08/24/2020 BOARD OF SELECTMEN Agenda Packet

Home Browse Search

From: Alan :Robinson ;Date: Thu, Aug 20, 2020, 6:56 PM Subject: Nip:Bay.Hearing To: <BOS a( . air Dear Members of the Mashpee :Board ofSelectmen: I am writing as a resident of the Town. of Falmouth and a. member of the F'a.lmouth. Litter Reduction Team (FLRT). Falmouth, Mashpee and other communities ,share a problem - Litter on our roadsides, beaches and other public spaces. The quality of life in the beautiful communities in which we live is degraded by this litter. The members of FL T, and I'm certain the great part of the Falmouth community, enthusiastically support the effort in.Mashpee to pass a regulation to ban the sale of 50 ml alcoholic miniatures, "nips," FLRT's goal is the elimination of littering in Falmouth. Wanting a sound basis for our work towards this goal, we performed 52 litter count surveys along Falmouth roadsides between December 2018 and May 2019. We tallied 22 different litter items. Our principal finding; 32% of the litter items along Falmouth roadsides are nips. We convened group listening sessions about litter with community association presidents, high school. students and liquor store owners and operators and spore with many individuals. We conferred with our state representatives and members of other communities. We held a public forum. We presented our findings about later and recommendations at a meeting 6f the Falmouth Board. of Selectmen in July 2019. Reviewing 'what e learned through this process, we concluded that banning the sale of nips in. Falmouth (and neighboring g conun.unities) is the only effective means to reduce this source of litter. In January 2020 FL T submitted the following petitioner's article for enactment of a by-law to Falmouth Spring "The r i • i 2020 Town Meeting: The sale of alcoholic beverages n containers less than or equal to 100� milliliters s prohibited within the Town of Falmouth." Due to the OVII -19 pandemic, Falmouth split the consideration of Spring 2020 Town Meeting articles into two sessions. The nip ban article is currently scheduled to be considered on September 1 4th. There is strong community support for a ban.. We have every reason to believe that it will be passed. A recent article in.the Mashpee Enterprise referred to a statement by a member of the Mashpee community. That person stated that a ban on nip sales in Mashpee would have no effect on the quantity of nip litter, as people would just drive to Falmouth to purchase nips. Come September 14th and the requisite time for the Falmouth bylaw to go into effect, that argument for tarring no action will not stand. The Falmouth community stands with you in spirit as you consider whether to ban the sale of nips in Mashpee. In three weeks we hope to be with you in action. Our Towns are already working together and making progress on a number of important issues. Opportunities to quickly improve the quality of life for our residents and the quality of experience for ourvisitors are relatively rare. This is one such.time. We urge you to vote to approve a nip sales ban Monday night, Sincerely, Alan Robinson Member, Falmouth Litter Reduction.Team Falmouth, MA 02540 Note: A. copy of this letter will be emailed to the members of the :Falmouth Litter Deduction Team, the Cape Cod Anti-litter Coalition and the Falmouth Board of Selectmen