Thoughts on parade

A few thoughts as we bask in the glow of Sunday’s Super Bowl in Atlanta.

Too many people are making the issue of turf versus grass a life-or-death issue. Perspective is important. The meeting before the school committee Monday was embarrassing at times, particularly with high school students in the room. At one point, the superintendent was called a “specious liar.”

We do appreciate that the board’s chairman, Kris O’Brien, attempted to keep the comments focused. Let’s hope that people learn from this experience as the issue moves forward in the process.

We’re not sure that a three-day music festival is the best idea for Vineyard Haven during a busy August weekend. But we’re not sure it’s the worst idea either. Adam Epstein, the promoter, has been diligent in working with town leaders to make sure traffic is kept to a minimum (he’s going to heavily promote public transportation and walking), booze is kept in check (he’s willing to use a bracelet system to protect against overserving), and the field is kept in decent shape (we don’t know if it’s going to rain, but again, Epstein has promised to put up a bond to ensure that the field is returned to the same shape it was before the concert.)

We can come up with any number of nightmare scenarios, but isn’t it worth trying before we decide that this type of event can never be held?

As an aside: Of the three days, we’re most excited by the Friday night event that would match a showing of “Jaws,” outside, with John Williams’ score played by the Cape Cod Symphony. It sounds like a hauntingly fun good time.

We’re not proud, but we predicted the reaction that the Housing Bank idea would get from some Island leaders. In case you missed it, some affordable housing advocates want to use the new funds from taxing short-term rentals to fund a Housing Bank.

When it was first broached by those advocates, we said that some town leaders would talk about other uses for the money and balk at the idea of using it to fund affordable housing. Sure enough, as if on cue, both Tisbury and Oak Bluffs pushed back against the idea.

Let’s hope town meeting voters, who will hear this idea at upcoming meetings this spring, have more of an open mind. The Housing Bank isn’t looking to take all of the funds, just a percentage.

We’re not saying that questions shouldn’t be raised, but a wholesale rejection of the idea before it’s discussed and debated is disappointing.

Someone needs to send Robert Jones, the new chairman of the Steamship Authority board, to an Open Meeting Law forum. Once again, at a recent meeting, Jones bemoaned the fact that the Steamship Authority board has to do its business in public. He noted that a similar consultant report for a private company would never see the kind of light that the HMS Consulting report has seen.

“Being that it’s a public report, it cost us a lot of comments and things like that. If this was a private company, those would have been accepted in-company, in-house …”

We would hope Jones remembers — or that his colleagues would remind him — who he is working for on the Steamship board. It’s not the administration. It’s not his fellow board members. And while the SSA board has a fiduciary responsibility to its bondholders to maintain a sound bottom line, their only purpose is to meet the needs of the public. Islanders rely on the SSA as a lifeline — and last year the SSA failed miserably to meet expectations

The SSA is a publicly funded authority, and, as such, is open to public scrutiny. It’s time someone got that message to Jones.

BTW, we are still waiting for that Martha’s Vineyard meeting to talk about the consultant’s report. It’s disappointing that the SSA is already talking about and, in some cases, dismissing ideas raised in the report before Island residents have had an opportunity to formally give some feedback at a public meeting on the Vineyard. We’re told it’s going to happen now that the communications portion of the report is in. Hopefully, that will be before any key decisions are made.

Great job by the fifth graders at West Tisbury School who are leading the Plastic Free MV effort to ban single-use plastic bottles. Previous efforts by this group have led to more restaurants on the Island getting rid of plastic straws in lieu of paper ones.

Now the students are trying to open our eyes to the benefits of using refillable water bottles instead of tossing yet another Poland Spring 12-ouncer into the trash stream. And they are doing it in thoughtful, fact-based presentations.

Not everyone will agree with the idea, but everyone should be open to listening.