The grass growing up through the pavers, the three plastic pots sprouting weeds, the weathered facade, peeling paint and unswept sidewalk of the Golden Dragon restaurant on Water street, Vineyard Haven, do not promise a fine dining experience.

Nor, for that matter does the interior, with its ill-assorted collection of tables and chairs and decor including a Coke machine with spare stock stacked beside it. But it’s the outside which so concerns the Tisbury selectmen.

This, they complain, is the gateway to the town. The vista which greets people coming off the ferry includes the Stop and Shop parking lot, a rental car place, a tumbledown old house and, most prominent of all, the decrepit building which houses the Golden Dragon downstairs and a cut-price T-shirt shop upstairs. Very déclassé.

Should visitors venture through the parking lot to get to Main street, they will likely pass a pile of building rubble which the town has been asking one of Main street’s major property owners, the Hall family, to clear away for a couple of years.

Then, of course, there is the unfinished shell of Café Moxie, and further up Main street, the house at number 108, unoccupied, untended and half-reconstructed since last fall.

Now, though, the town selectmen are intent on doing something about it. They are starting to lean on people, and are considering changes to town bylaws to force property owners to keep their places in better shape.

At the most recent meeting of the board last week, the Golden Dragon was up for the renewal of its license. Usually, these things are mere formalities, but in this case, the board took the opportunity to read the riot act to the restaurant owners.

They noted the place had not seen a coat of paint in 15 years. The owner of the restaurant said they did not own the building; it was a matter for the landlords.

The chairman of the board, Jeff Kristal, said that did stop them from sweeping or doing something about the weedy flowerpots. (Nothing has been done in the 10 days since).

Tristan Israel told the restaurant operators to get in touch with the landlords, and warn them the town was prepared to make it “as difficult as possible for commerce” unless the place was fixed up.

Unless the place was fixed up, it would not be licensed in future.

The board resolved to have a status hearing in 90 days, before which they expected action from the landlords, who are believed to live in New York.

Mr. Kristal said previous attempts at dialogue had shown the landlords to be “non-responsive.”

The third board member, attorney Geoghan Coogan, pushed for the adoption of stricter bylaws to give the town more teeth.

And some are on the drawing board, although a draft given to the Gazette this week appears to be of questionable use against commercial landlords.

The draft prepared by building and zoning inspector Kenneth Barwick would, however, give the town much greater control over vacant and residential properties. It could, for example be used in relation to that empty house on Main street, which also was discussed by the board. The Barwick draft provides for fines of up to $300 a day for failure to meet defined maintenance standards.

At its last meeting, the board also asked Mr. Barwick to put more pressure on the Halls to clean up their building rubble.

“We’re trying to push people as much as we can,” said Mr. Kristal this week.

“This stems from years of seeing the town in some form of disarray. Now we’re starting to put some money back into it, in the form of lights, new sidewalks, the flags that go up on the lightposts, the metal posts being replaced with four-by-four wooden posts. We’re starting to take a little more pride in the way the place looks.”

“The Halls have got a bunch of rubble up against the side of the old Murray’s building. And I know Ken [Barwick] has been asking them for probably two years to start using it, or lose it.

“They’ve always offered us a plan for it. But finally, we’re two summers into their plan, and we haven’t seen much of this rubble moved. And while we appreciate the work they’ve done on the buildings, the two storefronts they’ve built, we need to keep pushing forward. And part of it is to get that stuff out of there,” Mr. Kristal said.

“The sheer dilapidation of some buildings is a real problem,” he continued, referring to the Golden Dragon building and the Main street house and a couple of other properties. It encourages other people to dump their trash or rodents to come along. That’s what we don’t want.”

As for the Golden Dragon, he was angry that more than a week after being warned by the selectmen, the owners had done nothing to improve the look of the place.

“The owners of the restaurant haven’t removed the pots or weeded outside. There’s been no sign of good faith. If I ran that place, I would be getting some paint on it, regardless of not owning the building, just to encourage customers.”

As for the absentee landlords, he said he hoped they would attend the status hearing, or take action in the interim.

“We want them to do something to show they are serious about the responsibilities of being a commercial real estate owner here in town,” he said.

Given past experience though, he was not optimistic.

“Frankly, I’d be happy to see them sell,” he said.