News
The town of Aquinnah awarded a bid to Vineyard Power this week to build a solar array at the town landfill, marking the first major project for the Island energy cooperative.
Pending approval from town counsel, the selectmen signed a preliminary agreement at their meeting Tuesday to place about 200 panels at the town landfill. The 50-kilowatt system will produce up to 60,000 kilowatt hours a year, which is equivalent to about 10 to 12 houses. The panels will produce enough electricity to power the town buildings.
Oak Bluffs selectmen voted Tuesday night to turn part of narrow Dukes County avenue into a one-way road. Selectmen said the decision was motivated by concerns over safety and lack of parking.
The change will likely take effect before the start of December and is intended only as a temporary measure pending further study.
Next Thursday is, as everyone knows, the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving parade in New York city. For the majority of us this mean a little couch time watching the floats roll by and the participants perform. But for Alley Ellis, an eighth grader at the Edgartown School, it means kicking it, literally, on national television.
Assessors in Your Yard
The Edgartown board of assessors has begun a property revaluation project to update property values for fiscal year 2012. The revaluation is necessary in order to bring local property assessments in line with local real estate market changes, so assessments meet the requirements of the Department of Revenue.
The initial phase of the project involved analyzing property sales for the calendar year prior to the Jan. 1, 2011 date of assessment and then comparing those sales to the existing assessments.
Off-season ferry service between New Bedford and Martha’s Vineyard will be curtailed even further after Steamship Authority governors voted this week to allow the high-speed passenger ferry SeaStreak to drop April from its schedule.
SeaStreak will suspend service between Dec. 1 and April 30, 2012.
“This is a month longer than this past year,” said Steamship Authority general manager Wayne Lamson at the meeting in Woods Hole on Tuesday.
The off-season is getting a bit cozier as the Kelley House has decided to stay open through the fall and winter, and at unseasonably low prices. Rooms rates at the inn, which debuted in 1742, start at $89 a night.
No need to leave the pets at the kennel, either. Four-legged family members are welcome for a nominal additional fee.