Media Coverage & Commentary
 New
office building opens to acclaim along Main Street
By Paul Gately/ pgately@cnc.com
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Where once a car wash was deteriorating into the ground,
a new two-story office building is operating along Main
Street across from Perry Avenue, Buzzards Bay.
Nearly 70 civic, political and business leaders from throughout
the Bourne community gathered Aug. 8 for the grand opening
of the Cubellis Professional Office Building. Many said
the opening represents a new beginning to upgrade Main Street
and provide needed office space.
The building between Leo's Restaurant and the Community
Center has lured Hart Insurance Agency as one of its first
tenants.
Bourne Selectwoman Carol Cheli in prepared remarks said
the building is the "Trump Tower of Bourne. I went
upstairs and felt I was on Newbury Street," she said.
"Until I came down again and looked out the window."
Rep. Susan Williams Gifford, R-Wareham, said she has always
been "a fan of the Cubellis family, presenting building
owner Gildo R. Cubellis with a House of Representatives
citation.
Cheli said Main Street needs vision. "Mr. Cubellis
is the first to take Main Street out of the dark ages and
into the light," she said.
Town Administrator Thomas Guerino said it appeared "no
cost was spared" for the building with its columns
that match those of the neighboring Community Center. "This
is a class anchor for the community," he said.
The building was designed by Cubellis Savaitz Associates
and constructed by Old Cape Builders. It replaces the old
CEC Car Wash that had not operated for years before it was
demolished to make way for the office building.
Cubellis said the business would offer a $1,000 scholarship
to a Bourne High School graduate each year. He and his brother,
Johnny Cubellis of the Mezza Luna restaurant, cut the ceremonial
ribbon.
County
grant may fund streetlights
By Paul Gately/ pgately@cnc.com
Thursday, August 4, 2005
A three-pronged effort may yet bring vintage teardrop lights
to the section of Main Street, Buzzards Bay, where the road
was narrowed last year and sidewalks were upgraded.
The Planning Department, along with the Bourne Financial
Development Corp. and Buzzards Bay Village Association,
have applied for a $175,000 grant from the county's Economic
Development Council, which dispenses revenue from the Cape
and Islands license plate account.
Town Planner Coreen V. Moore said 16 lights would be installed
along Main Street, headed east from Wallace Avenue. The
second part of the project involves a study for downtown
development in specified growth incentive zones.
"The results would help developers downtown try to
do what we hopefully would like to have them do in certain
areas," Moore said.
The grant award if approved in November would come over
three years with $75,000 issued the first year. If the council
accepts the plan for review in late August, a full proposal
would be submitted for scrutiny by Oct. 6.
"If we get the funding, we could go ahead with the
streetlights, hopefully in the spring next year," Moore
said. "It would show some more progress. And it's always
nice to have some momentum going in these things."
Bourne
business leaders call eminent domain a last resort
By Joe Burns/ jburns@cnc.com
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Playing the eminent domain card isn't imminent. But Tom
Moccia, president of the Buzzards Bay Village Association,
isn't ruling it out as a tool for revitalizing Main Street.
"I don't see it on the table in the near future at
all, because it has a negative connotation. I don't think
the town would tolerate it," said Moccia of the recent
U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the case of Kelo v. New London.
The Supreme Court ruled that municipalities have the right
to seize property for private development purposes if that
development served the public good.
"It's a power that people are very fearful of. And
they should be," said Sallie Riggs, executive director
of the Bourne Financial Development Corporation.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court also said that states may
restrict those rights, something that is being considered
in Massachusetts. State Rep. Jeffrey Perry, R-Sandwich,
whose district includes a portion of Bourne, said that steps
are being taken to limit the use of eminent domain.
"We're working on a bill to amend the Massachusetts
General Laws and we're also filing an amendment to the Massachusetts
Constitution," Perry said.
The amendment would restrict the use of eminent domain for
the purpose of economic development to "cases where
the elimination or prevention of the development or spread
of a substandard resident or blighted open area is provided
by law."
Perry said that the measures have received bipartisan support.
