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Write-Ins Shake Up School Votes

Write-Ins Shake Up School Votes

Patrick Brabant, left, won a write-in campaign for a seat on the Springs School Board, and Claudia Quintana, also a write-in, bested an incumbent to win a seat on the Amagansett School Board.
Patrick Brabant, left, won a write-in campaign for a seat on the Springs School Board, and Claudia Quintana, also a write-in, bested an incumbent to win a seat on the Amagansett School Board.
All budgets pass; board newcomers fare well
By
Judy D’Mello

In local school board elections on Tuesday, five newcomers won seats, with a write-in candidate besting an incumbent in Amagansett and first-timers ousting incumbents in Sag Harbor. All school budgets passed decisively.

Claudia Quintana, who won a seat on the Amagansett School Board, and Patrick Brabant, who will take a spot in Springs, were both 11th-hour write-in candidates, but Ms. Quintana’s win may have been the biggest surprise.

Until a week ago, the race for the three seats in that district appeared uncontested. Only three people — the incumbents Patrick Bistrian III and Dawn Rana-Brophy and Anna Bernasek, a newcomer — had declared their candidacies.

Following a heated board meeting a week before the election, Mary Eames, a longtime Amagansett resident, said she was deeply dissatisfied with the lack of transparency by the school’s superintendent, Eleanor Tritt, and a school board she called “asleep on the job.”

Ms. Quintana followed suit, declaring herself a write-in candidate, as well, late last week. In a letter on Facebook she pledged to “work diligently to enhance current programs and maintain the level of excellence that currently exists in the district.”

Parent supporters launched a campaign to help spread the word about Ms. Quintana’s qualifications (she works as a teacher in the John M. Marshall Elementary School and is pursuing a degree in bilingual education). On election day, Ms. Quintana was seen chatting with voters outside the 100-foot line (electioneering is prohibited closer to polling places).

Mr. Bistrian was the top vote getter, with 122 votes. Ms. Quintana was a close second with 115 votes. They will each get three-year terms on the board. The next highest vote getter, Ms. Rana-Brophy, got 111 votes and will serve a one-year term. Ms. Bernasek got 107 votes and Ms. Eames got 90.

“The support and encouragement I received from all of you this past week invigorates me and bolsters my desire to serve you to make our community a place that is welcoming and understanding of the needs of our children,” Ms. Quintana said in a statement.

“We definitely needed some energy and curiosity on the board, so I’m delighted Claudia was elected,” Margaret Whelan, a parent at the school, said yesterday.

“Claudia’s victory is a win for all who share her vision of an understanding and welcoming community,” said Christine Sciulli, another parent. “Her perspective on community building in 11930 casts her as a role model for Latinos of all ages across the East End.”

In Sag Harbor, Alex Kriegsman, a lawyer and parent, was the high vote getter in the race for three seats on the board. Mr. Kriegsman, a first-time candidate, got 910 votes, followed by Diana Kolhoff, an incumbent, who had 884. January Kerr, a writer and lawyer who is also a newcomer, got 866 votes to win the third seat. The ousted incumbents were Sandi Kruel, with 452 votes, and Theresa Samot, with 366.

Mr. Kriegsman called Ms. Kolhoff and Ms. Kerr “two bright, dedicated parents, and consummate professionals,” and said, “I look forward to working with them to help the district realize its full potential.”

In Springs, Mr. Brabant was one of three write-in candidates vying with Tim Frazier for the two available seats on the board. Mr. Frazier, the board’s vice president and the principal of the Southampton Intermediate School, was the only one to have turned in his nominating petition by the deadline and his was the only name on the ballot. He got 209 votes to Mr. Brabant’s 176.

Also running write-in campaigns were Donna Sutton, who got 100 votes, and Ivonne Tovar-Morales, who had 89.

Mr. Brabant is a business owner and a parent of children in the school. He also serves on the Springs Citizens Advisory Committee and said he has not missed a school board meeting for 14 years.

“I’m looking forward to serving the community,” Mr. Brabant said yesterday. “I got votes from a really diverse number of people — parents, community members, business people — so that means a lot to me.”

In Bridgehampton, Markanthony Verzosa, an architect and contractor, who ran uncontested, was elected with 116 votes, and Kathleen McCleland, an incumbent, kept her seat with 136 votes.

There were no challengers there or in East Hampton, Sagaponack, Wainscott, or Montauk.

In East Hampton, Jacqueline Lowey and John J. Ryan Sr., kept their seats on the school board, with 278 and 302 votes, respectively.

In Montauk, Kelly White, an incumbent running for her third five-year term, won it with 112 votes.

Sagaponack voters re-elected Brian Villante, the school board president, with 19 votes.

In Wainscott, David Eagan, the incumbent school board president, was re-elected with 29 votes.

The East Hampton School District’s $68.3 million budget proposal, a slight increase over last year but still under the state’s cap on tax levy increases, was approved by a vote of 291 to 53. Voters also approved, by a vote of 241 to 96, a proposition allowing East Hampton to establish a capital reserve fund for future district-wide improvements related to growing enrollment, property acquisition, and the replacement of technology and telecommunications equipment, infrastructure, and software. Spending for specific projects will be subject to voter approval.

The Springs School’s $28.1 million budget for 2017-18 was approved 298 to 105. The budget is 2.15 percent higher than this year’s. Voters also approved a three-year installment purchase agreement for a 66-passenger bus for a total estimated cost of $99,788; 289 said yes, 114 voted no.

In Amagansett, voters approved the nearly $10.7 million budget for the 2017-18 school year, 146 to 59. Also approved was a proposition authorizing the expenditure of $400,000 from the 2015 renovations and upgrades capital reserve fund for a new gym ceiling. That vote was 179 to 25.

Voters approved a $39.9 million budget in Sag Harbor for next year, an increase of $1.13 million over this year, with 973 saying “yes” and 269 voting “no.” The tax levy will increase by 3.49 percent but remains under the state-mandated cap.

Sag Harbor voters also endorsed a new transportation fleet capital reserve fund, at no extra cost to the taxpayers, as it will be funded from a previously established reserve fund, in a 962-to-263 vote. Also approved was a proposition to allow the district to spend $1.2 million from its capital reserve fund to replace windows at Pierson Middle and High School and the Sag Harbor Elementary School. That vote was 1,042 to 190.

In Montauk, the $18.8 million budget for next year was approved by a vote of 115 to 8.

Bridgehampton’s $14.36 million budget passed with 102 voting for it and 74 voting no. The budget is up $578,024 over this year’s. Also on the ballot, and approved Tuesday, was a proposition allowing the district to redistribute the balance of a previously approved capital reserve fund to install and maintain a geothermal heating and cooling system as part of a planned school addition. Taxpayers will not incur any additional costs as a result. The vote was 84 to 41 in favor.

Sagaponack voters unanimously passe­d the school’s $1.7 million budget proposal, with 19 votes for and none against.

Voters in that district also approved a one-year contract with East Hampton and Sag Harbor School Districts for instruction services for fourth through sixth grades. The district already has a five-year contract with both of these districts for 7th through 12th grades.

The Wainscott School District’s $2.95 million budget for the 2017-18 school year was approved with 31 votes in favor and none against. It is lower than this year’s budget.

