The real estate developer Xerxes Agassi has proposed a plan for the Edu Comp property in downtown Vineyard Haven which would include far more than what the property can handle, simple as that, and it is located on the most highly trafficked street on the Vineyard.

Every time I travel up or down that hill, I think of the young family on bikes. The children and the husband witnessed the mother and wife fall under the tires of a truck, coming from the boat, such a tragedy. How can the MVC staff report say that there are no significant issues with traffic?

Mr. Agassi is trying to justify his plan by saying that it would showcase Veterans’ Memorial Park and it would provide more foot traffic to Main street. To try and cross the street there would be foolhardy.

Having been in retail for 40 years, this is the last place on the Vineyard that I would choose to open a store. I would consider it too far away from Main street in a building that is not inviting or appropriate. The plans appear to be too complicated to comprehend and far from completion.

It is time to allow open meetings on these very controversial plans like this one and the Harbor View and the Kelley House in Edgartown. We would wear a mask, of course, but let us attend open meetings. These virtual meetings may be all right for trying to remove a tree or add a dormer but these huge plans need more input from the public.

The Vineyard is in trouble and we need to speak up.

Carol Chirgwin Fligor

Edgartown