"The conservatives are fearful of an ever-growing powerful
state or federal government," Perry said, including
himself in that category. "And what I've heard from
the liberal side is the fear of government giving land of
minorities and lower socio-economic individuals to corporations."
But as it now stands, a town strapped for cash and looking
to increase its tax base can make a case for seizing private
property and turning it over to a developer for a project
that would create more revenue for the town.
Moccia, who has been spearheading efforts to improve Buzzards
Bay's main thoroughfare, said using eminent domain to build
a tax base isn't realistic.
Riggs said that the possibility that a private development
might bring more taxes to a town falls far below the acceptable
basis for seizing property.
"Might isn't a very strong word in terms of justification
for doing something as dramatic as that," she said.
Moccia said that taking property through eminent domain
is a protracted process, and wouldn't solve a short term
or immediate problem. He suggested that there are more desirable
means of bringing about change.
"That would be the ultimate end line from my perspective.
There are a number of options before that happens. One is
to see if the marketplace will do it," Moccia said.
"Things are happening on Buzzards Bay," Moccia
added. "There is a nascent movement under way already.
You already have the new school, the new community building,
the new office building, some stores have opened up. I think
that the absence of an adequate period of time to see where
the market place can deal with the issue, I think all these
other issues are just academic exercises."
Marine center expansion draws interest
By CONOR BERRY
STAFF WRITER
BUZZARDS BAY - The National Marine Life Center has big plans.
Big enough to trigger a review by the Cape Cod Commission.
The nonprofit marine animal rehabilitation and education
center has two interim pools designed to care for injured
loggerhead turtles and seals.
But center officials want to expand the Main Street facility
into a full-fledged marine animal hospital capable of caring
for injured dolphins, porpoises and, eventually, small whales.
Center trustees and staff are in the process of trying
to raise $14 million to convert a 17,000-square-foot former
lumber warehouse bordering Cape Cod Canal into a marine
hospital and discovery center.
The project calls for adding about 2,800 square feet -
for a total of 19,800 square feet - and piping water from
the canal into several new holding tanks.
The county's planning agency must approve the proposal
because it qualifies as a ''development of regional impact,''
or DRI. The canal is a public resource and the building
to be renovated is larger than the mandatory review threshold
of 10,000 square feet.
''The plan is to build a pool big enough - and capable
- of rehabilitating a pilot whale,'' said Kathy Zagzebski,
president and executive director of the National Marine
Life Center.
''Pilot whales are really a common animal to strand on
the Cape,'' she said.
Zagzebski said local civic officials support the expansion
plans and hope it will attract tourists.
The plans also are in line with the Buzzards Bay Village
Association's vision for the Main Street business district,
Tom Moccia, the association's president, has said.
The marine center has filed a DRI hardship exemption, said
Dorr Fox, chief regulatory officer of the Cape Cod Commission.
That's a routine procedure in w
hich an applicant must demonstrate a project doesn't have
a regional impact.
The application is not yet complete, said Fox. The average
DRI review takes about five months.
Zagzebski said there is also a possibility of reducing
the original proposal to make costs more feasible.
Besides the Buzzards Bay center, injured marine animals
discovered on local beaches are treated at the New England
Aquarium in Boston, the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut,
and the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine.
The Cape Cod Stranding Network, which dispatches teams
to various strandings around the region, leases space at
the National Marine Life Center.
''We'll be the hospital to their ambulance,'' Zagzebski
said of the network, which transports wounded or sick animals
to the center and other regional facilities.
Conor Berry can be reached at cberry@capecodonline.com.
(Published: July 2, 2005)
Copyright © Cape Cod Times. All rights reserved.
Eminent domain: 'Two dirty words'
By DAVID KIBBE
TIMES BOSTON BUREAU
and MARC PARRY
STAFF WRITER
BOSTON - Thursday's U.S. Supreme Court decision granting
municipalities the right to take private property by eminent
domain for economic development could prompt the state Legislature
to re-examine state laws.
