Revised Yellow House Plan Attracts Lone Bid
A sole applicant is in the running in Edgartown’s second search for someone to lease and renovate the Yellow House.
Sara Brown
It’s a question that vexes local planning agencies and inflames passions from homeowners builders, and residents on both sides of the issue.
When it comes to houses, how big is too big?
This issue has special resonance on the Vineyard, where land is limited and residents have a history of fiercely protecting — and debating — the Island’s character.
After a weekend that the police chief called one of the busiest in years, with several fights and more than 20 arrests, Oak Bluffs police and town officials said they are looking at better ways to manage the crowds that come to the town for the annual monster shark tournament.
“Our calls for service were way up, our incidents were way up, at times we were pretty much overwhelmed on Saturday night,” Oak Bluffs police chief Erik Blake told the selectmen at their meeting Tuesday.
An increase in Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding could spell more money available for a wider range of projects for Vineyard towns.
Last week, Gov. Deval Patrick signed legislation that will allocate $25 million from the fiscal year 2013 state budget surplus to the CPA trust fund.
With a shark tournament, a local festival and summer crowds in town, Oak Bluffs police had a busy weekend: Friday through Sunday, the department made 21 arrests, placed four people in protective custody, and responded to 140 incidents.
According to the police weekend log, there were 10 charges of disorderly conduct and three incidents of minors possessing or attempting to procure alcohol. Most of the activity happened on Saturday night, when there were nine arrests between 10:30 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 a.m. Sunday.
Some came to revel in a summer weekend on the harbor, and others jostled for a prime spot to see the action. Some happened upon the hubbub, curious to see what all the fuss was about, and a few came to protest.
The word of the day was sharks: it was shouted when people saw a boat coming in with a telltale fin or tail, and T-shirts, hats, balloons and stuffed animals bore the image of the fish.
It was a Chilmark showdown Sunday night: on one side was the noted civil liberties lawyer, law professor and author Alan Dershowitz. On the other was author Peter Beinart, an associate professor of journalism and an editor at the Daily Beast.
The debate centered on Mr. Beinart’s recent book, The Crisis of Zionism, and differing views about the future of Israel. A large crowd at the Chilmark Community Center watched the two spar, sometimes heatedly, in a debate moderated by author Richard North Patterson.