There has always been a conflict between preserving the values of the past and implementing our perceptions of the future.
More traffic officers, more signs, more street painting and additional monitoring cameras are all short-term fixes suggested by the Edgartown planning board for traffic issues created by the long line of vehicles waiting to board the ferry.
The Edgartown planning board has begun gathering information and suggestions in the latest attempt to solve, or at least improve the traffic snarl created in the village by cars headed to Chappaquiddick during the summer months.
In a fight won inch by inch and hour by hour, an excavator aboard the On Time III dug a channel through a field of ice in Edgartown harbor Saturday morning, freeing the Chappy ferry to run for the first time since 8 p.m. Friday night.
Edgartown selectmen received complaints last week about the line of vehicles that forms at the ferry to Chappaquiddick, which they say hampers access to their homes and poses a safety hazard in peak season.
For the first time since at least 2007, ice in the Edgartown harbor prevented the Chappaquiddick ferry from completing a trip across the harbor Monday morning. Capt. Jeff LaMarche was hampered by thick ice.
Jeff LaMarche and Becca Hamilton, both captains on the Chappaquiddick ferry, were married on the deck of the On Time II under a sky of pale blue at 1400 hours on Saturday afternoon. The ferry was dressed for the occasion in festive signal flags.
