the same time and I would expect them to progress in tandem. In my testimony before the committee I asked them to expedite the farmers market bill so at least we could capture some of the summer season but I long ago hung up my crystal ball.”

“I don’t know of any major opposition to it,” Turner said. “That doesn’t mean it will move rapidly or successfully. It’s not one of those things that would cause any legislator thinking about it to gasp and say, ‘Why would we do that?’ I think next season it might be something you’ll see a benefit from.”

Pilot program

Coincident with the bill, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and Division of Marine Fisheries have devised a set of draft regulations for a pilot project to allow the sale of shellfish at farmers markets. They could also be wholesale dealers and harvesters and would get a retail permit from the local board of health and one from the state and go through a state inspection.

A refrigerated truck would bring the shellfish to market and a written operational Hazard Analysis Critical Control Plan approved by the Department of Environmental Protection, is also required. All these approvals have limited interest so far, but Julie Winslow, who operates Cape Coastal Farm on Little Pleasant Bay in Orleans, and sells mushrooms at the Orleans Farmers Market, wants to resume selling shellfish. From 1994-98 she sold softshell clams, oysters and quahogs there.

“I’m very excited to apply and hopefully once again I’ll be allowed to sell,” she noted. “One stipulation is you have to come to the market in a refrigerator truck. That is absurd to travel a mile or two to market.”

Winslow will borrow a refrigerator truck but there are other options.

“They could have something like an RV refrigeration unit, that would probably cost $600 to $700,” said Burt. “It depends on how badly you want to sell at a farmers market. You could probably double the value of each shellfish. That’s a business decision you have to make. Most of the larger growers already have markets they sell to and I doubt more than a few would be interested.”

“I’ve been here before and I can tolerate it,” Winslow said. “HACCP is a good program. It’s good science. It’s just extreme, very very arduous and complicated. I’m taking online instruction from Cornell University to give me some background. When they first came up with the HACCP regulations, they were anticipating industrial scale operations.”

That’s certainly not the case with most Cape Cod aquaculturalists.

“(Shellfish) have to be pre-bagged in a cooler behind me and pre-counted so people can just buy half a dozen,” Winslow added. “You have to dispose of the ice in the proper manner.”

Nevertheless, she hopes, by summer’s end, to be bagging and selling oysters and clams.

Cape Cod Times, June 14, 2009

Weighing education models on the Lower Cape

ORLEANS — It's the public's turn to imagine the best possible ways to educate schoolchildren from Harwich to Provincetown.

At a June 25 forum, demographer Peter Francese will set the scene in the morning by giving the latest information about trends influencing the Cape in the years to come and how towns can shape their own future.

In the afternoon, the Lower Cape's school districts want to hear ideas about education from a range of people — from students and parents to taxpayers, town officials and educators.

The free forum is set for 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Nauset Regional Middle School on Route 28 in Orleans. The forum is sponsored by the school districts of the Lower Cape and supported by state grants to the Chatham, Harwich, and Nauset Regional school districts.

The Lower Cape school districts started a search for a new educational model at a "school summit" in April organized by State Rep. Sarah Peake, D-Provincetown, for school superintendents and a school committee member from each district. The group widened to meet with a selectman from each town earlier this month.

The public forum comes at a critical time for the Cape.

Francese last year warned business and community leaders about the drain of young workers and their children from the Cape. Also, Cape towns are making deep budget cuts, and looking for less expensive ways to deliver education. Schools and towns are exploring ways to share administrators, teachers, buildings and classes.

A free lunch will be provided to those who sign up to participate no later than June 21 by e-mail to modr@umb.edu with "June 25 Public Forum" in the subject line, or by calling 617-287-4040.

Wicked Local, Provincetown

For Provincetown graduates, it's time to 'fly'

Wed Jun 10, 2009

PROVINCETOWN - The rain started almost exactly at the same time as the graduation ceremony last Friday, forcing some seniors to carry umbrellas to keep their robes dry as they walked to the tent erected next to the Pilgrim Monument.

The rain soaked the shoulders of latecomers who were forced to stand under the dripping eaves of the tent as all of the 400 seats inside were already filled. And the rain maintained a steady drumming throughout the ceremony, keeping time with the songs and speeches that peppered the awarding of the diplomas and scholarships.

But after 12 years of hard work, it would take more than an afternoon storm to dampen the sense of accomplishment, relief and sheer joy for the 23 graduating seniors and their families. From the opening processional through the ending recessional, there was nothing but smiles and shouts of encouragement under the tent.

