News
Commercial expansion, historical preservation, affordable housing and traffic patterns will all be on the docket Tuesday when the Tisbury selectmen and representatives from Stop & Shop will discuss a major expansion planned by the grocery chain at the gateway to the Island’s main port town.
The meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. in the Katharine Cornell Theatre.
The Vineyard voted in line with the rest of the commonwealth Tuesday, backing Democratic U.S. Cong. Edward Markey and Republican Gabriel Gomez, a former naval special warfare lieutenant commander, in the state primary to replace Sen. John Kerry, who resigned in January to become secretary of state.
Town clerks reported relatively low turnout, around 19.5 per cent Islandwide, with slightly higher turnout in Chilmark and Tisbury, which also held town elections. The two town elections featured no contested races but several ballot questions related to spending, all of which passed.
The West Tisbury selectmen this week denied a request to remove more trees to accommodate construction of the new West Tisbury library and adjacent parking lot.
Building committee chairman Linda Hearn told the selectmen Wednesday that her group recently learned from NStar that the company needs to build an underground electrical vault near the road. Three additional trees need to be removed to make way for the vault, Mrs. Hearn said.
“I have to say I find this totally unacceptable. We went through an agonizing process,” selectman and board chairman Richard Knabel said.
Representatives from the Providence VA Medical Center will meet with veterans during a visit to the Island next week.
A town hall meeting is planned for 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 8, at the American Legion Post 257 in Vineyard Haven. The director of the medical center and other staff members will be on hand to see how things are going with the new contract for medical care for Island veterans, and to take any questions.
The Martha’s Vineyard Hospital announced this week that it will buy the Thorncroft Inn in Vineyard Haven to house traveling medical professionals, including doctors and nurses.
“The hospital spends more than $800,000 per year in costs related to housing medical professionals who travel to the Island to provide necessary patient services at the hospital. Most of the costs for housing occur during the s
ummer months,” the hospital said in a brief announcement about the purchase.
The purchase price is $2.35 million, including land, buildings and furniture.
The community center at Woodside Village is a comfortable place with a decorated tree in one corner and a wall of drawings. “You are my BFF,” reads one.
The drawings are created by children in the afterschool programs at the YMCA who visit Woodside once a week as part of the Island Elderly Housing Bridging program, the brainchild of Blueberry Van driver Kevin McFarland.
“It’s a long walk,” said kindergartner Kamari Clements of the journey from the Y to the community center next door.