As the beauty and warmth of summer is finally upon us, we cannot help but appreciate the matured truth of Patti Page's song, "Old Cape Cod." I asked myself on this warm summer day whether Patti would still be inspired to write such inspirational words about our home if she was to visit here today.
Here is the heartfelt song:
If you're fond of sand dunes and salty air Quaint little villages here and there
You're sure to fall in love with Old Cape Cod
If you like the taste of a lobster stew Served by a window with an ocean view
You're sure to fall in love with Old Cape Cod
Winding roads that seem to beckon you
Miles of green beneath the skies of blue
Church bell chiming on a Sunday morn
Remind you of the town where you were born
If you spend an evening you'd want to stay
Watching the moonlight on Cape Cod Bay
You're sure to fall in love with Old Cape Cod.
Like most cities and towns, Barnstable shares common problems with their schools, police and municipal services especially in this downturn in our economy.
Residents are uneasy about our water quality, waste management, roads and infrastructure. These same residents struggle with their taxes, homeowner's insurance, property values, increasing fees for services and property upkeep. Most citizen's and homeowners have learned to become creative financial jugglers of their resources.
These everyday financial puzzles have made residents enjoy less of what Patti offered to us in her memories of Cape Cod days of earlier years. Most residents cannot really enjoy our Town and its rich cultural activities and delightful entertainment that tourists travel for miles to vacation and rejuvenate.
We need to regain that sense of community and enjoy our village and our Town's amenities. Marstons Mills is similar to Cotuit being on the outskirts of Barnstable. I believe that the villages in Barnstable have unique interest, but it is always best in planning to consider what is best for our entire Town.
It is time to change the attitude of residents in the rest of the villages and change the "Millbilly" theme of those who live here to a more in-line, earned and more representative "Mill Lights" nickname. We need no longer be known as the village where the landfill is located.
The "Mill Lights" will become more representative of the diversity and talent that we have come to know of the residents and clandestine peacefulness in the pristine village we call home.
With well thought-out and planned technological and economic change, this could remain our "Old Cape Cod" forever.
