Paul Benson

1 week ago | provincetownindependent.org | Paul Benson

TRURO — Staff don’t say much at town meetings here — even the town manager speaks only to answer questions. Instead, Moderator Paul Wisotzky cheerfully asks if anyone wants to introduce the next article, and the people — select board members, committee members, and the public at large — take it from there. Meetings can last for six hours and often spill onto a second day.

1 week ago | provincetownindependent.org | Paul Benson

PROVINCETOWN — A near-final draft of the coastal resiliency plan that the town has been working on since last spring was unveiled at the select board meeting on April 28, and it contains numerous recommendations for protecting the town from rising seawater and increasingly powerful storms resulting from climate change. Several neighborhoods along Commercial Street were flooded by surges of seawater during winter storms in 2018 and 2022, and a powerful storm hit the town again in January 2024.

2 weeks ago | provincetownindependent.org | Parker Mumford |Paul Benson

EASTHAM — Ever since the select board voted in January to begin planning for a residential tax exemption (RTE) in the upcoming fiscal year, opposition to the policy from part-time residents who would not be able to take the exemption has been repeatedly expressed in public comments at select board meetings.

2 weeks ago | provincetownindependent.org | Paul Benson

PROVINCETOWN — The seasonal economy of the Outer Cape relies heavily on a workforce that many tourists seldom see: the chefs, dishwashers, and housekeepers who keep hotels looking pristine and restaurants running smoothly. Many who do these jobs are Jamaicans who come to the Outer Cape through a seasonal worker program that dates to 1952: the H-2 non-immigrant visa, which was divided into the H-2A for agricultural workers and the H-2B for nonagricultural workers in 1986.

3 weeks ago | provincetownindependent.org | Paul Benson

PROVINCETOWN — In three weeks, commercial flights between Provincetown and Boston will resume after a six-month hiatus. Cape Air — the only carrier to offer scheduled flights to Provincetown since the company was founded in 1989 — announced just before Labor Day last year that it would operate here only seasonally. The last Cape Air flight left on Nov. 4; service will resume on May 16.