But one legal expert said the high court's decision in
a New London, Conn., case merely reaffirmed the power that
redevelopment authorities already have in Massachusetts
and in other states to transform blighted neighborhoods.
Leonard Kopelman of the Boston law firm Kopelman and Paige,
which represents two-thirds of the state's municipalities
as sole counsel or special counsel, including many towns
on the Cape, said the use of eminent domain would continue
to be rare and costly in Massachusetts, even with the court's
decision.
''I don't think it's going to be a radical change,'' Kopelman
said.
He said the court's decision affected large-scale development,
such as the whole-sale demolition of a blighted neighborhood
for an expansive redevelopment plan. He said the prospect
of a town knocking down three homes for a supermarket is
''not going to happen.''
''My guess is it will be some developer that has loads
of money and thinks there is a shortage of housing,'' Kopelman
said. ''''¦It will take a grand vision, and then
someone will take years to put it together.''
But the court's 5-4 decision to allow the Connecticut waterfront
city to take private homes to allow developers to build
new housing, stores, a hotel, restaurants and businesses
was reverberating through Massachusetts.
Gov. Mitt Romney's press office did not have a comment
on the case yesterday, or whether the state's laws needed
to be reviewed. However, Romney said on a radio show this
week that the court's decision was ''troubling,'' and eminent
domain should be reserved for public needs like railroads.
Officials and activists in two areas that have been eyed
for redevelopment - Buzzards Bay and Hyannis - said they
didn't see the Supreme Court decision affecting their towns.
''Eminent domain are two dirty words,'' said Tom Moccia,
president of the Buzzards Bay Village Association.
Right now Moccia's group is sponsoring an international
design competition to resuscitate downtown Buzzards Bay.
He called eminent domain a tool the town was unlikely to
resort to any time soon, if at all. Talk of it is premature,
he said.
''It may be high-end condominiums, it may be museums,''
he said. ''We have no idea what Main Street's going to look
like yet.''
The community should focus on encouraging owners to redevelop
property in ways consistent with ''smart growth'' principles,
Moccia said.
''In Cape Cod, the public likes to be involved,'' he said.
''Even to suggest an inkling of eminent domain, the hostility
would just start.''
That's what happened in Barnstable, where town officials
last year abandoned an effort to expand their land-taking
authority in Hyannis. The town faced angry opposition from
downtown merchants.
The proposal was to form a redevelopment agency that would
have the power to force commercial property owners in the
Hyannis Main Street area to sell lots to the town for resale
to developers.
Now, Barnstable Planning Director Tom Broadrick said the
focus is on proposed zoning changes that would collapse
Hyannis' 14 planning zones into seven and negotiations with
the Cape Cod Commission would change the threshold for when
commission review of projects is required.
''We think that these tools we have in place are going
to work well and we won't need to use eminent domain,''
he said. ''I don't think that's something anybody wants
to revisit any time soon.''
Barnstable Town Council President Gary Brown agreed, saying,
''It's one thing that I personally hate to bring up, whatsoever.
I just don't think it's fair to take somebody's land just
because you want another use for it.''
Kopelman was preparing a memo on the court's ruling for
the cities and towns that he represents. He predicted the
court's decision would be reviewed by Massachusetts House
and Senate lawyers, who would then advise legislative leadership
whether any changes needed to be made.
Eminent domain has been used by government bodies to take
private land for an overriding public purpose, like public
health, safety and transportation. The state is required
to pay fair market value for property, and people can challenge
the amount in court.
The Supreme Court ruled in the Connecticut case that the
public would benefit from a plan that would create 1,000
new jobs and higher tax revenue, even though it would also
enrich private developers.
The Supreme Court's decision still gives latitude to individual
states and cities to set limits on eminent domain.
Marc Parry can be reached at mparry@capecodonline.com and
David Kibbe can
be reached at
dkottaway@aol.com.
(Published: June 25, 2005)
Copyright © Cape Cod Times. All rights reserved.
Posted: Jun 17, 2005
Bourne - Advisors Will Help Lead Design Project To Next
Level -By MARTHA V. SCANLON
The next phase in the creation of the Bridge Park along
Main Street in Buzzards Bay is getting underway.
