SSA Votes for Hyannis Fast Ferry; Year-Round Service Starts in May

By JAMES KINSELLA
Gazette Senior Writer

Year-round fast ferry service to and from Hyannis is coming to Oak Bluffs.

The Steamship Authority board of governors yesterday voted 4-0 to approve the proposal by Hy-Line Cruises Inc. of Hyannis to offer the service. New Bedford member David Oliveira was absent.

Penalties, Deadlines Loom Over Builder

By JAMES KINSELLA

Gene Erez was in a hurry to renovate 45 Circuit avenue in Oak Bluffs so that the building would be ready for the summer season.

But the Oak Bluffs builder, who ended up demolishing the historic structure without a permit, may be running out of time.

Mr. Erez still is trying to move as quickly as possible to get the necessary permits in hand and start building a structure that will largely replicate the former Army Barracks building, originally constructed in the 1870s.

In West Tisbury, Debt Payments Pile High

By IAN FEIN

West Tisbury voters have been running up their collective credit card balance in recent years. Now the bills are starting to pile up in the town budget.

The proposed $12.1 million town budget for fiscal year 2006, which will go before voters at the annual town meeting in April and takes effect in July, includes $850,000 in debt spending - up $375,000, or almost 80 per cent, from the current fiscal year.

The overall budget is up 11 per cent, or $1.2 million, from this year.

Against a backdrop of increasing doubt, state highway officials this week promised to complete temporary repairs to the Lagoon Pond drawbridge in t

Architect in Life: Banker Takes the Long View in Front Office

By JAMES KINSELLA

In his earlier years, Chris Wells thought about becoming an architect. As it turned out, he did become an architect - not of bricks and mortar, but of the hopes and aspirations of people's lives.

Mr. Wells, 40, had learned what banking could mean for the people in a community.

Edgartown Turns to Town Voters to Pay for Ambulance, Firehouse

By JAMES KINSELLA

A laundry list of potential capital expenditures and a proposed 5.1 per cent increase in the annual operating budget await Edgartown voters this April.

The financial advisory committee has signed off on a budget of $21,250,025 for the coming fiscal year, $1,031,892 higher than the current year.