It's Time to Get Your 2017 Hamptons Summer Benefit On

It's Time to Get Your 2017 Hamptons Summer Benefit On

Jesse Spooner, Georgica James Spooner, and Nicole Delma attended last year’s Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic benefit in Bridgehampton.
Jesse Spooner, Georgica James Spooner, and Nicole Delma attended last year’s Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic benefit in Bridgehampton.
Morgan McGivern
Three months of fund-raisers that support a wide range of charities and cultural institutions
By
Mark Segal

The official start of summer might be June 21, but on the East End it comes early — this Saturday, to be exact, when the first of the summer’s benefit events, the ARF Designer Show House, kicks off three months of fund-raisers that support a wide range of charities and cultural institutions. (Click for more details on the ARF event)

Among the other early birds on the benefit calendar is Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic, whose fund-raiser will take place on Sunday from 5 to 7 p.m. at a private Bridgehampton residence. The event will feature a screening of “Across the Line,” a virtual reality experience that combines drama and documentary to convey the obstacles to accessing abortion in the United States. 

A fund-raiser for the Southampton Cultural Center will celebrate six notable East End residents on June 4 from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Southampton Social Club. Food, wines, and silent and live auctions will accompany the honoring of Tom Clavin and Phil Keith, writers; Dan Gasby, a restaurateur; Bonnie Grice, an actress and broadcaster; Paton Miller, an artist, and Mark Epley, Mayor of Southampton Village.

The fact that there are more good causes than summer weekends can create the occasional logjam. While the Madoo Conservancy in Sagaponack has June 16 to itself for its Much Ado About Madoo fund-raiser, at least five big events are scheduled for the following day. School’s Out, the Hetrick-Martin Institute’s benefit for L.G.B.T.Q. youth, will be held at a private residence. Wings Over Haiti, for which 40 artists have donated work to help launch a new school for impoverished children, will take place at the Watermill Center. The Retreat’s All Against Abuse benefit will happen at the Lower Campus of the Ross School. Cocktails on Hook Pond in East Hampton Village will raise funds for the East Hampton Historical Society. The Bridge, a golf course in Bridgehampton, will be the site of Swing Into Summer, a benefit for Group for the East End, an environmental nonprofit that works on the North and South Forks. 

Despite the efforts of the Bay Street Theater to celebrate on another day, its benefit will once again share the same night, July 15, with the Parrish Art Museum, as it has done in years past. Both evenings will unfold al fresco, Bay Street’s under a tent on Long Wharf in Sag Harbor, the Parrish’s on its covered terrace in Water Mill. 

LongHouse Reserve and the Watermill Center can always be counted on to reach for the heavens. Boom! Our Cosmic Benefit will unfold at LongHouse on July 22 and will honor Alexandra Munroe, curator of the Guggenheim’s forthcoming exhibition “Art and China After 1989,” and the Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang, who will have exhibitions in the fall at the Pushkin Museum in  Moscow and the Prado in Madrid.

The Watermill Center inevitably draws notables from the worlds of art, performance, theater, fashion, and design. This year’s benefit, Fly Into the Sun, will honor Laurie Anderson, Isabelle Huppert, and the late Lou Reed on July 29. Widely considered the most imaginative of the summer’s events, it will include installations and performances throughout the center’s eight-and-a-half acres.

In August, as the summer begins to wind down, fund-raisers will be held for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Southampton Hospital, Peconic Land Trust, Guild Hall, the East Hampton Library, and East End Hospice.

A more comprehensive schedule of the summer’s benefits with times and starting ticket prices follows below.

• May 26, Garden Club of East Hampton Party and Plant Sale, Mulford Farm, East Hampton, 6-8 P.M., $50, gceasthampton.org

• May 27, Animal Rescue Fund Designer Showhouse, ARF Thrift and Treasure Shop, 17 Montauk Highway, Sagaponack, 6-8 P.M., $150  Preview 5-6 p.m. $250, arfhamptons.org

• May 27, LGBT Network Backyard BBQ, Southampton, 2-6 p.m., $90; LGBT Summer Kick-Off Reception, Bridgehampton Tennis and Surf Club, 6-8 p.m. $325, lgbtnetwork.org

• May 28, Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic, private residence, Bridgehampton, 5-7 p.m. $200, plannedparenthood.org

• June 3, Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center, barn dance at Kilmore Farm, Wainscott, 6:30 p.m. $200, ewecc.org

• June 3, Fighting Chance Gala, Maidstone Club, East Hampton, 6-11 p.m. $450, fightingchance.org

• June 3, Southampton Fresh Air Home: Decorators, Designers, and Dealers Sale and Auction, Barkers Island Road, Southampton, 5-8:30 p.m., $250, sfah.org

• June 4, Southampton Cultural Center, Evening of Wine and Roses, Southampton Social Club, 256 Elm Street, Southampton, 5-8 p.m. $225, scc-arts.org

• June 10, God’s Love We Deliver, Midsummer Night Drinks, Calvin Klein residence, Meadow Lane, Southampton, 6-9 p.m. $500, glwd.org

• June 10, American Heart Association, Hamptons Heart Ball, Southampton Arts Center, 6-11 p.m., $600, www.heart.org

• June 10 & 11, Parrish Art Museum, Landscape Pleasures, symposium and garden tour, museum and various locations, $225, parrishart.org

• June 16, Madoo Conservancy, Much Ado about Madoo preview Garden Cocktail Party, 6:30-8:30 p.m. $200, $150 members, madoo.org

• June 17, Group for the East End, Swing Into Summer, The Bridge, Bridgehampton,  6:30-11:30 p.m. , $1,000, groupfortheeastend.org

• June  17, Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons, Garden Tour of East Hampton Village, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., $85; cocktails the night before, $175, arfhamptons.org

• June 17, East Hampton Historical Society, Cocktails at Hook Pond, Dorian and Gary Fuhrman residence, East Hampton, 6-8 p.m. $150, easthamptonhistory.org

• June 17, Hamptons Artists for Haiti, Watermill Center, Water Mill, 5:30-8:30 p.m., $125, wingsoverhaiti.net

• June 17, Hetrick-Martin Institute, School's Out dinner, Lisa and James Cohen residence, East Hampton, $375 cocktails, $1,500 dinner, hmi.org

• June 17, Navy Seal Foundation, cocktail party, Navy Beach restaurant, Montauk, 3-5 p.m., $50; $25 veterans, navybeach.com

• June 17, The Retreat, All Against Abuse Gala: A Night in Havana, Ross School Lower Campus Field House, Bridgehampton, 6:30 p.m. $500, theretreatinc.org

• June 17, Sag Harbor Historical Society, annual benefit party, Breakwater Yacht Club, Sag Harbor, 6 p.m. $100, sagharborhistorical.org

• June 22, Camp Soulgrow, annual benefit dinner, The Palm restaurant, East Hampton, 6-8 p.m., $60, campsoulgrow.org

• June 24, Wellness Foundation, Mulford Farm, East Hampton, 6-8 p.m. $175, wfeh.org

• June 24, East End Hospice, An Evening in Paris, Jeffery residence, Second Neck Lane, Quogue, 7-11 p.m. $275, eeh.org

• June 24, Nature Conservancy on Long Island, a Benefit for Clean Water on Long Island, Center for Conservation, East Hampton, 7 p.m., $1,000. nature.org

• June 24, Stony Hill Stables Foundation, Back in the Saddle cocktail party, Stony Hill Stables, Amagansett, 6-8 p.m., $125, stonyhillstables.com

• June 25, Bridgehampton Child Care and Recreational Center, Jazz for Jennings, Watermill Center, 12:30-4 p.m. $500, www.bhccrc.org

• June 30, Southampton Fresh Air Home, American Picnic and Grucci Fireworks, 1030 Meadow Lane, Southampton, 7 p.m., $300, sfah.org