In a meeting held at the Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical
School Wednesday morning, architect David MacLain, who is
organizing the Bridge Park project for the Buzzards Bay
Village Association, discussed the effort and what is going
on now to ensure its progression from design to realization.
"The entire process is an interesting one," Mr.
MacLain said as he explained that the two winners of the
park design competition are working to integrate all of
the fundamentals the association wants. "We are now
negotiating with the winners and trying to take it to the
next step," Mr. MacLain said.
The international competition was held this spring to find
designers and ideas for the long-range planning of a park
that will help in the revitalization of downtown Buzzards
Bay. A jury of six architects from all over the country
selected two winners out of the 153 entries. The winners
are Liz Swanson and Michael McKay of Lexington, Kentucky,
and Bimal Mendis, John Booth, Elijah Huge, and Greg Biancardi
of New Haven, Connecticut.
"This is not just a pie-in-the-sky process,"
Mr. MacLain said, adding that most design competitions rarely
reach fruition. To ensure that the Bridge Park does reach
fruition, Mr. MacLain said that the association brought
in two advisors to help them make the moves necessary to
create the park. The advisors are Wendy E. Johnson, an architect
from New York City, and David E. Kapell, mayor of the Village
of Greenport, New York, which held its own downtown design
competition and completed the effort.
Mr. MacLain described the process of completing the project
as one that will take several years. He said it will require
political support, site control, media coverage, and further
design. He also said the project, which will ultimately
cost about $10 million, needs to acquire funds from donors,
as well as from the federal, state, and local government.
Mr. MacLain was hopeful, though, since they had ended up
under budget for the competition phase of the project. The
association had raised $200,000 for the competition, half
from the state and half from private donations, but only
used $160,000. Mr. MacLain attributed this to the direction
of Thomas J. Moccia, president of the association, and said
the competition "couldn’t have happened with
out his expertise and help."
The final design will be gradually phased in to the 26-acre
site in the area along Main Street, Mr. MacLain said.
The overall goal of the project, Mr. MacLain explained,
is to create "an intergenerational park for the community"
while enhancing business in Buzzards Bay. He hopes that
once finished, the park will become a destination point
for tourists and residents, a "recreational, educational,
and ecological stimulus for all," a focal point for
community life, and a springboard for further economic growth.
Mr. MacLain added that he is hopeful all these goals will
be fulfilled.
Mr. MacLain said that since the competition began in January,
the Buzzards Bay Village Association web site has had 1.3
million visits. The contest had entries from all over the
world, including China, Ireland, Iraq, Germany, and Argentina.
Designs were judged on several components. Entrants were
asked in their designs to demonstrate forward-thinking concepts
for ecology and conservation, maintain a view of the canal
and the train bridge, and provide additional commercial
activity for businesses without new commercial development.
They were also asked to conserve the canal edge and to create
a final product that is viable and that realistically fits
within the budget. "We were really looking for visionary
participants without limitations," Mr. MacLain said.
Wednesday’s meeting was held by the Bourne Committee
of the Cape Cod Canal Region Chamber of Commerce.
The winning designs may be viewed at:
www.buzzardsbayvillageassociation.org.
Copies of the "Bridge Park" design competition
are availabe by calling the BBVA at 508-759-2236.
Now
Buzzards Bay has designs on the future
By Paul Gately/ pgately@cnc.com
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Rethinking Buzzards Bay
By Paul Gately/ pgately@cnc.com
Thursday, May 5, 2005
Architects from Kentucky and Connecticut share top honors
in the bridge/park international design competition sponsored
by the Buzzards Bay Village Association. Designs speculate
on what could be at Main Street's west end. <more>
May 5, 2005
Two designs top field in Buzzards Bay contest
By CONOR BERRY
STAFF WRITER
BUZZARDS BAY - And the winners are ...<more>
The top proposals in an international design competition
to resuscitate downtown Buzzards Bay were announced yesterday
at the Buzzards Bay Village Association's annual mid-year
meeting.
