HarborFest kicked off in Sag Harbor last weekend, drawing scores to the village to enjoy a summer festival rooted in tradition — from whaleboat races to chowder contests and Scouts... more
Starting a new job is always stressful. But Leydy Renteria-Merced might deserve a spa day after accepting the role of executive director of Centro Corazón de Maria, a Hampton Bays-based immigrant advocacy group. Timing is everything, and Renteria-Merced arrives just as Donald Trump is preparing for a January 20 swearing-in that will be followed quickly by what might be a maelstrom for the community she serves. The Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary founded the organization in 2002 as “a place of welcome and hope for underserved immigrants living on the East End of Long Island.” In taking up ...
20 Nov 2024 by Editorial Board
Budgeting is the most important task town officials have, and the brand new $134 million budget for 2025 will face a great deal of scrutiny. Taxpayers will note not only that it will pierce the state’s cap on tax levy increases and raise overall spending by 8.7 percent, and require 11 percent more in property tax revenues, but it adds 14 employees and hikes the salaries of those already on the payroll by $1 million. Compensation packages for the town’s 500 employees and retirees already make up more than $93 million of spending. It’s an acknowledgment that the town has ...
by Editorial Board
The Southampton Arts Center was filled with incredible talent, energy and generosity last Thursday — both on stage and in the audience, it was an all-star lineup of the men and (mostly) women who run the region’s nonprofit organizations. Having gathered for an Express Sessions conversation, it turned into a clarion call: Arts organizations, charities helping to feed families, groups focusing on aiding children, or animals, or historic preservation, or community health, or victims of domestic violence — they all had a unified message for the community — “we need help.” It must be said, the South Fork is a ...
13 Nov 2024 by Editorial Board
It’s refreshing: Bill Hillman doesn’t mince words. And Suffolk County’s top engineer, who officially retired last week, will be missed, if only for his candor. Speaking recently at a presentation on traffic challenges on the South Fork, the start of what is meant to be a comprehensive effort to find some solutions, Hillman came carrying a bucket of cold water. He not only splashed it in faces, he doused any smoldering hope for a moonshot solution to the gridlock that ails South Fork motorists and residents, in the summer and nowadays throughout the calendar. “We will tell you what works ...
6 Nov 2024 by Editorial Board
For the House Every single national election is important, but it’s not hyperbolic to say that this is an election like no other, and it requires a level of participation and engagement far beyond a typical November vote. It’s always important to have a healthy turnout, but in 2024 the nation’s future is on the ballot to a degree that we haven’t seen in recent history. This one will truly matter, for years to come. The bald truth is that Donald Trump is uniquely unfit to serve as president, considering character, demeanor and personal history. His four years in the ...
30 Oct 2024 by Editorial Board
South Fork voters will get to decide the outcome of three propositions this Election Day, November 5, including one that is statewide and one that is countywide. The third opportunity to weigh in will be different for Southampton Town and East Hampton Town voters, as hyperlocal measures are on the ballot in each town. Proposition 1, also known as the Equal Rights Amendment, is to amend the New York State Constitution to extend the guarantee of equal protection under the law to more groups. Currently, the State Constitution specifies that equal protection is afforded to people regardless of their race, ...
23 Oct 2024 by Editorial Board
Language is a great divider, and as the East End’s demographics have steadily evolved over the past two decades, finding ways to bridge that divide is essential. That’s particularly true for school-age children, who often find themselves immersed in a new culture without the skills to communicate. But Southampton School District recognized that the language gap is bad for the school community in general — and that it presents not just a challenge but an opportunity. Rather than focusing solely on Spanish-speaking students and their needs, the district’s dual language program, which is now in its 20th year, benefits all ...
16 Oct 2024 by Editorial Board
Nothing energizes the voting public like a proposed tax hike — and in both Southampton and East Hampton towns, sizable hikes are going to be proposed this fall, which likely will bring an outcry. But the simple fact is that it could be time for both towns to catch up on some long-overdue investments in quality of life. In Southampton Town, Maria Moore’s first proposed budget will require an increase in the tax levy of more than 11 percent, which will pierce the state’s cap. Because the town budget is generally kept under control, the impact would be $140 per ...
9 Oct 2024 by Editorial Board
It was a historic day. An end of an era. “A momentous event,” as Kathryn Szoka, one of the owners of Canio’s Books, put it as she addressed the crowd that had gathered to help her and her partner, Maryann Calendrille, remove the sign that hung over the shop they have run for the past 25 years. Whatever euphemism one prefers, it was simply a sad day for Sag Harbor. The shop’s owners have vowed to carry on the business and its cultural activities — perhaps as a pop-up for now, utilizing historic or public spaces in the village — ...
by Editorial Board
James Carville, a campaign advisor to Bill Clinton in the early 1990s, was the first to say it: “It’s the economy, stupid.” This truism about national elections holds water: While pundits talk about so many other issues at stake, the economy is usually the one that moves people the most when they cast a vote for president. There’s no reason to think 2024 will be any different. That said, there are several other important issues in that race this year, and they filter down to the 1st District race for the U.S. House of Representatives, where they take on even ...
2 Oct 2024 by Editorial Board
