Aquinnah voters will be asked at a special town meeting Tuesday night to restore the town’s full share of the Tri-Town Ambulance Service budget and pay for a portion of an affordable housing study.

The meeting starts at 7 p.m. at the old Aquinnah town hall. Michael Hebert will preside over the short, three-article warrant. A quorum of 39 voters is needed to convene the meeting.

It’s not surprising that Edo Potter’s favorite piece of conservation land is the next one. For decades she has been instrumental in acquiring plot after plot on her beloved Chappaquiddick for public use and enjoyment by future generations. She’s confident about the future of conservation on Martha’s Vineyard because of the health of the Island’s numerous environmental groups and their remarkable track record, both of which owe in large part to her tireless efforts.

Where the Coast Guard boathouse once stood in Menemsha harbor, the shore slopes slowly down to the sea, revealing a beach long hidden from view. Stretching out from this new landscape stands a concrete dock, a gray slab cutting across the view to the Sound.

This panorama, a significant alteration of how this small fishing harbor looked for almost 70 years, comes into view one year after the massive fire that ravaged the Coast Guard boathouse and much of the drive-on dock.

To glimpse far into the future on the Vineyard, just visit the house of Ted Bayne in West Tisbury. Nothing levitates, lycra unitards are not standard and it is by all appearances much the same as any other typical Vineyard house circa 2011. The only difference is that, energy-wise, Mr. Bayne and his family are almost entirely self-sufficient, thanks in large part to a century-old and decidedly unsexy piece of equipment: the heat pump.

A bill which has been quietly making its way through the state house could dramatically affect the future ownership of some of the Vineyard’s pristine barrier beaches, moving them from private hands to public.

The bill, which consists of just a single paragraph, relates to the barrier beaches that separate the Island’s Great Ponds from the ocean. Many of these beaches are privately owned and also are retreating into the ponds as they are eroded on their seaward side.

As details came to light this week about even more alleged violations to state public bidding laws in Oak Bluffs, town selectmen were set to meet again this morning behind closed doors to consider the possible dismissal of their town administrator who is at the center of the controversy.

The executive session, the fifth in a series of closed-doors sessions to discuss the performance of Michael Dutton, is set for 9:30 a.m. today.

Upset at the prospect that they will lose their much-loved and widely-respected principal, two members of the Tisbury school committee this week lashed out at the Vineyard schools superintendent for his decision to move principal Richard Smith to the Oak Bluffs School.

At an emotional meeting Tuesday, committee members Janet Packer and Colleen McAndrews said they were disappointed and angry that Dr. James H. Weiss did not include them in the decision.

KEEP THE SS-A TEAM

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

The following letter is addressed to the Steamship Authority administration:

Martha’s Vineyard is a great place to ride a bicycle. If it weren’t, I wouldn’t live here, and I suspect many other people who love the Island wouldn’t either. Not because we all ride bicycles, but because the things that make the Vineyard a great place to ride are the things that make it a great place, period. The Island is small and mostly flat, with plentiful scenic roads. The downtown areas are congested, but this is because the towns were not designed for car traffic, they were designed for people.

With the summer season un der way, it is again timely to remind people traveling around the Vineyard — visitors and Islanders, alike, whether motorist or bicyclist — of the need for safety among our narrow and often congested roads and shared use paths. For motorists and bicyclists to safely travel about, everyone needs to know the rules of the road and exercise patience.