LIVE: The Meeting That Will Determine The Future Of Nantucket

NANTUCKET, MASSACHUSETTS, 4:30PM, July 24th, 2013

As promised, I'm here live at the meeting that will determine the future of Nantucket.

The meeting, as I explained yesterday, will determine whether some homeowners on a road called Baxter Road should be allowed to build a seawall to slow or stop their properties from eroding and their houses from plunging into the Atlantic.

After a couple of decades of effort, the homeowners have finally gotten permission from the Town to build the seawall. They got this permission last month, after winter storms tore 30 feet out of the eroding bluff and began to threaten a town road. If this town road is breached, the Town will incur all kinds of costs. And the costs will explode if the homeowners sue the Town for preventing them from protecting their properties. So the Town is suddenly amenable to a seawall.

Now, the only thing that stands between the homeowners and the seawall is the Conservation Commission.

And the latter is at this very moment holding a hearing on this issue.

As you might expect, the meeting is standing-room only. I'm not standing, though. I'm sitting. On the floor in front of the Commission.

Before the hearing opened, this is what I was seeing:

Now, as a series of speakers presents to the Commission, this is what I am seeing:

And this:

I've been sitting here for 53 minutes now, while the Commission has held hearings on a variety of matters that will not determine the future of Nantucket. They were vaguely interesting. But not as interesting as Twitter, Facebook's earnings, and the latest Anthony Wiener sexts, which I have just read in all their glory.

Also, I'm sore, because I'm typing while sitting on the floor, which just isn't going over that well. And I have limited battery life. So this coverage may get cut short suddenly and without warning.

But the main event has finally started. The homeowners have begun their presentation. The Commission is listening intently. Updates are forthcoming...