In case you haven’t been paying attention, take notice: You’re being watched. Privacy is at a premium in Plymouth and most of the world. Cameras are everywhere, from the front doors of homes to stores to streets to parking lots and more. They’re mounted on posts, peering down from the sky, and in the hands […]
Author Archives: Mark Pothier - Independent Staff
Posted inEnvironment & Health
‘It’s like a bad nightmare’
The first shards of morning light had not appeared when the call came a week ago. Kaisang Ghale and his wife, Dechen, were still sleeping. A cousin was on the line from the Rasuwa region of Nepal where Ghale was born and raised before coming to Plymouth in 1999. “My wife woke me, saying, ‘Get […]
Posted inCulture
Outside the Clancy trial, a foreign world within Plymouth’s borders
The weekly Farmers Market on the South Street library’s lawn went on as usual Thursday afternoon. Vendors sold organic fruits, vegetables, and homemade goods under pop-up canopies pitched across the tamped down grass. Less than a half mile away on Obery Street, the same type of coverings shielded people from the late summer sun’s reach. […]
Posted inEnvironmental Commentary
Another nuclear reactor in Plymouth? Be careful what you wish for.
This is the second installment of a two-part opinion column on nuclear power in Plymouth. How soon we forget. Or maybe we didn’t know much to begin with. Those two thoughts pop into my head when I hear people – especially politicians – speak in glowing terms about the prospect of building a new nuclear […]
Posted inReal Estate Sales
Seventeen homes sold for more than $1m last month
It’s been a hot summer for real estate in Plymouth, at least when it comes to the weather. Between heatwaves and summer vacations, sales during this sultry season tend to hinge on the desirability and location of particular properties, not overall market conditions. In July, 123 homes changed hands across town, compared with 137 in […]
Posted inEnvironment & Health
‘I just want to go to the beach’
Mention piping plovers in some circles around here and people might give you the bird. For two decades, the town has been compelled by the state to monitor vehicle access to the outer stretch of Plymouth’s Long Beach because plovers are protected under the Endangered Species Act. The three-mile barrier strip is one of their […]
Posted inEnvironmental Commentary
Re-examining Plymouth’s fraught relationship with nuclear energy
This is the first of a two-part column on nuclear power in Plymouth. The 1972 opening of the Pilgrim nuclear power plant might have been the worst thing to happen in Plymouth’s long history. It ushered in an era of fool’s gold prosperity that, over time, exacted a steep price on what was a quintessential […]
Posted inEducation
Plan to replace Cold Spring, Hedge schools graduates to next level
Cold Spring Elementary School was a fitting setting for last week’s Select Board meeting – the building itself was the subject of an update from Town Manager Derek Brindisi on the building’s uncertain future. A study is underway to explore the feasibility of replacing it and the nearby Hedge Elementary School on the corner of […]
Posted inBusiness
‘The restaurant is just a path’
To hear Jim Doyle describe it, experiencing the subtlety of Nepali curry for the first time was revelatory. That was five years ago. Today, the restaurant that serves the dish has served him something more sustaining: A rebirth of sorts. Doyle, 58, manages The Himalaya, which recently opened on Court Street. He’s running it for […]
Posted inReal Estate Sales
More homes were sold in town last month, but inventory remains slim
The summer heat seems to have raised the temperature of Plymouth’s real estate market. Last month, 137 homes sold across town, a significant bump up from the 86 closings in May. That’s according to data from the Warren Group, a Boston-based real estate tracking firm. It’s difficult to pinpoint why so many more homes exchanged […]