Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Editorial

Support needed for permanent winter homeless shelter

The need for a program to house the homeless in the winter on Martha’s Vineyard is undeniable. Just last week, we received reports that homeless veterans without housing were camped in Island woods; individuals...

Veterans continue to need our help

Voices is a series the Martha’s Vineyard Times has pursued as a way to give the public a platform to tell their own stories in their own voices. In a way, it’s a self-conscious...

Transfer fee won’t make attainable housing more expensive

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey’s administration yesterday finally announced a significant housing bond bill. There’s a lot to it, what the administration says is the largest investment in housing by a governor to date.  Perhaps most...

Give pickleball a chance; all we are saying is respect our neighbors

Pickleball has been the fastest growing sport in the country, seemingly, for the past several years. It’s popular. It’s fun to play for all ages. You don’t need to be the most athletic or...

End unwarranted exemptions for immunizations

This week’s report that a number of schools on the Island have high exemption rates for vaccines is troubling.  According to the latest data from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Dukes County has the...

Airbnb tax should go to funding housing

2
Chilmark is considering setting aside $200,000 annually to help ease the lack of housing on the Island.  On its face, it’s a terribly inadequate amount of money. It’ll take several years of providing $200,000 to...

No one wins with recent turf court decision

Last week’s Massachusetts Land Court ruling in favor of the Martha’s Vineyard Regional School District and its proposed synthetic turf field is definitive in its opinion, but it does nothing to ease Islanders who...

Take a second gander at the geese population

Martha’s Vineyard has a non-migratory Canada geese problem.  Farmers say that flocks can destroy newly planted crops in a short period of time; the birds can also yank up fresh, native vegetation by the roots;...

Steamship lacking transparency, accountability

The Steamship Authority’s explanation for what led to a boat becoming unmoored from a slip at the Woods Hole terminal earlier this summer has been comically vague.  In late July, the Sankaty, a nearly 250-foot...

Condemn the attacks on a small-town weekly newspaper

The accounts of a police raid at the Marion County Record, a newspaper in Kansas, are disturbing, not only to newsrooms across the country like ours here in Vineyard Haven, but to democracy worldwide. According...

Keep incentivizing electric car use

Should public electric car-charging stations be free to use?  That’s a question before the West Tisbury Select Board, where the town currently has two free charging stations. On an Island where less than 5 percent of...

Support for reining in short-term rentals

Airbnb, one of the original and go-to websites for booking short-term rentals, began as a new and fun way to travel. Following more rugged and free options like Couch Surfer, travelers could spend the...

Great expectations for an EduComp town hall 

Tisbury deserves a better town hall. There’s been a temporary solution for what seems like decades, and the current setup might be getting the job done, but it’s showing its age.  Currently, town offices are...

School committee is wrong to use private funding

Private money has no place in public, governmental affairs. It’s undemocratic, unethical, and sets a dangerous precedent. But that’s exactly what the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School committee is using to fund a legal battle...

The perks of having no bridge to the mainland

There have been a lot of complaints circulating about the reservation system for the Steamship Authority. A major point of contention last summer was that on the same day an Islander couldn’t get a...

Why not drive an electric car?

It isn’t surprising that under 5 percent of cars on Martha’s Vineyard are either electric or hybrid electric. It’s unfortunate, but given how long the combustion engine has reigned supreme, we can give ourselves...

Postal service lacking basic transparency

The higher-ups in the U.S. Postal Service on Martha’s Vineyard have some explaining to do. The Times has tried on numerous occasions to get even the most straightforward information from the service, only to...

A needed boost for abortion access

Women should be able to get an abortion in the U.S. if they so choose, as a majority of Americans believe.  But the right to an abortion and access to safe abortions are different issues....

Where are we going with the turf debate?

Voters on Martha’s Vineyard should be concerned about who is representing their interests on the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School School Committee. Three town meetings on the Vineyard this spring voted very decisively against the...

Juneteenth: A time for celebration, yes, but also for reflection

Martha’s Vineyard will be brimming with Juneteenth celebrations this weekend. The Amistad — a replica of a slave ship that was taken over by a group of enslaved people in the 1830s — will...