Letters to the Editor
Published: May 13, 2010
Cafe Moxie on hold
To the Editor:
Disappointing to say the least, but 48 Main Street in Vineyard Haven, the site of Cafe Moxie, is probably losing another season.
Construction is still halted due to proximity to power lines. Strangely, there are no major issues in this protracted delay. It's just that the NStar process is painfully slow.
Town officials have reached out and been helpful. I'll apologize ahead of time for any inconvenience to business neighbors. As there's a lot of misinformation, I want to set the record straight.
I had just bought my partner out prior to the July 2008 fire, refinanced, and was $200,000 under-insured. If you read your loan documentation you'll find that your bank can call in your note as they feel like it. Then your insurance money goes directly to the bank. As one lawyer said to me, the law isn't black and white, but gray.
Every day for the first year, without exaggeration, I spoke to lawyers, adjusters, and the bank. Now, almost two years later, it's a different time. Commercial lending is in the tank. We're three-quarters framed, and banks don't want to know you. It's been no picnic. Mike Ryan and the crew at Island Wood Works continue to shoulder the building effort and will start again soon. Eventually NStar will bury the lines as planned and we will continue. I can be reached at cafemoxie@gmail.com.
Paul Currier
Tisbury
Not an endorsement
To the Editor:
I sent this letter to Mark London and Paul Foley of the Martha's Vineyard Commission and to Sam Dunn, the developer.
I did not attend the recent hearing regarding the expansion on the Tisbury Marketplace site. However, I was quoted as saying I was in favor of this project. This is a wild misconstruing of what I did say.
Let me clarify the facts. Sam Dunn drafted a letter, which I signed, after a conversation he and I had, in which I stated his plans would not hinder the movement of boats into or out of the property we occupy behind the marketplace. In no sense did I mean to imply I favored his scheme.
Further, I feel the additional traffic, both in the parking areas as well as on Beach Road, cannot help but add to the congestion, which already exists. It's preposterous to deny that.
Ecologically, I wonder about the impact. Lagoon Pond is in jeopardy now. I'll leave that issue to the scientists and hope they give us real, honest answers.
And, lastly, it probably has no bearing, but aesthetically the site is one of the only remaining large open tracts in this part of town. And it's nice. Perhaps it should become a town park. But not another 7,000 square feet of office and retail space.
I hope this clarifies my position. Thank you.
Ross M. Gannon
West Tisbury
Growing costs of wind energy plan
To the Editor:
The articles this week about the Vineyard Power Co-op's site-planning meeting raised two concerns for me. As environmental Armageddon unfolds in the Gulf of Mexico, miners die in West Virginia and China, floods of fly-ash inundate rural towns, and the administration doubles down on environmental risk by having taxpayers underwrite a wave of new nuclear power plant construction capable of destroying the entire country, alternative energy sources rise to the top of our personal and national agendas. My first concern is that the rush to do good needs to be tempered by sound numbers. Here on Martha's Vineyard, we all share enthusiasm for the concept of a co-op that would let us make decisions about our own energy future.
The Vineyard Power Co-op's initial business plan in July 2009 assumed wind turbine costs of $140 million and projected that members would save $500 annually on their electric bills. By the co-op's first membership meeting, capital costs drifted to $170 million. This week's news from the site-planning meeting is that costs have floated to between $217 and $267 million, and presumably the $500 annual savings forecast for members is still solid. Good intentions are not sufficient when the numbers reach the stratosphere, with no sign of how high they will really go.
It would seem appropriate that we as a concerned community should be asking ourselves at this point what else could we be doing with $220 million (or a lot less) to embark on a responsible energy future before pinning all our hopes and money on 16 or 17 windmills planted in harm's way. If it turns out after a rigorous analysis of alternatives that wind power still makes the most economic and financial sense, then let's go forward with a solid understanding of the risks and true costs.
