In the late 1980s, with real estate prices on the rise and new building starts at an all-time high on Martha’s Vineyard, the Gazette commissioned a poll of seasonal and permanent residents to gauge public sentiment around development. The results revealed a deep and widely-held concern about the fast pace of growth and its implications for the Island environment and quality of life, a concern that cut across every demographic category, part-time and full-time residents alike.

In August, the Vineyard Gazette in cooperation with the Martha's Vineyard boards of health undertook an online survey of year-round and seasonal Island residents and visitors on the topic of ticks and tick-borne illness. The goal was to gauge the seriousness of the problem and to test community attitudes about potential efforts to address it. The survey was closed after receiving 1,311 responses in three weeks. These charts provide a summary of results.