• July 1, Cormaria, Summer Gala, Cormaria Retreat House, Sag Harbor, 7 p.m., $250, cormaria.org

• July 1, Guild Hall, Season Spectacular performance with Jay Leno and dinner at a private location, East Hampton, $1,000, guildhall.org 

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• July 8, South Fork Natural History Museum Summer Gala, South Fork Natural History Museum and Nature Center, 377 Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike, Bridgehampton, 6-10 p.m. $425, sofo.org

• July 8, Southampton Animal Shelter Foundation, Unconditional Love Gala, Gin Lane, Southampton, 6:30 p.m., $1,000, southamptonanimalshelter.com

• July 8, Southampton Historical Museum, Halsey House Gala: Sur la Plage, Thomas Halsey Homestead, 249 South Main Street, Southampton, 5:30-8 p.m., $300, southamptonhistoricalmuseum.org

• July 8, Population Earth, Ribs for Kids barbeque competition, 1610 Meadow Lane, 6-11 p.m., $400 in advance, $500 at the door. Chefscarebbq.com

• July 15, Parrish Art Museum Midsummer Party, Montauk Highway, Water Mill, 6:30-1 a.m. $1,500, parrishart.org

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• July 15, Bay Street Theater Annual Summer Gala, Long Wharf, Sag Harbor, 6-10 p.m., $1,500, baystreet.org

• July 15, St. Jude Children's Hospital, Hope in the Hamptons, Deerfield Road, Water Mill, 6 p.m., $250; $300 after June 15, stjude.org

• July 15, Hamptons Tea Dance, presented by The Center, Services and Advocacy for G.L.B.T. Elders, and Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, Nova's Ark Project, Bridgehampton, 4-8 p.m., $300, hamptonsteadance.org

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• July 15, Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation, Art for Life Benefit, Fairview Farms, 19 Horsemill Lane, Bridgehampton, 6 p.m.,$1,500, artforlife.rushphilanthropic.org

• July 21, East Hampton Historical Society, preview cocktail party for annual East Hampton Antiques Show, Mulford Farm, East Hampton, 6-8:30 p.m. $150, easthamptonhistory.org

• July 22, Children's Museum of the East End, Family Fair Fundraiser: Animals A to Z, Bridgehampton, 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., $200 adults, $150 childen with discounts for advanced purchases, cmee.org

• July 22, LGBT Network, Sunset on the Harbor, Breakwater Yacht Club, Sag Harbor, 5-8 p.m., $175, lgbtnetwork.org

• July 22, LongHouse Reserve, Boom! The Cosmic LongHouse Benefit, 133 Hands Creek Road, East Hampton, 6-11 p.m. $1,250, longhouse.org

• July 22, Shelter Island Historical Society, Black and White benefit, Havens Barn, 16 South Ferry Road, Shelter Island, 6-10 p.m. $231, shelterislandhistorical.org

• July 27, Maureen's Haven, Lobster Bash, Docker's Restaurant, 94 Dune Road East Quogue, 6:30-10:30 p.m. $200, maureenshaven.com

• July 28, Perlman Music Program Annual Summer Benefit, P.M.P. campus, Shelter Island, 6 p.m., $350 cocktails, $1,000 dinner, perlmanmusicprogram.org

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• July 28-30, Bridgehampton Benefit for multiple non-profits, The Children Matter, location to be announced, $1,000, bridgehamptonbenefit.com

• July 29, All Star Code Summer Benefit, Lewis residence, Lily Pond Lane, East Hampton, $1,000, allstarcodebenefit.org

• July 29, James Beard Foundation, Chefs and Champagne, Wolffer Estate Vineyard, Sagaponack, 6 p.m., $275, jamesbeard.org

• July 29, Watermill Center, Fly into the Sun benefit and auction, Watermill Center, 39 Water Mill Towd Road, Water Mill, $500 cocktails, $1,500 dinner, watermillcenter.org

• July 29, OCRFA Super Saturday, Nova’s Ark Project, Bridgehampton, noon-6 p.m., $450, ocrfa.org/events/super-saturday/

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• July 30, Hayground School Chefs Dinner, Hayground School, 151 Mitchell Lane, Bridgehampton, 5 p.m., $1,200, haygroundchefsdinner.org

• July 31, Comedy for a Cause to benefit The Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, Topping Rose House, One Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike, Bridgehampton, 7 p.m. $185, feliciamadison.com

• Aug. 3, UJA Federation of New York, Hamptons Trunk Show, Bridgehampton Historical Society, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., $36, rain or shine, ujafedny.org

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• Aug. 5, Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Hamptons Paddle for Pink, Havens Beach, Sag Harbor, 8 a.m., Hamptons Party for the Pink, private residence, Sag Harbor, 7 p.m., $1,500, bcrfcure.org

• Aug. 5, Southampton Hospital Summer Party, Wickapogue Road and Old Town Road, Southampton, 6:30 p.m., $500, southamptonhospital.org

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• Aug. 5, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Get in the Groove,  Atlantic Golf Club, Bridgehampton, 6:30 p.m., $1,500, bcmf.org

• Aug. 5, Montauk Playhouse, the Playhouse Gala, Montauk Playhouse, Edgemere Street, Montauk, 7-11 p.m., $300, montaukplayhouse.org

• Aug. 5, Thomas Moran Trust Garden Party, The Thomas and Mary Nimmo Moran Studio, Main Street, East Hampton, 6-8 p.m., $150, thomasmorantrust.org

• Aug. 5, The Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation, A Hamptons Happening, Maria and Kenneth Fishel residence, Bridgehampton, 6:30-8:30 p.m. $425, waxmancancer.org

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• Aug. 6, Peconic Land Trust, Through Farms and Fields, White Cap Farm, Water Mill, 4 p.m., $350, peconiclandtrust.org

• Aug. 10, Ellen Hermanson Foundation, Evening of Enchantment, Topping-Rose House, Bridgehampton, 6:30-10 p.m. $500, ellenhermanson.org

• Aug. 11, Guild Hall Summer Gala, Guild Hall and private residence, East Hampton, 5-11 p.m., $500 cocktails, $1,250 dinner, guildhall.org

• Aug. 11, Veterinarians International, Trunks of Love Gala, DOPO La Spiaggia, East Hampton, 6-10 p.m., $150, veterinariansinternational.org

• Aug.12, East Hampton Library, Authors Night, Field at 4 Maidstone Lane and private residences, East Hampton, 5-10 p.m., $100 reception, $300 dinner, easthamptonlibrary.org

• Aug. 12, Wildlife Center of the Hamptons, Get Wild!, Leslie Alexander and Liz Brown residence, Southampton, 6-8 p.m., $225, wildliferescuecenter.org

• Aug. 19, Animal Rescue Fund, Bow Wow Meow Ball, ARF Adoption Center, 91 Daniels Hole Road, Wainscott, 6:30 p.m., $500, arfhamptons.org

• Aug. 26, East End Hospice, Box Art Auction,  featuring 90 artists' interpretations of a cigar box, St. Luke's Hoie Hall, 4:30-7 p.m. Free preview reception Aug. 23-24, 4:30-8 p.m., eeh.org

• Aug. 31, Southampton Arts Center, Summerfest, 25 Jobs Lane, 6-10 p.m. southamptonartscenter.org

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Students Visit Ground Zero

Students Visit Ground Zero

Among those who joined an East Hampton High School junior class trip to the National September 11 Memorial last week were, in front from left, Hunter Medler, Eros Elizondo, Hannah Mirando, and Jen Wilson, and in back, Laura Molinari, East Hampton Town Police Chief Michael Sarlo, and Bill Barbour.
Among those who joined an East Hampton High School junior class trip to the National September 11 Memorial last week were, in front from left, Hunter Medler, Eros Elizondo, Hannah Mirando, and Jen Wilson, and in back, Laura Molinari, East Hampton Town Police Chief Michael Sarlo, and Bill Barbour.
Judy D’Mello
By
Judy D’Mello

Last week, Michael Sarlo, the chief of police in East Hampton, took a field trip.

