Restore Mill Brook
It's been called the Cranberry Wars, and that conflict offers lessons that Islanders can learn from today. The period was not long ago, just across the Sound on Cape Cod, when the cranberry industry...
A pause on State Forest plan is warranted
The state’s proposal to cut some 175 acres of white pine in the Manuel F. Correllus State Forest has become a fraught issue on the Island. There is passion, reason, logic, and science voiced...
The Vineyard needs to rally around its homeless.
The Vineyard is coming up short on one of the most rudimentary moral principles: supporting its most vulnerable.
On March 1, after years of looking for a more permanent location, the nonprofit that runs the...
Review of Steamship electric vehicle policy warranted
There is no question that climate change is having a detrimental effect on our planet and our way of life. If we are smart, we’ll transition to a fossil-fuel-free world as quickly and safely...
A return to civil discourse
As promised, The MV Times is bringing back the online comment section, after a respite over the holidays and a review of our policies for posting online.
As we have stated in the past, the...
Wildfires, insurance turbulence mark an unnerving turning point
If there are still any doubters, the apocalyptic images coming out of Los Angeles should be the proof everyone needs that climate change is not only real, it is an existential threat to our...
Providing the guardrails for healthy public discourse
At The MV Times, we have witnessed over the past few years a distressing erosion of civility in our own comments pages. So we decided that over the holidays, we would suspend all comments...
A note of gratitude: Community support is how we sustain local news
One year ago, I walked into 30 Beach Road here in Vineyard Haven to start a “part-time” job as publisher of this weekly newspaper. And right away, I was met with what felt like...
Vineyard needs a unified voice on offshore wind
When news broke that a turbine blade fractured earlier this summer — with foam and fiberglass landing on beaches as far away as Rhode Island and Provincetown — the outcry on Martha’s Vineyard felt...
SSA needs to serve the Island better
There is a lack of leadership in the upper management of the Steamship Authority, and it was on full display this week after a series of unfortunate events.
After a number of cancellations — and...
A big thank you to our ‘sustainers’
For the last week, we have reached out to you, our readers, to ask for your support to help make our news organization sustainable, so we can continue to provide fair, balanced, fact-based coverage...
Keep raising the rafters on the ideals of American democracy
As a fraught, divisive, and violent election came to an end, it was too close to call whether it would be Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump until the dark, predawn...
Through the noise at Spring Street
Updated, Nov. 5
There has been a lot of noise around the construction of workforce housing on Spring Street in Vineyard Haven the past several months, a project that is intended to house Vineyard Wind’s...
VOTE for democracy
In a presidential election widely considered fateful for our democracy, there are still Islanders who wonder if their vote really matters. They question whether they even need to vote, especially if they come from...
Are we ready for the next hurricane?
The eyes of the nation were tuned to the dramatic and tragic events that unfolded this month as two hurricanes ravaged two regions of the South within the space of just two weeks.
Hurricane Helene...
Transparency key in discussion of school audit
A push to better understand equity, diversity, and inclusion across all levels of society, including in the workplace and at schools, emerged in the wake of George Floyd’s 2020 murder at the hands of...
It’s time to ban mopeds once and for all
An all-too-familiar tragedy unfolded in Oak Bluffs last week, one that should have been avoided.
The life of a middle-aged woman from Florida — described by friends and family as a beautiful and kind soul...
Seeing the forest for the trees
The clearing of the homeless from the State Forest last week was startling and callous. But one thing remains quite clear, we don’t have a homeless problem, we have a housing problem.
Last week, a...
Turbine fracture a troubling precedent
News this past week of a Vineyard Wind turbine blade fracturing and scattering debris all the way to Nantucket’s shores is more than just minor turbulence in the burgeoning and nascent offshore wind industry....
Keep M.V. franchise-free?
It is one of those points of pride for our Island. We have always kept big franchises out. There was the famous standoff in the 1980s when a group of Islanders stood strong against...