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Community Corner

Would You Live on Water Street?

An old house across from the Black Dog Bakery in Vineyard Haven has been donated for affordable housing, but the Martha's Vineyard Times calls it "residentially hostile." Do you agree?

Corrected: Due to a brain fade on the part of this reporter/editor, the originally-posted version of this article misstated the name of the street. I apologize for the error. L.H.

A recent editorial in the Martha's Vineyard Times appears to treat a gift house more like a gift horse, focusing on flaws over opportunities and suggesting the donor is making a local housing non-profit his "tool."

Certainly, Cronigs Markets owner Steve Bernier had more than philanthropy in mind when he bought that empty house next door to the Vineyard Haven  and presented it to the Island Housing Trust last year: The purchase-donation effectively keeps his corporate competitor from expanding its footprint on Water Street.

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But according to the Times editorial, Bernier's gift isn't much good for redevelopment as affordable housing because the property has "long ago relinquished its claim to livability to the commercial hustle and bustle that surrounds it."

The editorial further calls the area a "residentially hostile commercial environment," that would "isolate" residents housed there. 

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Some city dwellers I've talked to think that's up for debate.

Sure, Beach Street is almost constantly rumbling with traffic from Steamship Authority arrivals and departures, plus the ever-shuttling #10 bus to the parking lot outside of town — all heading for the brake-and-creep Five Corners convergence.

Next door there's Stop & Shop on one side, with its traffic and delivery trucks; the rest of the adjacent neighbors are shuttered in winter, while the only nearby housing is a stack of seasonal time-shares around the corner.

But does all this make the house "residentially hostile" for redevelopment as low-income housing? That's what we're wondering today, and inviting you to discuss.

Would you say no to living affordably at 6 Water St., Vineyard Haven? Why or why not? Tell us in the comments.

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