Accompanying 233 juniors from East Hampton High School, he returned to the site where almost 16 years ago he arrived with other police officers from the East End to help with the devastation of Sept. 11, which killed almost 3,000 people.

The trip to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in Lower Manhattan was the first of what will become an annual outing for junior classes at the high school, thanks to one mother who nurtured a simple wish to fruition.

Jen Wilson of East Hampton, an alumna of the school and a mother of an 11th grader there, was watching a TV show on the anniversary of Sept. 11 and  heard a generation of youngsters speak about how little they knew of the real details of that day’s atrocities, except that they had happened.

“I thought this was a real shame, especially since we live so close to Manhattan and so many of our lives were impacted by the tragedy,” Ms. Wilson said. “I knew I had to do something, not just for my daughter but for her entire grade — all the kids who are only learning about the event because they’re studying it in a U.S. history class.”

Ms. Wilson single-handedly launched a fund-raising campaign that resulted in a reoccurring annual grant awarded by the Greater East Hampton Education Foundation, the Kendall Madison Foundation, as well as reoccurring donations from three local fire departments.

On May 15 and 16, almost three years to the day that the museum opened, the 11th graders — divided into groups of 40, plus chaperones — left East Hampton at 6 a.m. for Ground Zero. For many of the teens, it was their first visit to the museum and memorial. It was also a first for the adults who accompanied them: Ken Alversa, the police officer assigned to the high school; Laura Molinari, a board member of the Greater East Hampton Education Foundation; Adam Fine, the high school principal; Bill Barbour, a social studies teacher, Chief Sarlo, and Ms. Wilson.

 

The museum includes two main exhibitions: “In Memoriam,” which pays tribute to the 2,983 people killed on Sept. 11, 2001, and in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, and a historical exhibition telling the story of what happened during and after the attacks. This history is conveyed through monumental and personal artifacts, photographs, audio and video footage, first-person testimonials, and personal possessions and memorabilia.

Visitors have likened it to a portal to an emotional underworld and the trauma that is so engraved into a few city blocks. For those on the field trip, the effects were profound.

“Suddenly, everything wasn’t just stories,” said Eros Elizondo, a junior at the school. “There were actual visuals of what happened, images of the planes; it all became so real.”

“Hearing about the Sept. 11 attacks definitely hits you, but when you’re there, the impact is much, much greater,” said Hunter Medler, a classmate who hails from a family of New York City Police Department officers and first responders who helped in the days following the attack.  

Their teacher, Mr. Barbour, said every student handled the experience differently. Some students chose to sit in a room for a while and listen to commentary about the event. Others, he said, picked out names from the overwhelming tapestry of faces on display, depicting grief, loss, and life, and tried to make connections.

“What I noticed,” he said, “was that kids were really participating at every stage of the museum. Every kid took away something different. Each one made their own connection. We even spotted the name of a woman from Sag Harbor who was on one of the flights.”

For Mr. Sarlo, the police chief, the field trip forced him to return to the site, something he confessed he was not sure he was ready to do even so many years later.

“It was emotionally draining to relive the experience, but after 16 years it also was the right time for me to be able to do so, and I hope it helped the students understand the enormity of 9/11. Visiting the museum was such a powerful experience I had to sit down for a while. Some kids sat next to me and they asked me a few questions about it. It was cathartic to share the experience with them.”

According to Ms. Wilson, the depiction of the events is so realistic, she felt the students got to experience the force of the tragedy that her generation experienced at the time of the attacks. “I don’t want our students just to read about it in a textbook. I want them to really experience it and learn about it by visiting the site.”

In an email, the police chief commended Ms. Wilson “for making this experience happen,” he said. “The fund-raising effort and coordination of putting the trip together took a tremendous amount of energy, time, and effort.”

At Tuesday’s town board meeting, Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, an East Hampton Town councilwoman, praised Ms. Wilson and described the field trip as an important lesson for future high school students.

Ms. Wilson acknowledges that despite the grants promised by local organizations, more fund-raising will be needed as future class sizes increase. Next year, she said, there will be almost 40 more students in the junior class, which means more money will be needed to cover the cost for extra admission tickets and the bus ride.

It is a challenge she accepts and will take on because in the words of New York’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, delivered during a speech, “The 9/11 Memorial Museum is for all of us. It is for those of us who witnessed the events. It is for future generations who will first encounter 9/11 as history, but who must come to understand it as something real and terrible, something that must never happen again.”

Just How Big Is Rita’s Jersey Black Giant?

Just How Big Is Rita’s Jersey Black Giant?

Rudy the rooster and Trouble the goat keep order at Rita’s Stables.
Rudy the rooster and Trouble the goat keep order at Rita’s Stables.
Durell Godfrey
By
Isabel Carmichael

A contest is on to see who can guess the weight of Rudy the rooster, a Jersey Black Giant who is large even for the breed. Rudy lives at Rita’s Stables on West Lake Drive in Montauk, where, on Sunday, he was coaxed outside to have his picture taken.

He is a stunning black rooster whose plumage becomes iridescent when sunlight hits it a certain way. For an entry fee of $3, the contestant who comes closest to guessing Rudy’s weight will win a free pony or trail ride. Picking him up is not allowed.

Rita. Foster, who moved to Montauk in 1962 from Great Neck, where she was put on a horse at the age of 3, now has 10 horses, 3 ponies, and 2 miniature donkeys among other animals on her 18-acre farm. Chickens and other small animals wander free in the barn and out in the fields, which seem too untouched to be as close to the Montauk downtown as they are, and seem to go on forever. Even some of the horses can be seen grazing loose in the fields.

A huge swale marks the middle of the greensward, which at this time of year is dotted with Canada geese. Ms. Foster had an old barn at one end of the property knocked down in 1992 because it was too small for her increasingly large menagerie. She hired Amish builders, who put up a 50-by-100-foot barn the next year.

  Ms. Foster’s riding business had a modest beginning. In the early 1970s she rescued three horses and kept them in her fenced-in Montauk yard until someone complained. In 1976, she bought the property that is now Rita’s Stables from Frank Tuma, and kept on rescuing.

Julio, one of her donkeys, who are Sardinian, is from New Holland, Pa., and has been with her for 31 years. Two angora goats from Vermont that had not been socialized arrived on Friday. Other goats are there as well, along with somewhat albino peacocks that eat tinned cat food, and a large solitary rabbit. East Hampton Star readers may have read about the small, self-assured goat called Trouble, who came from an apartment on 90th Street and Central Park West. Ms. Foster said Trouble loved the man he lived with but had never been outside. He now appears to be in his glory.

Ms. Foster gives away some of the animals she rescues and, on occasion, they are brought back for the summer, like a pig she gave away 11 years ago to the proprietors of Pheasant Run, a farm on Spring Close Highway in East Hampton. She and her assistant, Renny Murphy, an East Hampton High School freshman who has boarded her horse and worked at Rita’s Stables for three years, plan to sell the organic vegetables being grown by Sean Christman, at the end of the driveway, and they are also planning barbecues and dancing, to start on the Fourth of July weekend.

Keep tuned.

