At last Thursday’s meeting of the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, a majority of the commissioners present rejected a motion by commissioner Lenny Jason to rescind last fall’s controversial, unpopular and questionable approval of a roundabout at the blinker intersection. This proposal for the Vineyard has a longevity rivaling that of a vampire, and there seems to be no readily available stake to drive through its heart.

The nine commissioners who rejected the motion relied solely on counsel’s opinion that a vote to rescind is illegal, or, at least, impermissible. They ignored completely the over 3,000 Vineyard voters who signed petitions opposing the roundabout and the voters in five towns who, in a referendum this spring , voted three to one against it. In effect, the commissioners said that those signatures and votes don’t matter. And with one commissioner’s pronouncement that the commission’s decisions must always stand, even when they are wrong, we witnessed a new high in hubris and arrogance in this public entity.

The MVC, which depends on public support, was created for the benefit of the public, specifically to protect a precious, special place from unwanted change. It has now become the agent of that unwanted change, in effect deciding that its own internal processes are more important than the quality or acceptability of its decisions.

The commission gravely damaged itself with that vote last Thursday. There is no more self-destructive behavior for either an individual or an institution than the inability or unwillingness to admit error. Perhaps it is time for the restructuring of an unaccountable, out-of-touch institution and, at the same time, the election of new commissioners who understand the role of the commission in protecting the Vineyard’s special environment.

Nancy Huntington
West Tisbury