Opinion/Letters: Hyannis Harbor condo waivers show disdain for less affluent families

Editor's note: This article has been updated to correct the spelling of Dr. Richard Zelman's name.

I support Irene Aylmer’s concerns about the development of the Dockside Restaurant property in Hyannis. She knows a thing or two about life in Hyannis, being a longtime resident.

I’ve also lived in Hyannis for a while. It’s sad to see the quaintness of Cape Cod vanish in the name of unavoidable progress. It’s disappointing to see the complicity of the town of Barnstable in this unfortunate process.

Jamming 29 condominiums onto 1.32 acres on School Street is unacceptable when you consider that town ordinance caps multi-family residential development to seven units per acre. There is a larger issue at stake here and it is obfuscated by claims of providing affordable housing for Hyannis families and workers.

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Twin Brooks throws a few crumbs to a relatively small number of low-income families while first and second homes for the wealthy proliferate. Alas, the town will not even throw a few crumbs at the Dockside Restaurant project. Why? Because the town of Barnstable will also grant another waiver to the developer that exempts the waterfront project from providing affordable housing.

The deal between the town and the developer goes like this: In return for giving only the wealthy a view of the harbor, the developer and the town of Barnstable will stuff those who need affordable housing in Hyannis into 310 Barnstable Road, smack dab in the middle of a parking lot surrounded by many businesses. An area without a morsel of the Cape Cod charm that all people deserve.

Well, everybody can’t have picturesque property, but 310 Barnstable Road is a terrible thing to behold. Wealthy folks get their view of the harbor and their second home on a golf course while many Hyannis families get to see heat waves rising off the asphalt. And that, in a nutshell, is the plan that the Village of Hyannis and the town of Barnstable have in mind for people and families who need affordable housing now and in the future.

Charlie Bloom, Hyannis

'Thank you for your humanity, Dr. Zelman'

Several years ago following a routine checkup in his cardiologist’s office, my husband was sent for further electronic cardiac evaluation at the Cape Cod Hospital outpatient cardiology center to rule out a possibly serious potential disorder. We were concerned as we drove to the hospital but also took comfort in being aware of the Hyannis Hospital’s recent affiliation with the physicians and facilities of the Brigham’s and Women’s Hospital Heart & Vascular Center in Boston.

Following the procedure, my husband was awakened by a nurse who told him the doctor who did the procedure would be in shortly and asked if we could wait a little because the cardiologist wanted to speak with us. I did not know if wanting to talk to us meant good news or bad.

We waited until the recovery nurse returned to say the doctor had to do an unscheduled, emergency procedure on someone who had just been brought in by ambulance. By then, my husband had eaten something, dressed and was walking around. That’s when a short time later, a quiet, unassuming doctor walked in, shook our hands and introduced himself as Dr. Zelman, the doctor who had just done my husband’s procedure.

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“Good news!” he said, smiling as he told us the procedure had shown there was no problem with my husband’s procedure. He then apologized for the delay as he explained to us that so often in his position he had to give patients “bad” news. But in my husband’s case, the tests showed an anomaly that was not serious or a danger to his health. Dr. Zellman said he just wanted to be the bearer of good news whenever he could do so for his patients.

We could not get over a doctor who didn’t even know us but who wanted to share in our happiness. We never forgot his kindness and concern.

In an era when it seems so often insurance companies determine how much or how little time doctors should be spending with their patients or how they should care for them — or not — we still feel as if we came across a dedicated physician who we like to think of as someone who took the Hippocratic oath on steroids!

Thank you for your humanity, Dr. Zellman.

Patricia Sherlock, Yarmouth Port508-619-9058

Lauf 'underestimated the power of truth and loyalty'

This is not a war of attrition, just another tragic tale of hubris and envy. I was a nurse on Cape Cod Hospital’s cardiac unit for seven years. I have seen patient gratitude for Dr. Richard Zelman that could bring the most stoic being to their knees. Put yourself by the beside of a man dropped on the beaches of Normandy at age 16, with tears in his eyes and reverence for the medical doctor who did not refuse him because of his age. What I never saw, or I suppose I should say who I never saw, was Mike Lauf.

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Mike Lauf has never been in the trench. He is not a physician or a clinician of any kind and has gravely underestimated the power of truth and loyalty.

I urge the community to think about this. When I fly I want both people in the cockpit to be pilots.

Mary Tempesta, Cotuit

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Letters: Hyannis Harbor condo waivers a slap against workers, families