We’re almost there
Last week was a good week, arguably the best we’ve had in more than 14 months since coronavirus and COVID-19 became household words.
On Friday, in a symbolic gesture that had to feel good, Edgartown...
Keep Zooming ahead
At a listening session held last week by the Coalition to Create a Martha’s Vineyard Housing Bank, there were close to 150 people listening in during the height of the Zoom session.
Last spring, when...
Offering a fresh start
The caller on the other end of the line is a young woman. She’s slightly embarrassed. At a job interview, her arrest for operating under the influence of alcohol on the Island came up....
Moran’s missteps
A proposed amendment to the Steamship Authority’s Enabling Act by State Sen. Susan Moran, D-Falmouth, that would change the weighted votes for Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket on the SSA board was met with immediate...
On the pursuits of justice and sustainability: Reasons for optimism
In the past few years, we’ve seen a groundswell of citizen activism around climate change (jump-started here on Martha’s Vineyard by our own Plastic Free MV middle schoolers). This week, we saw a fair...
Take it slow
There’s a lot to love about the streetscape designs for Oak Bluffs. The $2.7 million project being designed by the Waterfield Design Group would add new sidewalks, trashcans, streetlights, and crosswalks to the downtown...
Pump the brakes on SUP
The shared-use path (SUP) proposed now under construction (and delay) by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) on Beach Road in Vineyard Haven should be a cautionary tale for Oak Bluffs. The first phase...
Lessons from a scandal
We wrote about the college admissions scandal previously because there was a slight Martha’s Vineyard connection. When the cheating scandal was uncovered, and indictments and arrests were made in March 2019, former Island tennis...
A few thoughts
We have a few things on our mind as we wait for that text message from the state’s preregistration system saying we have an appointment for a vaccine.
There is always a bit of NIMBY-ism...
No joking matter
We’d like to remind you lead is highly poisonous. There’s no such thing as a safe exposure level to it. For kids, lead is particularly harmful, stunting the brain in ways often difficult to...
Almost there
As the one-year anniversary of the Island’s first real impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic approaches, we reflect on what’s been a most difficult year. In this issue, we feature some of your stories in...
Time to make the doughnut whole?
Three years after the Oak Bluffs board of selectmen voted to complete a land swap with the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank on a piece of property known as the “doughnut hole,” our reporter Brian...
It’s time to change the conversation around substance use on-Island
As we round the corner on a year of living with COVID, most of us are aware of the impacts of the pandemic on our lives — isolation, anxiety, boredom, depleted savings, depleted tolerance,...
In the weeds
We supported the concept of a combination of synthetic turf and natural grass fields in 2017. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time. School officials, with the help of MV@Play,...
Listen to the experts
At their past two meetings, members of the West Tisbury board of selectmen have spent a lot of time talking about a culvert on Tiah’s Cove Road that experts say needs to be replaced.
That’s...
Is this our best shot?
We need to stop talking about the “rollout” of vaccines for COVID-19, at least in Massachusetts. Here, it’s been more of a head-scratching, snail’s pace crawl.
How can it be that we live in a...
Hope with change
Today is the second day of the Biden-Harris administration. There hasn’t been a lot to be hopeful about since the Nov. 3 election, despite the commanding win by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris over...
Wrong move, Tisbury
We understand it’s been difficult for the Tisbury School Building Committee to attract parents and taxpayers to in-person meetings because of the ongoing pandemic — and Zoom meetings just haven’t filled the gap.
But the idea...
Capitol crimes
President Donald Trump should be removed from office, either by the 25th Amendment, impeachment, or resignation. He was already a destructive force to our republic long before Wednesday’s insurrection inside the U.S. Capitol, but...
A vision for 2021
Looking back at the previous year and looking ahead to the new year is nothing new, but this year it’s taken on a whole new dimension.
The previous year has left a lot of us...