<p>Tisbury selectmen still have the option to place a student-written plastic bottle ban on the upcoming annual town meeting warrant.
Tisbury selectmen still have the option to place a student-written plastic bottle ban on the upcoming annual town meeting warrant.
On Monday, selectmen said they would not ask voters to decide on the bylaw proposed by Plastic Free MV, which successfully passed town meetings in the three up-Island towns a year ago. Instead, Tisbury’s warrant article would seek to develop an action plan and a bylaw for plastics over the next year.
The change came too late for the bylaw’s proponents, a student group called Plastic Free MV, to submit a citizen petition, which with 10 signatures would have been guaranteed a spot on the town meeting warrant.
“You said you were going to put it on the warrant. We would have done a petition if we had known,” 12-year-old Finn Robinson of Plastic Free MV told the board Monday.
On Wednesday, town administrator Jay Grande posted a notice for a Friday afternoon public meeting to discuss reopening the warrant and reconsidering the Plastic Free MV article.
Reached by phone, Mr. Grande said he posted the agenda after a group of students from Plastic Free MV visited his office at town hall.
He also spoke with all three selectmen before posting an agenda for the meeting. Selectman James Rogers was off-Island on a previously planned trip during Thursday afternoon’s scheduled meeting, and not expected to return Friday.
In order for Friday’s meeting to take place as posted, Ms. Loberg and Mr. Kristal will need to vote at Thursday’s meeting, which begins at 5 p.m. at Katharine Cornell Theatre.
At a late January meeting, selectmen told Plastic Free MV members they would allow town voters to weigh in on the single-use bottle ban.
Instead, a warrant article unveiled Monday calls for the town to develop, by May 2021, an action plan and a bylaw to manage plastic reduction and mitigation in Tisbury.
“That’s a different thing. We’ve been working on [the plastic bottle bylaw] for years,” said Mr. Robinson, who was joined by his 10-year-old brother Odin and their father, Tisbury planning board member Ben Robinson, at Monday’s meeting.
Board chairman Melinda Loberg said part of the reason for the change is that selectmen were not able to schedule a public hearing on the issue.
“We know how that sits with you guys. It’s really not your fault,” she told the Robinsons.
Selectman Jeff Kristal said the town’s article would allow Tisbury businesses to take part in discussions about reducing plastic use.
“I don’t know when it’s ever been such a bad thing to have conversations and allow businesses, who would be extremely affected by this, a good amount of time to bring up their concerns,” Mr. Kristal said.
Mr. Kristal and selectman James Rogers also objected to the language in Plastic Free MV’s proposed warrant article.
“It’s a little too confining,” Mr. Rogers said. “I’m totally supportive of the concept.”
Mr. Kristal said adopting the proposed bylaw would pose enforcement problems for the town.
“We can’t even address the projects we have right now,” Mr. Kristal said.
“This isn’t killing the idea of it. This is helping us to get on the same page and then together, we can present it next year in the warrant article form, in the bylaw form, and that’s a commitment I will make to you,” Mr. Kristal told the Robinsons.
The bottle ban discussion came late in a nearly four-hour selectman’s meeting that followed an earlier executive session in which the board discussed legal judgments against businessman Trip Barnes.
The meeting began a few minutes late after some confusion when a group from the Martha’s Vineyard Charter School arrived for a play rehearsal that was double-booked for Katharine Cornell Hall, where selectmen normally hold their meetings.
Comments
Fantastic our board of
Respectfully - J.G. TisburyFantastic our board of Selectmen!! With all due respect we cant let 12 year old's brainwashed by their 6th grade teachers demanding such a drastic change. I agree It is too confining and I want my 71 year old voice heard before a decision like this is made and opens the door to other important issues.
Just because Aquinnah, Chilmark and West Tisbury want it does not mean that we must follow suit.
Each island town has it's own unique personalities and I am totally satisfied with most of the way our town is run other than a few issues which I do complain about.
They politely told the children that This isn’t killing the idea of it, so hopefully they will just have respect and confidence in our system and come back later as instructed.
Aquinnah, Chilmark and West
John Preston ChilmarkThere was no debate in Aquinnah, Chilmark and West Tisbury, town meeting voters were silenced by this ideological "movement" that uses masses of children to impose communistic controls on society. Full support to VH and OB in facing this threat to our local democracy.
