Thursday, March 28, 2024
Home Opinion Page 40

Opinion

A letter from France

0
Proximity — both physical and emotional — affected how the community where I am living in has experienced the Paris attacks of the past week. Physically, I have some distance. I’m living about three...

Thoughtful planning, healthy aging

One of the defining attractions of living on Martha’s Vineyard is that many of us get to live more or less the way we like, relatively free of the compromises modern American life requires...

First answer the question

Dukes County government, a vestige of colonial governance that continues to siphon off tax dollars that ought to be left in town coffers under the direct control of those more directly responsible for their...

Back to the future

On Tuesday, the members of the Steamship Authority (SSA) met in Oak Bluffs for their monthly business meeting. It was the last in a series of road shows over the spring and summer months,...

Adequate housing is not optional

Many Vineyarders are perplexed and frustrated when national policies regarding critical issues defy progress, let alone solution. The term “intractable” — a verbal cue that however much we want to solve something, we won’t...

Beach Road detour

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) plan to reconstruct Beach Road between Wind’s Up and Five Corners in Vineyard Haven by adding sidewalks and bike lanes was forced to take a detour around logic...

Scrub it

0
In April 1993, Tisbury voters took leave of their senses and approved a request for $988,000 to build a new police/ambulance facility at the head of the town’s Water Street parking lot. In retrospect,...

One man’s junk

0
“One man’s junk is another man’s treasure” might well describe the kerfuffle in Oak Bluffs over the Denniston House. “Another man’s treasure ought to be used to fix it up” might well describe the...

One-way solution

0
On Monday, Tisbury reversed the flow of traffic on Union Street, a one-way connector road between Main Street and Water Street and the Vineyard Haven Steamship Authority (SSA) terminal. The trial reversal will last...

Journal Entry, September 11, 2001

0
Heavy exterior glass panels and wall sections fell away, making dead drops, straight down like stones. The air handling system, sheet metal ducts and plenums were sucked out and fell slower, seesawing to the...

Pause to remember and reflect

0
Barring any unexpected events, today will be an ordinary day for many Islanders. People will go to work, they will go grocery shopping, have lunch with friends, go to school, and travel to and...

What’s the problem?

0
The United States Postal Service (USPS) is an enormous federal agency. It employs almost 500,000 people, processed 155.4 billion pieces — exactly what that represents is not specified — had $67.8 billion in revenue...

Deflategate in Mayberry

0
“The Andy Griffith Show’’ is my favorite TV series of all time. My brother Peter and I made it a habit to watch an episode or two before we sat down to write our...

The state of Sengekontacket Pond, 2014–15

For the past 26 years, the Friends of Sengekontacket, Inc., has carefully monitored the health of Sengekontacket Pond and its barrier beaches. The directors are pleased to report that the pond is in slightly...

The new philanthropy

Year-round and seasonal Vineyarders benefit from a very large infrastructure of nonprofit facilities and organizations, extensively supported by gifts from interested and generous benefactors. Traditionally, Island nonprofits compete, however genteelly, in what can be...

No time for isolationism

Martha’s Vineyard residents were understandably shocked to learn that new Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School Principal Gil Traverso had resigned only one year into a three-year contract, and just one month before the start...

Pushed all the way, but still running the Chilmark Road Race at age 85

0
By Roy Vagelos My story begins with our son Randy, who while on a family bike trip in Holland in 1972, decided to abandon his bike and run along with the bikers. I noted his...

Me and my new right knee

0
“How’s your summer going?” It’s the question we all ask or hear when we run into someone we haven’t seen since the silly season started. The common response, “Busy,” is often punctuated by a...

SSA rite of passage

Martha’s Vineyard has its rites of passage. These include navigating Five Corners and securing a Steamship Authority (SSA) vehicle reservation in August. We hold out little hope that navigating the Island’s most notorious traffic labyrinth...

Second bite of the apple

The Oak Bluffs Planning Board may be biting off more than it can chew in seeking to take another bite — a very large bite — out of the permit the board issued in...