PROVINCETOWN – Romolo Del Deo recently issued a statement regarding his family’s controversial eviction from a dune shack they have occupied for decades on the Cape Cod National Seashore prior to a rally protesting the eviction on the Outer Cape on Saturday, July 15.
The Del Deo family, which has acted as stewards for the shack since 1947, is one of nine households scheduled to be evicted from dune shacks in the region around Labor Day.
According to Del Deo, the current motivation of the Cape Cod National Seashore is at odds with its prior administrations and negatively impacts families who have supported the National Seashore since its inception.
“We’re talking about a community that has worked hand in hand with the Cape Cod National Seashore for decades,” said Del Deo. “Our family is so integral to that story of founding the Cape Cod National Seashore that for their fiftieth anniversary, we were the keynote speakers.”
“The last communication we had from the National Seashore was the invitation to speak as their speakers for the fiftieth anniversary,” he said, “and the next communication we got was this spring when we were summarily given a thirty-day eviction notice.”
The rally will provide a platform for protestors to voice their concerns surrounding the transparency of the actions against the nine households, their legality, and an approach they feel is prioritizing sizable cash bids rather than stewardship experience and familiarity with the land.
The affected parties are asking the National Seashore to follow guidelines by previous administrations which would have negotiated a 25-year lease for the Del Deo’s and the other households.
Several local and state lawmakers, including State Senator Julian Cyr, have voiced their support for the protest.
The Del Deo family stated that they have declined a two-year special use permit offered to them by the National Seashore at the behest of the Secretary of the Interior that would have allowed them to continue occupying the property in solidarity with the other households.
“We are protesting for very simple things,” said Del Deo. “We want to protect our culture. We want to protect our property. We want to make sure that if there is a leasing program which we do in coordination with the park, to please do it in the way we all agreed to do it.”
“Please honor the Community. Respect the community. Respect our traditions, and respect us enough to listen to us because we have been here a long time, and we don’t need to prove that we can be trusted and that we can be good partners,” he said. “We have been trusted and good partners, and we always wanted only that relationship with the Cape Cod National Seashore.”
Del Deo has vowed to do whatever it takes to convince the community and relevant state agencies that a different course is necessary.
By, Matthew Tomlinson, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
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