Letters

I am sorry that a long-scheduled family event caused me to miss the recent public discussion by the leadership of The Sag Harbor Express, focusing on the centuries of history of the paper and its critical role in our community. From those I have spoken with who attended, and from the write-up of the event in The Express [“Sag Harbor’s Legacy of Local Journalism Told Through the Story of The Express,” 27east.com, July 28], it appears that it was a thorough and thoughtful session.

It certainly invites serious consideration by the community of the role of our hometown paper at a time when, sadly, weeklies throughout the country are dropping like flies. We need a strong hometown newspaper as much as ever.

In my view, the single most important factor in the paper’s role in the life of the village is maintaining and enriching a direct, dynamic connection of the newspaper to the community it serves with timely, accurate and useful information about issues that impact people’s lives. Bryan Boyhan, Gavin Menu and Georgie Menu all spoke of the critical importance of this central relationship to the village and to the success of the paper. I certainly agree.

While the village routinely faces many important public policy issues, to my mind there is no issue in the village today more in need of the quality journalism represented by The Express than the current proposal to erect two new full-height commercial buildings in place of the existing 7-Eleven and K Pasa buildings. The proposal violates our Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan. The large buildings will close off a giant piece of our precious waterfront, block a major portion of our remaining harbor skyplane, utterly compound our nightmarish traffic and parking crisis, overload our sewer treatment system, do God knows what damage to the environment, and profoundly diminish the historic character and charm of downtown Sag Harbor.

While The Express has timely reported on the application before the Planning Board, it has been barely able to scratch the surface of the project, perhaps because the Planning Board has held too many important details close to the vest. It is clear that the community is not as informed as it needs to be.

The Express has the power and the standing to provide a full public examination of this project — before it is too late.

In my long public career, my regard and respect for the power of honest journalism has grown. The current situation with this project is a textbook example of the need for active, committed journalism to get out the story — the true story, the whole story.

For centuries, Sag Harbor has been privileged to have The Express as its hometown newspaper. The challenges facing the village today make the paper more vitally important than ever.

Jim Larocca

Sag Harbor

Larocca is a former mayor of Sag Harbor Village — Ed.