Coast Guard Station Opening

Coast Guard Station Opening

David Lys, left, and Michael Cinque led the Amagansett Life-Saving and Coast Guard Station Society’s effort to renovate the historical 1902 structure.
David Lys, left, and Michael Cinque led the Amagansett Life-Saving and Coast Guard Station Society’s effort to renovate the historical 1902 structure.
Christopher Walsh
By
Christopher Walsh

The trustees of the Amagansett Life-Saving and Coast Guard Station Society have invited the community to the grand opening and “commissioning” of the historical 1902 structure on Atlantic Avenue, on Saturday from 3 to 5 p.m.

An extensive restoration and renovation was to be completed yesterday, David Lys and Michael Cinque, the society’s president and vice president, said on Tuesday as they offered a visitor a tour of its three stories. The structure has been transformed, today a near-perfect replica of its original state.

Select artifacts and photographs will be on display, along with an original 1908 Beebe surfboat, identical to the one housed in the station long ago and the last such boat known to exist. As an active rescue boat, it was stationed at the United States Coast Guard’s New Shoreham station on Block Island. It was found in North Carolina and transported to the Amagansett station’s boat room last year, and is on loan from the National Park Service.

The renovated station will also house an office for the town’s ocean lifeguards.

Students from the Amagansett School will sing at the opening, and engraved plaques of recognition will be presented to the builders, electricians, masons, plumbers, and others who donated labor, materials, and time. Residents and visitors who supported the project through its duration will also be recognized.

“It’s been a great community effort,” Mr. Cinque said. “I’ve been on a lot of teams and this one has been great. David Lys has been a hell of a driving force, a great guy to work with.”

Representatives of the Coast Guard, including Andrew Ely, chief of response, Sector Long Island Sound, will attend, as will officials of the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department, which sent crews of men serving sentences at the county’s Riverhead and Yaphank correctional facilities to help with the project.

Sgt. John Whitehead, who established the county program with Sheriff Vincent F. DeMarco, will attend, Mr. Cinque said. Sergeant Whitehead retired last year. “Thank goodness for the ‘Orangemen,’ ” Mr. Cinque said of the labor crews, many of whom were skilled craftsmen who took to their task with pride and professionalism. “The hours of work they’ve done, we couldn’t have afforded that many man-hours. The fact that they offered that service, and the ability to rehabilitate men or teach them a trade, was special. They showed up to work and left at the end of the day feeling good about themselves.”

The life-saving station was abandoned after World War II. The late Joel Carmichael bought the decommissioned structure from the town in 1966, moving it to a nearby site off Bluff Road for use as his family residence. In 2007, Mr. Carmichael’s heirs donated it to the town, at which time it was returned to its original location. The reconstruction effort began in 2012.

“We’re going to open up the building, and I want to claim it as ‘twice saved,’ ” Mr. Lys said. “But primarily, we want to say thank you to everyone.”

As it has in previous years, the station will be part of the annual re-enactment of the 1942 landing of Nazi saboteurs, part of a plot to destroy infrastructure on American soil and terrorize citizens. A quick-thinking, 21-year-old Coast Guard seaman discovered the saboteurs shortly after they landed on the beach just east of the station, leading to their apprehension. The incident played a small but vital role in America’s victory in World War II.

The society is also planning a fund-raising lobster bake at the station on July 15.

Integrity of a 'Landmark' Modernist House at Issue

Integrity of a 'Landmark' Modernist House at Issue

Members of the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals were pleased that Ellin Salzman seeks only minor additions and alterations to a house on Spaeth Lane that The New York Times called “a landmark of white modernism in East Hampton.”
Members of the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals were pleased that Ellin Salzman seeks only minor additions and alterations to a house on Spaeth Lane that The New York Times called “a landmark of white modernism in East Hampton.”
Durell Godfrey
By
Christopher Walsh

The East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals considered an application on Friday for minimal variances from the owners of a house that, Frank Newbold, the Z.B.A. chairman, said, “is considered by many people a very important architectural icon in architecture books, built in 1969 by Richard Meier.”

Otherwise at Friday’s meeting, nine decisions were announced and five other applications discussed.

The owners of the architecturally significant house, which is at 20 Spaeth Lane, are not seeking to dramatically expand it. Instead, Ellin Salzman and her family have asked for variances to construct a pool house and pool equipment and to make alterations to a patio. At the hearing, Mr. Newbold pointed out that the house has 2,880 square feet of floor area, where 9,200 square feet is permitted, and that coverage of the nearly three-acre parcel is a little more than one-third of what is allowable.

The late Renny Salzman, an interior designer, gave Mr. Meier one of his first house commissions, according to his obituary in The New York Times, in 2000. The “starkly modern” house, The Times reported, “has become a landmark of white modernism in East Hampton.” It is featured in “East Hampton’s Heritage: An Illustrated Architectural Record” by Bob Hefner, the village’s historic preservation consultant, and was the subject of a 2012 feature in The Star.  

“I think a big part of this is to maintain the architectural integrity of what is a very historically important house,” Mr. Newbold said. Mark Catalano, an attorney representing the applicants, said they were “reluctant to make any change, and they haven’t made any change in 40-plus years.” But the pool house, pool equipment, and patio would fall within the required 75-foot front-yard setback, necessitating variance relief.

An existing pool house is to be renovated and a basement added, but that aspect of the plan does not require a variance. “They’re requesting a second pool house because the family is now three generations and they’re all out there together,” Mr. Catalano said. “This would allow a large dining area in between pool houses.” 

The neighboring oceanfront residence is more than 300 feet from the Salzmans’ swimming pool, Mr. Catalano said, and is mostly screened by vegetation. The driveway of the property would be most affected by approval of the variances, “so you’re nowhere near an adjacent residence,” Mr. Newbold said. “In short, a very modest proposal, totally in keeping with the property.”

“This is an easy one,” Craig Humphrey, a board member, said. The hearing was closed. 

The determinations were announced prior to the hearing on the Salzman property. David and Pam Zaslav, who own oceanfront property at 24 Drew Lane, were granted variances allowing an automatic cover for a swimming pool and two stone benches that fall within the required setback from the 15-foot ocean-dune contour line, where land disturbance is prohibited within 150 feet of the southerly edge of beach grass. The board also allowed design changes to previously approved accessory structures and the replacement of a slate patio. Mr. Zaslav, who had attended meetings at which his application was heard, is the president and chief executive officer of Discovery Communications.

The board granted O. Wayne Isom and Patricia Isom of 9 Drew Lane variances to reconstruct a garage, with alterations, within required setbacks, allow a toilet on the first floor of the garage, legalize an air-conditioning unit that falls within setbacks, and to allow the floor area of accessory buildings to remain 219 square feet greater than the maximum permitted.

Jeffrey Colle, a designer and builder of luxury houses, was granted wetlands permits to allow removal of phragmites by hand cutting and hand digging and to revegetate an area adjacent to wetlands at 81 North Briar Patch Road.

The board granted Brian Stanis variances to construct a house at 17 Pleasant Lane with a floor area of 2,350 square feet where the maximum permitted is 1,829 square feet, and to reconstruct a 372-square-foot garage within the side-yard setback and where the maximum permitted is 365 square feet. Mr. Stanis also was granted variances allowing two air-conditioner condensers within the front-yard setback and to construct a swimming pool within the rear-yard setback.

Frank Trentacoste, the proprietor of Bhumi Farms in East Hampton, was granted a variance to legalize approximately 1,215 linear feet of eight-foot-high deer fencing at 56 Egypt Close, where the village prohibits fencing higher than six feet. An easement requires the use of the property to be agriculture, and Mr. Trentacoste had testified that fencing conforming to the code does not deter deer. Two neighbors had submitted letters of support.

