News
Over $1.9 million in grant money has been awarded to Island towns for housing rehabilitation programs, by the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development.
The towns of Oak Bluffs and Edgartown received the grant awards which also include residents from Tisbury, West Tisbury and Aquinnah.
The community development block grant funds will be used to rehabilitate homes owned by low to moderate income island residents, providing forgivable loans to local families.
Tisbury selectmen discussed last Tuesday a decision taken by their counterparts in Oak Bluffs to renew discussions on areas of cooperation between the respective towns’ police departments.
The idea has been floated before, but went nowhere.
Selectman Tristan Israel noted that several years ago Oak Bluffs had suggested sharing a police chief, and said it was clear Oak Bluffs was looking for budget savings because of its tight financial position.
Oak Bluffs has turned to a nonprofit company specializing in housing rehabilitation projects to assist with a plan to convert the old town library at the corner of Pennacook and Circuit avenues into a mixed-used commercial building with a pharmacy on the first floor and affordable housing on the second floor.
The Oak Bluffs affordable housing committee, the applicant for the library project, has entered into talks with The Resource Inc. (TRI), a tax-exempt company based in Dennisport that helps towns secure funding and manage projects.
Like everything else in the world today, the event was captured on a cell phone camera and posted almost immediately on YouTube. Watching it, you can’t help but think of Jack Ruby as the man charges out of the crowd toward his victim, except Jack Ruby wore a fedora and a suit and this guy wore a white T-shirt and plaid shorts slung low.
The operators of the high-speed ferry between Martha’s Vineyard and New Bedford want to abandon the service in the winter months, following a recession-induced collapse in the numbers of riders.
New England Fast Ferry manager Mike Glasfeld told Steamship Authority governors this week that the viability of the winter operation depended on contractors commuting to the Vineyard. Last winter, because of the slowdown in construction and other activity, the ferry moved an average of one quarter of the passengers it needed to break even.
West Tisbury police are investigating a pair of burglaries early Tuesday morning at Alley’s General Store and Garcia’s Deli next door in which thieves broke into the buildings and stole a large amount of cash. The thieves stole only large denominations, leaving behind all of the $1 bills.
West Tisbury police Sgt. Dan Rossi said the investigation is ongoing and no arrests have been made. Police believe the two burglaries were committed by the same person or persons.