Stimulating the Vineyard economy, what’s wrong with this picture?

Something odd is going on around here. And it is even beyond the scope of our temporary bridge that was built while our permanent bridge is being built (ha!). Seriously, even more confusing is the construction actvity that is either feast or famine, depending on what side of the water you live.

There are huge construction projects underway right now on Martha’s Vineyard. Multiple bridges, a YMCA and a hospital no less. The confusing part is that none of these projects are employing island residents.

Baffling. We are in the middle of a recession. The bulk of  Martha’s Vineyard’s work force is made up of laborers who work in construction. Despite the inflated cost of living , we consistently underpay our residents well below the state average for wages. The final blow… there is no work because it is winter AND a major recession, yet  hundreds of new jobs have opened up and none of them are available to  the people who live here.

The town that I live in is so over budget that we are cutting services and eliminating jobs. Our schools and therefore our children, are absorbing the cost.

How come we have these massive building projects but the island is not benefiting from the process. Ultimately we will have a great new activity complex, a new hospital and a few new bridges, but where is the income from employing laborers on these jobs?

What would seem like a building boon is deceptive. I am no urban planner, and I certainly am a  novice at understanding the qualifications required to build a hospital, but it seems to me that we could have given the work to the local contractors.

I am trying to wrap my mind around the fact that the skill required to build these buildings and bridges was simply beyond what our labor pool was capable of doing. On some level I can see that this makes sense, and yet…could we not have held workshops and offered the skills to our own people?

This may be naive and simplistic, but it seems reasonable to assume that these skills would easily be conveyed with the proper training. That we did not have to miss out so completely on what would appear to be viable jobs for the people who are looking for them.  Would that have inflated the building budgets beyond reason?

Every morning the workers get off the ferry, and every evening they get back on it to go home. I can’t help but think about the guy that stands at the Five Corners in Vineyard Haven with his cardboard sign.  He watches them come and go, holding his sign looking for work. Mostly construction work but I’ve a feeling he’d take anything.