I ask the selectmen, did you know some residents own property, pay taxes (even taxes on our furnishings because we are not full-time residents), and spend significant money in the local economy each summer, but actually live in other parts of the country? We cherish our time each summer when we return to Harvard and its vibrant community.
Each year, we purchase a Transfer Station sticker at full price. The problem arises because we often fly back to Massachusetts, rent a car, and drive a rental without a transfer sticker.
Last summer, while in a rental car, I was informed by a Transfer Station employee that he would have to report me: I would be fined, and police would be called. I insisted I had a sticker on my own vehicle, properly affixed to the windshield, in full compliance with the regulations. I asked him to look me up in the listing of stickers. He said he had no list. In previous seasons, we have been stopped at the gate and motioned out—no discussion allowed. On one occasion my son was stopped, harassed by a man who described himself as a selectman, and told to leave or the police would be called. The trash came back to Clinton Shore, and a neighbor then took it.
We are not trying to cheat the town. We don’t ask for a discount because we only reside in the town less than six weeks. We don’t try to enter without paying for a sticker. We merely are trying to exercise the right and privilege we were granted when we purchased the Transfer Station sticker.
Perhaps you could find a way to accommodate contributing, involved, part-time residents in this wonderful town. What about a list at the Transfer Station, or a simple, dated ID card, or maybe a code for my phone?
Please, folks, Harvard can do better than this. We pay our dues; maybe you could agree to let us in the club and be treated with a bit more respect.
Christopher D. Mitchell
Clinton Shore Drive
