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E ditorial
Besieged
ike the little girl in the horror movie Polter
L geist, year-round East End residents can be
heard whispering Theyre ba-ack! every year as
the Memorial Day weekend arrives.
It's not that we dont appreciate our summer visi
tors. Everyone knows second homeowners and sum
mer renters drive the local economy. Its just that,
ahem, sometimes they dont behave very well.
This was brought home on Monday at Sag Harbors
Memorial Day parade when a work colleague over
heard a woman, as the first notes o f Taps sounded
in front o f the Civil W ar Monument, loudly pro
claim, This is really w.eird. They all just came out
o f nowhere and now the roads are blocked. She was
obviously oblivious to the fact that it was, after all,
Memorial Day. No, I dont know how long its going
to take, she sighed, But youre going to have to find
a way to pick me up.
Then there was the guy who insisted on parking
in h alf a parking space in Carruthers Alley, bump,
bump, bumping his fenders against the cars in front
o f him and behind him until he was satisfied. The
next day, also in the alley, a woman opened her tail
gate and a bottle o f wine fell to the ground and shat
tered. She left the shards of glass for other passersby
to push to the side. Then there was the blotter item
from the Southampton Town Police, reporting that
a Manhattan man had been arrested for throwing a
cup o f hot coffee in the face o f a deli clerk in Water
Mill early Monday morning: I said two teaspoons of
sugar, not three!
We could go on, but why bother? Its still three
months to Labor Day.
A Little
Help, Please
esidents o f Azurest, Sag Harbor Hills and Ni-
R
nevah have good reason to be more than a
little frustrated with Sag Harbor Village for its
failure to do anything about a number of dilapidatedto lax code enforcement. While laws exist to address these
houses that have been slowly rotting away in their
neighborhoods for five, 10, or even 20 years.
Besides dragging down property values, the houses
pose a danger to kids who like to go exploring or
present an inviting hangout for teenagers up to no
good.
Neighbors also complain that some houses are al
lowed to be left for years in an unkempt state, despite
language in the code requiring residents to maintain
their property. Others, they say, are overcrowded
rentals for both members of the local workforce or
the summer weekend crowd.
W hats particularly troubling is their charge that
written complaints dont get placed into the files at
the village building department or that a call for
action made at a village board meeting last winter
never made it into the minutes. If there is no record,
there might as well not be a complaint at all.
Sag Harbor Village Building Inspector Tom Preiato
has done an admirable job o f making progress in
clearing a huge backlog since becoming the villages
senior building inspector late last year in fact, he
took the first survey o f dilapidated houses in the
three neighborhoods a few short months ago but and carefully manages the industries that support the vil
it's clear that more needs to be done and he is going
to need some help in doing it.
Although there isnt money in the village budget
earmarked to expand the building department, find
ing some funds to do so should be the first priority
when a new village board takes over in July. Its time
to clean up this mess.
S a g J l a f b o t J x p r 'e ^ .
Published continuously since 1859
Official newspaper fo r the Village o f Sag Harbor/the Village o f North Haven
the Town o f Southampton / the Town o f East Hampton
the Sag Harbor School District / the Bridgehampton School District
W inner of
T he N ew Y ork P ress A ssociation s
2000,2003, 2011 Stuart Dorman A ward for Editorial Excellence
2013 N ewspaper of the Y ear A ward
Bryan Boyhan, consultantandpublisheremeritus
G ardner P at Cowles, publisheremeritus
CO-PUBLISHER, EDITOR CO-PUBLISHER, ADVERTISINGDIRECTOR
Kathryn G. Menu Gavin Menu
managing editor Stephen J. Kotz account executive,Terry
reporter Mara Certic account executive, H.
reporter Annette Hinkle classifiedsales, Renee
reporter Dawn Watson graphicartist,Judy
photographer Michael Heller
COLUMNISTS
Christine Bellini, Lauren Chatman, A1 Big Time" Daniels,
Richard Gambino, Karl Grossman, Hope Harris, Helen Harrison,
Annette Hinkle, Jim Marquardt, Paige Patterson
T h e Sa g H a r b o r Express
OPINION
Tuesday Morning, Main Street
The Walking Tour |BY MICHAEL HELLER
Le t t e r s
Attention to Land Use
To The Editors:
We commend and thank you for your reporting on land
use in Sag Harbor and the recent article published by The
Sag H arbor Express, dated May 21, 2015, in which you ad
dressed the issue o f abandoned, deteriorated housing in
the Sag Harbor Hills and Azurest neighborhoods. Most o f
the derelict properties cited have been in that condition
for at least five years and some have been blighted for 20
to 30 years. At issue is a failed response by the Sag Har
bor Building Department, which has resulted in danger to
our communities. When children enter structurally un
sound, unsecured, abandoned houses that are frequently
inhabited by raccoons and vermin, they are in danger o f
being hurt in unstable buildings, attacked by animals, or
exposed to health hazards.
