Fuel Costs Drive Rate Hikes at SSA

By JAMES KINSELLA
Gazette Senior Writer

Vineyard and Nantucket governors on the Steamship Authority
anticipate that fuel costs will drive boat line rates higher in the
coming year.

"We haven't had a rate hike since 2003," said
Vineyard governor and board chairman Marc Hanover. "We're
certainly due . . . we've had a nice ride of it, but the ride is
over."

"We're hoping for a little more efficient operation, but
there's only so much you can do," Nantucket governor Flint
Ranney said.

MVC Advises Additional Review of Draft Bill for Housing Bank

By IAN FEIN

The Martha's Vineyard Commission last week recommended that
draft legislation for the proposed Martha's Vineyard Housing Bank
receive one more round of public comment across the Island before it is
filed with the state legislature.

Housing bank representatives said yesterday they do not think it is
necessary.

The fall sports season is under way for the athletes at the
Martha's Vineyard Regional High School, with all the teams other
than football having played their opening games. Both varsity field
hockey and boys' soccer are looking to repeat their tournament
runs of last year - and with a strong cadre of upperclassmen
returning to each, they are positioned to do just that.

Six stripers over 30 pounds each were weighed in in the first 36 hours of the Martha's Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby, and if the early catch is any indication it is going to be an exciting 35 days of fishing.

Chappaquiddick Residents File Appeal to Stop Homesite Plan

By RACHEL KOVAC

A small group of Chappaquiddick residents went to state court last
week to try and block a decision by the Edgartown zoning board of
appeals to allow three affordable homesites on substandard lots.

The appeal will delay the real estate closings on the three lots for
five young Island residents.

Edgartown Set for Tax Review

Local Assessments Bureau Studies Abatements on Chappaquiddick;
Officials on Island and Beyond Monitor West Tisbury Case

By IAN FEIN

One week after testimony concluded in the protracted West Tisbury
property tax appeal, a Massachusetts Department of Revenue bureau chief
confirmed that the state will conduct a rare supplemental review of
Edgartown property values after a spate of unusual abatements were
granted on Chappaquiddick.

Steamship Authority Projects Rate Hikes on Vineyard Route for the
Coming Year

By JAMES KINSELLA

Steamship Authority managers confirmed yesterday that they expect to
recommend rate increases for the coming year on the state-chartered boat
line that provides the only year-round car and passenger service to the
two Islands.

SSA general manager Wayne Lamson said the staff is including
proposed increases in the draft boat line operating budget, which will
come before the SSA board of governors at their meeting next Thursday in
Hyannis.

School Boards Scramble to Cover Transportation in Time for Opening
Day

By RACHEL KOVAC

Uncertainty surrounding school transportation ran down to the wire
this week, with a flurry of emergency meetings that resulted in a
patched together plan to carry Vineyard children to school.

Bussing on the first day of school yesterday went without a hitch,
but the untested system - which calls for the school district to
manage bussing itself for six weeks - leaves many unanswered
questions for bus drivers, school leaders and taxpayers.

The fight to keep Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod open took another hit yesterday, when a federal judge denied a request for a temporary restraining order to keep the base from closing.

The ruling by the Hon. George A. O'Toole Jr., a federal district court judge in Boston, adds another element of uncertainty to what will become of the Coast Guard air/sea and air medical evacuation operations based at Otis. Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod has shared the Massachusetts Military Reservation airfield since the late 1970s.

An investigation by the Committee on Finance for the United States Senate has thrust The Nature Conservancy and its conservation buyer program under a spotlight, and along with it the record $64 million sale of the Herring Creek Farm in Edgartown.