News
The Massachusetts Attorney General issued a severe reprimand to the town of Oak Bluffs this week for a long list of violations to state public bidding laws between 2009 and 2011. Citing “a pattern of disregard and certain evidence of intentional avoidance of public construction bidding laws,” the attorney general upheld a protest that had been filed by a former town selectman but stopped short of issuing any fines or penalties to the financially-troubled town.
Finally an offshore wind development plan for the ocean off Martha’s Vineyard has found broad acceptance.
In sharp contrast to the controversy which dogged every public meeting about the Cape Wind development in Nantucket Sound, a presentation last night about plans for a far larger development off the Island’s south shore went remarkably smoothly.
It has been a quiet month on the Oak Bluffs waterfront. In the three weeks since the Oak Bluffs selectmen put the kibosh on outdoor amplified music, Island entertainers have been pushing for the town officials to reconsider. With selectmen set to address the issue again on Tuesday, musicians are hoping to turn around what has been a frustrating start to the summer.
The town of Tisbury will extend the contracts of the people overseeing work on its trouble-plagued new emergency services building, at a likely cost of around $100,000.
The extensions — for the architects, HKT, and owner’s property manager and clerk of the works — were ticked off by the selectmen on Tuesday night at a meeting with the building committee, called to discuss the allegedly shoddy workmanship by the main building contractor, Seaver Constructions, lengthening delays and increasing costs and frustration.
Longfin inshore squid ( loligo pealeii ) may not be on the menu, but it is an important local seafood that has grown scarce.
Recreational and commercial fishermen are perplexed, wondering how a once profitable and abundant bait seems to have disappeared. Tackle shop owners can’t find enough of it. The draggers working in Nantucket Sound have had slim pickings.
The Class of 2011 is open. Open to the world — Edinburgh, Prague, India, Costa Rica and France are among the places they have lived and performed. Open to the community — volunteering at the hospital, the animal shelter, the YMCA. Open to opportunities — seeking out mentors at various Island businesses.
School president Rachel Pires called breaking down the barrier between upperclassmen and underclassmen one of their biggest achievements. “I think our grade’s really open to being friends with everybody,” she said.