Letters to the Editor

I Will Not Run for Re-Election

Dear Editor:

After many months of debating my future involvement in town government, I have decided not to run for reelection as Town Councilor representing the Center. I want to thank this community and specifically my neighbors in the Center for allowing me to be their voice on the Town Council for the past 4 years. 

When I started on the Council, I was in my first year of law school.  Since then I have graduated, started a new career, gotten married, and had a son. While I love this community and will continue to serve the remainder of my term with the same commitment I always have. It has become extremely difficult for me to ignore my son, who is learning to talk, call out for me from the other room while I’m on calls for the Town. Every Councilor who gets elected is essentially volunteering to take a lot of time away from their family and careers. I respect the commitment of each and every individual who has undertaken this commitment and feel fortunate that there are others who will continue to do so when I leave.

I am proud of the progress the town has made over the past few years on issues like the Center Infrastructure Project, the creation of a Planning Department, the work we did alongside the Licensing Board and the Chamber of Commerce to ensure Winthrop businesses opened as quickly as possible in the wake of the COVID-19 shut down and in creating the Commission for Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Relations to ensure voices of all Winthrop Residents are being heard. These are all initiatives that will benefit the community for years to come.

Serving on the Council put me in position to learn a lot about the community. I am lucky to have met many amazing people dedicated to this community over the past four years who I may not have met otherwise. This Town is full of so many thoughtful, dedicated residents who only want the best for the town. I have found that our differences aren’t as great as they appear. I’ve found that our greatest asset is not our “quaint seaside town feel” or our proximity to downtown Boston. It is us. Winthrop has an undeniable character like no place I’ve ever been.

Thank you everyone for giving me this awesome opportunity. I especially want to thank my mom, Brenda who I would watch Selectmens meetings with growing up. I remember how proud she was years ago when she got elected to Town Meeting not from just any precinct, but from Precinct 5. She instilled a sense of community and public service in me that I’ll carry forever. I’d also like to thank my wife, Laura. Our community owes a great debt of gratitude to the spouses and partners of our elected officials who sacrifice as much, if not more for their community. I look forward to being able to spend a little more time with mine in the coming years.

I look forward to continue working alongside everyone in a smaller capacity to help the town in the years to come.

Peter Christopher

Precinct 5

Condemning White Supremacy and Hate Crimes

Dear Editor,

On June 26th, Winthrop experienced a horrific act of domestic terrorism perpetuated by a white supremacist living in Winthrop; he was our neighbor. Two beloved Black community members were murdered because of the color of their skin, three were terribly injured in the car crash, and dozens were impacted mentally, psychologically, and emotionally. It is assumed that the white supremacist was not able to carry out his full plan to harm and likely kill members of our Jewish community.

One Winthrop condemns and stands up to all forms of hate and discrimination. Many have been shocked or are feeling numb from this collective community trauma. We often hear or think, “How could this happen here? Winthrop doesn’t have a problem with racism or anti-Semitism.” The truth is that all towns and cities in the United States have a problem, and as we have experienced, our cherished seaside town is not immune. That we felt this could not happen here points to our privilege of feeling safe. Many residents, especially our BIPOC (Black and Indigenous People of Color) and Jewish community members are not feeling safe. We have seen patterns of behavior that demonstrate racism, anti-Semitism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia here in Winthrop. From microaggressions on social media to the overt hatred spewed at the Diana Ploss led rallies last fall, we see evidence that this recent horror was not an isolated incident, but rather an escalation. We know more than one white supremacist lives among us here in Winthrop.

So what do we do? Where do we go from here and how does our community begin to heal? How can we ensure that David Green’s and Ramona Cooper’s deaths were not in vain? We start with educating ourselves on history of racism, anti-Semitism, and white supremacy to understand the present. We have open dialogue, talk with each other, listen to each other, and learn from one another.  We reach out intentionally to those who are different than ourselves and embrace diversity. We learn how systems oppress and how to change those systems that discriminate to create a more equitable society. We stand up and speak out when we hear or see discrimination in our community. Silence is complacency and condones the beliefs and actions of the one(s) filled with hate. If fuels their energy to act, quietly encouraging. We must not be silent. We must not be complacent. We know hate lives here in Winthrop, and that for it to truly have no home, we must do more than make statements and hang signs. We must act. We must be willing to feel uncomfortable and to challenge our deepest notions of truth. And we’ll do it best when we act together.

We stand strong when we are One against hate.

One Winthrop

Stephanie Recchia

Julia Wallerce

Wendy Millar Page

Follow up on Tree Removal

Dear Editor,

Thank you for printing my letter. I ask that you please print the following addendum to my letter.

Subsequent to the printing of my first letter, I received an email from Winthrop’s Tree Warden stating that the tree at 24 Brookfield Road was removed due to being dangerous after suffering damage in a storm. 

In the same communication, the Tree Warden stated that “The only other trees that have been removed were dead ones, including the one on Shirley St”. 

Because of the Town’s non-compliance with our FOIA requests for a complete list of felled trees, and contracts and receipts related to tree removals, we have nothing more to go on than the reports from concerned citizens about these unexplained tree removals. I have now received approximately 12 additional claims from citizens reporting that healthy trees were removed from their neighborhoods without the requisite notice. That said, if these three specific trees (on Brookfield Road, Shirley Street, and Court Road) were indeed diseased or dangerous, their removal was not in violation of MGL Ch. 87. 

In addition, my comment about “off-book tree removals” refers to the fact that, even after repeated requests, we still have no indication of individual transactions related to the removed trees. 

It is my hope that we can resolve these correctable issues through the sharing of information and by prioritizing a go-forward plan that protects our mature trees and promotes greater tree planting measures in Winthrop.

Diana Viens

On Town Owned Land

Dear Editor,

The Town of Winthrop needs more transparency in approving development projects of town owned lands. In order to build public support and confidence in support of such development projects, the following points should be considered:

1)     All residents should be invited to vote on projects on town owned land using a “polling process.”

2)     Every household in the town should receive notification of the proposed development by U.S. mail unless the resident signed up for electronic mail notification.

3)     If substantive changes to the proposal are made after submission, a further written notification of the proposed development by U.S. mail shall be made to each household.

4)     All residents should be able to vote by either paper or electronic ballot to approve or reject the project on town owned land.

5)     This process should be put in place before the middle school development process is formerly underway.

6)     Finally, Winthrop residents should be allowed to vote on the sale or no sale of town property.

This “polling process” would only apply to projects on town owned land.

Concerned Winthrop Residents

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