Junk Cars Spur Town Reaction
Edgartown Cites the Hall Family For Zoning and Health Code
Violations; Officials Hope Will Lead to Final Cleanup
By MANDY LOCKE
Eight months after a dangerous brush fire pushed cleanup of an
illegal car dump to the top of Edgartown's priority list,
officials finally lost patience with the property owners -
formally citing the Benjamin Hall Sr. family this week for flagrant
zoning and health code violations.
School costs are driving budget increases across the Island, but in Chilmark, one expense forcing voters to dig into their wallets for education spending may come as a shock.
The Menemsha School, barely four years old, already needs $100,000 in repairs that include replacing moldy floors and rotten doors. Voters will be asked Monday night at annual town meeting to foot the bill. The meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Chilmark Community Center.
The annual town election takes place Wednesday and will feature five override questions, but no contested races.
Now is always a good time to market a quality product, say a number of Island entrepreneurs opening new businesses this summer.
"Our idea ... was to kind of seize the moment," said Frank Pellegrino, opening a Mexican restaurant where Lawry's seafood restaurant used to be in Edgartown.
He said that he and partner Denise Page didn't want uncertain economic times to deter them from taking the lease to a valuable piece of property: Not many businesses come with parking lots attached, he said.
Hospital Leaders Attempt to Blunt Financial Crisis at the Windemere
Facility
By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer
Leaders at the Martha's Vineyard Hospital stepped in this week
to try to contain an escalating financial crisis at the Windemere
Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center. Hospital senior managers said
the crisis at the Island's only nursing home could pose a threat
to the Island's only hospital.
Politics in West Tisbury Turn Divisive as Town Struggles with
Rampant Growth
By CHRIS BURRELL
If you wanted proof of how far the political landscape shifted this
week in West Tisbury, all you had to do was pan over the
selectmen's table in town hall.
For the first time in almost three decades, the man frozen in oil
paint in the Stan Murphy portrait hanging on the wall was not sitting
there underneath the picture.
He's a crowd favorite in the polling booths but back on his
own board, Oak Bluffs selectman Roger Wey can't get a break.
Oak Bluffs Undergoes Facelift at Town Center; New Brick Sidewalks
Set for Carousel Area
By CHRIS BURRELL
Bricklayers from Rehoboth and a highway crew from Oak Bluffs this
week started rebuilding what could be one of the Island's most
heavily trafficked sidewalks - the one surrounding the Flying
Horses carousel smack in the center of Oak Bluffs.
End of an Era: Louis Giordano Leaves Eatery on State Road
By C.K. WOLFSON
After receiving this year's Tisbury Businessman of the Year
award - timed like a certificate of graduation - Louis
Giordano has announced his decision to stop operating the State Road
take-out food business that bears his name. He is making plans to enter
the Island job market. He has leased the Louis' building, and
turned over the name and the recipes to former Black Dog chef Douglas
Hewson, effective May 1.
Community Services Hit with Complaint
Federal Labor Board Charges Agency with Poor Treatment of Employees
During Union Organizing Effort
By JULIA WELLS
A dormant labor dispute at Martha's Vineyard Community
Services bubbled to life again yesterday when a newly formed union
announced that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued a
complaint against the umbrella social service agency.
Voters in Oak Bluffs, acting decisively yesterday, stared down at a seven-way race for two seats on the board of selectmen and put their pencil marks solidly behind Roger Wey and Greg Coogan.
Way ahead of the pack, Mr. Wey, the incumbent, pulled down 712 votes, winning a sixth term on the board. Mr. Coogan came in with 638 ballots to join Mr. Wey on the board. A total of 1,451 voters cast ballots, 45 per cent of those registered.