My second concern relates to our own environment and the love of this place that we share. When Paul Pimentel, a well-respected expert, describes the impact of moving the turbines out to sea as, "... it doesn't cost as much as you might think to get out further," it causes me to wonder why Cape Wind didn't come to the same conclusion and spare us all the discord and concern their site poses for the Cape and Islands. Now that the Department of Interior has downsized Cape Wind from 170 to 130 turbines, it is worth noting that there has not been much hand-wringing over the financial implications of almost a 25 percent cut in energy production capacity. Perhaps we as the taxpayers and the ratepayers are picking up the tab anyway, so Mr. Gordon [president, Cape Wind Assoc.] still has a big smile for the cameras.
Jeff Parker
Chilmark
Wind power, the Trojan Horse
To the Editor:
Greece committed to 2,587 commercial wind turbines, and ministry officials estimate that as many as 7,000 turbines could be installed by 2010 .
European wind developers are fleeing, laying off workers and, as we know, leaving billions of Euros of sovereign debt. Have the government-run wind turbine subsidy programs themselves become the Trojan Horse?
Commercial wind turbine advocates have for years used the European wind turbines as a model for installations in the United States, along with what are called renewable energy credits.
It's time to take a hard look at all tax credits and heavy government subsidies in the United States. Are the subsidies becoming a virus in a free-market system, destroying us financially from within?
Frank Haggerty
Mattapoisett
An alternative, alternative energy source
To the Editor:
After living on Martha's Vineyard for more than 20 years, I have come to believe that because we are an island, we have the unique ability and now, a window of opportunity, to become self-sustaining by creating our own electrical power.
Which is one of the reasons why I originally become a member of the newly formed cooperative called Vineyard Power, last December. Much has happened since then, and rather than continue the volatile debate on wind power, I would like to offer an alternative. It's called Bloom Energy, and yes, it is new and yes, it has not been proven (other than Wal-Mart and FedEx being technological guinea pigs), but then, neither was the electric light bulb when Edison originally invented it.
Bloom Energy is a clean, cheap, green method of providing reliable, renewable, and affordable energy with negligible CO 2 emissions.
The "power in a plant" is basically a box containing fuel cells that soak up oxygen on one side and fuel on the other side. When combined, the two create a chemical reaction that produces electricity.
We are presently spending huge sums of money (the exact amount I was unable to obtain from the Steamship Authority) to ship our trash off-Island. Why not use this money (in the millions) to create landfills that would then produce the fossil fuel that would power the "Bloom Box"?
I am told that both former President Clinton and President Obama would support and encourage this type of renewable energy, and since Gen. Colin Powell is on the board of Bloom Energy, he also might be of assistance.
For anyone seeking more information, the web address is www.bloomenergy.com.
June Parker
Vineyard Haven
A matter of context
To the Editor:
I will keep this brief. In the Highlights, your headline, "Taxpayers fund shellfishermen's income," is particularly offensive to me. Our ponds are dying. There are many reasons why. Let's just say, "population." In order to have shellfish in our ponds at all, other than natural actions must be taken. This has absolutely nothing to do with funding shellfishermen's income. In fact, certain shellfishermen are responsible for moving most of the seed that gets moved to where it will live. Most fishermen remove garbage of all descriptions every time they fish, and dispose of it properly. Not just once a year on Earth Day.
You quote statistics, but do not put them in a context that qualifies them.
Michelle Jones
DC/MV Fish
Oak Bluffs
Shellfishermen provide a valuable service
To the Editor:
The article entitled "Oak Bluffs shellfishermen air gripes, reap rewards" (May 6) perhaps missed the point. The work that the Oak Bluffs Shellfish Department does is for protecting the ponds and estuaries within the town of Oak Bluffs. The water quality in our ponds is in decline, primarily due to excess nitrogen entering the waters through the ground water recharge. Good coastal pond water quality and health is critical and underpins the tourism economy. Who would come to vacation or live here if our ponds were so polluted that there were thick algal mats floating on the surface and as they decay removing dissolved oxygen from the water and thus causing mass mortality of both fin fish and invertebrates, compounding the problem with noxious odor.
