There is probably no subject talked about more on the East End — or one as divisive — as affordable housing. We all know the familiar refrain: Young people are... more
Nothing energizes the voting public like a proposed tax hike — and in both Southampton and East Hampton towns, sizable hikes are going to be proposed this fall, which likely will bring an outcry. But the simple fact is that it could be time for both towns to catch up on some long-overdue investments in quality of life. In Southampton Town, Maria Moore’s first proposed budget will require an increase in the tax levy of more than 11 percent, which will pierce the state’s cap. Because the town budget is generally kept under control, the impact would be $140 per ...
9 Oct 2024 by Editorial Board
It was a historic day. An end of an era. “A momentous event,” as Kathryn Szoka, one of the owners of Canio’s Books, put it as she addressed the crowd that had gathered to help her and her partner, Maryann Calendrille, remove the sign that hung over the shop they have run for the past 25 years. Whatever euphemism one prefers, it was simply a sad day for Sag Harbor. The shop’s owners have vowed to carry on the business and its cultural activities — perhaps as a pop-up for now, utilizing historic or public spaces in the village — ...
by Editorial Board
Ever since I read James Hansen’s “Storms of My Grandchildren,” I have spent countless hours reading about climate change. As evidence mounted revealing the damaging potential of a changing climate, I wondered if a storm so out of the ordinary, so powerful and so disastrous in its impacts would give birth to a heightened sense of emergency. And would that sense of emergency translate into Earth-friendly public policy? Is Hurricane Helene just such an event? The impact of the path of devastation from Tampa, Florida, to the western portion of North Carolina and eastern Tennessee can be measured in lives ...
7 Oct 2024 by Staff Writer
John Avlon is exactly the right person to be elected to Congress at this time. He has shown throughout his career the ability to work effectively with both Democrats and Republicans. Avlon has studied and written about the founding of our country, from the time of George Washington to the present, in order to understand and help us move forward in achieving the goals of the average American. He respects the rights of women and couples to decide when is the best time to have children. He knows that doctors, not politicians, are in the best position to determine the ...
by Staff Writer
It takes a village to sustain a small independent bookshop for over 40 years, and it takes a village to help that same bookshop pack up its hand-selected collection, odd furniture, treasured artwork and memorabilia. Our tremendous thanks to the many folks who helped with this enormous task, one that challenged us physically, emotionally, psychically, spiritually. Our beloved staff and friends volunteered long hours to pack and haul boxes. They found time to bake banana bread, bring pot pies, deliver lunches, transport donations to various local nonprofits, and keep our spirits buoyed. Many contributed to our GoFundMe campaign. We’re humbled ...
by Staff Writer
I would like to follow up Anna Brinsmade’s excellent letter, where she documents the amount of noise she is subjected to [“When Will It End?” Letters, September 26]. Today, my neighbor’s landscaper, who hypocritically claims on his trucks to have gone all electric, was using blowers whose noise reached 93 dB. According to the World Health Organization, noise levels above 45 dB are associated with adverse health effects. (Every 10 dB represents a tenfold increase in sound power.) The police, on the other hand, advised me that leaf blowers are exempt from the noise code no matter how loud they ...
by Staff Writer
I am a former member of Congress from the 1st District of New York who had the privilege of serving three terms and was on the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee. Many know me as a local graduate of Westhampton Beach High School and some as an employee of Gloria’s and the local pharmacy in Westhampton Beach. We cannot fool around. We need John Avlon to make sure Brookhaven Lab gets its fair share, that we have clean water and clean air, and that defense jobs are a priority. John Avlon is familiar with all these issues, especially democratic freedoms, ...
by Staff Writer
With respect for the opinion editor, I felt compelled to respond to the hyperbole expressed in the October 3 editorial “It’s Immigration, Too.” To begin, I agree that there is no more important issue in this national election than how the elected government deals with our immigration crisis. I don’t agree that our 1st Congressional District is more greatly affected than the rest of the state and country. The relevant issue is the cost to our town, state and federal governments of an estimated 20 million uninvited people. That figure is as good as any, since Homeland Security has no ...
by Staff Writer
The waters of the East End are dying. It’s only a matter of a few years before toxic algae blooms become the summer norm, before fish populations mostly disappear due to asphyxiation, before harmful-to-humans bacteria make swimming iffy, and before our waterways become like the mostly dead mess that is western Long Island Sound today. Proposition 2 is the Suffolk County Water Restoration Act. It would increase the county/local sales tax from 8.625 percent to 8.75 percent, with the revenue from the 0.125 percent increase required to be spent only on public sewage systems and subsidizing homeowner conversions to advanced ...
by Staff Writer
There’s a saying about putting lipstick on a pig, that it’s still a pig regardless. The lipstick changes nothing. We hear a lot about Project 2025, an extensive program of regressive measures developed by the Heritage Foundation, a deeply conservative outfit. It contains things like privatizing Medicare, ending drug price negotiations, imposing an effective national abortion ban, eliminating the departments of Homeland Security and Education, repealing the Inflation Reduction Act, gutting the federal workforce, pardoning the January 6 insurrectionists, and ending student debt relief. Whew! And that’s not nearly the whole list. These measures have given Project 2025 such a ...
by Staff Writer
