Letters

Congratulations, Mayor Jesse Warren and Southampton Village trustees! Of course, we look forward to enjoying our vehicle-free business center on two upcoming nights!

But I left the June 25 trustees meeting before the vote, because the discussion was so long-winded and tedious, as if our trustees were discovering the wheel!

In the past two years, I have loved sight-seeing, walking and shopping, shopping, shopping in the vehicle-free centers of Moscow and St. Petersburg, Stockholm and Copenhagen, Lisbon and Porto, Vienna and Salzburg, Florence and Milan! It’s the delightful, everyday practice, day-in, day-out and evenings, in every major and minor city in Europe, and has been for decades.

So, again, congratulations for catching up.

In the letter I sent to all the trustees a couple of months ago urging vehicle-free evenings in our village, I also suggested that you find a theme and event for each of two evenings, such as a “foodie night” the first night, for instance. Allow the restaurants that are not fortunate enough to be on Main Street and Jobs Lane to buy a small space in the streets to give us a taste of their offerings. Who would not like a slice of pizza, from Paul’s or Pellegrino, from a tiny bar stand? Could anyone resist the world-famous homemade ice cream from Sip’n Soda from a tiny ice cream cart? It’s a street fair!

I also suggested a competition among the stores on Main Street and Jobs Lane, with voting by the attending public, for two first prizes for window display: one for originality, and another for best representation of Southampton Village. The prizes should be awarded in a public ceremony from the bandstand on the second evening. Do any of you remember the big deal made out of the Christmas windows on Fifth Avenue?

Next, for crowd control, use one prime designated area for parking, behind Village Hall, with policemen as valets providing parking tickets, which guests may redeem for cash if 1) they have a dinner reservation at one of the Main Street or Jobs Lane restaurants, which can return the prime parking fee at check-paying time; or 2) they buy something that very evening from one of the participating retailers.

A fashion prize for the most attractive or inventive face mask? The opportunities are endless.

So, again, on behalf of many, many women, I thoroughly look forward to our first and second vehicle-free evenings on the town. At long last, we’ll have an outdoor event for which we can dress up … clothes, makeup, jewelry, hairdo — and masks!

What a ball!

Evelyn Konrad

Attorney at law

Southampton