Annual Town Meeting Set for Next Week in Tisbury
By ALEXIS TONTI
For months Tisbury selectmen and Steamship Authority officials have
sparred over how to use revenue collected through the passenger
embarkation fee - now it is town residents' turn to have
their say in the matter.
As part of the 27-article town meeting warrant, Vineyard Haven
voters will decide next week whether to use that money to buy a $300,000
pumper truck for the fire department and a $30,000 cruiser for the
police department.
Refuse District Quells Turmoil
Board Decides Not to Privatize, Narrows the List of Candidates for
Hiring Next Manager of Regional Operation
By IAN FEIN
After a long dispute about the future of the Island's
four-town regional refuse district, board members said yesterday that
they expect to hire a new manager by the end of the month.
Blueprint Ready, Oak Bluffs Board Seeks Money for Town Hall Plan
By JAMES KINSELLA
An Oak Bluffs town committee is prepared to recommend that taxpayers
fund the design of a new town hall. Voters at the April 12 annual town
meeting will be asked to approve borrowing $225,000 toward the town hall
design. Should the town approve the design, and at a later town meeting
approve its construction, the overall cost could come in around $5.4
million.
Chilmark Plan Draws Scrutiny
Selectmen Affirm Commitment to Middle Line Road Proposal; Resident
Comment Continues on Details of Project Design
By IAN FEIN
There are no affordable housing roadblocks in Chilmark, town
officials declared this week.
Community Preservation Comes Before Taxpayers at Annual Town Meeting
By JAMES KINSELLA
Gazette Senior Writer
Abbe Burt looks at initiatives such as the Community Preservation
Act and the Community Housing Bank, and sees important ways of
addressing the Vineyard's lack of affordable housing.
Richard Combra, an Oak Bluffs selectman, looks at the same
initiatives and sees another tax on Island residents.
West Tisbury Finance Committee Turns Up Heat on Schools, Police
By IAN FEIN
Wielding some political clout last week, the West Tisbury finance
committee assailed both the school budget and a selectmen's plan
for purchasing real estate.
The move sent town officials scrambling to address the finance
committee's concerns prior to next month's annual town
meeting.
Tisbury voters will kick off town meeting season next week when they are asked to consider restoring the Tashmoo Spring building, the 19th-century structure that served as the hub of the first waterworks system on the Island.
The article about the historic brick building is one of 12 non-appropriating articles that voters will take up at special town meeting next Tuesday, March 29, at 7:30 p.m. at the Tisbury School gymnasium. Guiding the debate will be town moderator Deborah Medders.
At Risk: Health Council Assesses Trends in Teen Behavior
By IAN FEIN
Have you ever tried smoking a cigarette, even one or two puffs? On
an average school day, how many hours do you watch TV? During the past
seven days, how many times did you eat green salad?
These are the types of questions that Vineyard students in sixth
through twelfth grade will be asked in an anonymous youth risk behavior
survey, which will be conducted next month for the first time in three
years.
Vision Emerges for Future of State Forest
By THOMAS DUNLOP
State forestry officials will meet May 24 with key scientists to try
to unify the environmental vision for how to manage and restore the
Manuel F. Correllus State Forest, the chief forester for the
commonwealth told the Gazette last week.
The state will then convene at least one public hearing this summer
to explain what the ecologists have agreed to, and find out what
Vineyarders want to see happen in the forest from both an environmental
and recreational point of view.
The Martha's Vineyard Land Bank will seal its largest-ever deal today, handing over $18.6 million to Connecticut developer Corey Kupersmith and officially taking ownership of 190 acres of the southern woodlands in Oak Bluffs.