“I do feel different,” said senior Natasha Phipps after the ceremony. “I feel more grown-up. I feel responsible. And I feel like a young adult, a young adult who’s ready to start her future.”

“I guess I’m relieved a little bit. I’m just happy I graduated like everyone else,” said Cody Silva, who is heading for Bridgewater State College to study communications.

Like any graduating class, Friday’s commencement ceremony was a time to look back as well as ahead. Class valedictorian Kelsey Trovato spoke at length about the value of an education at a small school, referring to the small student enrollment at Provincetown High School, the smallest district in the state. And class salutatorian Emma Silva talked about the diversity of the class of 2009 in her speech.

“Some of us have known each other since preschool. Others have joined us from Truro, Wellfleet, Eastham, New York, New Jersey, Mexico, Jamaica and Serbia, some only arriving this year,” Silva said. “Through the years we have become a family. The bonds that we’ve made over the years let us feel as though we’ve known each other a lifetime. These bonds and the memories we’ve shared will continue to connect and nourish us.”

“It is a very engaged class,” school superintendent Jessica Waugh reflected after the ceremony. “Some classes are more academic, more sports. They were everything, community service, the plays, music. Music kind of wove all the way through as a theme. They are terrific, all-around kids. Fabulous.”
State Rep. Sarah Peake gave the commencement address, saying she was “a bit nervous” because she had never been asked to speak at a graduation ceremony before. But she delivered an emotional speech that touched on the uniqueness of growing up and living in a small town.

“When you leave Provincetown High School, know you leave here with a strong foundation. You’ll also have a great sense of place, of connectiveness, that comes from here, that comes from Provincetown,” Peake said.

As always, the awarding of the scholarships took up the largest chunk of time during the ceremony. Over $45,000 was awarded this year, distributed among the 23 students in the graduating class. Almost every senior won an award. Donated by a wide variety of local businesses and residents, the generosity was a testament to the strong connections the school has forged with the community over the years. Cheers lifted the tent roof as the scholarship names were called. Two seniors, Katie Silva and Sadie Santos gave each other a high-five as both of their names were called for one award.

At the end, the awarding of diplomas to the graduates was the emotional highlight. As is the tradition in Provincetown, family members waited at the foot of the stage to present bouquets of flowers to the girls and leis to the boys after they had been handed their diplomas. It was a joyous moment, with hugs, laughter and not a few tears.

“I’ve been waiting 18 years for this,” said Alex Brown, proud father of senior Tina Brown.

Then the recessional music began and the graduates filed out to a rainy lawn.  Because of the weather, there wasn’t much lingering. Instead, the families dispersed to a variety of parties at the Provincetown Inn, Fisherman’s Wharf, Fanizzi’s, Enzo’s and private homes. There the celebrations continued, as the last night before the beginning of the rest of the graduates’ lives unfolded.

“Look on any map. Provincetown is on it,” Waugh said during her commencement speech. “People know where we are. People know who we are. We can be free. We can learn to fly. Fly now.”

Wicked Local, Wellfleet  Wed Jun 10, 2009

State rep’s personal experience drives ‘Tide’ participation

By Doreen Leggett

CAPE COD - Although she is in a crowd of swimmers, state Rep. Sarah Peake finds the Against the Tide event akin to meditation where she can reflect on how breast cancer has touched her life.

“I spend time thinking of my mom,” she said, adding she was 26 when her mother died of the disease. “And way too many of my friends on the Cape have been diagnosed.”

Peake’s personal connection to the disease and her deep commitment to fighting it sets her apart in the eyes of Cheryl Osimo, a tireless advocate and outreach coordinator for the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition, MBCC, and Silent Spring Institute.

Osimo, a breast cancer survivor, remembers sitting down with Peake to talk about the epidemic and her personal fears about the steadily climbing rates. Osimo has a daughter who is 24 and she has been on enough panels with doctors to know that children of those with breast cancer often get the disease a decade earlier than their parent.

“Every time I hear that, I cringe,” said Osimo, who was diagnosed at 41. “When I sat down to explain that to (Peake), she already knew.”
Osimo pauses before continuing. She says there are a number of committed citizens and politicians that work for the cause and for that she is very grateful. But Peake is a cut above, she says.

“When you talk to Sarah Peake and see her in action, she doesn’t only support her constituents because she is their representative. When she believes strongly in something, her passion shows through and it is evident she sincerely cares,” Osimo says.

