From a broken turbine blade to a critically endangered North Atlantic right whale washing ashore in Edgartown, these are some of the top stories, according to our newsroom, from 2024.
Vineyard Wind turbine blade fractures
The public and local authorities erupted when a blade fractured on a Vineyard Wind turbine. Debris washed ashore, mostly on Nantucket beaches, but also the Vineyard, and as far away as Provincetown. Local officials expressed their ire at the project developers waiting two days before notifying nearby towns. Federal authorities initially placed construction of the turbines — and for a longer period of time, the installation of blades — on hold. While officials from Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova, the contractors building the turbine, faced a grilling from the public and showed that steps have been taken to review the turbine blades, questions still remain regarding the blade breakage.
GE Vernova indicated in October that the blade’s fracturing stemmed from a manufacturing deviation in a Canadian factory. At the same factory, Reuters quoted unnamed sources saying a number of workers were suspended for taking shortcuts on quality control measures, and a Canadian radio station reported a “falsification scheme,” prioritizing quantity over quality.
Bob Davis announces resignation
The public backlash against the management of the Steamship Authority reached a high this year with a number of crew shortages and boat maintenance issues that caused delays and cancellations; the Steamship is also trying to reach deals with numerous unions; and there have been complaints about the ferry line’s website and reservation system. It all culminated this fall when General Manager Bob Davis announced that he would resign, amid claims that the management had been failing. He held the position since 2017, and has been with the Steamship since 1986. Not too long afterward, the COO of the Steamship, Mark Higgins, also announced that he would resign.
A Times reporter got an inside look into a homeless encampment existing within the Manuel F. Correllus State Forest over the summer, and the tribulations that they endure. It’s still hard to get an accurate number of those experiencing homelessness on the Island, but a nonprofit that runs the only shelter estimates that there were roughly 32 individuals last winter staying with them, a new record. After our story came out, the state Department of Conservation and Recreation — the managers of the forest — led a clearing of the homeless encampment, where personal belongings including identifications and medications were said to be disposed of in trash receptacles and taken off-Island. The state has since pledged to work better with local agencies in the future.
Right whale washes ashore on the Island
The body of a 3-year old, female North Atlantic right whale washed ashore in Cow Bay in Edgartown this January. Researchers and conservationists were dismayed over a loss in the critically endangered species, of which there are only roughly 360 whales remaining. The news also attracted unfounded conspiracies regarding the animal’s death, attributed to offshore wind. The whale was towed to Aquinnah for a necropsy and burial, accompanied by a ceremony of song and prayer by the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), who regard right whales as sacred. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration determined in October that the right whale died from entanglement injuries sustained from a line similar to those used by the Maine fishing industry. The right whale was first spotted entangled in 2022 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada, and there were several failed attempts to disentangle the whale before she washed ashore on the Vineyard.
Perhaps no one on the Island had a bigger influence on the Vineyard than Ronald Rappaport, an Island attorney who represented five of the six towns, and was known to give legal advice to friends, colleagues, and businesses. His death came suddenly over a weekend in June that rattled Islanders. People from all over the Island reported to us that Rappaport was kind and generous with his time and with his legal advice, and that he always represented the best interests of the Island. He was also influential on how policy was carried out. As one local town official told us, when Rappaport spoke, people listened, whether it was on town meeting floor or in the boardroom of many local organizations that he served.
A heroic rescue near Big Bridge
A good news story for once: A hall-of-fame windsurfer, Nevin Sayre, was doing what he’s done many times before, kitesurfing on Sengekontacket Pond in the fall. As he described it, he was in midair when he made a miscalculation, and a sudden change in wind direction sent him crashing to the water’s surface. After hitting the water, he went unconscious, face down. But thanks to the efforts of a fellow kitesurfer, other bystanders, and first responders, he was hauled back to the beach and resuscitated, and then flown to a Boston-area hospital, where he made a miraculous recovery. As he told us, Sayre was back on the water days later.
Island shaken by another moped fatality
A 41-year-old woman from Florida died in August after colliding her rental moped head-on with another vehicle near Big Bridge in Oak Bluffs. Another passenger on the moped was also badly injured. It’s another example of an issue that has roiled Island residents for decades: what to do with rental mopeds, after several other nasty and fatal accidents. Any reaction this time around to find a solution seemed to have fallen on deaf ears. Legislation aimed at banning rentals in Oak Bluffs has failed twice at the State House, and the owner of the three remaining rental licenses on the Island is interested in selling his licenses back to the town — or a nonprofit — but there’s been little reaction, at least publicly so far. Meanwhile, the family of the woman mourned the loss of their relative, whom they called a beautiful soul.
Vineyard Wind starts providing power
Although Vineyard Wind missed the mark on its 2023 goal to deliver power to the state, the project successfully delivered five gigawatts of electricity for the first time in early January 2024. Months earlier, during a tour of the Vineyard Wind construction site, project officials were hopeful that power would start flowing to the grid by October 2023. With its delays, Vineyard Wind also missed its opportunity to be the first utility-scale offshore wind project to deliver power in the U.S. That distinction went to South Fork Wind, which delivered power to Long Island, N.Y., nearly a month earlier.
An ambitious plan for Vineyard Haven’s waterfront
The Vineyard Lands for Our Community, a new nonprofit, filed plans this year to remake a prominent Vineyard Haven waterside property on Beach Road. The proposal is intended to preserve the wooden boatbuilders Gannon and Benjamin, create a public park and pavilion at Boch Park — now closed to the public as a bird sanctuary — and preserve and move the MVTimes building. There are still several hurdles, including a lengthy permitting process, but project proponents — which include the owner of The MV Times, Steve Bernier — have reached a deal for some key properties that are included in the plan, including land long owned by the DeSorcy family. The project will include raising buildings to combat rising seas and stronger storms; also planned is new space for nonprofits and other organizations.
Promoters of the popular three-day music festival Beach Road Weekend decided to pull the plug on the festival earlier this year. Adam Epstein founded the festival in 2019 after seeing the diminished music scene on Martha’s Vineyard during the early 2000s. However, he cited logistical issues of holding a music festival on the Island, supply chain struggles that followed the COVID pandemic, and the financial deficits exceeding $1 million. Epstein had signed a three-year deal with the Tisbury select board to hold the festival each summer, but the festival was pulled before the final 2024 date.
The shuttering of Beach Road Weekend caused mixed reactions. Some were disappointed that another popular event on the Island was going away, while others who complained about the noise celebrated. Some said that Beach Road Weekend was too big for Veterans Memorial Park. Event organizers are looking at launching a Cape Cod version of Beach Road Weekend in 2025.
Honorable mentions
A workforce housing development roils Vineyard Haven
The strange afterlife of Christopher Gray
Man with Island connection charged in stabbing rampage
Paul Whelan returns to the U.S.