No debate at town meeting
TisKid VHNo debate at town meeting tends to imply overwhelming support. Overwhelming support at town meeting is absolutely local democracy. Yanking things from the town warrant at the last minute with no heads up is imposing controls and taking it away from the voters. All these concerns seem valid. Let's discuss them at town meeting. Were you at your town meeting? You could have raised your concerns then.
I hope someone represents
Laura EdgartownI hope someone represents these kids pro bono in challenging the ballot. Meeting minutes will show what they were told, and give them basis for judicial appeal of submitting a petition.
Call me old fashioned Finn
Nelson Sigelman Vineyard HavenCall me old fashioned Finn but I think that when you address the selectmen at a public meeting you ought to take the hood off.
I agree Nelson and also take
Shameful acts Vineyard HavenI agree Nelson and also take off their hats. See there is no respect anymore and they want to change our way of life.
Come on dad teach your youngsters a little bit of manners and courtesy for our elected officials as they are seeking help from them and eventually us.
I will be looking for the next meeting with them when this subject will be on our agenda.
Form over substance. Respect
BarryBoo VHForm over substance. Respect is earned. The kids have mine. They earned it. The selectmen? Not yet.
Speaking of old-fashioned
Molly West TisburySpeaking of old-fashioned values, how about keeping one's word? It sounds like these selectmen couldn't say no to Plastic Free MV in the first place, but decided to weasel out of that commitment later.
So your takeaway is that this informed, passionate 12-year-old is wearing his hood on a winter's night? Seems like an odd detail to get hung up on.
Maybe the hood allowed him an extra measure of security while addressing a roomful of adults. Maybe it was just chilly in the meeting.
We should be encouraging kids who get involved, and it really shouldn't matter what they wear to meetings.
Mr. Siegleman, I agree I
Finn Robinson VHMr. Siegleman, I agree I should have taken my hood off. But I'd like to highlight the circumstances that brought me to the meeting were sudden. While at home, because of Twitter, we luckily stumbled on the fact that this meeting was happening down the street, right now, (The selectmen did not notify us that they were deleting our bylaw last night). I literally rushed to put on my clothes and get over there to defend our bylaw before it could be deleted without opposition. So maybe I should have taken off my hood but considering the circumstances, I was not focussed on clothes etiquette, but rather on the greater questions of political ethics. I accept your criticism of my clothing. But I would be interested to know if you have any criticism of the selectmen's political move?
As I understand it, the
E.S. TisburyAs I understand it, the plastic free MV group has campaigned for over a year to have their warrant added to the agenda in this year’s Tisbury town meeting and that the selectmen gave them their assurance that the warrant would be included in this year’s town meeting agenda. Last night, with no opportunity for community involvement, the selectmen reversed that commitment. ————
Do we want selectmen who make public promises to voters and children of voters alike and then don’t follow through? Do we want representation who can’t be trusted to uphold the promises that they make whether these promises are to 12 year old children, or the voters of this town? ————
For Mr. Kristal to say he “isn’t killing the idea” when he made a commitment to the voters that the warrant would be included is plainly not true - the Board of Selectmen said they would included the warrant and now those statements show us that their words and commitments can not be trusted. ————
Having the warrant included would have upheld the promise that the Board of Selectmen made to both the children of Plastic Free MV and the Tisbury voters who support them and allowed the voters of Tisbury to make their voice heard in town meeting in choosing whether adding more single-use plastic bottles to the environment of Martha’s Vineyard is the right path forward for the town of Tisbury. The lack of transparency and opportunity for public discourse on why the decision was reversed along with the short notice is counter to a well run democracy, Tisbury deserves better.
