Rumor became news last week when it was announced that the Town of Southampton has made an offer to buy a commercial building at 2 Main Street in Sag Harbor,... more
“To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born,” the Roman philosopher and statesman Cicero said, “is to remain always a child. For what is the worth of human life, unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history?” We study history but often focus on events writ large — wars, world leaders, towering figures and events — but often remain far too ignorant of those who walked the same patch of earth before we were born, the men and women who made the more modest history of where we live. We are ...
27 Sep 2023 by Editorial Board
Sag Harbor is a great American small town, so it’s no surprise that tourists flock to the village in the summer — or that American Cruise Lines, a Connecticut-based small ship travel provider, has identified it as a great stop for a “Yankee Seaports” cruise between Boston and New York, set to begin next year. The negative impact of cruise ships on so many port cities around the world might well give pause. But it’s important to keep the proposal in perspective: The ships contain about 100 passengers, and while there are a few summer dates included, most of the ...
19 Sep 2023 by Editorial Board
While it may feel to a majority of the population that the long nightmare that was the COVID-19 pandemic is over, the disease continued to rear its head this summer with a spike in infection rates and increased hospitalization numbers that could worsen this fall. It’s a reminder that, as a society, we’ll most likely never be done with the deadly SARS-CoV-2 virus, in some form or another. Just like with its cousins, the influenza viruses that cause the annual seasonal flu outbreaks, care to prevent infection always will be necessary. That most likely translates into an annual COVID vaccination, ...
by Editorial Board
It has been a long three years in the Village of Sag Harbor. As residents and their elected officials tried to balance a growing interest in the village as a world class summer tourist destination and the need to preserve its nationally recognized historic character, the village was stuck in neutral. Major zoning changes proposed in 2019 to the village’s essential waterfront district were rolled back substantially in the face of stiff community opposition; that led to a divisive mayoral election, a change in leadership and a new direction. As that was playing out, in late 2020, as the world ...
12 Sep 2023 by Editorial Board
GOLD STAR To the Southampton School District, for recognizing its demographic make-up and creating a world language program that helps mirror it. Students who are not native English speakers are typically treated as a problem to be dealt with in many school districts. In Southampton, they’ve turned that notion on its head, embracing the diversity and making it a strength. The district was an early adopter of a dual language program and recently celebrated a recent graduate, Bilma Pedro, becoming the first student to earn the New York State Seal of Biliteracy in her native language, Q’anjob’al, spoken in Guatemala. ...
6 Sep 2023 by Editorial Board
Governor Kathy Hochul recently spent some quality time on the South Fork. She was in Montauk on August 16 to celebrate the completion of a three-year renovation of the historic Montauk Point Lighthouse, built in 1797, and an extensive effort to bolster the threatened bluff on which it stands. Ultimately, more than $40 million was invested to give the landmark a new lease on life, even as rising seas and intense weather patterns ramp up the threat level. New York State played an essential role in funding the project via grant, but Hochul was generous in giving the Montauk Historical ...
29 Aug 2023 by Editorial Board
When it comes to the East End arts scene, by all appearances it would seem that we are largely out of the woods and over the hump in terms of the COVID-19 shutdowns that wreaked havoc among our local nonprofit organizations beginning in 2020. Honestly, it was a harrowing few years, and we are happy to say that our arts organizations hunkered down, got inventive and in many cases figured out new models designed to keep their heads above water during difficult times. Mercifully, it seems that the worst is past us, given the amount of traffic and unsavory visitor ...
23 Aug 2023 by Editorial Board
“It’s a small world after all” — any person who has visited Disney and its eponymous ride (apologies for the “earworm”) knows the phrase well. But sometimes the week’s headlines drive the point home. Almost 5,000 miles away from the East End, terrible wildfires are destroying swaths of the Hawaiian island of Maui, which has a population of about 165,000 people — fewer people than are currently on the South Fork, midsummer. But the connections are many: At 27east.com, you can read about a direct link via Tiana Beach in Hampton Bays, which is the summer destination of Keenan and ...
21 Aug 2023 by Editorial Board
Sag Harbor Village Mayor Tom Gardella and the Village Board will hold a hearing next month on a plan to eliminate the trustees’ role in reviewing site plan applications for larger projects within the Waterfront Overlay District. If approved, as expected, the board will reverse the provision that gave them the authority to look at projects larger than 3,500 square feet — authority put in place under former Mayor Jim Larocca after the board approved the new zoning district in 2021, amid discussions about a potential new Bay Street Theater. The ability for an elected village board to review large ...
15 Aug 2023 by Editorial Board
Citizens have a right to know who they’re dealing with, whether it be in government or private enterprise. But that’s not the case when it comes to limited liability companies, or LLCs. LLCs, for example, can own property, apply for grants, operate as landlords and donate to political campaigns. On the East End, many properties are held under LLCs, often aiming to protect the privacy of buyers of real estate. Holding government accountable for its action demands a well-informed public. We need to know who is benefiting in order to do our jobs as citizens. Discovering who’s behind the curtain ...
by Editorial Board
Staff Writer on Apr 5, 2022