This week, school board elections shaped up in Bridgehampton and Sag Harbor with a strong showing of candidates in both school districts, which will enjoy contested races on May 21.... more
As Southampton Town considers aggressive action on sand mines, with plans to use amortization — a tool last used effectively to rid the town of nightclubs and bars the town considered nuisances — to finally end the practice, it’s important to cut through the rhetoric and state some facts. Sand mines serve a clear purpose and have economic value in a region where construction is a primary driver. But the town quite simply does not allow sand mining — that decision was made years ago, and what mines exist today are preexisting and nonconforming. Amortizing the properties is the last ...
11 Dec 2024 by Editorial Board
Talk is not a solution, but solutions won’t be found without a great deal of interplay between the officials making the decisions and the public that will be affected by them. So The Express Sessions event last week in Sag Harbor, which focused on the village’s parking woes, was, along with future public hearings before the Village Board, necessary for there to be any traction on the subject. In fact, one clear message at Thursday’s session, delivered by those in attendance: Communication is absolutely crucial. And it has been one area where the village can improve. Restaurateur Jesse Matsuoka, who ...
by Editorial Board
Some adults are taking care of other adults who may be suffering from some form of dementia, chronic illness or cancer. The hours they spend each day throughout the course of their loved-one’s illness makes them a caregiver. Invariably, the caregiver burns out. What will happen to the “patient” if the caregiver is no longer there? Our meetings provide other caregivers who have faced, and may have solved, the same problems you are facing. Anger, lack of social interaction, wandering, showering, and unsafe driving are a few of the problems often faced. Our meetings are the last Friday (next one ...
9 Dec 2024 by Staff Writer
There’s an irony that Southampton Town officials might have the least power when it comes to the travel plaza featuring tax-free gasoline that is going up on Shinnecock Nation property in Hampton Bays — but also might be most at fault for the current situation. Neighbors are incensed that the nation is building the gas station off Sunrise Highway with seemingly little oversight. The Environmental Protection Agency has stepped forward to provide a framework for the sovereign Shinnecock Nation’s project, but also has allowed the nation to proceed mostly on pledges to follow EPA rules. A new development with thousands ...
4 Dec 2024 by Editorial Board
Stop digging. That’s the best advice we can offer the Southampton History Museum. When you’re in a hole, recognize it and, if you do nothing else, don’t make it deeper. And there’s a hole, and it’s deep, and it’s time to think about climbing out of it. It was foolhardy to think evicting the Conscience Point Shellfish Hatchery from the North Sea site owned by the museum, near where English settlers first landed in 1640, wasn’t going to land with a thud. Perhaps the hatchery could be a better tenant — there is fair concern about the sometimes disheveled state ...
by Editorial Board
Since the Shinnecock Nation cleared trees from the Westwoods property in the middle of the night in early February, the town has insisted on an approach of open dialogue and friendly communication with the nation. Since the summer, when the nation brought in large construction vehicles to build a road and dig trenches for massive gas tanks, residents have been asking what’s going on. Responses have reassured residents that the town is working with the nation and that things are okay. Since August of this year, when the town issued a stop-work order, there’s been no enforcement of it. The ...
2 Dec 2024 by Staff Writer
I had the privilege of volunteering at Conscience Point Shellfish for over three years. This experience was instrumental in shaping my marine science career — and it’s deeply disheartening to think that future students might not have the same opportunity. CPS has made invaluable contributions to our community and ecosystem, and it’s frustrating that false claims have been made against their integrity. I first learned about CPS from my neighbor, a Community Supported Agriculture member and oyster enthusiast. As a high school student eager to gain experience in marine science, volunteering with CPS was the perfect fit. Every Saturday morning, ...
by Staff Writer
I support the work of the Conscience Point Shellfish Hatchery and have not seen a degradation of the beauty of the walk to Conscience Point. My grandchildren continue to enjoy the walk to the point, as well as learning about the oyster life cycle at the hatchery and seeing the local wildlife. North Sea Harbor as it was in 1640 is gone forever, but the land owned by the Southampton History Museum and leased by the hatchery can still preserve natural beauty and support oyster farming. The importance of the filter feeding of the oysters is widely recognized as critically ...
by Staff Writer
May I begin by saying that my response to yet another column by Carlos Sandoval [“For Whom the Bell Tolls,” Vistas, Opinion, November 28] is not meant as a personal attack but as a reaction to the platform this paper gives to its liberal columnists and the lack of same to those of us who would enjoy an alternative point of view. So, Mr. Sandoval: You begin with the liberal media’s delusional obsession with a Donald Trump dictatorship and his campaign promise to return countless illegal border crashers to their former countries. The nation made its choice in our recent ...
by Staff Writer
U.S. Representative Nick LaLota is a veteran who served in the U.S. Navy for eight years following his graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy. I think he should tell us what he thinks of Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of the Navy. Trump has picked John Phelan, a financier with absolutely no military experience, to run the U.S. Navy. Mr. Phelan is an investment manager, an art collector and a big GOP donor. He hosted a fundraiser for Trump at his home in Aspen, Colorado, this summer. Of course, there is nothing wrong with being a rich financial guy — ...
by Staff Writer
