The Martha s Vineyard Times
Film documents addiction and recovery on Marthaâs Vineyard
âOn Islandâ sheds light on substance use disorder, and offers message of hope for those struggling.
The documentary film On Island uses individual stories of addiction and recovery to illustrate just how prevalent substance use disorder is in our community.
Although the seasonal resort destination of Marthaâs Vineyard is largely sequestered from the mainland, it is not spared from the scourge of addiction that spreads through communities like wildfire.
With the warm days of summer here set in sharp contrast with the gloomy days of the off-season, some Islanders turn to drugs and alcohol as an escape from the boredom or depression that is also widespread in our tiny Island community.
2/03/2021
Massachusetts Department of Transportation Boston The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) is announcing the award of $3,236,762.78 in the third round of funding from the Baker-Polito Administration’s Shared Winter Streets and Spaces program. The program, which was launched on November 10, provides technical and funding assistance to help Massachusetts cities and towns conceive, design, and implement tactical changes to curbs, streets, and parking areas in support of public health, safe mobility, and renewed commerce, with a special focus on the particular challenges of winter. The awards made today will support 21 projects in 21 municipalities, of which 43% are designated Environmental Justice communities and 76% are considered high-risk for COVID-19 infections. Additionally, 62% of today’s winners have never received a Shared Streets and Spaces award before.
The Martha s Vineyard Times
Aquinnah: Leveling the Playing Field Kyra Steck
The snow is coming down fast and heavy. It is a wet snow with large flakes, there is wind too, as there frequently is here. It feels like a true winter when it snows. Living here I’ve learned to mark the winter passing in ways other than snowfall, as it doesn’t happen that regularly. The ways I mark are usually events: Berta and Vern’s Christmas party, people jumping in the ocean on New Year’s Day, the Chilmark School fundraiser/concert, the mass Exodus of February break, the M.V. Film Festival. Since last March most of those events have been cancelled. So now, I look out my window and watch the light change, a little more allotted every day, and today I see the snow, still falling as if it will never stop.
The Martha s Vineyard Times
O.B. secures $210,000 shared streets grant
Oak Bluffs received a $210,000 grant from the state’s Shared Winter Streets & Spaces program to create new sidewalks and improve the bus stop at the Martha’s Vineyard Skatepark.
With the funding, the town will construct brand-new, ADA-compliant sidewalks with lighting around the skatepark, connected to existing paved paths to the YMCA, Martha’s Vineyard Ice Arena, Martha’s Vineyard Community Services, and the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School.
The Oak Bluffs grant is part of $3.2 million for third-round funding for the shared streets program. The program provides technical and funding assistance to help Massachusetts cities and towns conceive, design, and implement tactical changes to curbs, streets, and parking areas in support of public health, safe mobility, and renewed commerce, with a special focus on the particular challenges of winter.
The Martha s Vineyard Times
Coalition seeks to create housing bank
In 2005, one of our local papers ran a story: “The housing bank initiative has cleared its first major regional hurdle, now that all six towns have thrown their support behind the idea, which aims to create a bank of money for affordable housing using a transfer fee on most real estate transactions. The Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank is the model …”
Despite overwhelming support from voters in all six towns and the Vineyard real estate community, the effort failed in the state legislature due to lobbying by the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, which opposed the concept of transfer fees. At the time, the M.V. median home sale price was approximately $500,000.