Smart government includes the development of new sources of revenue to avoid lofty tax increases and cover growing bottom lines, while still trying to improve services and infrastructure across the... more
The future of journalism is in good hands, if the members of the Springs School Journalism Club are any indication. The Express News Group was happy to welcome a handful of members of the club to our Southampton office on Friday to show them what we do and encourage them in their collective journey into the field. They needed little encouragement. The middle school kids were enthusiastic, engaged, and ready to soak up whatever bits of wisdom the Express staff shared with them. And we put them to work — the club members came to the office with a series ...
by Editorial Board
U.S. Representative Nick LaLota finds himself with a long runway as of this week. After he was first elected to represent the 1st Congressional District in 2022, the Republican served during a Democratic administration and a split Congress. After his reelection in November and Donald Trump’s second inauguration on Monday, he is now a Republican serving during a Republican administration, with the added benefit of a newly minted Republican Senate as well as continued GOP control of the House of Representatives. He is better positioned than he ever has been to deliver big for Suffolk County. He has had some ...
by Editorial Board
It’s tempting to say that, when it comes to the affordable housing crisis on the South Fork, the hard part is over — the heavy lifting that it took to get the Community Housing Fund approved in Albany, and by local voters in a referendum, was no small feat. Now that it’s in place, the money is flowing freely: Just a year in, both Southampton and East Hampton towns already have upward of $10 million to spend. For years, the lamentation was “if only we had the money …” Full marks to everyone who addressed that. But an Express Sessions ...
15 Jan 2025 by Editorial Board
It seems a lifetime ago, but there were moments of real promise in the relationship between the Shinnecock Nation and state and local governments. In 2020, after workers at a building site in Shinnecock Hills disturbed the remains of an Indigenous person, the town swiftly took action. A year later, the Town Board delivered a new law aimed at protecting graves and other culturally significant sites in town, with a focus on locations of importance to the nation. Two years later, New York State followed with a long-overdue law protecting unmarked graves. “I’m so happy it got done and this ...
8 Jan 2025 by Editorial Board
CANDY CANE: To East Hampton Town and state officials, for taking steps to address troublesome intersections — adding turn lanes at the Route 114 and Stephen Hands Path intersection, a turn lane into the Ross School from Route 114, and roundabouts at Two Holes of Water Road and Three Mile Harbor/Springs-Fireplace Road. It’s not just about traffic flow; there are safety concerns at some of these locations that should make them priorities. They seem to be, and for that residents should be grateful. CANDY CANE: To Guild Hall, for completing a massive renovation and its decision to preserve the design ...
19 Dec 2024 by Editorial Board
As Southampton Town considers aggressive action on sand mines, with plans to use amortization — a tool last used effectively to rid the town of nightclubs and bars the town considered nuisances — to finally end the practice, it’s important to cut through the rhetoric and state some facts. Sand mines serve a clear purpose and have economic value in a region where construction is a primary driver. But the town quite simply does not allow sand mining — that decision was made years ago, and what mines exist today are preexisting and nonconforming. Amortizing the properties is the last ...
11 Dec 2024 by Editorial Board
Talk is not a solution, but solutions won’t be found without a great deal of interplay between the officials making the decisions and the public that will be affected by them. So The Express Sessions event last week in Sag Harbor, which focused on the village’s parking woes, was, along with future public hearings before the Village Board, necessary for there to be any traction on the subject. In fact, one clear message at Thursday’s session, delivered by those in attendance: Communication is absolutely crucial. And it has been one area where the village can improve. Restaurateur Jesse Matsuoka, who ...
by Editorial Board
There’s an irony that Southampton Town officials might have the least power when it comes to the travel plaza featuring tax-free gasoline that is going up on Shinnecock Nation property in Hampton Bays — but also might be most at fault for the current situation. Neighbors are incensed that the nation is building the gas station off Sunrise Highway with seemingly little oversight. The Environmental Protection Agency has stepped forward to provide a framework for the sovereign Shinnecock Nation’s project, but also has allowed the nation to proceed mostly on pledges to follow EPA rules. A new development with thousands ...
4 Dec 2024 by Editorial Board
Stop digging. That’s the best advice we can offer the Southampton History Museum. When you’re in a hole, recognize it and, if you do nothing else, don’t make it deeper. And there’s a hole, and it’s deep, and it’s time to think about climbing out of it. It was foolhardy to think evicting the Conscience Point Shellfish Hatchery from the North Sea site owned by the museum, near where English settlers first landed in 1640, wasn’t going to land with a thud. Perhaps the hatchery could be a better tenant — there is fair concern about the sometimes disheveled state ...
by Editorial Board
We are thankful for the ocean, so near to us here on the South Fork, and the serenity of nature surrounding us. Every year, people make the voyage to the East End, often from more urban dwellings, precisely because even as the human population encroaches more and more, there is a stubborn stillness surrounding us that is rejuvenating. The towns’ willingness to preserve open space and to prioritize environmental conservation shines through, even as the crush of development soldiers on. We give thanks that, to quote Van Morrison, this is a place where you can still “become enraptured by the ...
26 Nov 2024 by Editorial Board