Peake supports numerous charities, but she is drawn to MBCC and Silent Spring because they focus on breast cancer prevention. In the last 50 years the lifetime risk of women developing breast cancer has almost tripled. It was one in eight just a few years ago and chances are now one in seven.

“It keeps going the wrong way,” said Peake.

Even before Rachel Carson’s landmark book, “Silent Spring,” people have begun to suspect the cocktail of chemicals in the environment of contributing to the increase in the disease.

The alarm was raised on the Cape more than a decade ago when rates on the peninsula far surpassed those in other communities. Since that point, Silent Spring has been searching for an environmental link to the disease that even today pushes some towns on the Cape more than 20 percent above the state average in breast cancer incidences.

Peake fights to get money for Silent Spring in the state Legislature and also raises money through events such as Against the Tide, which kicks off at Nickerson State Park in August. She does so because the institute is the only group focused on prevention.

“Most organizations are focused on treating [the disease], which is very important; MBCC is focused on finding a cure,” Peake said.
In addition to numerous other studies Silent Spring has done over the years, researchers are now examining ponds to see if the Cape’s dependence on septic systems is polluting the groundwater, which residents drink.

So far, low levels of pharmaceuticals and hormone-disrupting chemicals have been found in various ponds. Researchers are far from making definitive connections, but point out that similar levels have negatively affected fish and reptiles. Municipal water facilities rarely test for the compounds, and Silent Spring plans to look at levels in private and public wells in the future.

“They are involved in a very extensive study of groundwater,” Peake said. “I think it is very important research.”

Osimo points out that the vast majority of the funds they raise go back into research.

Peake is already raising money and enlisting volunteers for “Team Peake.” This will be her third year participating in the event and she has a back-up plan in place in case her busy schedule as a legislator precludes her from hitting the pool.

Starting in July she’ll avoid taking the elevators at the State House.
“That seems to work,” she said with a laugh.

Provincetown Banner, April 23, 2009

Third-graders earn creative honors in anti-bullying contest

Pru Sowers

PROVINCETOWN - For the third year in a row, a class at Veterans Memorial Elementary School has taken top honors in a statewide competition to combat bullying in school.

The third-grade class at VMES came in first this year for most creative overall with an elaborate poster created for the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center contest aimed at preventing bullying and violence in elementary and high schools. In addition, Tiana Bostwick, a fifth-grader at VMES, won an honorable mention for the poster she drew as her individual entry to the contest.

“We made a poster: where does bullying occur and why does it happen?” third-grader Kasia Sapinska said about the poster her class put together.

State Rep. Sarah Peake handed out the certificates of recognition to each student during a school-wide assembly last week.

“What you learn now will help you be much nicer as adults,” she said, adding, “Some of my colleagues on Beacon Hill could learn from you. I’m so proud of all of you.”

Each grade at VMES has been participating in a series of anti-bullying classes at VMES under the direction of social worker Maryann Campagna. The third, fourth and fifth-grades entered the contest, which drew 1,500 entries overall. “They’re very proud,” third-grade teacher
Valerie Valdez said about her winning students.

“Sometimes at basketball, people throw the basketball at someone because they don’t want them on their team,” third-grader Tim Burns said about bullying behavior he has seen.

“It makes me feel angry for that person,” Jesus Millan, a third-grader, said about how he feels when he witnesses a student teasing or taunting another. “I tell them to stop.”

Fifth-grader Bostwick said her poster was about cyber-bullying and what that entails.

“Cyber-bullying is bullying by an electric device that can send or communicate with another electronic device,” she explained.

Cape Cod Times, April 21, 2009

Cape school chiefs discuss best education models
SUSAN MILTON
School superintendents and school committee members from the Lower Cape gathered last week to talk about the "best possible model" for education in their towns.

During the meeting at Orleans Town Hall, school officials identified their districts' strengths and challenges, areas for possible collaboration, and what to do next, according to state Rep. Sarah Peake, D-Provincetown, who sponsored the school summit.

During the daylong session, state Rep. Cleon Turner, D-Dennis, contributed as chairman of the statewide regional school caucus. Also fielding questions from school officials were state Sen. Robert O'Leary, D-Barnstable, and state Rep. Marty Walz, D-Boston, chairmen of the Joint Committee on Education, and Associate Education Commissioner Jeffrey Wolfson.

