Government
The real estate market on the Vineyard appears to be showing signs of life, according to the most recent data from the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank.
Land bank revenues are up for the first six months of the fiscal year, even though the number of sales remains relatively flat.
Town employees may soon be feeling the effects of the economic downturn as Oak Bluffs continues to wrestle with stark financial projections.
As budget planning begins for the coming fiscal year, Oak Bluffs is projecting a budget shortfall, the chairman of the finance committee told town selectmen on Tuesday.
Coast Guard senior officers told the Chilmark selectmen this week it will be at least two years until the government agency can begin rebuilding the historic Menemsha boathouse that was destroyed in the July 12 fire.
All physical evidence has been collected for the investigation, and demolition of the charred boathouse is set to begin Sept. 15, Capt. Verne Gifford (commander for Southern New England), Cmdr. Will Smith and Menemsha station chief Jason Olsen told the selectmen on Tuesday. Also attending the meeting were special agents Robert Ditolla and Joe Green.
After long controversy and indecision, Tisbury voters on Tuesday approved the sale of beer and wine in the town’s restaurants.
Tisbury selectmen now will be empowered to issue as many as 19 year-round licenses and an unlimited number of seasonal licenses for the sale of beer and wine.
Proponents of beer and wine sales have been pushing the measure for five years. When all the votes were tallied on Tueday night, they had won by a clear margin: 881-747.
As New England fisheries officials negotiate the finer points of a new groundfish management plan, Massachusetts voters appear firmly behind proposals to change the days-at-sea regulation scheme to one that uses community-based, fishermen-run cooperatives to monitor and limit cod, flounder and haddock fishing.