Equally important is the proliferation o f rooming hous
es in our R-20 zoned neighborhoods that are unabated due
issues, problems persist because our communities are. ig
nored.
These issues are exacerbated by formal complaints that
are not acknowledged by the Building Department. Indeed,
certified letters sent on behalf o f our property owners are
unanswered for months or never answered. Although we
represent hundreds o f Sag Harbor residents, most often we
must call or visit the Building Department to receive com
plaint status informationthe onus is upon us to pursue
a response and very little written information is provided.
Curiously, most o f our letters and complaint forms do not
appear in Building Department files. Neither policy nor
practice adheres to first come, first served. Thus we request
you continue your investigative reports, and focus on the
complaint process in terms o f service delivery.
We applaud the reporting o f Stephen Kotz and we urge
The Sag H arbor Express to examine all o f the May 17, 2015
recommendations o f Save Sag Harbor concerning devel
opment. In this regard, over-sized houses on small lots in
Sag Harbor is an issue worthy o f in-depth investigation, in
addition to scrutiny of the land use committee (i.e.. Archi
tectural Review Board) that approves them. Transparency
is needed to demystify the process and conduct a compre
hensive evaluation o f land use policies.
Sag Harbor is a beautiful village. The Historic District
and harbor are without peer in the Hamptons. Our econ
omy relies on the construction and tourism industries. It
is imperative that government protects all o f Sag Harbor,
lage. Therefore, land use is key to our future. Please con
tinue your fine reporting.
Sincerely,
Eglon Simons, president Andrea Cottman, president
Sag Harbor Hills AzurestProperty
Improvement Association Owners Association
Steve Roache, president
Nineveh Beach Property
Owners Association
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McShane
Michael Howell
Sabloski
Clempner
to th e Ed it o r
Return o f Air Troubles
Dear Editor,
Aircraft noise has returned to the East End. Have you
had enough? Noyac neighbors reported 29 noisy helicop
ters and six prop planes headed to East Hampton Airport
within two hours on Friday, May 22. That is one operation
every three minutes. This is just the start o f the season.
East Hampton Town passed three resolutions to estab
lish curfews and limit the noisiest aircraft (those produc
ing 91 decibels and higher) to one round trip per week. On
May 18, the judge in the Federal District Court in Islip post
poned her decision on whether or not to grant a Tempo
rary Restraining Order, which would stop the Town from
enforcing these three resolutions. This suit was brought by
the Friends o f East Hampton Airport. East Hampton Town
Board consented to postponing the passed resolutions as a
courtesy to the judge. The Town is allowed to invoke pro
prietary rights since it stopped taking grant money from
the FAA in December.
The FAA continues to delay and obfuscate on this issue.
The FAA continues to ignore those o f us affected by this
intrusion.
Congressman Lee Zeldin has taken a strong stand and
calls on the FAA to stand by its assurances to not inter
fere with East Hampton Towns operation o f the airport.
(https://zeldin.house.gov/sites/zeldin.house.gov/files/Zeld-
in_letter_to_Admininstrator_Huerta_on_EastEnd_heli-
copter_noise.pdf)
Where is Senator Schumer and Senator Gillibrand on
this quality o f life issue?
The NCC urges you to call and or email our Senators and
demand that they insist that the FAA step aside and they
vowed to Congressman Zeldin and former Congressman
Bishop.
Sen. Schumer
senator@schumer.senate.gov
Phone 631-753-0978
Sen. Gillibrand
http://www.gillibrand.senate.gov
Long Island Office
Phone; 631-249-2825
Email: Senator@Gillibrand.senate.gov
Then make yourself heard at the FAA. Use the words
Loud and Repeated Paths" not the words low flying."
(Those messages w ill be pushed o ff to another desk within
the FAA and nothing w ill be done i f the pilot is within
flight standard rulings.)
Please do not hesitate to leave a voicemail for Paul Laude,
FAA Eastern Region-Regional Administrator: 718-533-3458
AND/ OR email Laura.J.Brown@faa.gov.
Remember, they work for us.
Sincerely,
Elena Loreto, President
Noyac Civic Council
continued on p ag e 9
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M AY 28, 2015
SUFFOLK CLOSEUP
By K a r l G r o s s m a n
Time to Revive
Peconic County
1 I she Suffolk County Legislature deadlocked last
month on a measure to have meetings o f its com-
JL mittees held in the historic county seat o f River-
head. Now all meetings o f its 12 committees are held in
Hauppauge.
The 7-to-7 vote, which meant the resolution failed, was
an insult to the citizens o f the countys East End.
