Letters to the Editor
Posted September 21, 2006
Stop lights best
To the Editor:
Let's get on with solving the problem, whether it is traffic signal or a roundabout. However, I continue to prefer a traffic signal and can't understand your statement that "roundabouts are safer because it is clearer who has the right-of-way". Every rotary I have ever been in (I know, I know, roundabouts are better than old fashioned rotaries), half the people entering don't really understand who has the right of way, whereas what could be clearer than a red light?‑Also, a modern smart traffic signal could be programmed to adjust on a time-of-day-basis to known surges in traffic volumes, such as when a ferry comes in at Vineyard Haven, whereas a roundabout works the same way all the time. And, you can just turn off the traffic signal in the off-season.
Be that as it may, a roundabout is clearly preferable than the current four-way stop, which is both unsafe and inefficient. One day in August, while traveling westbound on the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road, I counted 100 cars in the queue traveling eastbound. That sure helps the environment, not to mention providing a wonderful introduction to the Island for people exiting the ferry. The four-way stop equalizes flow between the four directions, but the four directions are clearly not equal. Eastbound on the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road (particularly after a ferry comes in) has the highest volume, followed by northbound on Barnes Road (particularly late afternoon rush hour). Westbound on Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road has lighter volume (or at least less significant surges in volume than eastbound), and southbound on Barnes Road has almost no traffic at all. The old blinker at least gave priority to the most heavily traveled road - the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road (clearly at the expense of northbound traffic on Barnes). The new system, by equalizing all four moves, penalizes vehicles on the main road of the Island and creates the giant queues we are now witnessing in the summer.
The Island community has to get over its denial that it has a traffic problem. Ignoring the problem won't make it go away, although it might eventually drive away the tourists who provide a viable economy for the Island. This is an eminently solvable problem; let's solve it.
Although I am a professional transportation consultant, these comments are submitted as a citizen member of the MVC advisory committee.
Marc Cutler
Cambridge
I apologize
To the Editor:
My name is Matthew Arieta. I apologize to all the adults and children on the Oak Bluffs Steamship pier that I offended Sunday morning while captaining the charter boat Dazed and Confused. I have no legitimate reasons to explain my actions. I made a quick, stupid decision that escalated into a serious mistake, and I will regret that for the rest of my life.
I am not from the Vineyard, and honestly I had never heard of the Derby Kid's Day fishing tournament that takes place on the Steamship Authority dock. I only learned about this event minutes prior to the whole incident getting out of control, when I made a cell phone call to the boat owner's father, and he informed me why all those people were there. As soon as he told me what was going on, I felt absolutely horrible.
I might have learned about this event if I had been on the Island during that week. Unfortunately, I received news that my grandmother had a terminal illness, and I was off-Island all week and did not return until Saturday afternoon. So I was not here for the start of the derby. I had not registered and did not know anything about what was going to take place.
As far as I knew, there was no fishing allowed from the steamship docks. With that in mind, and not having any clue that a planned event was going to take place, I decided to try to fish along with everyone else. I just figured that everyone was sure to be asked to leave any minute because of the inbound ferries, and I didn't think that I would be offending anyone by trying to fish off the dock.
When I approached the ferry slip no one made any room, and certain people immediately started yelling and throwing bait onto the boat. At this point I was dumbfounded. I couldn't understand where these people were coming from, so within a minute I decided it was time to leave. I was pulling out when a man in his forties threw two lead weights at the boat and the family that was on board. This infuriated me. Now, I was concerned for the safety of the family aboard the boat, so I looked him in the eye and said, "Don't make me come up there," hoping that he wouldn't do it again. Unfortunately, it didn't stop. While we were leaving, more weights came at the boat.
As I pulled away, my mate informed me that I ran over some children's lines while backing up. I felt absolutely horrible, and at that point I am sure that I probably would have reacted the same way. I do not blame the adults for their actions.
With that being said, I am terribly sorry for what I did, and I am willing to do anything within my power to apologize to anyone that I offended. I will be volunteering at the Derby fillet station if anyone would like to talk to me about it. I assure everyone that I am sorry and will only listen.
I have never made a poor decision like this before. I also know in my heart that I will learn from this bad decision and will hopefully try to make sure that I never make any more horrible decisions in the future.
Matthew Arieta
Kingston
No big deal
To the Editor:
What is the big deal about the roundabout?
I have been a seasonal or year-round resident of the Vineyard for more than 50 years and now spend nine months a year in Berkeley, California. There is a roundabout there that works extremely well.
I often cross it on foot and, though seven streets flow into it, it is safe for pedestrians and bicycles. It also works well for traffic. It is truly a pleasant place to walk or drive through and is an asset to the community.
Deborah Lesser
Chilmark and Berkeley, Cal.
Festival of treasures
To the Editor:
The entire Island should give a huge thank-you to Richard Paradise for his Martha's Vineyard International Film Festival held Sept.14-17. It was a series of events and films that made downtown Vineyard Haven truly alive. It was a thrill to walk to my car and hear people all around me discussing the film they had just seen and what other films they were going to see.
The films chosen represented the best the world has to offer. I felt as if I had finally seen a true rendition of the lives of Indians, Iranians, Afghans, etc. as told by the finest artists.
Some of the films I missed I discovered on Amazon.com or Netflix, so I can continue the festival for the next few months. I remember in the 60s having these international films available in art movie houses, but unless you travel to New York or Chicago they are very difficult to see. The film fest also promoted local filmmakers in the same style as Tom Bena's M.V. Film Fest.
