Two important clarifications about the Falmouth resident request for a public hearing. 1) The PETITION REQUEST IS NOT TO CANCEL the 3-year-old 5:30AM daily ferry run from Vineyard Haven to Woods Hole; 2) NOR IS THE PETITION REQUEST TO CANCEL the five-year-old 5:30AM daily ferry run from Woods Hole to Vineyard Haven. The petition concerns the SSA's scheduling of 12-15 heavy and noisy freight trucks, up to 40' in length, that pass through our residential neighborhoods in Falmouth and Woods Hole beginning at 4:45AM on a daily basis in order to make the 5:30AM ferry on which the SSA now seeks to schedule them. Hundreds of Falmouth families live in those neighborhoods. In many cases we have lived in our homes for decades. To repeat, the petition is NOT ABOUT CANCELING BOATS but about the proposed scheduling of heavy and noisy FREIGHT TRUCKS so early through our residential neighborhoods. It is NOT about passengers and cars on the 5:30AM ferries. Let the passengers and cars flow as early as Vineyard residents need to make their off-island medical appointments and Logan flights on the 5:30AM ferries. Why can't Vineyard residents have sympathy for Falmouth residents' trials and tribulations with heavy and noisy freight trucks being scheduled by the SSA so early in our neighborhoods on a daily basis? Don't Vineyard residents also have children who need a good night of sleep before school?

get them on and off the island before daily traffic ramps up. the complaint isn't idling at the SSA, but that they drive through? how many houses are actually on the road to the terminal? how loud is a passing truck? if you want to keep noise down, enact a lower speed limit for trucks and have it actively enforced

If you ask why live near a busy road and complain about 4am traffic..you also have to ask why live on an island where EVERYTHING has to be shipped in...the noise starts once those trucks cross the bridge...it is miles of traffic and noise...it is not the same as don't live by the airport. It sounds like S.A. trying to grab more bucks.

Efficiencies and lower costs in the U.S. comes from our competitive free market. If the Steamship Authority were thinking ahead and were not so protective of its monopoly position for delivering freight to the Vineyard, the Steamship Authority would already be actively developing service from other off-Cape ports. Studies demonstrate that only approx. two to three percent (2-3%) of the much higher prices of goods and services on the islands comes as a result of ferry costs (hard to believe, I know, but see MVC transportation and other reports on this; the remainder is, ahem, retail margin). In any case competitive freight service to the islands would bring lower shipping expenses as competitive third-party shippers deliver freight less expensively than the Steamship Authority despite longer water distances from off-Cape ports. If the Steamship Authority is not interested in developing its own off-Cape freight delivery to the islands, as appears to be the case, the Steamship Authority needs to share the ball with others.

Thank you to Falmouth for allowing themselves to be used as a doormat for decades. The charter may give the Authority dictatorial powers like usurping some of Falmouth's best commercial and industrial land for use by as tax exempt parking, dock and office space in order to serve, not the residents of Martha's Vineyard but the thousands of "lifeline" visitors. Over the years their doormat status has cost the people of Falmouth millions in lost revenue and opportunity. The Authority has the power to invade residential areas in ways no other entity would be allowed in order to provide "lifeline" products like thousands of tons of landscaping material (full grown trees,cobblestones, swimming pools)..."lifeline services like semis hauling millions of tons of compostable garbage, trash and ...almost unbelievably, sewage. Excuse me..."provide" is a deceptive description because it implies there is no alternative..the phrase should be "provide at the lowest possible cost to a group of people too lazy, stupid or self-involved to compost their garbage and control growth in a responsible manner." Maybe you all should set some limits. People in Falmouth are not at all like those who move next to Logan airport and complain about plane noise, when I arrived in Falmouth there was an abandoned rail line where there is now parking, a lumber store where there is now parking, a skating rink where there is now parking and 50 acres of industrially zoned land where there is now parking. The Authority has expanded its impact on Falmouth and appears to have no intention of limiting or seriously addressing that impact. The planners of the Vineyard appear to lack the skill, mandate or desire to control growth on the island (or maybe control your trash a bit?). It is one thing let greed and incompetence destroy your own homes but don't expect us to continue sitting by while you destroy ours. The charter DOES grant pretty much unlimited power to the Authority but its mandate is very limited and has been massively overstepped. It is no longer a matter of being a "Lifeline" now it is all about entitlement and greed. Sorry, it is time for Falmouth to act in its own interest for a change, you were given a gift and messed it up. The charter can be revised and will be.

I wonder if the problem could be addressed with a change in the mix of vehicles on the ferries. Assuming that the issue is making more efficient the delivery of goods by truck, perhaps the SSA could keep the early ferry exclusively for cars. The 6:00 could be exclusively for trucks. I’m not close enough to the problem to have a good answer, but merely suggesting there may be other ways to think about it.

Thank you Nat for taking on this inconsiderate organization. I'm sorry I'm not there to sink my own teeth deeply into its ankle.

I sympathize with both sides and see the problems/challenges for both. As a long-time Vineyard resident and vacationer I have seen dramatic changes in traffic volumes and noises levels over the last 40+ years. The essential problem is increased traffic demands stemming from increased tourism on-island, increased year-round residents, and their demand requirements for goods and services. A similar problem is occurring on-island as well with complaints about traffic congestion, volumes, flows, and noise. There's no magic solution and restricting travel and access - limiting on-island residents and visitors to a set number of vehicles is dictatorial and totalitarian - very much against the US founding principle's of personal liberty and freedom rights. However, a possible suggestion is to establish a freight-service only (or primarily) ferry location and service to/from Martha's Vineyard. I think it's time to consider building a 4-season docking facility in Oak Bluffs on the island to support increased freight and vehicular demands. This could/should coincide with an alternate vehicular ferry location for freight service - whether that's in Falmouth Harbor (with the current passenger ferries) or somewhere nearer the Bourne Bridge and rotary (or even in New Bedford or Fall River). We need to consider non-traditional traffic options but limiting travel and vehicles only negatively impacts all parties and the local economies on both sides of the Vineyard Sound.