The board granted Paul Stallings of 10 Lockwood Lane a wetlands permit and variances to legalize landscaping and to clear vegetation and revegetate an area within 125 feet of the edge of wetlands. He also will be allowed to construct a pergola and make alterations to his residence, including construction of a second story, all within the wetlands setback. The permit and variances were granted on the condition that no pesticides or fertilizers are to be used within the revegetated areas and no irrigation installed.

Daniel Chung and Alexandra Alger of 10 Jones Creek Road were granted a wetlands permit and variances to permit construction of a detached garage in the front yard, which is prohibited by the zoning code, to permit the garage and a retaining wall within required setbacks, to legalize prior land clearing and landscaping within 125 feet of wetlands, and to allow a slate patio and walkway to remain within required wetlands setbacks.

The board granted Lawrence Flinn a variance to permit construction of a playing court at 4 Maidstone Lane, where there is no main structure. Mr. Flinn owns an adjacent parcel that has a residence and accessory structures, however.

Thomas Vince and Jess Lupinacci were granted variances for 22 Dayton Lane, allowing 428 square feet more coverage than the code permits. They also were granted permission to legalize a shed addition within the side and rear-yard setbacks and to construct an addition to the house within the side-yard setback.

Entire East Hampton Coast at Extreme or High Risk

Entire East Hampton Coast at Extreme or High Risk

Waves from Gardiner's Bay during a storm in January overwashed a narrow section of Gerard Drive, causing officials to close the road. Consultants hired by East Hampton Town to develop a coastal assessment resiliency plan say the town's bayfront is more susceptible to impacts from storm surge and sea level than the oceanfront.
Waves from Gardiner's Bay during a storm in January overwashed a narrow section of Gerard Drive, causing officials to close the road. Consultants hired by East Hampton Town to develop a coastal assessment resiliency plan say the town's bayfront is more susceptible to impacts from storm surge and sea level than the oceanfront.
Joanne Pilgrim
Contrary to assumptions, projections show more future impacts along the bayfront than at the ocean
By
Joanne Pilgrim

What will happen in the days to come, and in future decades, along East Hampton’s 114 miles of coastline as a result of expected sea level rise and possible storms? This question, and what might be done to avoid worst-case scenarios, is at the core of an attempt to develop a coastal assessment resiliency plan.

A committee appointed by the East Hampton Town Board early this year has begun examining potential impacts on East Hampton’s coast, using different projections as to the degree of sea level rise and the strength of storms. Gardiner’s Island has not been included.

On Tuesday, at the first public presentation on the effort, which participants refer to by the acronym CARP, Jeremy Samuelson, the head of the committee, described the formidable task with other questions. “How many acres are we going to lose? What is the shape of our community going to be? Where will the impacts be?”

Dr. Sam Merrill, a conservation biologist with GEI Consultants, a firm of engineers and scientists based in Portland, Me., who was hired to help draft a plan, shared the company’s analysis of what the town might face. Models taking into account the “combined threats of sea level rise and storm surge” show that many acres could be lost to rising waters, with significant economic impact.

After assessing just what could occur, Mr. Samuelson said, the next step is to discuss what could be done. Again, he asked questions: “Are we buying property, raising structures, incentivizing or dis-incentivizing development in certain areas?” Involving the community in discussion and approval of any plan will be key, he said. “We’ve got to change what we are doing. Literally, the shape of our town is going to change. We’re better off having a plan.”

Mr. Merrill said his company has worked with waterfront communities throughout the United States and overseas to create such plans. “Resiliency,” he said, is the ability to “bounce back after change or adversity,” as well as the “capacity to prepare for, respond to, and recover from difficult conditions.” The process is “about creating options for ourselves,” Mr. Merrill said.

According to National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration data collected at Montauk, mean sea level rise here has been approximately 3.2 millimeters a year, or just over a foot, over 100 years.

The “patterns of vulnerability,” Mr. Merrill said, differ along the south-facing oceanfront of East Hampton and the coastline on the bayfront and depend on whether one looks at sea level rise or storm surges, or both, and under best and worst-case scenarios.

Contrary to what many might assume, he said, the projections show more future impacts along the bayfront than the ocean.

The consultants based their analysis on projections adopted by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for medium or high sea level rise. Using the higher projection by the state, sea level could rise 21/2 feet by 2050 and 4.8 feet by 2080. Under a more conservative projection, sea level might be expected to rise 1.3 feet by 2050 and 2.5 feet by 2080.

What that could mean for East Hampton was depicted on a series of maps prepared by GEI. A map showing the state Department of State assessment of coastal areas at risk is based on Federal Emergency Management Agency’s designations. Areas at “extreme” and “high” risk include those that are already regularly flooded and would be affected by three feet of sea level rise and-or by a so-called 100-year storm. These areas include virtually the entire shore perimeter of the town. Areas at moderate risk are those that would be affected by a Category 3 hurricane, or by 3 hurrican, or by a 500-year storm.

Using separate modeling strategy, the consultants looked at the assessed value of the real estate at risk. Their economic assessment does not include impacts from the destruction of infrastructure, like utility stations, or the destruction of natural resources, or impacts related to a loss of tourism and the like.

For example, the estimated market value of real estate at risk along the Gardiner’s Bay shoreline in the Springs area was tallied at $538 million; along the ocean shore in East Hampton Village the value of at-risk real estate was set at $1.5 billion, and on Napeague it was $2.1 billion.

The consultants also prepared maps showing where East Hampton’s future coastline could be, based on the various projections of the degree of future sea level rise. Should sea level rise by 4.8 feet, 598 acres around Northwest Harbor, valued at $88.1 million, could be lost by 2080. Under the most conservative estimate, 492 acres in that area, valued at $64.6 million, would be under water by 2050. Along the south end of Lake Montauk, sea level rise could wash out 149 acres, valued at $22.9 million, by 2050, or, inundate 192 acres valued at $49.2 by 2080, according to the most extreme estimate.

There will be “a lot more inundation of acres on the bay side” of the town as a result of sea level rise, Mr. Merrill said, with a higher cost in many cases. But the pattern is reversed when looking at the effects of storm surge, with Napeague and East Hampton Village facing the most exposure and potential loss of value, both in the short term and over the next 50 or 60 years.

According to the consultants’ estimates, total damages from all storms that could occur through 2080, including a 100-year storm (defined as a storm with a 1-percent chance of occurring in a given year), and with 16 inches of sea level rise, could reach $263 million in a south-facing Wainscott and East Hampton Village zone, $806 million on Napeague, $69 million along Accabonac Harbor, and $64 million in downtown Montauk.

The study also looked at public facilities, including the Montauk Airport, train station, and electrical substation in Montauk, and the town commercial dock in East Hampton, and concluded that most are already vulnerable to storm surge. If some action is not taken to adapt to expected sea level rise, according the consultants, “they can be expected to be underwater at high tide every day” in the future.

The starting points for the study are “ballpark estimates, and there are assumptions baked in, but it does give a framework for discussion,” Mr. Merrill said, enabling the community to look at “where might we want to take some action, and what are our greatest concerns?”

Scientists and policymakers are constantly revising estimates of sea level rise, Mr. Merrill acknowledged, and the estimates used in the modeling for East Hampton could be revised as the process goes along, but “at some point you have to say, let’s start” a conversation based on a particular set of projections. “If you wait, the damage will only go up,” he said.