Design
time
Thursday, April 28, 2005
Judges considered 155 designs from around the world embracing
ways to transform the west end of Main Street, Buzzards
Bay, Saturday at Upper Cape Regional Technical School. Results
of the judging will be announced Wednesday, May 4 at 5:30
p.m. at The Beachmoor on Taylors Point.
Buzzards Bay Village Association members said some entries
were off the wall; others said radical aspects of some design
points might be viable. All said the ideas were welcome
in the competitive effort that cost $200,000 to mount.
The theme was to reinvent the landscape in a bridge/park
setting on and off Main Street. One entry included a tree-lined
party barge that would grace the canal on evenings such
as July Fourth and New Year's Eve.
The first place prize is $10,000 and $5,000 goes to second
place. The jury included six renowned architects.
Bourne
- Architects Bring Variety Of Approaches To Vision For Main
Street --Entries From Around World On Display Today; Winners
Announced May 4 <Read Article>
By DEBORAH MORNING STAR
Designing reasons
Buzzards Bay business leaders hope a design competition
will make the struggling village a destination once again
By CONOR BERRY
STAFF WRITER
BUZZARDS BAY - Imagine a city or town that has lost
its reason for being. A place rendered redundant by fast-moving
highways that whisk people wherever they want, at whatever
time of day or night.
Well, that's precisely what happened to Buzzards Bay, according
to Tom Moccia, president of a local village association
pushing to revitalize the once-bustling canalside village.
Buzzards Bay was once a Cape hot-spot, a place "wall
to wall with people" come summertime, Moccia said.
Today, not only do tourists not stop here, but most don't
even pass through the village anymore. They sail down Route
25 or cut across the Buzzards Bay Bypass on their way to
the Bourne Bridge and Cape beaches beyond.
Construction of the bypass in the mid-1950s and of Route
25 in the mid-1970s made it easier to reach the Cape, but
it also helped hasten the demise of Buzzards Bay, Moccia
said.
Add in a post-Korean War reduction in manpower at the base
across the canal and declining public transportation, and
it was a recipe for disaster for Buzzards Bay.
Moccia said these and other factors contributed to the
downturn of downtown Buzzards Bay, which today wears signs
of neglect on virtually every corner.
But there are also signs of rejuvenation, however nascent.
New additions include a rehabilitated retail strip at the
west end of Main Street, the most blighted section of downtown,
and an office building in the middle of downtown.
Still, Moccia, who's arguably Buzzards Bay's No. 1 booster,
says there's no reason to come to the village. It may sound
like a very bad advertising slogan, but it's actually an
acknowledgment that the commercial district has lost its
reason for existing, Moccia said.
But creating "a destination purpose" for the
canalside village is what the design competition is all
about, he said.
Design competition
Past revitalization efforts languished. That's what led
the nonprofit Buzzards Bay Village Association to sponsor
an international design competition to generate a buzz about
downtown.
Such contests have worked wonders in other communities,
including in Greenport, N.Y., a sleepy North Fork of Long
Island town that has experienced a renaissance. In fact,
David E. Kapell, Greenport's mayor, is serving as an adviser
to the Buzzards Bay contest and will be on hand later this
month when the winning designs are selected.
In a recent interview in his Bourne office, Moccia, president
of the village association, pointed to a large package with
postage markings leaning against a corner wall. It was the
first official contest entry, and the markings indicated
the flat, brown parcel was from Naples, Italy.
Moccia expects to receive a whole lot more before today's
deadline. To date, about 125 architecture and design firms
from around the globe - Saudi Arabia, Germany, Ireland,
Korea ... the list goes on - have entered the competition,
which will hand out $20,000 in cash prizes to the top five
designs.
Moccia said the idea is to gather the best and brightest
revival concepts, then use those designs to chart a course
toward revitalization.
Holding the design competition isn't cheap, costing the
association around $200,000. That is expected to cover everything
from administrative expenses to paying highly-qualified
judges, like Toshiko Mori, chair of Harvard Graduate School
of Design's architecture program.
