SSA Forum Gives Voice to Public

A public forum to hear Vineyard residents' ideas and questions
on Steamship Authority issues will be held on Wednesday, Jan. 23. The
forum opens at 7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center at the
Martha's Vineyard Regional High School, and is expected to last
two hours.

The forum moderator will be Pat Gregory, West Tisbury's town
moderator. There will be no panel of presenters and no speeches by
anyone other than the moderator, who will set the rules of engagement
for the gathering. All questions and comments will be limited in length
by the moderator.

"This forum will be political in the original sense,"
said Chilmark selectman Warren Doty, a co-sponsor. "It is the
people who will be speaking, not factions or officials or partisans. The
event is provided exclusively for the residents of Martha's
Vineyard to ask questions, air their views and hear from their fellow
citizens."

While any member of the public is welcome, questions and comments
will be limited to citizens of Martha's Vineyard. Members of the
state legislature, including Rep. Eric T. Turkington and Sen. Robert
O'Leary, will be present, along with a few Steamship Authority
executives, to answer questions posed to them.

According to Nora Nevin, a key participant in the Lifeline Coalition
and one of the forum sponsors, "The issues for public comment
include the array of concerns that have been the focus of the media and
the community for several months." Issues which are expected to
surface include the following:

* Should Barnstable have a voting seat on the SSA board?

* Should New Bedford have a seat on the SSA board? If so, at
what point should it become a voting seat?

* How important is the three-port balance of power?

* Should Martha's Vineyard continue to be responsible for
a larger percentage of future deficits than the other ports?

* How committed is the Vineyard to relieving traffic in
Falmouth and Woods Hole?

* Do we want a summer-only, passenger-only fast boat from New
Bedford?

* Do we wish to encourage automobile traffic from New Bedford
in order to reduce the Island's share of automobile traffic in
Woods Hole?

* Should the way the Vineyard member of the SSA board is
elected be changed?

* What role should the ports of Tisbury and Oak Bluffs have in
matters affecting their harbors?

* Under the varied SSA board make-ups currently being
considered, what potential financial liability can the Vineyard expect?

"This is a unique and important opportunity for elected
officials to hear from the Vineyard community on these critical
issues," said county commissioner Robert Sawyer, a co-sponsor.
"We have structured this forum for Vineyard constituents to speak
out on SSA issues that are so vital to our day-to-day life and, I might
add, our pocketbook.

"The real questions to be answered by the public at this
forum," said Mr. Sawyer, "are, what messages do we want to
send to the state legislature? Be assured they will be watching and
listening to what this community has to say."