As the process continues, Mr. Merrill said, the discussion will include whether to take community-wide action, such as elevating roads, rail lines, and other infrastructure, augmenting or creating barriers along shorelines, or protecting open space as “living shorelines.” Individualized action, parcel-by-parcel, such as elevating buildings and flood-proofing, also have to be considered, he said, as well as town policies regarding, for instance, voluntary buyout programs for shorefront properties, providing incentives designed to get property owners to move buildings back from the shore, revising the zoning or building codes, or a transfer of development rights program.

Tuesday’s meeting was the first of a series of public sessions, Mr. Samuelson said. The presentation made at this week’s meeting will be posted on the town’s website.

Correction: This story has been updated from the original to correct an error regarding the possible monetary damages storms could cause in various shoreline areas. The estimates include potential damages from all storms that might occur through 2080, assuming there is 16 inches of sea level rise, and not just the damages from a 100-year storm.

Long May She Wave, but Not Here

Long May She Wave, but Not Here

The Sag Harbor Village Zoning Board of Appeals denied a variance for a 60-foot flagpole, which was put up without permission at the gas station on Route 114.
The Sag Harbor Village Zoning Board of Appeals denied a variance for a 60-foot flagpole, which was put up without permission at the gas station on Route 114.
Taylor K. Vecsey
Sag Harbor tells gas station to remove 60-foot flagpole
By
Taylor K. Vecsey

A 60-foot-tall flagpole in front of the redesigned Harbor Heights gas station in Sag Harbor Village has to come down, the village zoning board of appeals ruled on Tuesday night. The Z.B.A. denied a variance for the flagpole, which was erected without approval and is four times the height allowed under village code.

According to the code, in residential districts, the maximum height of a flagpole is 15 feet. In business and civic zones, 30-foot flagpoles are allowed. The gas station is a pre-existing nonconforming use in what is considered a residential area, despite being on Route 114.

Sukru Ilgin, the station’s owner, was requesting a variance for the additional 45 feet. He and his attorney tried to make a case first that the flagpole had been discussed during the approval process.

“The flagpole was not just put up in a vacuum without regard to the rules of the village,” Eli Markowitz told the board on behalf of his client, adding that it was part of the package presented. Mr. Ilgin’s company, 144 Hampton Road L.L.C. bought the property from the original applicant, Petroleum Ventures, in 2015, before construction started, for $2.5 million.

The approval process had taken 18 months, Tim McGuire, the board chairman, said. “At no point, including to the present, does the flagpole appear on the plan at any height. . . . In what sense was it not just put up here?”

“It was discussed with the village,” Mr. Markowitz said.

“This is the village, the zoning board of appeals,” the chairman said. It had not been applied for or approved. “It did just appear.”

Mr. Ilgin said it may not have been approved by the board, but that the building inspector, Tom Preiato, had given him the okay and that he would not have done it without permission.

Mr. McGuire suggested he seek an affidavit from the building inspector, but said it would not matter. “He wouldn’t have the authority to say that anyway.”

“I asked Tom specifically. I told him the height of the pole and where I’m going to put,” Mr. Ilgin told the board.

Mr. Preiato was not in attendance at Tuesday night’s meeting, but by email yesterday, he said he did tell the owner he could put up a flagpole at the same height as the one that had been at the old gas station. It was lower than the permitted 15 feet, he said. “I had no idea that a 60-foot flagpole was being installed with a crane nor did I give permission for the same,” he wrote. “He told me he would remove it, but didn’t, so I issued a ticket.”

Even if Mr. Preiato had granted permission as Mr. Ilgrin said, “The code is the code and he can’t overrule it,” Susan Mead, a member of the board, said at the meeting.

A 60-foot flagpole acts as a sign, she said, adding that it can be seen from a great distance.

Robert Plumb, another member, agreed, and mentioned another example, one 80 to 100 feet tall on the Long Island Expressway. “It’s not a patriotic gesture.”

Michael Butler, a next door neighbor, said 60 feet for a flagpole is “quite exorbitant,” noting, by contrast, that the flagpoles at the Washington Memorial are 25 feet tall. “What is it that we are memorializing here, I wonder?”

He also said the flagpole is lighted at night, adding to the light pollution in the area.

Federal law stipulates that flags displayed at night must be “properly illuminated during the hours of darkness.”

Mr. Butler also said that the size and height of the flag create additional noise in the neighborhood as “it flutters and flaps in the wind.”

Jayne Young, representing Save Sag Harbor, called it an “egregious overstepping of even a normal variance that might be granted.”

Since 2011, members of the community group led a charge to reduce the number of variances requested by the gas station — the flagpole was not among them. Many residents feared an intensified commercial use. The board ended up granting a single setback variance, allowing for a 600-square-foot convenience store to be built in the old building’s existing space and the gas pumps were moved to the side of the building.

While residents have also complained that the new gas station’s signage, lighting, and the convenience store hours do not match up with the approved design, Mr. Preiato only issued a violation for the flagpole. 

Mr. McGuire polled the board, which unanimously voted against the variance. Denise Schoen, the attorney to the Z.B.A., will prepare a written decision, which gives the owner a timeframe in which to take the flagpole down.

Third-Party Screenings

Third-Party Screenings

East Hampton Town Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc was among the candidates who sought the Independence Party’s endorsement on Monday.
East Hampton Town Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc was among the candidates who sought the Independence Party’s endorsement on Monday.
Christopher Walsh
Candidates seek the Independence Party’s nod
By
Christopher Walsh

The proposed offshore wind farm and water quality were the primary topics of discussion on Monday when the East Hampton Independence Party’s screening committee interviewed candidates for townwide office.

The committee, meeting at Asha­wagh Hall in Springs, conducted brief interviews with Republican and Democratic candidates for supervisor, town board, and town trustee. Incumbents in other offices who have been cross-endorsed by the two major parties were assured the Independence Party’s support.

Candidates “can’t focus on Washington,” Elaine Jones, the party’s chairwoman, said yesterday. “We are not interested in what’s happening in Washington, we’re interested in what’s happening in East Hampton.”

To that end, she told each of the Republican candidates for town board and supervisor that a photo on Facebook depicting them with a cardboard cutout of President Trump was troubling. All three men — Paul Giardina, Jerry Larsen, and Manny Vilar — said they were unaware of the photo and that in any event it should not be seen as an endorsement of the president.

“I’m a very center-of-the-road guy,” said Mr. Vilar, a sergeant with the New York State Parks police and the founding president of the state’s Police Benevolent Association. In that capacity, he said, “I have to work very closely with the Democratic Assembly. You have to be able to reach across the aisle.” He said he had asked the East Hampton Town Democratic Committee if he could screen with them but was denied. “I’m confident enough in myself,” he said, putting “what’s right for the community first, and politics last.”

Mr. Giardina emphasized his long experience working for the federal Environmental Protection Agency, and said that his party’s plan to utilize the E.P.A.-State Environmental Facilities Corporation Revolving Fund, which would make $2 billion available to New York State for water-quality remediation, was better than the up-to-20 percent of community preservation fund money voters allocated for the purpose last year. That figure, $4 to $5 million per year, is not nearly adequate, he said.

Ms. Jones asked if the slow pace of the federal government might render his plan unrealistic. “Cutting through red tape is easier for me,” was the reply. “I do maintain my ties with the E.P.A.”

The screening committee seemed warm to Jeffrey Bragman’s candidacy for town board. Mr. Bragman, an attorney, has been endorsed by the Democrats. He has represented the town’s architectural review board, zoning board of appeals, and planning board, as well as applicants before the various boards. “These days, there is a lot of money coming to East Hampton,” Mr. Bragman told the screening committee. “Battles are getting tougher. Boards have to be armed with knowledge.”

