At about 10:30 on Tuesday morning, on a fire trail deep in the state forest in West Tisbury, a small group of people gathered to talk about one of the innumerable achievements of the federal government’s $800 billion stimulus package.
And coincidentally, to draw attention to its big failing.
First, the success. The group, including Jeffrey Simon, director of the Massachusetts Recovery and Reinvestment office, was there to look at 310 acres which had been cleared of mostly-dead scrub oak, which presented a serious wildfire hazard.
The Martha’s Vineyard Commission is facing a concerted push from at least two of the big down-Island towns to amend its processes for considering developments of regional impact (DRIs), out of concern they are inhibiting business activity.
Selectmen in both Tisbury and Oak Bluffs have signaled worries about the cost, delay and uncertainty which attaches to the commission’s review of proposed new developments, and are expected to argue for more local autonomy when the DRI process comes up for review next month.
Bob Wheeler’s voice shook with emotion as he spoke of his reasons for stepping down from the board of the Island Affordable Housing Fund.
Mr. Wheeler, on the eve of his departure from Martha’s Vineyard to live on the other side of the country, after years spent “busting my ass” to put Islanders into affordable housing, wanted to say that despite the fund’s parlous financial state, despite the mistakes that had been made, he left “with my head held high.”
Eight months from now, the Vineyard could finally be able to boast its first significant, working, zero-carbon energy project. And the power will come not from wind but from the sun.
By the start of July two towns, Edgartown and Tisbury, could be harvesting all their municipal energy needs from several acres of solar panels, and doing it affordably.
Fred LaPiana is just one of an unknown number of people who cannot get service from Martha’s Vineyard’s monopoly cable television provider, Comcast.
But as Tisbury’s director of public works and a prime mover in the renegotiation of Comcast’s franchise agreement with Island towns, he is in a better position than anybody to do something about it. Or so you would think.
Tisbury property taxes will be sharply higher in 2011, largely due to falling property values and the extra expense of the town’s new emergency services building.
For fiscal year 2011, residential tax rates will go up 14.3 per cent compared with the current year. Commercial rates will go up 14.6 per cent.
And rates are unlikely to come down significantly for several years, an outlook which prompted selectmen to suggest the town would have to hold off on significant further infrastructure projects in the near future.
