Cape & Islands News

Cop coffee straight, Hyannis traffic & Yarmouth override

A light touch on a serious matter
"Nothing but cream/sugar in our coffee" at Bagels & Beyond
By Craig Salters/ csalters@cnc.com, The Register

In some circles it’s known as "whistling past the graveyard," but a Yarmouth bagel shop is getting a few laughs for its take on the recent coffee-tampering incident at a Hyannis coffee shop.

"Nothing but cream/sugar in our coffee," reads the outdoor sign at Bagels and Beyond, an eatery along Route 28 owned by Jason Carvalho. The sign is an obvious reference to the recent arrests of two employees of the Dunkin’ Donuts at 149 North St. in Hyannis. The pair allegedly spit and urinated in the coffee they sold to customers and reportedly targeted police officers for their crimes.

With few exceptions, said Carvalho, the sign has generated smiles and laughs from paying customers, including several police officers whom Carvalho is proud to call regulars.

"The police, everybody, they tell me they love the sign," said Carvalho. "It’s funny, but it’s really not a funny subject."

According to Carvalho, one police officer came into his shop Saturday morning and didn’t understand the sign. That changed when the officer got to work and heard fellow officers discussing news reports of the Hyannis incident.

"He came back and howled," said Carvalho. "A lot of the officers say it’s just a fact of life for them, something they have to deal with every day..."

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Yarmouth selectmen support override
By Craig Salters/ csalters@cnc.com, The Register

Yarmouth selectmen Tuesday night voted to recommend a Proposition 2 1/2 override and set a "ceiling" amount of $850,000.

That means there's still time for that dollar amount to be lowered as the town moves toward annual Town Meeting April 11.

An $850,000 override would add about 13 cents to the tax rate.

Selectmen Chairman Jerry Sullivan voted to recommend the $850,000 figure as did Suzanne McAuliffe and Dan Horgan.

"We're voting a commitment to the override and putting a tentative warrant together," said Sullivan, who added that the override requests reflected years of level funding and a "robbing Peter to pay Paul" philosophy of past budgets.

Selectman Jim Saben voted no but later expressed support for the override in general terms.

"I agree that we need an override," said Saben. "I just don't necessarily agree with the amount or the process by which we arrived at that figure."

Selectman Bud Groskopf, who earlier in the meeting said he would "withhold judgment" until he saw how an override would fit into the overall budget, abstained.

In making its decision, the board heeded the initial recommendations of its finance committee. That committee, which will meet with selectmen Feb. 28 and possibly again March 7, considered $1.3 million in override requests from nine departments and voted to recommend $853,794 worth of those requests...

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Exit Strategy: State will take another look at Hyannis traffic 
Exit 6-1/2 examined anew, Route 132 interchange a problem
By Joe Burns/ jburns@cnc.com, The Register

The answer may come through a state-funded study that would determine, among other things, the feasibility of creating another exit into Hyannis from Route 6.

"This is an opportunity to do it right. I want to look at the whole picture," said state Sen. Robert O'Leary, D-Barnstable. Earlier this month O'Leary brought together members of the Executive Office of Transportation and local officials to discuss the need for a comprehensive study of Barnstable's transportation issues.
Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey and members of the Exit 6 1/2 Committee will be at Barnstable Municipal Airport in Hyannis Friday to announce the release of Regional Competitiveness Council funds for that study.

The so-called Exit 6 1/2 has long been a topic for discussion, and seen by some as a way of alleviating traffic congestion in Hyannis. But O'Leary said it has never been looked at as part of a bigger picture.

"It's about the whole area. It needs to be integrated," O'Leary said...

"That includes looking at Route 132 (photo above) and looking at the benefits of the planned additional lanes. It includes looking at the Willow Street/Yarmouth Road area and the improvements that are being done there."

From Route 6 to Phinney's Lane the state will be adding two lanes to Route 132. There also will be rerouting of the Shoot Flying Hill Road access to Route 132. And work is now under way to widen the lanes on Willow Street in Yarmouth. There also are plans to reroute traffic heading to the airport from Yarmouth Road to connect with Route 28 farther west. Mumford believes it would be best to see how effective these changes will be before committing to an additional Route 6 exit...

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