Category Archives: public life
It Isn’t Nice
Last Friday’s Vineyard Gazette carried an op-ed about the roundabout by Dan Greenbaum, a retired transportation consultant who now lives in Chilmark. Mr. Greenbaum is a voting member of the Martha’s Vineyard Joint Transportation Committee, an advisory group that helped … Continue reading
99%
A few weeks ago, en route to and from a Rally Obedience trial in Littleton, Mass., I listened to the CD version of Molly Ivins’s Who Let the Dogs In? I had 99% on the brain: Occupy Wall Street (OWS) … Continue reading
Nonpartisan
I just signed up to contribute $25 a month to Elizabeth Warren’s campaign for the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts. I rarely contribute to election campaigns, never mind get physically involved in them. For probably a third of my adult life … Continue reading
Democracy Face-to-Face
On Martha’s Vineyard “ATM” stands for “annual town meeting” at least as often as for “automated teller machine.” We have that kind of ATM too, but I deal with non-automated tellers whenever possible because the ATMs (1) don’t know my … Continue reading
Yesterday (Monday, November 14, if you’ve lost track <g>), the Edgartown board of selectmen voted unanimously to appeal the Martha’s Vineyard Commission’s approval of the roundabout in superior court. It’s hoped and even expected that the West Tisbury board of … Continue reading
Would Clicker Training Help the MVC?
What to make of last Thursday night’s Martha’s Vineyard Commission (MVC) meeting, at which a motion was made to rescind the October 6 vote to approve the roundabout project, with certain conditions pertaining to bicyclists, pedestrians, bus stops, and landscaping? … Continue reading
Friends
Politics on Martha’s Vineyard, as in any small town or close-knit neighborhood, are not only local but personal — sometimes intensely personal. It’s not quite true that “everybody knows everybody,” but if you’ve been around a couple of decades or … Continue reading
London Tries to Gag MVC
The following memo was sent to all members of the Martha’s Vineyard Commission and the MVC staff late Tuesday afternoon (5:44 pm to be precise) by Mark London, MVC executive director. Nearly all the commissioners are either elected by Vineyard … Continue reading
All Change Is Not Created Equal
Over and over opposition to the roundabout has been explained away as “people don’t like change.” To which I say that “people” — which is to say me — don’t like having change shoved down our throats by people who … Continue reading
From the Seasonally Occupied Territories . . . 