The coastal bank along Sea View avenue in Oak Bluffs has undergone a major overhaul in recent weeks and town officials are confident the area will be ready in time for the busy summer season. Town leaders have had to scramble over the past few months to repair the popular town beach after a 30-ton retaining wall suddenly collapsed in late February.
Earlier this week, on a sunny, warm May afternoon, Main street in Edgartown resembled a ghost town.
Although year-round places like Edgartown Hardware were doing a moderate business, well over half of all businesses were closed while several storefronts were empty.
Go back a few decades, though, and the scene was quite different.
Three Island teenagers who reportedly stole a car from the Tisbury Park and Ride for a late-night joy ride were apprehended by Edgartown police following a high-speed pursuit in Katama early Saturday morning that ended when their vehicle collided with a police cruiser on Clevelandtown Road.
A powerful fire swept through an Edgartown home on Fourth street early Wednesday morning, completely destroying the two-bedroom residence and leaving eight people homeless.
Edgartown fire chief Peter Shemeth said yesterday that a delay in the reporting of the fire caused firefighters to lose considerable time and may have contributed to the home’s total destruction. The home was reportedly occupied by eight Brazilian nationals, seven adults and one child.
Oak Bluffs selectmen Tuesday elected a new chairman, hosted a public hearing on a state plan to resurface several downtown streets and heard updated plans to repair the crumbling waterfront and dredge Sengekontacket Pond.
When the Oak Bluffs resident home site committee was established by a nearly unanimous vote at a special town meeting in September of 1987, it was widely heralded as an innovative and proactive measure to combat the dearth of affordable housing on the Island by creating low-cost lots for qualified, year-round town residents.
Since that time, the committee has seen its share of highs and lows.
