Local politics

Unsurprisingly, this Massachusetts island has a healthy quantity of very local politics. This is the land of governance by town meeting, after all.

I was happy to see in the Martha's Vineyard Times that the two of the island's six towns where off-premises alcohol can be sold will be banning nips, like the one pictured above.

At their respective annual town meetings Tuesday evening, voters in Oak Bluffs and Edgartown approved a new bylaw prohibiting the sale of nips — single-use containers of alcohol under 100mL. 

Oak Bluffs and Edgartown are the only towns on the Vineyard that sell the miniature bottles. The ban, which will go into effect in the beginning of May next year, was first recommended to town select boards in an effort to mitigate pervasive littering. 

Supporters of the ban have also emphasized the importance of cutting down, and eventually doing away with, single-use containers and plastics. 

Despite the ban having been on the town’s radar for nearly a decade, the newest iteration of the conversation follows Nantucket’s successful enactment of a similar restriction.

Ah yes -- a competition with the neighboring island proved motivating. 

There's something of a class aspect to the ban. The little bottles tend to be favored by younger and poorer drinkers. But the liquor lobby discovered that majority rule still works here. And the yen to protect the lovely environment runs deep and wide among all residents.