Cape Cod as the Balkans
Looks deceive; we are far from one
Seen from space, it seems so obvious that Cape Cod is one.
But we know better.
The closer you get, the more this discreet, craggy arm, a single entity apart from the mainland, seems to fracture, fault lines running in every direction — not geologic but social, political.
The unity portrayed by a beautiful satellite pic crumbles.
To anyone who knows this place even a little, saying that Falmouth is one with Brewster, let alone Bourne or Mashpee, is absurd. To say that Barnstable is one with Chatham, let alone Sandwich; what are you smoking? Provincetown is one with – who? Closest neighbors might as well be in different states – of mind.
People who have spent lives in a town, know everyone and every nook, cross an imaginary boundary and have no idea who owns the hardware store, who’s the elementary school teacher, where to get a cup of coffee or how to find a town landing.
It’s because towns rule.
Never mind that once upon a time, Dennis was part of Yarmouth, Orleans part of Eastham, Brewster part of Harwich, Wellfleet part of Truro and Provincetown. Our evolution has separated us like primates; long ago we diverged, you can still see similarities but we surely are different.
This is why Barnstable County government, for all the well-intentioned people and services, feels like an indistinct, hazy canopy hovering over our civic lives. Oh yeah, there are county commissioners; what the hell do they do? Everyone knows it’s selectpeople who matter, town halls and town meetings where the rubber meets the road – until the Cape Cod Commission intervenes on a big development, or someone you know gets locked up in the county jail.
Cape Cod as the Balkans.
“Good government” types have pushed back on this perspective many times over many years. Do we really need 15 police stations and departments, more than 15 fire stations and departments, 15 (or so) shellfish constables and harbormasters, 15 building inspectors, 15 town halls? Is there anywhere else in the country where a fairly remote, well-defined community of our size would be structured like this, incurring all kinds of redundant infrastructure, management, expensive overhead, regulatory labyrinths?
I haven’t found one.
Ahh, but the tradeoff is the Holy Grail known as Local Control, aka Home Rule. This can foster a sense that government really is of, by, and for the people; when you and/or your cousin, aunt, niece and nephew work for the town one way or another, that can be reassuring. Call it something inclusive like “intimate public engagement with decision-making,” not cronyism or nepotism, and it feels right.
What it doesn’t do is unite us when it comes to protecting groundwater, building affordable housing, fighting climate change, reviving our coastal environment – you know, the big stuff. When we do manage to coalesce around an issue, it’s in spite of our Balkanized reality. Default resistance must be overcome.
This partly explains why the idea of a “sole source aquifer” became such a clarion call for the environmental movement. This rubric is not really true; people on the Upper Cape are not drinking the same water as people on the Lower Cape, there are discreet lenses and moraines, lakes and ponds. If we’re a sole source aquifer then so is the planet — OK, cosmically speaking that’s fair enough.
But the unifying concept that it’s all “our” groundwater and what we dump could care less about town lines as it seeps and pollutes helped break down historic silos of single-town attitudes.
Even so, most towns continue to build expensive wastewater treatment solo. Regional cooperation is achieved only after parochial, political, and financial head-banging.
One place where there have been breakthroughs is public education. Nauset High School funnels from six towns, and we have two regional Vocational Techs in Bourne and Harwich. It took generations but Chatham and Harwich managed to merge into Monomoy, overcoming racial and economic schisms. Dennis-Yarmouth’s high school has challenges but it’s far better than either town could muster alone.
Maybe it’s fitting that we were able to drop total town control for the sake of the most important thing of all.
But have no delusions about the path:
Towns will remain front and center while the county hovers as a place where a bunch of things happen that few people appreciate until push comes to shove – courts, jail, registry, health care delivery, development oversight, dredging, agriculture and aquaculture support. Town identity and pride will remain paramount.
But soon after we cross the canal, long before we hit outer space, we will announce that we come from one famous place — Cape Cod.
Think I’ll go read up on Balkan history.
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Imagine Martha’s Vineyard, considerably less land area than the Cape, with 6 distinct towns with 6 redundant facilities. Being in the wastewater business, I can’t tell you how frustrating this is. It costs the citizens so much more money to do these big infrastructure projects piecemeal. But good-ole-Boyism is a tough nut to crack.
Hello Seth. I encourage you to come to the Salt Pond Visitors Center on April 8. I am sure you know The CCNS Advisory Commission is meeting for the first time since 2018. See you there!