Letters

Summer has always been busy, but there was always a sense of respect for the local community. Until this year.

I was in Schiavoni’s last week, at the deli counter ordering some cold cuts. As I was waiting, a gentleman, who was very obviously not a local, ordered the same thing I did. I see my turkey being packaged getting ready to be handed to me — but it was not handed to me. It was handed to the man who was behind me. It was not his fault, but instead the fault of the employee, whom I have seen there working weekly for at least the last 10 years, if not more.

It took another few minutes to get the one thing I ordered, and, looking at him sadly, I said, “Please remember, I shop here year round, and he will be gone come Labor Day.”

I was met with a giggle — but it was nothing to giggle about.

Sure, this seems silly, and maybe it seems I think too highly of myself. But it’s not about me.

It is about my elderly neighbors being overlooked at a crosswalk, even though it is their right of way. It is about my friends’ children, riding their bikes, nearly being hit by drivers not paying attention. It is about artists in Montauk losing their work due to an accident that never should have happened [“Cops: Drunk Driver Plows Through Montauk Art Fair Tents, Destroying Artists’ Inventory,” 27east.com, June 29].

It is about being able to walk on the sidewalk and not be body-slammed. And it is about all my fellow locals who are losing their sanity because the people who come for eight to 12 weeks believe themselves to be more important than us.

It is known that each year recently has brought more people to our beautiful, sleepy town. I love to see the energy and vibrancy; however, it is coming at a cost that makes locals feel less-than, with how visitors treat us, and now businesses.

I love being greeted in the Five-and-10 by Linda or Lisa by name, my prescription in hand, with a smile, as I walk into the Sag Harbor Pharmacy, and getting a hug from Hillary at the Liquor Store — they keep me going and smiling. And I know a lot of people who rely on the sense of community, which is so hard to maintain in the summer months.

My hope is to one day be able to raise my own children here and to give them the experience I had growing up. So much has changed, and the people have changed, too.

Hold the good ones a little closer, and stay away from the bad, because it seems it’s not going anywhere.

Megan Daly

Sag Harbor