Members of the Martha’s Vineyard Commission heard last week about a comprehensive new effort to lessen the number of cars on Island roads and make sure that those roads maintain their rural character.
In order to solve the Island’s traffic troubles and preserve its country feel, the MVC must embrace a plan and aggressively seek federal funds for two goals, they were told: establishing a system for reducing the number of cars on Island roads and rewriting government standards for road construction, at least as they apply to the Island.
Developers at a hearing last night described the Meeting House Golf Club project as a blessing for the environment. The project would remove nitrogen from the groundwater, they said, improve the salinity of the Edgartown Great Pond and protect the rare plant known as gypsywort.
Some members of the public questioned those claims. And two opponents of the project hinted that scientific experts will appear, when the hearing continues, to offer different ideas about the environmental impacts of the golf resort proposed by Rosario Lattuca.
On a sunny and busy day this July, Oak Bluffs post office square was filled with the sounds of a man and a woman arguing angrily about whether or not the town should install a $14 million sewage system.
The Fourth of July weekend in Oak Bluffs was a big mess last year, everyone said.
There was too much traffic. An ambulance couldn’t get through a street crowded with people. There were clashes between cultures and, when people talked about the weekend later, blatant racism.
Bob Holland of Oak Bluffs stayed home, but he heard all about it. And he sees no reason why all these people shouldn’t enjoy Oak Bluffs on its biggest holiday weekend.
So this year, he will be there to help with other members of the new Martha’s Vineyard Million Man Association.
David Corbitt of Indianapolis discovered Oak Bluffs this weekend. A second-year law student, Mr. Corbitt traveled here at the urging of a college friend.
Serena Henry came from Atlanta, and Phyllis Buford came from St. Louis, with her family. She joined friends from Kansas City, Mo.
Bobby Hall traveled here from Florida, and he had a great time.
“It doesn’t get much better than this,” said Mr. Hall, who joined about 800 people Friday night for live music, dancing and sunset at Inkwell Beach.
Oak Bluffs is the place to be for the Fourth of July weekend.
That’s always been the case, according to many residents, and now they have one more reason to think so.
This weekend, the community will conduct its First Annual Juneteenth Day of Independence, a Multicultural Celebration. Events include a beach concert Friday and a dance Saturday. Both nights will feature live music, plenty of food and several vats of non-alcoholic ginger beer.
The Menemsha School still has a great old-fashioned school bell, sounded daily by a rope that dangles down from the roof.
Children of different grades still sit in class side by side and play together in a playground bordered by a foresty area they call "twiggyland." Many townspeople were educated here, in the same place as their parents and grandparents.
Today, the challenge to Chilmark is maintaining the special qualities of this rural school while making room for growth.
The classroom is both comfortable and practical. Furnished with stacks of books, a Macintosh computer and a sprawling leather sofa, it is a bright room with windows offering a view of a forest and enough light to nourish three potted plants.
Here, nestled in the giant L-shaped sofa, half a dozen students read novels and write in journals. Some talk quietly, and others work on "dialogue journals." That means they write entries directed to teacher Meredith Collins, then leave the notebooks in a basket, where Miss Collins finds them and writes responses.