Sooner or later, the Island as a whole will need to address the issue of excess nitrogen entering the ponds, if we are going to keep our ponds alive. The options are not going to be cheap or easy. Nitrogen is a fertilizer, and when it gets into the coastal ponds it promotes the growth of both seaweeds and microscopic plants known as phytoplankton. Actively growing shellfish consume the microscopic plants and incorporate the nitrogen into their tissues as they grow. The shellfish filter the water as they feed and are small bio-filtration units that help to clean the water.
The other side of the equation is that the shellfish need to be harvested to remove the nitrogen from the cycle. Both commercial and recreational shellfishermen provide that side.
To save our ponds we will all have to work together on this problem, if we are to be successful. The article that appeared in the May 6 issue was not productive. It may have cost us some trust and cooperation with towns and shellfishermen. Time will tell.
Now is a time that we all need to come together to address a very serious issue that affects everyone on the Island to some degree. We anticipate receiving at least draft reports on three ponds (Sengekontacket, Lagoon and Farm) from the Massachusetts Estuaries Project in the next several weeks. Both the commercial shellfishermen and longtime recreational fishermen have made observations of the changes in the ponds over the years. That knowledge and history is valuable as we begin to make decisions on how and how much we need to reduce the nitrogen entering our ponds, or treat it once in the ponds.
David W. Grunden
Oak Bluffs Shellfish Constable
Bring back the bird feeder
To the Editor:
This is a note to the thieves who made off with our bird feeders. We have been feeding birds from that location for over 40 years.
We will obviously miss the birds, but the birds will also miss the food. If you cannot afford to buy bird feeders, there is some question as to your ability to afford bird food. It would be to the benefit of all if you would return the feeders, much like you made off with them. (In the dark of the night.) We are crying "fowl." A two-legged creature stole our bird feeders.
Bob and Margie Aldrin
Tisbury
Lucky in friendship
To the Editor:
I can't begin to adequately thank everyone involved in the "Jimmy Buffet Fundraiser" held for me at the P.A. Club April 16. I'm told over 200 people came and there was plenty of good food. Christine Box and her band, the Sting Rays, provided the night with wonderful dance music. Lenny Clark (famous Island pig-roaster) and a gang of men barbecued 150 pounds of chicken, provided by Reliable Market and Stop & Shop, on a huge grille. My many friends cooked all the appetizers provided. Debbie Rogers and Barbara Phillips organized the whole event through "You've Got a Friend" and outdid themselves. There were over 70 gift items donated by friends and supporters, offered in a "Silent Auction," and everyone had a wonderful time. It was an incredible undertaking and it all came together so well. Nice work everyone.
I was so sorry I could not attend but have seen the great pictures, the patches to be made into a quilt, and the guest book. We have lived on this Island for 25 years and have seen how Islanders give so generously to those in need. I am so appreciative for this fundraiser and to the many others who have come forward to offer and lend a hand. I thank The West Tisbury Congregational Church members, my whole family on- and off-Island and the many friends I've made on this beautiful Island. I really feel the love and support. I hope to be on the mend soon. I still have six weeks of radiation treatments ahead and will be staying with my daughter in Malden, traveling daily to Dana-Farber in Boston. I already can't wait to be home. I am the luckiest lady.
Brenda T. Lehman
Oak Bluffs
The books are flowing in
To the Editor:
As a member of the Library Friends of Oak Bluffs, I'd like to thank The Times and Megan Alley for posting our call for used books in recent Oak Bluffs columns. As a result, book donations have been flowing in, and our volunteers have been busy sorting and storing. We're getting ready for our July Book Sale, which is the Friends' major fundraiser each year. The response from the community, in support of the Friends and the Oak Bluffs Public Library, has been gratifying, especially at this time when budgets are tight. Our book drive continues through the end of June, and we continue to welcome book donations.
The Library Friends of Oak Bluffs mission is to promote the library as an active, dynamic, education and information center in the community and to support and enhance our library's programs, services, and collections.
Marilyn Miller
Oak Bluffs
A little outrage needed about the tree trimming
To the Editor:
Where are the outrage people?
