State Attorney General Urges New Bedford Vote in Political War Over
SSA
By JULIA WELLS Gazette Senior Writer
The Massachusetts Attorney General touched off a fresh storm of
politics on Beacon Hill this week when he sided with the city of New
Bedford in the war among state legislators over a bill to restructure
the Steamship Authority.
The Massachusetts Attorney General sided with a Connecticut housing
developer this week in a key legal dispute that is expected to decide
whether the Martha's Vineyard Commission has the right to review
low and moderate income housing projects under Chapter 40B, a section of
state law commonly known as the anti-snob zoning statute.
The groundbreaking case goes to the heart of the unique powers
vested in the commission by the state legislature more than 25 years
ago.
Vineyard voters will go to the polls Tuesday to help choose a new
Massachusetts governor along with nine members of the Martha's
Vineyard Commission, four county commissioners and a new district
attorney for the Cape and Islands.
Voters will also be asked to answer a series of ballot questions on
an array of issues from bilingual education to changing the way the
Island's Steamship Authority governor is appointed.
SSA Reorganization Bill Passes Senate; New Bedford, Barnstable Win
Seats; Governor Expected to Sign Law Soon
By JULIA WELLS Gazette Senior Writer
The state Senate followed the lead of powerful New Bedford Sen. Mark
Montigny and turned a deaf ear on Cape and Islands Sen. Robert
O'Leary this week, voting overwhelmingly to approve a hostile bill
to restructure the Steamship Authority.
Hospital CEO Departs; Financial Officer Takes Interim Leadership Post
By JULIA WELLS Gazette Senior Writer
Despite announcing last month that he would stay on until his
contract runs out in October, the chief executive officer at the
Martha's Vineyard Hospital made an abrupt exit this week after
hammering out a severance agreement with the hospital executive
committee.
Hospital CEO Kevin Burchill cleaned out his office and was gone by
the end of the day on Tuesday.
When Tisbury and Edgartown voted to withdraw from the Martha's Vineyard Commission in the late 1970s, what followed was a procedural and political tangle that went on for years.
In Tisbury, the fight was over the second slip for the Steamship Authority. In Edgartown, it was about the rules for the coastal district of critical planning concern.
By the time both towns rejoined the commission in 1984, the tumult had died down, deep political divisions had faded and few people remembered what the fight had been all about in the first place.
Falmouth SSA Governor Sues Selectmen to Block His Ouster
By JULIA WELLS
The standoff between Falmouth Steamship Authority governor and board
chairman Galen Robbins escalated yesterday when Mr. Robbins filed a
tough complaint in federal court against the Falmouth selectmen, who are
trying to oust him as the town's boat line governor.
Among other things, the complaint charges that the selectmen
violated Mr. Robbins's First Amendment and civil rights when they
took steps last month to remove him as boat line governor.
The Steamship Authority will spend about $200,000 this summer to
boost security on ferries and at boat line terminals on the Cape and
Islands.
Senior managers at the SSA said this week that they are trying to
incorporate a new awareness about safety and security into operations at
the public boat line, although it is still unclear how much can be done
that is meaningful - and also legal.
Joint Committee on Transportation Releases Revised Version of Bill
with Changes to Makeup of Boatline Board
By JULIA WELLS
A legislative bill to reorganize the Steamship Authority board of
governors emerged from the Joint Committee on Transportation this week,
markedly changed and reshaped to put more distance between New Bedford
and the public boat line that is the lifeline to the two Islands.
Martha's Vineyard Commission Rejects Plan for New Station on
State Road Corridor, Eight Votes to Three
By JULIA WELLS Gazette Senior Writer
After a discussion that went well beyond the subject of gasoline
prices on the Vineyard, the Martha's Vineyard Commission voted 8-3
last night to reject a plan for a new gas station off State Road in
Vineyard Haven.
