Letters

Hampton Bays is the embodiment of the “Cheers” theme song: It’s a place “where everybody knows your name.” If I describe Hampton Bays to someone not from here, it’s compared to Stars Hollow in “Gilmore Girls” or a small town you see in a Hallmark Christmas movie. But, as Bob Dylan said, the times, they are a-changing.

We are a small hamlet with a big heart. When one of us is suffering, we rally together. When one of us succeeds, we all succeed. This is what makes Hampton Bays so special. The people and the community here care so much for one another and want more than anything to have this town what it used to be.

The future of this town has created a lot of stirs. There have been tension, arguments and dividing views. There’s a fear of overcrowding. There’s anger about traffic. There’s worry about taxes and cost of living.

The reality is, those are issues we currently have. There are more people here than before. There is way more traffic than ever. The cost of living here is enormously unrealistic.

So, what can be done?

I hear people say there is nothing to do here. I have seen parents and grandparents wish their children and grandchildren would be able to afford to stay. The complaints about traffic, we all know. At the end of the day, we all want the same thing: to keep Hampton Bays the loving, vibrant small town that it is.

Sure, those reading this may be saying to themselves, “But we have beaches and restaurants!” And it’s true — we have beautiful beaches. We probably have the most waterfront restaurants in the Hamptons. That’s what makes Hampton Bays a destination. I want to keep Hampton Bays a community.

I am not here to advocate for any one idea over another. What I am asking is to come together as the community I know and love and seek the same goal we all have. Let’s work together instead of apart.

Being able to go for a run down a road where someone I know lives in case something happens, saying hi to people in the grocery store, small talk at Hampton Coffee Company — that is my Hampton Bays. But that’s all changing. There are fewer people I know. The “Cheers” song is ending.

What I am simply trying to say is that I love this town and everyone in it. I ask that we do not divide ourselves, since we are all seeking the same goal. We want Hampton Bays to be a place that my generation, your kids’ generation, your grandkids’ generation, and you yourselves can afford and want to live. #WeAreHB.

Stefani Joslin

Hampton Bays