The group decided to invite representatives from each town's board of selectmen and to ask demographer Peter Francese to meet with them in May, Peake said.

for immediate release, April 2, 2009

House Overwhelmingly Votes Consumer Friendly Law 

Representative Sarah Peake Joins House Colleagues in Vote to Insure Continuation of Insurance Appeals Board

“Consumer protections should be protected by law, and not subject to change by the mere sweep of an administrator’s pen,” said Rep Sarah Peake (D-Provincetown)

The Board of Appeals is a statutorily created body that is authorized to hear an appeal from an operator (driver) who was aggrieved by his or her insurer’s determination that the operator was more than 50% at-fault in an accident under the Safe Driver Insurance Plan (“SDIP”)pursuant to M.G.L. c. 175, § 113P. 

The Board of Appeals provides an impartial review by an independent third party arbitrator that has no stake in the hearings outcome.  An appeal before the Board is an inexpensive, convenient and user friendly method for the average driver to have his or her case heard.  An appeal only costs $50 as opposed to $250 or more for court filing fees. The hearings are held in geographically convenient locations across the Commonwealth.  Also, those appealing to the Board do not have to retain legal counsel, comply with rules of civil procedure or attend multiple proceedings, as they would in court.  The $50 appeals fee covers all costs of operating the board.  This board costs the taxpayers of Massachusetts nothing, yet it is there for their protection when and if they need it.

Each year, roughly 50,000 drivers in the Commonwealth file an appeal with the Board.  Of these appeals, roughly 50% are overturned in favor of the driver. “Having this right of appeal to an impartial third party is an essential consumer protection.  Annually, this amounts to $25-$40 million dollars saved each year by drivers filing an appeal,” said Peake.

This bill was filed by Representatives Timilty and Donato when the Commissioner of Insurance Nonnie Burnes announced her intention to abolish the Appeals Board.  “We knew we had to take immediate action to continue this important protection for the drivers in the Commonwealth.  We are grateful for Rep. Peake’s support and to have her sign on as a co-sponsor of this legislation”, said Rep Walter F. Timilty (D-Milton).

While the Commissioner of Insurance has recently announced that it is her intention to maintain the Board of Appeals indefinitely, allowing the existence of a Board of Appeals to remain vulnerable to non statutory interpretation or changes of a Commissioner or Administration does not fully protect consumers. Codifying the Board is a necessary step, because consumer protections should be protected by law.

“A down economy is not the time to cut marketing funds,”  Rep. Sarah Peake, D-Provincetown, says.
Cape Cod Times/Merrily Lunsford

Cape Cod Times, February 22, 2009

Revisiting Cape Cod tourism challenges
By Sarah Shemkus sshemkus@capecodonline.com

After 16 years as an innkeeper, state Rep. Sarah Peake, D-Provincetown, knows something about the tourism industry.

And one of the lessons she's learned is the importance of promoting your product, even when the financial times are tough.

"A down economy is not the time to cut marketing funds," she said.

Now, Peake is bringing that message to Beacon Hill, as the newly appointed vice chairwoman of the Legislature's Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development. Rep. John Keenan, D-Salem, will chair the committee.

"The argument I am going to make is that it's an investment in our economy, and an investment in keeping our people working," Peake said.

And, as the economic crisis takes its toll on state budgets, Peake and the committee are gearing up to determine the priorities and address the needs of the state's tourism and arts industries.

The most immediate and pressing concern, she said, will be to ensure that the state's various tourism promotion groups get sufficient funding during the budgeting process.

"I think that every line item is going to be looked at with a great deal of scrutiny," she said. "We're just going to have to do the best we can to maintain funding or cut in strategic ways."

The tourism industry, she noted, generates a large number of jobs on the Cape and needs to remain robust if the region's economy is to survive the recession.

The leisure and hospitality industries generated more than 25,000 jobs on Cape Cod last summer, nearly one quarter of all the jobs in the region, according to state statistics.

Peake also emphasized the importance of the committee's role in promoting arts and culture in addition to tourism.

"It is important to remember that the creative economy is a very important part," Peake said. "Every dollar invested in the creative economy returns $4 into the economy."

Before she was named to her new leadership position on Feb. 12, Peake had already filed a bill that would create the position of poet laureate for the commonwealth. If passed, she said, it would "create an interest in poetry and arts and literature, and be a way to honor some great Massachusetts writers."

Cape tourism leaders, as well as present and former legislators, praised Peake's appointment to a committee so important to the region.

"Sarah knows the tourism business," said Eric Turkington, who was the previous chair of the tourism committee but did not run for re-election to the legislature this year. "From the moment she wakes up in the morning, she's in it. It's a good match."

