Letters to the Editor

Tax issue is unrelated to reassessment

To the editor,

This letter is in response to Rosemarie De Angelis’ letter in the Sentry (April 1, 2022). The increased tax basis at issue is unrelated to the recent city reassessment. If Ms. De Angelis had looked at properties with heat pumps in the online assessors’ database, she would perhaps understand.

There is an additional $4,800 added to the value of my home due to my having a heat pump. This addition is listed under Extra Features. I had all the facts after review of properties in my area with heat pumps as compared to their assessments in the database. There was no consistency.

It is not my intent to dissuade people from getting a heat pump. They are a non-polluting heating and cooling source. In the spring and fall my gas furnace rarely comes on. Summertime cooling with a heat pump is more efficient (and certainly quieter) than a window air conditioner.

The reasonable resolution would be for the city to eliminate all additional assessments for heat pumps to encourage their use which is consistent with the city’s sustainability goals. I have been assured a response from the city’s assessor’s office on this matter is forthcoming

Becky Judd
South Portland

Continue to share open spaces

To the editor,

The April 1 article, “Willard Beach dog rules remain in place for now,” contained several inaccuracies regarding summer and winter off-leash hours at Willard and Hinckley Park. The South Portland Dog Owners Group wants to make sure that readers have correct information, especially as the summer hours start in a little less than a month (Sunday, May 1).

As mentioned in the article, at its March 22 meeting, the city council agreed that current dog leash rules are likely to remain in place for the foreseeable future. Under the current ordinances:

From May 1 – Sept. 30 – Willard is open to dogs (off-leash and leashed) from 7 to 9 a.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Dogs are not allowed on the beach before 7 a.m., and from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
From May 1 – Sept. 30 – Hinckley Park is open to dogs (off-leash and leashed) all day during park hours, 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. (note that this may change as council is considering adding some leashed hours at Hinckley).
From Oct. 1 – April 30 – dogs must be leashed at both Willard and Hinckley from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Off-leash dogs must be under sight and voice control; otherwise, they must be leashed.
Park hours for all city parks (including the beach) are 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The only thing better than summer in Maine is summer in Maine with a dog by your side. But remember that in the summer, we share our open spaces with even more people and dogs. When you’re out having fun with your dog, please be ready to leash up when you see young children, unsteady walkers, picnickers and leashed dogs (who may be leashed for a reason).

Let’s make sure that we can continue to share our open spaces and enjoy the privilege of off-leash access by being good dog citizens.

South Portland Dog Owners Group

Swim or sink together

To the editor,

In a recent letter to the editor, Andrea Thompson McCall, makes the astonishing claim that, “Dogs are causing the environmental degradation of Hinckley Park and Willard Beach (Sentry, April 1, 2022). While Hinckley Park may well have gone to the dogs (I never go there), I do frequent Willard Beach almost every day, mostly to bird watch, but I also have fun watching the dogs.

Like the many varieties of ducks, the dogs seem to find the beach a splendid environment, although there has always been grumbling among the Golden Eyes and Retrievers, about city runoff, sewage leaks, overflows, and the pernicious use of fertilizers on neighbor’s lawns. What really got the ducks furious, however, was last September, when oil leaked onto the beach from a nearby business. People. The ducks angerly quacked.

But, oh, how lovely it must be to alone hold the truth of these matters. How sad that our city council is so unwilling to listen to McCall’s truth and “will disregard science.” Yes, how sad that they seek compromise, try to work together, hope to find solutions that help our ducks, our birds, and yes, our family dogs. It must be torture to our marvelous truth-holders to witness such unfashionable democracy at work. Such bullying indeed.

Still. It’s encouraging to know that McCall is interested in protecting the environment and I hope that she will extend her passionate intensity towards the city’s infrastructure and damaging lawn practices along our coast. Perhaps too, she might join the ambassador program offered by the South Portland Dog Owners Group and help dog owners do the right thing.