Some residents o f my district travel nearly 60 miles
to attend a legislative committee meeting, said the mea
sures author. Legislator A1 Krupski o f Cutchogue. This
places an undue burden on those who want to be civically
engaged or those who want to comment on proposed
legislation before it moves out o f committee to the entire
legislature for consideration."
Riverhead is to be the site o f only five o f the 14 general
meetings o f the Suffolk Legislature this year. That no
committee meetings critical in the consideration o f leg
islation are in Riverhead at all adds further insult.
This unbalanced meeting distribution has been the
situation for years.
For more than two centuries, all meetings o f the
countys governing body, the Suffolk Board o f Supervisors,
were held in Riverhead. Then, in 1970, as a result o f a one-
person-one-vote court decision, the board, consisting o f the
supervisors o f each o f Suffolks 10 towns, was disbanded.
In its place a legislature composed o f 18 representatives of
districts o f equal population was created. The legal argu
ment was that it was wrong for the supervisor o f a lightly
populated East End town to have a vote equal to that o f a
supervisor o f a heavily populated western Suffolk town.
In the post-World War II Long Island population influx,
western Suffolks towns gained populations many times
higher than those o f the eastern towns. Starting in the
1960s, Suffolk government buildings began going up in
Hauppauge and it became the second county center quick
ly overshadowing Riverhead. The new Suffolk Legislature
alternated its general meetings between a new meeting
room built in Hauppauge and the old meeting room o f
the county board in Riverhead.
A key problem projected with having a county govern
ing body based on population was its domination by the
representatives from western Suffolk. On the federal and
state levels, the population issue is dealt with by bicam
eral legislatures a geography-based Senate and whats
called an Assembly in most states and is population-
based. That way, lightly populated areas are protected.
As Shelter Island Town Supervisor Evans K. Grifflng,
chairman o f the Suffolk Board o f Supervisors from 1962
to 1966, told me in 1979 about the Suffolk Legislature:
You cant accomplish anything with your vote. Your
vote is a wasted effort...Its diametrically opposed by
the 16-and-a-half votes...at the other end o f the county.
Theyre not concerned with what goes on here, I have a
feeling that were simply being taken to the cleaners."
Before the vote at the meeting April 28 on the Krupski +
resolution, Southampton Town Supervisor Anna Throne-
Hoist urged the legislators to vote for it for the sake o f
balance...It means a lot to us. Southold Town Supervisor
Scott Russell said it would be beneficial to the legislature
because o f the knowledge and talent out here.
As the News-Review newspapers subsequently editorial
ized, Its a shame half the legislators felt their personal
convenience is more important.
It is not simply a matter o f a meeting place. Many o f the
interests o f officials from suburbanized western Suffolk
are markedly different than those from the East End.
Thats why starting in the 1960s, seeing what the future
could hold, the initiative began led then by Mr. Griffing
- for secession o f the East End towns from Suffolk and
their formation into a Peconic County. The drive has been
revived twice since and most recently blocked in the State
Assembly by its now fallen and indicted Speaker Sheldon
Silver o f Manhattan. He feared secession o f Staten Island
from New York City i f the East End split from Suffolk.
There continues to be marked differences. An example is the
push now by western Suffolk officials for major sewering to
stimulate development in order to promote economic growth.
Mr. Griffing spoke of how development helped the
economy momentarily" on western Long Island, but then
the region went down the drain becoming overcome
in sprawl, over-populated, overcrowded...Ifyou allow
the thing to get house-against-house youre going to have
trouble...I have watched Jericho Turnpike, it used to be a
beautiful, beautiful avenue running the length o f this
island" and became a visual sewer." Mr. Griffing warned
about all o f Long Island being ruined, the rest o f it like
it is way west.
Is it time to again revive the drive for Peconic Countv?
Yes.
K A R L GRO SSM AN is a jouralism professor and journalist who
frequently writes about Long Island issues.
T H E Q U E S T IO N
Obamas plan for immigration reform was just recently
blocked in court. What are your thoughts on how immi
gration should be handled here in the United States?
Lloyd Landsman
I think that the people who have been living here,
and working here, there needs to be a pathway for
them to become legitimate tax-paying citizens with
out a penalty or having them get deported. I think
going forward we must have a quota-based system
where we should be able to accept some immigra
tion for political purposes or if there are bad things
going on in the world."
Mario Deirolio
"W ell, immigration reform has to happen. This plan
that Obama has was once a Republican plan, but
now it's his plan so they're blocking it. It's all about
division in the parties and nothing ever gets done
that w ay
Paul Buscemi
"I think that our system is broken and desperately
needs to be fixed, and it's unrealistic to think that all
of the people who are here and are undocumented
are going to be sent back to where they came from.
We need to get Congress to take some action.