Voice Writing

I'd like you to hold the following idea for a minute or two, and we'll come back to it:
I need a secure bed for myself and my garden.

We Are Here

There is a lot of "we" here on this island, and that's not just a notion. We claim a place. We share proximity. But, I think that word "proximity" is too vague, so is "place." Not enough "people" in those words. "People" is even a little too general. Maybe it's "interactions" or "relationships." But, the annual shark tournament is interactive — in a self-interested sort of way.

Publicity/sound bytes abound these days on: Green living, local food, concerns over climate, water and soil, using more local/renewable resources, alternate transportation, and Green/natural building. Designing/remodeling homes, landscapes and whole communities for lower resource use, more recycling and reuse, less oil-based transportation, and more local businesses, employment, products, and food production are becoming more important to the economy, the environment, and human welfare. Sustainable Strategy efforts are springing up for cities/towns, schools, colleges, open spaces, farms, and neighborhoods.

Edgartown Affordable Homes Ready This May

Inclusionary zoning mandates that developers provide affordable housing if they create market rate housing. Incentive zoning allows developers seeking special permits to obtain favorable zoning treatment, usually in the form of increased density and/or reduction in regulatory requirements, in exchange for affordable housing.

Homebuyer Counseling and Education

Homebuyer counseling and education are valuable marketing and outreach tools that can bridge the information gap and expand the pool of potential homebuyers, preparing them for a successful application and ownership experience. The Dukes County Regional Housing Authority maintains an Affordable Homebuyer Clearinghouse. For more information on homebuyer counseling and education see the Housing Assistance Corporation website at http://www.haconcapecod.org/

Building on Town/ County/ School Land

The use of land or buildings for affordable housing development through long-term ground leases for below market value, helps reduce the cost and is one of the most valuable contributions a community can make. If a municipality owns property, it can make it available at no cost, or low cost for deed-restricted low or moderate income housing. M.G.L. Chapter 30B (Section 16) spells out the process to be used in finding a suitable developer, in what is essentially a reserves of the usual procurement process required for a long-term ground lease (more than 30 years).

Resident Homesite

Each Island town has a Resident Homesite Program that transfers vacant developable land controlled by the towns to income eligible town residents with affordability restrictions for the construction single family homes.

In the light of this beautiful full moon there hangs a quilt, illuminated, in my mother’s living room.

According to LINK, land prices have increased even faster than home sales since 2001. The median price of land sold on Martha’s Vineyard in 2004 was $367,900. That is up 86.3% in three years. It continued to rise in 2005 and was $406,000 for the first four months of this year. Consider this: median land prices so far in 2005 are higher than median home prices in 2002. It now requires an income over $90,000 to purchase the median price building lot — without the home!