Have they passed on, or moved away — perhaps to Florida or Arizona? Don't they know the civic minded, responsible outrage person finds a replacement person before leaving?
I am not an outrage person. I am a pat-the-outrage-person-on-the-back person, and I am comfortable in that role. But come on. I sat on the sidelines for the last few months wondering what was going on. At first I thought it was just a case of over-exuberant tree pruning. I soon found out how wrong I was. Mile after mile of leafy canopy has been replaced with wire stretching, in many places, darn near across the road. No, this was not merely a case of making a monster of any tree that strays too close to the wires. Oh no, this is a power move made by the powers that be. This is for all the marbles.
The power company has decided that the outrage people who spearheaded the put-the-power-lines-underground movement a while back were tired or had moved on. And, any pretense at being discreet about wires or pruning was out the window.
Maybe I'm being sensationalist about this, and this is a temporary thing — like the bridge. Maybe President Obama is having a summit in Chilmark this summer and just needs a little extra juice. When it's done, the wires and poles will be gone and the power put underground like the rest of the developed world. Geeez, I sure hope so. But, just in case, all you retired outrage people, I need you — we need you — to mount up on your high horses and gallop. There are foul deeds afoot and the citizenry needs to be outraged.
Evan L. Fielder
West Tisbury
She won't drive again
To the Editor:
I have just recovered from my first and last automobile accident that was my fault, while driving at 90 and a half years old with perfect eyesight, after driving thousands of miles in four states (Florida, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey) and since 1995 full-time on Martha's Vineyard. I've driven friends and family and myself everywhere in the daytime up here, and I have never received a ticket or citation since I passed my driving test in Pittsburgh, at age 17. So, I never want to drive again, because I can see the tree where I left a piece of my bumper permanently embedded on Monday, Jan. 4. It was right here on Woodside Road near the curve of our road by the Community Services driveway, when I saw a large VTA bus going over the white line toward me, because it was too wide for its lane.
I had to clean snow off my two windows on the non-driver's side before I could back out of my parking spot in front of my building (F3). My snow boots (fake fur-lined, suede, rubber-soled) were wet on the soles and slipped from the brake pedal to the gas pedal.
I could not feel the slipping and was pressing down on the pedal to go slowly around the bus, and when it passed, I was adjusting in my lane going to Vineyard Haven, to the Tisbury Senior Center to do my volunteer job as telephone operator for Joyce Stiles-Tucker and Sandy Whitworth.
I can still see me driving into a big oak tree and saying, "No! No!" to myself and pressing harder on what I thought was the brake to slow down but instead was speeding into the tree. My Chevy was totaled.
I was conscious that my right leg was injured, so I screamed, "Help! I'm injured!" I heard a young woman (Sabrina Luening) saying, "Can you put your good foot down on the ground?" I said yes, and she lifted me out of the smoke of the air bag ( I had my seat belt on, or I would be dead), and she put me into her car seat and called (or the bus driver called) 911. An ambulance drove me to the MV Hospital.
I want everyone who reads this letter to know I received excellent care in the emergency room by doctors and nurses and x-ray technicians and two great ambulance drivers. When Dr. Cater and Dr. Monto, orthopedic surgeons, saw my x-rays, they both said, "We can't do this leg here, she has to go to Mass General in another ambulance!" Both bones were broken, and I have two plates and 20 titanium screws in there now.
But, after two days of excellent care at Mass General, I came back to our fine hospital where I received wonderful care by Dr. Cater, his assistant, radiologists, VNA nurses, physical therapists, volunteers, technicians, food services, and maintenance for three weeks and then back home for three months of excellent care.
Jane Searle
Vineyard Haven
Grateful for tour
As the Director of the After School Program for the YMCA of Martha's Vineyard, I have had the opportunity to meet and integrate many talented individuals into an enriching program for our Island children. This past
spring break, we held a day camp where we experienced an extraordinary day, all thanks to the Trustees of Reservations education leaders Sarah Trudel and Scott Golden.
