Fiddling while Rome burns

One need only look at the Gardiner Road seawall issue to know that we need some serious change on the board of selectmen.

Last fall, some residents of Woods Hole brought an article before town meeting to get $50,000 to repair the seawall. When the agenda finally turned to their article, they learned that there was literally no money left.

This spring, the selectmen brought another article before town meeting that would have taken part of the wall by eminent domain and appropriated $90,000 towards its repair. By the time the article made it to town meeting floor, the selectmen had changed it so that they were simply asking for permission from town meeting to explore all options for repairing the wall.

It should be noted that they could already do this - they didn't need to ask permission because it is their job.

And now Gardiner Road is under water.

It's fair to say that the selectmen have known about this issue for at least six months, if not a year or more. They have known that Gardiner Road would be under water. They have known that homes would be flooded.

And what did they do about it?

Nothing.

After town meeting last fall, why didn't the selectmen call for a meeting in Woods Hole to discuss the seawall and the options to repair it?

At town meeting this spring, why did the selectmen waste our time by asking for permission to do what they can already do?

Leadership is about setting priorities. Given that the selectmen spent more time talking about dogs in the past year than they did on the seawall, where do you think their priorities are?

We CAN do better!