Mori is among six panelists, including other academics
and architects, who will award $10,000 for best design concept,
$5,000 for second best, $3,000 for third, and two $1,000
prizes for honorable mention.
The village association has raised about $160,000 toward
the cost of administering the contest. The money came from
state grants, local banks and companies, among other sources.
Desirable destination
Word of the contest - formally called the Buzzards Bay Main
Street/Cape Cod Canal Bridge Park Design Competition - spread
quickly in design circles thanks to trade publications and
the Internet. The village association's Web site has received
up to 390,000 hits in a single month since posting the contest
guidelines online. Moccia said he anticipates the site to
soon reach the million-visitor mark.
The hope, he said, is that design submissions will reflect
a Buzzards Bay where people want to live, work and play.
The village was a popular destination in the 1950s, when
its main drag crawled with GIs from the nearby base and
Capebound motorists still had to pass through Buzzards Bay.
"Out of this 'destination' methodology will hopefully
come an excitement and a psychology for rehabilitating and
revitalizing Main Street," Moccia said. The alternative,
he said, is to allow the prevailing philosophy of the past
30 years - "apathy with a capital A" - to continue.
The judging will take place Saturday at Upper Cape Cod
Regional Technical School in Bourne. The public will not
be allowed to watch judges pick the winners, but they can
view design proposals from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday and from
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday in the school's gymnasium. The
tech school is located at 220 Sandwich Road.
The winners will be announced May 4 at the Buzzards Bay
Village Association's public midyear meeting, at a venue
to be announced.
The contest is not intended as a panacea, acknowledged
Moccia, but rather as a much-needed shot in the arm. In
a best-case scenario, he said, the winning designs could
provide town officials and citizens with some ideas how
to rejuvenate Buzzards Bay, Bourne's only real downtown.
(Published: April 19, 2005)
Copyright
© Cape Cod Times. All rights reserved.
"The Upper Cape Codder quotes Assistant Secretary
of Transportation, Tom Cahir as saying, "planning for
rail service to Buzzards Bay involves sorting out local
issues embracing zoning, parking and community acceptance.
He said the study will be underway soon."
Bourne
- Active Inn Owners Named Citizens Of The Year
Cash prize sparks design interest
The Buzzards Bay Village Association's International Design
Competition to revitalize downtown continues to attract
attention, especially since the nonprofit organization posted
contest details on its Web site in November.
Since then, the Web site - www.buzzardsbayvillageassociation.org
- has received around 857,000 hits. Online inquiries jumped
to 396,473 in February, up from 387,945 in January.
Prior to the posting of contest guidelines, the site averaged
between 1,200 and 2,400 hits a month, said Tom Moccia, president
of the association.
The organization is offering $20,000 in cash prizes to
be distributed to the top five design ideas to revive downtown
Buzzards Bay and create a waterfront park.
- CONOR BERRY
(Published: March 4, 2005)
Copyright © Cape Cod Times. All rights reserved.
$20K up for grabs
Details about the Buzzards Bay Village Association's international
design competition, now officially under way, are available
online at: www.buzzardsbayvillageassociation.org.
The association will divide $20,000 among the top five
proposals to revitalize the canalside village.
The No. 1 proposal will receive $10,000, followed by $5,000
for second, $3,000 for third and $1,000 each for two honorable
mentions.
Architects from around the world have expressed interest
in the contest, modeled after a similar redevelopment contest
that helped transform Greenport, N.Y., a once-depressed
fishing village on Long Island's North Fork, into a vibrant
seaside community.
The deadline for design submissions is April 19 and winners
will be announced April 29. More information is available
at 508-564-9043.
(Published: January 21, 2005)
Copyright © Cape Cod Times. All rights reserved.
Emergency system recognized
The town's emergency alert system has been awarded $1,000
by the Buzzards Bay Village Association, a local nonprofit
dedicated to revitalizing downtown Buzzards Bay and its
environs.
The award, which comes in the form of a grant from the
village association, will benefit the Bourne Reverse 911
Emergency Alert System. The system is designed to warn residents,
particularly the elderly and disabled, of emergencies, then
recommends a course of action.