The Trustees of Reservations on Martha's Vineyard offer a special program, called the Claire Saltonstall
Program (CSP), that has been active since 1991, funded through endowment and donation. The CSP provided Island school children with free outdoor environmental and history programming on The Trustees' six Island properties. When these
trips occur on Chappaquiddick properties, the generosity of our community comes out, as the Chappaquiddick Ferry owner Peter Wells always allows these
children and their teachers free passage on the ferry.
On April 22, Earth Day, The Trustees hosted the YMCA on a tour of Cape Poge Wildlife Refuge and the Cape Poge Lighthouse (owned by the United States Coast Guard, managed by The Trustees of Reservations). Part of the trip, unexpectedly, required education leaders Sarah Mello Trudel and Scott Golden to transform from primary TTOR educators to New England Aquarium Marine Mammal Stranding Team volunteers as well.
The group discovered a dead seal on the beach, and under federal law only those trained with marine mammal stranding teams can interact with these animals. The students, with permission of YMCA youth program director Emily Walsh, stopped as a group to have a "teaching moment" about the Marine Mammal Protection Act and why marine mammals need human help. As Sarah and Scott followed NEAq
protocol to collect measurements and gather photographs, students asked questions, watched, and became familiar with why the information was
important to the NEA and gained a clear understanding that Cape Poge is indeed a refuge for wildlife, according to Ms. Trudel.
I am so humbled by the efforts of all who were a part of our day and felt it to be of the utmost importance to share our experience with you so that you
all know that your donated time and money have had an impact on the minds and lives of our children.
Thank you so very much.
Apryl Rae Anastacio
After-School Program Director
YMCA of Martha's Vineyard
Good works in Nicaragua
To the Editor:
With love from Nicaragua.
Hola from the children of Pacaya, and many thank yous for all the love you left behind.
The articles from the newspapers are now up on the school wall for all to see. Almost all the students at this school had never seen a computer before, and because of the gift of four used laptops and the dedicated teaching of Jim Braley, many children and the teachers began the process of connecting to the world.
Thank you to Philip Fleischmann who contributed maps, and so many items to equip the school and money to buy books, and to Joe Schroeder for his donations of sporting goods for the students, and to all the teachers and students of the schools on MV who gave us money to buy books. Thank you to Lynn Weber, who donated many children's books in Spanish. The kindergarten teacher is so happy with her first books and will use them well.
Lynn Ditchfield, director of Adult and Community Education of Martha's Vineyard (A.C.E. MV) and Julie Hitchings, Toni Cohen, Nancy Whipple, and Jim and Meg Braley of Maine, did outstanding work with the children of Pacaya, teaching them so much through song and art, culminating in a performance for the parents. In just a few short hours, Lynn had a group of these children reciting Shakespeare, lines from Hamlet, in English. I was mighty impressed.
Everyone had their life enriched by this experience, and the good you did will remain with this community of Pacaya forever. Mucho gusto.
Muriel Laverty and Omar Gonzalez
Masaya, Nicaragua
Unsung heroes, now sung
To the Editor:
The Council On Aging in Oak Bluffs is fortunate to have Rose Cogliano and Susan Von Steiger on board. These women exemplify the true meaning of assistance, compassion, and direction to all who seek their help.
Rose, the assistant director — whether preparing the newsletter, the calendar, monthly report, activities schedule, breakfasts, lunches, or bingo — stops what she is working on and responds to anyone who drops in seeking advice or guidance. She always offers helpful information with interest and a smile.
Susan, the outreach director, has a myriad of duties and responsibilities, which include resource information for clients with specific needs, visiting with clients to determine what resources are needed, implementing those resources, follow-up to ensure clients are receiving necessary assistance, processing fuel assistance, coordinating with senior services, VNA, and social services to resolve client issues and spontaneous outreach to all drop‑in applicants.
These women respond to many other daily challenges too numerous to list with knowledge, experience, and cheerfulness. They are two of Oak Bluffs' unsung heroes. Thank you Rose and Susan for your continued support and guidance.
Barbara Whitmore
Oak Bluffs
