Letters

While the Sag Harbor Village Board is working diligently to redo the zoning for the waterfront, some organizations have weighed in with their own ideas and opinions. One such group opposes allowing passenger ferries from docking at Long Wharf [“Careful Consideration,” Letters, March 25].

Ferry service to Sag Harbor does not even exist, and this group looks to effectively block any attempt to create a transportation alternative that might help alleviate the very problems they seek to fix.

Opposition to ferry service runs counter to current thinking regarding public transportation alternatives and resonates of NIMBY-ism: You can work and play here if you can afford to get here. This is highlighted by the fixation over seasonal traffic and parking, when in fact the village’s commercial district needs to increase pedestrian traffic so its businesses can afford to remain open outside the months of July and August.

If we had a ferry service in Sag Harbor, a village resident would be able to go a doctor’s appointment in Riverhead or to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital (which is moving to points farther west next year) without the need of a car or suffering insane traffic.

A ferry service would allow a teacher commuting from Riverhead or Mattituck to do so in 40 minutes, not two hours. Perhaps some businesses might actually move to Sag Harbor due to its ability to lure talent as a result of efficient, convenient transportation options.

Ferries are “green” — they help reduce reliance on cars today rather than 20 years from now. A ferry service could carry hundreds of people to Sag Harbor 365 days a year, a boon to local commerce.

And, as important, ferries are in the blood of our village’s history of maritime commerce. The gentleman who built the house that I now call home worked on the Shinnecock Steamship for many years as its onboard cook, walking to his place of employment: a 200-foot ship docked at Long Wharf, which ferried passengers to and from Connecticut. The ship was owned and operated by The Montauk Steamboat Company, founded by Joseph Fahys of iconic and local business fame, and President George Washington approved the creation of Sag Harbor as a Port of Entry in 1789, solidifying our place in maritime history.

A ferry service helps combat the very real economic inequality of our community by allowing those who cannot afford a multimillion-dollar home or yacht to work and play in our village by utilizing our public waterways.

We should ponder the words of Michael Heller, author of “A Short History of Sag Harbor’s Long Wharf”: “You can walk onto the wharf and right there is 260 years of history … Because Long Wharf was all about commerce from the beginning.”

Larry Haag

Sag Harbor