A formidable Islandwide transportation planning project and a slew
of fresh development proposals are expected to keep the newly configured
Martha's Vineyard Commission busy in the months ahead.
Vineyard Leaders Order SSA Governor to Return for Further
Consultations Before Final Decision on Fast Ferry
By JULIA WELLS Gazette Senior Writer
For the second time in a month, a large group of Vineyard selectmen
this week wavered on the subject of high-speed ferry service out of New
Bedford, asking the Island Steamship Authority governor to meet with
them one more time before he makes any decision on a trial fast ferry
project.
That was the word yesterday from Rep. Joseph C. Sullivan
about the new legislation now under consideration to
dramatically change the Steamship Authority board of governors.
"This is a serious issue that needs to be studied and
evaluated in a serious way, and it will be," said Mr. Sullivan,
a Braintree Democrat who is co-chairman of the Joint Committee
on Transportation in the Massachusetts legislature.
Deep discussion was far from the minds of Edgartown voters this
week, who skipped lightly through their annual town meeting in less than
two hours, pausing only briefly for a bit of discussion before approving
a plan to allow building on substandard lots in the name of affordable
housing.
"It's an oxymoron to say it is satisfactory to build on
a substandard lot," declared town resident Walter Burns.
The developers of the Down Island Golf Club turned up the heat on
the Martha's Vineyard Commission last night, hammering home the
threat of a large low-income housing project if the golf club plan is
not approved.
A bitterly divided Dukes County Commission voted to join the
collective voice of other Vineyard officials this week - and ask
the Vineyard representative to the Steamship Authority to throttle down
a plan to develop high-speed ferry service between New Bedford and the
Vineyard.
The vote was 4-3 to endorse the letter sent by the All-Island
Selectmen's Association to Vineyard SSA governor J.B. Riggs Parker
last week.
NANTUCKET - - The people of Nantucket had their crack at the
podium this week, turning out more than 150 strong to urge a special
governor's ferry task force to protect the Steamship Authority and
their lifeline.
"The rate-payers of the Islands are not responsible for
reviving the economy of New Bedford. Folks, the Steamship Authority is
not an entitlement program," declared Steve Tornovish, a member of
the SSA financial advisory board from Nantucket.
Threat of Housing Plan Overshadows Hearing on Oak Bluffs Golf Course
By JULIA WELLS Gazette Senior Writer
Reports on wildlife habitat, turf management and fiscal impact were
the scheduled fare at a public hearing last night on a proposal to build
a luxury golf club in the southern woodlands section of Oak Bluffs
- but in the end, discussion about the golf course plan was
overshadowed by a discussion about housing.
His own story is told through the stories of others: A World War II aviator whose face and hands were burned beyond recognition; a young boy who was abandoned by his mother and locked away in an institution for 20 years because of a facial deformity; identical twins who were the first successful kidney transplant patients in history.
Eleven years ago, Dr. Joseph E. Murray won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his pioneering kidney transplant work in the 1950s.