The grant funds became available due to the success of
the village association's first Snowflake Ball and Silent
Auction. The ball was the brainchild of Bourne Selectman
Carol Cheli, assisted by auctioneer Diane Flynn, and netted
about $4,000, according to association president Tom Moccia.
Of that, $1,000 went to the alert system with the remainder
benefiting the Greenbelt Pathway Project - an ongoing village
association effort to create a foot-and-bike path linking
various sites in Buzzards Bay.
(Published: January 21, 2005)
Copyright © Cape Cod Times. All rights reserved.
Bourne
wants state to release $700,000 for sidewalks
Office,
apartments proposed for Buzzards Bay site
By Paul Gately/ pgately@cnc.com
Thursday, January 6, 2005
Plan
emerges for sale of old Buzzards Bay Theater
By Paul Gately/ pgately@cnc.com
Thursday, January 6, 2005
Restaurant,
Isuzu proposals set for review in Bourne
By Paul Gately/ pgately@cnc.com
Thursday, January 6, 2005
Planners turn to agreeable to parking waiver-By
Paul Gately/ pgately@cnc.com
Thursday, December 23, 2004 <More>
Bourne
- New Merchants, New Tenants Show Ongoing Revitalization
On Main Street >>> More
Bourne
- More Than Just Barbequed Chicken Spices Up Buzzards Bay
Eatery >>> More
Mark C. Swencki, owner and head chef of Barbeque By The
Bay, is doing his part to revitalize the flavor of Buzzards
Bay.
CapeNews.net
- Bourne - Design Competition \'A Search For The Best\'
Design
contest moves beyond dream state (December 5, 2004)
Editorial:
Who speaks for Main Street?
Who presumes to speak for the future of Buzzards Bay? All
of us, of course; this newspaper and that, planners with
credentials and without; polit... [more]
GOOD NEWS!!!
"Selectmen reject more gas pumps!"
BBVA Issues "Statement of
Concern" on the Proposed Re-Use of Quintal Property
Would commuter trains help
Main Street revitalization?
Press Reports on BBVA Activity
BUZZARDS BAY VILLAGE ASSOCIATION
ELECTS NEW OFFICERS
County Commissioners Endorse BBVA
design competition and Greenbelt Project
The Barnstable County Commissioners have endorsed the Buzzards
Bay Village Association's Main Street/Buzzards Bay design
competition and its Greenbelt Parkway project as part of
the Cape Cod Pathway network.
In a letter to the Association's executive director, Tom
Moccia, the commissioners stated, "Both of these projects
have the potential of bringing benefit to the region in
the form of economic development and open space."
The letter further noted, "For many years, Buzzards
Bay served as the gateway to Cape Cod, and efforts to revitalize
this village has been going on for some time. We believe
that the village may once again serve as a strong tourism
center with the strength of regional attractions such as
the Cape Cod Canal and the National Marine Life Center.
For these reasons we strongly endorse the design competition
for Buzzards Bay."
"The Cape Cod Pathways program, started several years
ago by the Barnstable County Commissioners. It continues
to be a program the current Board views as an important
piece in the region's efforts to retain open space. The
BBVA's Greenbelt Pathway would be a fine addition to this
regional program and we heartily endorse this concept, the
commissioner's letter also said.
BBVA chair Roland Dupont welcomed the commissioners strong
support as reflecting Cape wide recognition for both projects
and said the letter would significantly help the Association
in its fund raising efforts in behalf of both efforts.
"It is very important public officials, across the
region, recognize the need for and indicate their support
for rehabilitating Main Street/Buzzards Bay. Their support
is essential to any success. The Barnstable County Commissioners'
letter is a critical element toward meeting this need. It
joins with state support and recognition for our efforts
at restoring the area." Dupont said.
The letter concluded with, "Good luck in your efforts
toward making these programs a reality, and in your quest
to make Buzzards Bay a Cape Cod destination once again.
Signing the letter were William Doherty, chair and commission
members Mary J. LeClair and Lance Lambros.
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