I for one am pleased someone
Water Dependent MVI for one am pleased someone tapped the brakes on this! It isn’t that I am against reducing plastics because I am. It is because this Corona Virus scares me more than plastics, as a voter, and these public water refill stations will be highly germinated. This ban should have started with nips but the adults driving the ban didn’t want the kids exposed to alcohol issues. Well, if the kids are proposing laws for adults they need to take adult concerns into consideration. Like nips are public enemy number one in discarded single use plastics (and those discarding are drunk off their rockers and might hit their friend riding a bike) and that those free public water fountains will be used by many in unsanitary ways. Can’t have one foot in adulthood and one foot out. Not if you are proposing laws. Adults behind the ban are trying to get scholarships or admission to top schools for their kids. Me I am trying to stock up on water and not come anywhere near a public refill station where certain non adopters wash their faces, pee, or bump reusable bottles smeared with bacteria against the device. Also, the kid didn’t take his hood down because his dad didn’t take his hat off. Kids learn from their certain adults.
Plastic is one of the largest
Concerned VHPlastic is one of the largest issues facing the world today, with over 300 million tons produced annually. Plastic doesn't break down, it persists in the environment as nano particles and woks as a magnet to attract surrounding pollutants in the ocean. Those exponentially more toxic than the surrounding area, nanoparticles are then eaten by zooplankton, exponentially increasing their toxicity at each trophic level.
Bravo to these kids for trying to make change, looks like the selectman are once again full of empty promises, instead falling back on old dinosaurs like "respectfully JG" that are stuck in the antiquated 20th century ways that humans interacted with the world. Here's a pro tip JG, nobody really needs to hear any naysayer voice this is a problem that needs to be solved yesterday, not multiple years from now as dinosaurs vent their frustration about how they don't understand how messed up the world is and why they have to change their routine in our throw away society.
I agree with "Molly", times have changed the kids clothing is part of their culture in this day and age, and the dinosaurs are not only stuck in another older century, but in fact an entirely different millennia. Much more important than clothing choice is the selectmen once again went against their word. That's great though, we've already denied 13 million from the state, that vote was absolutely swayed on their absurd last second letter; now we get to pay over 50 million instead of 36million for a school. But lets be honest by the time anything actually gets done that price tag will be 60 million instead of 50 million. Go old people to Tisbury, so excited to hear more of your voices as prices continue to spiral upward. It's ok though, who really cares about that anyway, let's instead provide an absurd amount of funding for an already functioning bandstand! BRAVO TISBURY
It’s time for the baby
Steve FalmouthIt’s time for the baby boomers to get out of the way and let these kids do something good for their world. And stop worrying sbout the kid having his hood on
Please don’t pin this on baby
Art D. Vineyard HavenPlease don’t pin this on baby boomers as a group. I was born in the first wave of boomers in 1946, and I’m outraged by what the Board did here. They’re not only pursuing bad environmental policy and going back on their word, they’re also instilling the next generation with mistrust and cynicism. I can only hope the kids will get actively involved in the next election and help to bring in a new Board. They can act not only as foot soldiers for candidates, they can also speak eloquently on what it felt like to be betrayed by the town’s current leaders.
a decent idea poorly planned.
nothing to do with nothing VHa decent idea poorly planned.
M Loberg and J Rogers should
Tiskid VHM Loberg and J Rogers should resign. I'd vote for Finn Robinson over either of them. There were public meetings on this issue all over the island. The kids themselves held them. They worked on this for almost 2 years.
What a bad faith move by the
Marie TisburyWhat a bad faith move by the Tisbury Selectmen, to pull this article knowing there is no recourse to get it on this year’s warrant by citizens petition. You have also deprived the town’s voters of the right to decide this issue after a proper debate and a vote at town meeting. Using the excuse of further discussion will just kick the can, er, bottle down the road. Why couldn’t this have been discussed/tabled/voted on by the people at town meeting?
Very disappointing. Time for
Carol formerly ChilmarkVery disappointing. Time for different selectmen, clearly - fire these fools. Great work, Plastic Free MV, keep it up!! Thank you!!
If anyone actually reads the
Pro business Oak BluffsIf anyone actually reads the text of the proposed bylaw you will realize that the beverages remaining for our kids to drink in store coolers will be things like monster, Red Bull, Mountain Dew energy in a can, Gatorade, Powerade. Many parents and businesses have tried to move away from these caffeinated and sugary drinks, but the ban fails to consider available alternatives on a nutritional basis or environmental basis. Make a PLAN not a Ban.
Drink water out of a reusable
AnaDrink water out of a reusable water bottle! It’s not that hard!
Good Job Finn!
Mike OBGood Job Finn!
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