Bravo, Richard, and may the M.V. Film Society sail on to bring the Island an abundance of true treasures in the world of film.
Katherine Rose
Vineyard Haven
Not optional
To the Editor:
I'm writing to express my complete and utter shock and disappointment when I was told today by my 14-year-old daughter that the internet safety assembly held at the high school was optional, and her teacher, like many others, did not send their class. The importance of this information is without question of a very serious nature and parents need all the help they can get when it comes to getting their children to listen about these kinds of things. The presentation Tuesday evening at the PAC was not only informative, but Katie LeClerc was so energetic and upbeat and she had such a great sense of humor that I'm sure a lot of the kids would have related and been able to hear her message.
I understand that this was not an academic issue, but the high school was directly responsible (along with The Times) for bringing Ms. LeClerc here in the first place. I'm baffled and very saddened by this. It just doesn't make sense to me. Even if a notice would have gone home giving parents a choice as to whether they wanted their child to attend or not might have been a better way to handle it.
Laura Entner
West Tisbury
Err, not air,
of course.
To the Editor:
Just wanted to point out the use of a wrong word in today's (Sept. 13) Times: The story about the vehicular manslaughter court case includes the line that Ms. Marchard wanted "to air on the side of caution." The word ""air" should have been "err," its homonym.
Nitpicking aside, it's great to be able to read The Times online when I'm off-Island and keep up with what's happening on the Vineyard.
Barbara Leish
White Plains, N.Y.
Oil impetus
To the Editor:
Here are sobering words for those who have spent five precious years battling Cape Wind's historic initiative to harness the wind for much-needed energy.
A high-ranking public official recently addressed the nation's need to develop alternative energy sources. He said it was the key to economic growth. His words follow:
"The problem is we get oil from some parts of the world, and they simply don't like us. And so the more dependent we are on that type of energy, the less likely it will be that we are able to compete, and so people have good, high paying jobs."
The author of these words: President George W. Bush.
William R. Meyer
Edgartown
Small, but not
insignificant
To the Editor:
Last week's At Large column put forth several interesting ideas and opinions concerning the controversial proposal to construct a wind park in the waters of Horseshoe Shoal, but the premise upon which the editor's view was constructed: that Cape Wind's, "very small anticipated contribution...is set against the loss of 25 acres of wild, empty ocean," is flawed, perhaps even intentionally so.
Compared with the total energy needs of the Commonwealth, Cape Wind is indeed relatively small - not unlike any of the other individual power plants currently providing electricity to Massachusetts. If one were to compare the energy contribution of a non-polluting, non-petroleum consuming wind park to the energy needs of the entire New England region, Cape Wind becomes even more insignificant and even easier to dismiss. One could even go further by comparing the anticipated Cape Wind contribution to the energy needs of the entire nation - well, you probably see my point. Comparisons of this type are designed with the sole intention of making renewable energy initiatives appear insignificant and unworthy of serious consideration.
Efforts to dismiss Cape Wind on the grounds that it represents an unfair or unsatisfying trade-off, a loss of a precious resource in exchange for only meager public benefit should be more closely and fairly examined. Perhaps the editor will reevaluate his premise by comparing Cape Wind with any other individual power plant now operating in our region - not by comparing it to all of them put together.
Significant data supports the developer's claim that a wind park consisting of 130 utility-sized turbines will effectively provide an estimated 75 percent of the energy needs of the Cape and Islands without emitting greenhouses gases, toxic heavy metals or smog-producing compounds that contribute to acid rain. That leads me to conclude that regional, renewable energy projects are where our future lies.
In light of that, Cape Wind continues to get my vote.
Robert Skydell
Chilmark
Day of peace
To the Editor:
Sept. 21 is International Peace Day. It was established in 1981 by a United Nations resolution as "a day of global ceasefire and non-violence, an invitation to all nations and people to honor a cessation of hostilities for the duration of the day." It is a one-day sample of what we could have every day.
There are many steps towards achieving lasting peace, and one is to sign the Declaration of Peace, available at www.declarationofpeace.org.
The Martha's Vineyard Peace Council encourages everyone to sign the Declaration, and then ask Bush, Kennedy, Kerry, and Delahunt to do the same, (Find contact info. on green page 35 in The Island (phone) Book.)
It should be evident that war does not precipitate peace. May we break our addictions to war, and let this day open the door to lasting peace.
Sarah Nevin
Rev. Alden Besse
Martha's Vineyard Peace Council
Too long denied
To the Editor:
Speaking for my "yokel" neighbors and myself, I would like to say how delighted and excited we are at the prospect of reopening of the Capawock Theatre on or before Nov. 1. We have too long been denied.
D. F. Winnette
Tisbury
Thanks for the words
To the Editor:
I want to thank the person who wrote a letter titled "disgraceful" (Aug. 10). Thanks for the words and for the courage of telling it in an open letter. From the point of view of a European, it is good to know that there are people like this, and I am sorry that my English is not as good as to thank in a much better way, as that letter deserved.
Maria J. Fuente
Chilmark
Threat to zoning
To the Editor:
Marjorie Lau's letter of Sept. 7 is a careful and saddening analysis of how the builder of a Vineyard Haven 40B development managed to skirt zoning regulations without being called to account.
Ms. Lau's quote from a ZBA member - "...sooner or later you have to give the developers what they want or they will sue the town" - is chilling.
If the threat of‑being sued by a developer, and by extension by any builder, is so daunting, how has any Island town withstood similar‑pressure? If the threat of being sued justifies official indifference to obnoxious development, then zoning becomes extinct like the Heath Hen.
Ellinor Mitchell
Chilmark
