South Road detour in effect for Obama Vineyard
vacation
South Road will be closed to all vehicle traffic between Meeting House Road and Wooton Bassett Road during the president's visit. Only abutters and emergency vehicles will be allowed to pass security check points.
Martha's Vineyard residents who have
grown accustomed to the temporary disruptions of presidential vacation
motorcades to the golf course and the beach can expect extraordinary and
lengthy up-Island detours, after President Barack Obama and his family arrive
Saturday.
The Secret Service will close South
Road to all vehicle traffic near the president's vacation compound on Snail Road
beginning about 2 pm, Saturday afternoon.
Only abutters and emergency vehicles
will be allowed to pass through security check points between Meeting House
Road to the east and Wooton Bassett Road to the west, for the duration of the
Obamas' vacation, from August 10 to 18.
In a telephone conversation with The
Times late Tuesday, Chilmark Police Chief Brian Cioffi confirmed the planned
closing. Chief Cioffi said online message boards and signs will be used
to redirect traffic.
Mr. Cioffi said the closing is
subject to modification and could change during the week, but Islanders and
their guests should be prepared to detour and plan accordingly.
The Secret Service security team is
responsible for all security arrangements. Chief Cioffi said he recommended ways
to modify the plan to make it more flexible, but the Secret Service had the
last word.
"I participated in tabletop
exercises of different plans, and in the end the Secret Service decided that
the safest plan for the president and his family is to close the road and only
allow neighbors access," he said. "When all is said and done, our
department will do whatever is needed to support the Secret Service in any way
we can. We'll make the best of it. I'm sure Islanders will do the same."
South Road, Middle Road and North
Road are the three main up-Island arteries. Middle Road, with its sharp curves,
hills and scenic vistas, is off-limits to tour buses and is the least traveled
of the three.
Vehicle drivers traveling west, or
up-Island, would have the option to detour over the dirt Meeting House Road to
Middle Road. North Road is the recommended detour for large vehicles and
trucks, Mr. Cioffi said.
It is unclear if Island police
departments will be asked to staff security check points, a request that would
strain summer resources. That is still under discussion, Mr. Cioffi said.
The unusual security arrangement —
this marks the first road closing associated with a president's visit — is
related to the president's choice of a vacation house, this one far less secluded
than his previous rental.
In 2009, 2010, and 2011, the Obamas
rented Blue Heron Farm in Chilmark, a 28.5-acre compound on Town Cove, off
Tisbury Great Pond, and situated at the end of a long dirt road.
Blue Heron was sold in December 2011
to an architect, Lord Norman Foster, and his wife, Lady Elena Foster, of Thames
Bank in Great Britain.
This summer, the Obamas will stay in
a 5,000 square foot, four-bedroom house valued at $7.6 million, with an
attached, two-bedroom guesthouse, small basketball court, and water views,
surrounded by woods just a short distance off South Road.
David M. Schulte, owner of the
house, is the founder and managing partner of Chilmark Partners, a
Chicago-based corporate finance and restructuring advisory company. The former editor-in-chief
of the Yale Law Journal, before founding Chilmark Partners, Mr. Schulte created
and ran Salomon Brothers Corporate Reorganization Group.
Mr. Obama and his family have
vacationed in Chilmark every year since his 2008 election, except for 2012,
when he was campaigning for re-election.
If past presidential vacations hint
at future performance, the Obamas will continue to do what many vacationing
families do when they are here. They will go to the beach while dad plays golf,
bike, hike, and enjoy dinner with friends.
The Obama vacation falls during one
of the busiest parts of the summer. In addition to the annual Agricultural
Fair, the Oak Bluffs fireworks, and Campground's Illumination night, the Boston
Globe reports that Harry Belafonte will perform at an invitation only event at
Dreamland theater in Oak Bluffs, on August 12, an event that's being organized
by Charles Ogletree, Mr. Obama's former professor at Harvard Law School.
Poster's comments:
· Even President Eisenhower was rejected by the Moisie River
Salmon Club because of the imposition of the security arrangements at the time.
In other words, his visit was not worth it to the paying members.
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