One of the big tasks for Peake and the committee, he said, will be to get the 1,000 Great Places campaign off the ground.

The initiative, which was passed at the end of Turkington's last term, will designate 1,000 Massachusetts spots as destinations worth visiting. The list will both help promote the state and stoke community pride, he said.

"I think that has great potential for civic uplift and tourism promotion, both at the same time," he said. "Now it has to be implemented."

The long-simmering question of increasing lodging and meals taxes may also come before the tourism panel, said Rep. Timothy Madden, a Nantucket independent who has also been appointed to the committee.

Though he acknowledged the need to raise revenue, "the way the governor has proposed those taxes being distributed, I don't think serves my district very well, or the Cape and Islands," Madden said. "Those will be the challenges — trying to balance if and where we raise the funds or if and where we do the cuts."

Budget issues are also high on the list of concerns for Wendy Northcross, CEO of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce.

In addition, she would like to garner legislative support for a historic seaports program, in which the Cape and other traditional fishing or shipping ports could collaborate to promote themselves to the small-ship cruise industry.

"I don't think it would take a lot of cash," Northcross said, but "leadership and recognition from a legislator certainly would be helpful."

As the committee begins to look at this range of issues, Peake believes it would be helpful to get out on the road and hold hearings in areas in which tourism and arts issues are important to the economy.

"We've learned a lot," she said. "But there's lots more to learn."

For immediate release                                                                    

January 13, 2008                                                                                 

Governor Patrick Signs Legislation Establishing Cape Cod Commission on the Status of Women

Boston, MA – Over this past weekend, Governor Patrick signed Senate bill 2884, An Act Establishing the Cape Cod & Islands Commission on the Status of Women into law. The bill creates a permanent commission on the status of women consisting of 13 people from the Cape and Islands who will be appointed by the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women. Women on the Cape and Islands will be able to best recognize and address county-specific needs and concerns and make recommendations to their local and state legislators.

“I look forward to working with this commission to more accurately address the needs of women on Cape Cod and the Islands,” said State Senator Robert O’Leary (D-Cape & Islands). “By giving the women of the Cape and the Islands a forum to recommend changes that they see needed around them, I believe we can work together to enact the best public policies for our communities.”

“ It is important that we focus not only on issues affecting women across the Commonwealth, but also the unique challenges that women on Cape Cod and the Islands face,” said Senate President Therese Murray. “This commission will focus on those unique challenges and give the women who call Cape Cod and the Islands home a voice.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                     

January 12, 2009                                                                                               

 Governor Signs Affordable Housing Legislation for Harwich

(Boston, MA) – The Governor today signed legislation relative to the town of Harwich, An Act Establishing the Harwich Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

This bill was approved at a town meeting vote and allows for an increase in the number of affordable units in the Town of Harwich. Section one of the bill identifies sources of revenue to be placed into the Fund established by the Act; section two names the Town Treasurer as custodian of the Fund; and section three cites the purpose of the Fund, that the Selectmen are the Fund’s authorizing agents, and for what purpose expenditures of the Fund can be made.

“In a community like Harwich, where much of the economy is influenced by tourism and second home owners, it is incredibly difficult to maintain year-round affordable housing. The communities of Cape Cod have struggled to meet their affordable housing goals and support the ability of year-round residents to stay on Cape Cod. This bill will help Harwich address those needs.” Said Senate sponsor Senator Robert O’Leary (D-Cape and Islands).

“I was excited to work with Senator O’Leary and get this bill to the Governor’s desk for signing.  The financing for locally approved affordable units was in the balance and now they can be built on schedule,” said Representative Sarah Peake (D-Provincetown).

“The signing of this bill enables the town of Harwich to meet the affordable housing needs within its community,” said Chairman Board of the Harwich Board of Selectmen, Mr. Robin D. Wilkins.

“We are very excited that the bill creating the Harwich Affordable Housing Special Revenue Fund is now on the governor’s desk and hope that he will sign it as soon as possible,” said Elizabeth Bridgewater Executive Director of the Community Development Partnership.

“The Community Development Partnership (formally the Lower Cape Cod CDC) has just completed the permitting phase for 12 new rental homes at 35 Main Street in Harwich and it will be difficult to move forward with the project without the availability of these funds.  The homes at 35 Main Street Extension will feature green building techniques and will utilize solar energy through the use of photovoltaic panels.   Most importantly, families in need of stable and affordable homes will have more options available to them once these units are finished. “