Author Archives: Margaret E. Sheehan

Plymouth Town Meeting should vote yes on [the Oct. 18 Town Meeting] warrant article 26. This article urges the Select Board to prohibit town employees from working for the private Plymouth Foundation. Although the town moderator has ruled the article “out of order” attempting to prohibit a vote, that ruling can be overruled with a […]

Sand mining continues to ravage Southeastern Massachusetts. Dozens of sand mines excavate the earth and load it into hundreds of trucks a day. The land is gone forever – parts of Plymouth and surrounding towns sold off to meet the global demand for sand as the shortage grows. Plymouth’s sand mines have the potential to […]

This letter aims to provide a full picture about the “lawsuit” referenced in recent Your View letters about Select Board Chair [Richard] Quintal’s April 29, public comments. The lawsuit is a “Citizen Suit” case brought by 20 “persons” as plaintiffs. Community Land and Water Coalition (CLWC) is only of the 20 plaintiffs – not the only one​ […]

Your April 9 letter from Becca Bankhurst stated I am the sole director and officer of the nonprofit group Community Land & Water Coalition (CLWC). This is inaccurate. I am one of CLWC’s four directors and officers. Together we have over 150 years’ experience in Southeastern Massachusetts in conservation, law, organizing, municipal government, and Native […]

An April Fool’s Day event in Plymouth will focus on sand mining at the Cedarville Conservation Area. All are welcome to join an awareness raising picket from 8 to 10 a.m. at 71 Hedges Pond Road. Until January, the Cedarville Conservation Area was a globally rare pine barrens forest. It is a Native American historic […]

I echo Tony Thompson’s March 22, 2025, letter that the “discovery” of 588 affordable housing units warrants “fresh eyes” in the town’s Planning and Development Department. The “discovery” is especially concerning [because] town planner Mr. [Lee] Hartmann is the sole town employee who is a member of the Affordable Housing Trust. The responsibility of the […]

At recent Plymouth Select Board weekly meetings, people have been speaking at public comment about the 33-acre sand mining operation getting underway at 71 Hedges Pond Road by Duxbury-based Eric Pontiff. This land is the Wampanoag Native American Tribe’s “Great Lot,” an ancient homesite and sacred area. It was designated as conservation land by Town […]

Is the  “ceremonial big check for $2 million” presented by the Plymouth Foundation at the February 11 Select Board meeting a sleight of hand? Is it really just reimbursement for the almost $2 million the taxpayers have already paid to the Foundation for “services”?  Since 2014, the town has paid the Foundation $1.8 million – […]

Town Meeting should vote no on article 17 – the land bank proposal – on October 19. It is set up to funnel town-owned land that should be used for the public good into the hands of private developers. The land bank bears a troubling resemblance to the shadowy Plymouth Foundation that Town Hall uses […]

Garrett Tunison’s Your View [letter] of Sept. 26, “Town officials are ‘clueless’ when it comes to business development,” describes the Plymouth Foundation as “the same old people and families that have been around forever….” That’s true, and a public investigation is uncovering a lot more. The Plymouth Foundation is a shadow arm of town government. […]