Selectmen suggest amendment to proposed dog ban at Singing Beach
The Board-of-Selectmen recommends by a vote of 5-1 that families be banned from enjoying Singing Beach together with our dogs for two more months of the year from April through October. The Gloucester Daily Times is calling the suggested closing of the beach to beach-goers a "compromise".
Susan Thorne, Chairwoman of the Board of Selectmen, believes that by allowing families with dogs to enjoy Singing Beach during the off-season, the town is going out of its way to accommodate nonresidents.
The insularism on the part of Chairwoman Thorne is more hurtful to residents than it is to nonresidents. As a nonresident, I visit Singing Beach about a half-a-dozen times during the off-season. Most people I meet at Singing Beach, however, are Manchester residents. Extending the dog ban will keep Manchester residents off the beach every day.
Chairwoman Thorne's insularism hurts more than families who come from other towns and cities to enjoy Singing Beach; It also hurts the local businesses we patronize when we visit Manchester-by-the-Sea between October and April.
To add insult to injury, Manchester-by-the-Sea wants a piece of money that residents of other cities and towns pay to support our municipal programs and services: Manchester-by-the-Sea supports state revenue sharing, a proposal that would let Manchester-by-the-Sea receive a portion of the property taxes that residents of other cities and towns pay to our local municipalities.
The Board of Selectmen's recommendation to extend the current five-month dog ban at Singing Beach by an additional two months is bad business for Manchester-by-the-Sea.
The Singing Beach Committee opposes a year-round dog ban, and the Vice Chairperson of the Committee says that the Selectmen's amendment does not improve upon the original proposal. The high season at the beach is between Memorial Day and Labor Day. The current rules, which prohibit dogs on Singing Beach from May 1 through September 30, ensure that there is a month before the majority of beach-goers appear and another month after they disappear when the beach is without dogs.