The First Presbyterian (Old Whalers’) Church in Sag Harbor has served as a center for the community in many ways — it is home to the Sag Harbor Food Pantry,... more
Last fall, at an Express Sessions event, then-State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. compared New York State’s rollout of its cannabis laws to the rollout of the Titanic — unfavorably. Today, if possible, it looks even worse. Not every municipality in the state is feeling the fallout — and, in fact, Southampton Town is alone on the South Fork. That’s because former Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman successfully lobbied his Town Board colleagues to opt in and allow cannabis dispensaries to open in the town, seduced by the $1 million to $2 million in annual tax revenue he expected once the ...
10 Sep 2025 by Editorial Board
Last year, 24 fatal drownings were recorded in Suffolk County, a number that is concerning in and of itself but even more alarming when you consider that it was a 60 percent increase from the year prior. Many of these preventable deaths occurred in backyard pools and involved young children, and others occurred in open water or bathtubs. What circumstances could have led to such an increase, and what can be done to move the needle in the opposite direction? The Suffolk County Drowning Prevention Action Plan seeks to get to the bottom of these questions and others. Unveiled this ...
by Editorial Board
There is a healthy debate surrounding The Express News Group’s annual list of “Water Hogs,” the somewhat inelegant moniker given to the South Fork’s biggest residential consumers of water. Is it an effort to shame the Suffolk County Water Authority’s “super users”? Or a reasonable effort to inform the authority’s other customers of the property owners who are doing far less to preserve water, especially at a moment when all 1.2 million customers are subject to a Stage 1 Water Alert calling for conservation? Either way, the focus should be on what needs to happen — and that is clearly ...
3 Sep 2025 by Editorial Board
In January, at an Express Sessions event, Kara Bak, who is the director of housing for Southampton Town, made clear the stakes when it comes to affordable housing: “Both East Hampton and Southampton have this crisis, and we are at a crisis level,” she said. “We have young people who are leaving the area, we have seniors who can’t afford to stay, we have this huge traffic problem because the people who work in our community can’t afford to live in it.” Advocates of more affordable housing in both towns said streamlining the process and maximizing the impact of each ...
by Editorial Board
It was just a couple of years ago, during the height of the COVID pandemic, when it seemed very likely that the days of movie theaters were numbered, or at least the idea of a small-town cinema was beginning to look endangered. At the time, of course, nobody was going out much, and gathering places like theaters were largely closed. But that crisis started to feel like a death knell: In 2020, global box office revenue went down by 70 percent. That came on the heels of an evolving climate for moviegoing. Streaming services offering 4K resolution on home television ...
27 Aug 2025 by Editorial Board
As the 50th annual Hampton Classic takes place this week, please do keep in mind just what an enormous undertaking it is, how much devotion it takes to put on such a high-quality international event, and how deep its local roots really do go. Detailed in a special publication last week that The Express News Group was proud to produce, the Classic began in 1976 with a more modest name: The Southampton Horse Show, though that first event actually was held in East Hampton. It was a revival of a tradition that dated back to the early 20th century, when ...
by Editorial Board
We, and others, have been shouting across the abyss at U.S. Representative Nick LaLota, trying but mostly failing to engage him in a conversation about the long list of historical developments in the first eight months of his second term in office. He speaks almost exclusively in press releases, probably written by his staff, and his interactions with the public are largely scripted and/or stage managed. He touts his “tele town halls,” where constituents can call in live with questions, but callers are screened and the discussions are largely superficial. He’s mischaracterized a list of “public” events, and he’s been ...
20 Aug 2025 by Editorial Board
For the League of Women Voters, controversy is anathema. It’s an avowedly nonpartisan organization that takes great pains not to take sides in the political world, even as it helps provide lots of information to voters, and to encourage “everyone to fully participate in our democracy,” as its website outlines its mission. Even in this time of mudslinging, there’s no way anyone can besmirch the objective bona fides of the League. Which makes this week’s “Viewpoint,” from Judi Roth of Southampton, all the more startling, and impactful. Roth chairs the Unite & Rise Committee for the League of Women Voters ...
13 Aug 2025 by Editorial Board
There’s just something special about the junior lifeguard programs in both East Hampton and Southampton towns. The two towns have lifeguard programs that involve friendly competition but a lot more cooperation, and that’s also true of the junior lifeguard programs, which have had the spotlight in recent weeks. The two towns come together in the Hampton Lifeguard Association to send a team of both adults and youths to Huntington Beach, California, for the United States Lifesaving Association’s National Lifeguard Championship. That was held last week — and the U19 lifeguards crushed it, despite 10-foot waves at times, and were the ...
by Editorial Board
A bad idea doesn’t improve with age. Suffolk County is about to discover this. In November, the county will ask its voters, once again, to sign off on four-year terms for county legislators. That’s double the current two-year term, and it comes on the heels of a 2023 state law that will switch local elections to even-number years — when federal and state positions are on the ballot, too. There’s almost nothing new about the proposed switch to four-year terms when comparing it to 2020, when seven out of 10 Suffolk County voters rejected the idea. Columnist Karl Grossman offers ...
6 Aug 2025 by Editorial Board
