During last year’s turbulent election season, the race between two candidates for the newly created fourth Southampton Town justice post was overshadowed by a contentious Republican primary and the ensuing... more
Questions were recently raised about the identity of a frequent letter writer, who self-identified as “Jose Reyes of Hampton Bays.” Southampton Democratic Committee officials provided documentation strongly calling into question the legitimacy of the letters. The letter writer has since acknowledged — without revealing his or her true identity — that this was a “pen name,” or an assumed name, and apologized and promised to stop submitting letters using that pseudonym. The Express News Group policy is to require verifiable address and phone numbers with published Letters to the Editor, with the information kept confidential but used to verify a ...
5 May 2025 by Editorial Board
I’m a textile artist, one of several convening in Sag Harbor who make art in support of local and pro-democracy causes. You may have seen some of my handmade art “VOTE” banners, which the village removed, and that I personally pulled out of garbage cans along Main Street [“Vote Banners Don’t Last Long in Sag Harbor,” 27east.com, November 5, 2024]. Recently, Mayor Tom Gardella reposted on his only Instagram account the following: “To all the people complaining about Doge! ... F--- YOU.” Many of us who saw the post were shocked. One of my fellow textile artist-friends asked the mayor ...
by Staff Writer
In deciding to run for reelection as village trustee, I have thought a great deal about what I, as a trustee, have done and can continue to do to preserve and nurture the qualities that make Southampton Village such a special place to live. One is continuity. While a great deal has changed since I was a boy, biking from my grandmother’s to get Dad a newspaper at Silver’s, the essence of this beautiful place remains: the ocean’s omnipresent murmur, Coopers Neck beach, our wonderful churches, and going to the movies, to name just a few. Many thanks to the ...
by Staff Writer
Last week, I announced my candidacy for mayor of Southampton Village. While there are a number of priorities I hope to address, transparency and public input must be at the center of village government. That starts with restoring public comment at all Board of Trustees meetings. When I was first elected as trustee, one of my first suggestions was that public comment should be allowed at all Board of Trustees meetings, and it should be in a format that allows for the exchange of ideas. Whenever new laws are being proposed or projects that affect all the residents are being ...
by Staff Writer
“Good fences make good neighbors,” Robert Frost famously wrote in his poem “Mending Wall.” Frost was being ironic, or at least having a bit of fun at the expense of his neighbor’s fastidious efforts to repair the stone wall along their mutual property line. But, living in a suburban area, I’ve come to think there’s much truth to the old New England maxim. A well-trimmed hedge is a good way to maintain amity between me and my neighbors, and to preserve our respective backyard privacy. Good fences — or hedges — do make good neighbors. The recent action of Discovery ...
by Staff Writer
The Noyac Civic Council once again is proud to have many volunteers join in the Great East End Clean-Up. This year, we had a few different surprises as we picked up the usual trash along Noyac Road. We found a five-point deer lying on the side of Noyac Road, no doubt hit by a car. Many thanks to Lucas of the Highway Department, who took care of the carcass. Then we found police handcuffs, an unopened bottle of Patron tequila, a Powerball lotto ticket for April 18, and an autographed New York Yankees baseball cap. Miller Lite seems to be ...
by Staff Writer
A New Jersey man was arrested by Southampton Town Police over the weekend and charged with unlawful surveillance after a woman told police she suspected that he had used a remote camera to watch her in the bathroom. The woman, who police have not identified other than to say she is from Indiana, called police on May 3 and reported that she was staying at an Airbnb house in Water Mill for the weekend with several co-workers. The woman said that one of the co-workers, James Bassett-Cann, told her before she arrived that he was going to plug a “charging ...
by Staff Writer
The Southampton Town Democratic Committee has shown the town residents what it really is: a political group filled with elitism and character assassination. Voters of other political stripes are paying close attention to your back-and-forth written letters of desperation, filled with venom, printed in this newspaper. Your words really matter and won’t serve you well moving forward to the November election. The dark cloud that looms over the Southampton Town Democratic Party will forever remain, unless you do something positive to lift that dark cloud. Remove the negative elements in your inner circle. Be more inclusive and welcoming. It’s time ...
by Staff Writer
While the latest volley of bells, whistles and delayed red-light cycles are welcome in alleviating the South Fork’s colossal bottlenecking problem, any superficial effort to ease the traffic is akin to using a hand bucket to stop the sinking of the Titanic [“Southampton Traffic Experiment Showed Big Improvements in Commute Times During First Week; New Changes Tried This Week,” 27east.com, April 27]. Short of turning all the quaint towns to car-free Amish-type communities, the East End will remain a collision course of cars, trucks, buses, vans, cement mixers, dump trucks, lumber semis, landscaper rigs, construction and professional vans, UPS, FedEx, ...
by Staff Writer
1 Photo
Brian Bossetta on Jul 11, 2008