Recently, the Rehoboth Beach Board of Commissioners removed nonresidents from its advisory committees. I can only opine with my personal experience as an expresser of deep concern for our environment and forming an informal, very dynamic group of like-concerned people who were appointed by the commissioners to be an advisory committee to research, suggest and work for a better environment for all in Rehoboth Beach.
I am a nonresident of the square mile of the city, but I have been a resident of Rehoboth Beach for the last 27 years and a resident in a number of towns throughout Delaware for 52 years. The persons (including myself) who have either resigned or recently been removed are some of the most sensitive, passionate about the environment, and gifted and knowledgeable persons I have met. And the entire committee to a person is the same.
In our committee, we have operated by consensus even when recently we nonresidents were denied a vote (by the board of commissioners). We have worked together to advise the board on recycling containers for the Boardwalk, on locating computer reception towers away from residential areas, on native plants and pollinator gardens, on light pollution, on straws upon request (an initiative taken up by the state), on use of plastic bags (also taken up by the state), on idling vehicles, on noise and pollution from lawn equipment, and on Rehoboth Beach’s stance on offshore wind. We sponsored a poster walk on recycling with Rehoboth Elementary School students. We’ve had hearings with the public and followed legal proceedings required of public committees in our communication, our hearings and discussions, and our advice to the board.
Solving problems with the environment takes all of us working together. If the web of life in a garden could control the pollinators, there would be no blooms and eventually no garden. The environment of Rehoboth Beach is also a web of life. Solving breaks in that web of life means accepting and actually expanding connections, not controlling and removing them.
Thank you for appointing me to the environment committee. While I struggled with our limitations as a committee, I have enjoyed the work, and it was a delight to work with some of the most incredible individuals on the committee. I also have learned how our Rehoboth Beach Board of Commissioners works and doesn’t work.
Best wishes for our future.
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