“I think we need an attorney on the board,” Ms. Jones said.

Zachary Cohen, who is expected to force a Democratic primary for a town board seat, also sought the Independence Party’s endorsement. He emphasized his dedication to people and the environment, but Ms. Jones expressed a reluctance to “get in the middle of his primary.”

Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, an incumbent Democrat, talked about her work to gain local control of the East Hampton Airport, and Peter Van Scoyoc, a board member who is seeking to succeed Supervisor Larry Cantwell, who is stepping down after two terms, discussed water-quality remediation, housing, and the offshore wind farm. He suggested that Deepwater Wind, the Rhode Island company that plans to construct the wind farm, listen to the concerns of fishermen and route the transmission cable to land via the southern, ocean side of the South Fork and not the bay side, which baymen fear will destroy fish habitat and disrupt, at the least, their livelihood. “It’s in their best interest to have a successful dialog with the town,” he said of Deepwater Wind.

The freewheeling nature of the discussions was perhaps best illustrated in separate sessions with seven Republican candidates for town trustee, two of them incumbents, followed by as many Democrats, three incumbents among them.

The Republicans adamantly oppose the proposed wind farm. The trustees, said Jim Grimes, an incumbent, “are the one thing that stands between some ill-thought-out moment in political time . . . I feel it’s unfortunate our town board hasn’t shown this project the due diligence that they should have.”

Some Democrats, particularly Rick Drew, also expressed deep concerns about the proposed site, selection, a 256-square-mile area that covers the fertile fishing grounds known as Cox’s Ledge. Francesca Rheannon said she wants to find ways for commercial fishermen and Deepwater Wind to “work together so whatever needs to be done to protect the environment in the long run doesn’t hurt people in the short run. . . . I want to try to bring different groups together, because really, we’re all in this together.”

To the suggestion that fishermen be compensated should the wind farm’s construction and laying of its transmission cable prove disruptive, Ms. Jones, noting that her father came here from Norway and fished from Montauk for 45 years, said, “Fishermen don’t want the compensation. They want their lives.”

But, said Ms. Rheannon, “climate change is already destroying our fisheries. This is an issue that’s not going away. We have to find a way to work together.” In Norway, which has offshore wind farms, “they’ve managed it in a way that was good,” she said. “This is a tough issue.”

Bill Taylor, a Democrat and one of the trustees’ deputy clerks, defended the Democratic majority’s work, citing an improved relationship with the State Department of Environmental Conservation, which he said was exemplified by an expedited permit to dredge a part of Accabonac Harbor and open the culvert under Gerard Drive in Springs to improve water circulation.

But Joe Bloecker, a Republican former trustee seeking to rejoin the board, had a different take. A staunch critic of the offshore wind farm, he criticized the present trustee board for cooperating with the D.E.C. on dredging permits, “when they don’t need them, because the trustees have the ability to do these things themselves.”

Independence Party officials expect to reveal their endorsements tomorrow. “This year is a very difficult decision,” Ms. Jones said yesterday. “We have to do what’s right for our party.”

Untangling the Immigration Thicket

Untangling the Immigration Thicket

Nadine Trinh, an attorney with the firm Jackson Lewis, offered insights on current immigration regulations affecting employers during an East Hampton Business Alliance breakfast at Cittanuova last week.
Nadine Trinh, an attorney with the firm Jackson Lewis, offered insights on current immigration regulations affecting employers during an East Hampton Business Alliance breakfast at Cittanuova last week.
Carissa Katz
With summer nigh, employers gather for advice on visas and seasonal workers
By
Carissa Katz

In a dining room full of East Hampton employers, about six raised their hands when asked at an East Hampton Business Alliance breakfast last Thursday if they use the H-2B visa program to bring in seasonal foreign workers.

The many more who may be most dependent on that program locally were likely too busy preparing for the summer season to take time out for the sit-down breakfast at Cittanuova. The topic: “The East End Employer and Immigration Issues.” In a changing political climate, with immigration and American jobs occupying top spots in many a 2016 presidential stump speech, it is a subject employers are paying close attention to.

Nadine Trinh and Thomas Walsh of the law firm Jackson Lewis offered an update on current immigration regulations and pending legislation that affect employers who hire foreign workers on a temporary basis for nonagricultural jobs. Ms. Trinh focused primarily on the H-2B visa program, long a source of supplemental labor for employers faced with the seasonal need for low-skill workers. For those dependent on the program, the news was mostly discouraging, but not surprising.

“This is not about what we think the law should be; it’s about what the law is,” Mr. Walsh said as he introduced Ms. Trinh, who specializes in employment-based visa processing at the firm’s White Plains office.

Hotel housekeepers and other resort staff, landscapers, cooks, bellhops, warehouse workers, and maintenance staff are just some of the workers who might fall under the H-2B program, which allows employers who meet specific criteria to bring foreign nationals to the U.S. for temporary employment. Underlying all of the program’s regulations is the notion that foreign workers should not be brought to the U.S. for jobs that could be done by resident workers.

Since the program was established in 1990, the annual cap on visas has remained at 66,000, with half available for workers coming in the first half of the year and the remainder for the second half of the year, Ms. Trinh said. This year, the 33,000 cap for the first half of the year was reached by the second week in January, and the cap for the second half of the year was reached in March.

For employers, petitioning for the H-2B program is not a quick fix to the seasonal labor shortage. “It’s a fairly involved process in a short window of time,” Ms. Trinh said. “You start four to five months in advance.”

Employers must first request the prevailing wage for a given position from the Department of Labor, which can take six to eight weeks. Then they have to test the local labor market, running help-wanted ads for a certain period of time to demonstrate to the Department of Labor that they cannot find resident workers to do the job at the prevailing wage. Only then can they file their request for H-2B classification from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.

“It ends up costing you an exorbitant amount of money to place an ad for this position,” Ms. Trinh said.

Finally, prospective workers living outside the country must personally apply for a visa from the United States Department of State at a U.S. embassy or consulate. There is always a chance, Ms. Trinh said, that the worker could be approved for a visa but be turned away at a port of entry. “It is possible to be flagged or even denied entry for something that happened years ago,” she said.

In short, “If you didn’t start until January, it’s probably too late. . . . If you ­didn’t start until September of last year, it probably would have been too late.”

Some years there have been exemptions for returning workers, but Congress failed to reinstate that exemption last September for 2017. “There is a lot of talk of reforming the H-2B visa program,” Ms. Trinh said. “A lot of lawmakers are putting pressure on to increase the numbers of H-2B visas available,” or to audit the program to see if any of the visas have gone unused.

There is also a provision in the omnibus spending bill passed earlier this month that gives Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly the discretion to allocate an additional 70,000 H-2B visas this year, but employers could lose a lot banking on that, Ms. Trinh said. “We heard there may not be any discussion on this until after the July 4 recess.”

“If you are willing to assume the costs of knowing that [the additional 70,000 visas] may not go anywhere, you can certainly start the process now,” she said.

Her best advice for employers who think they will need temporary workers next summer is to start the H-2B process “no later than the end of this year.”

Some employers also find seasonal help through the J-1 exchange visitor visa program, which allows full-time postsecondary students in a foreign country to work temporarily in the U.S. while visiting and traveling here.

“It’s a good option,” Ms. Trinh said, and “there is no annual cap,” but if employers have a history of using the H-2B program and “all of a sudden you go to J-1,” it could send up red flags, she said. Housing is typically provided to students working in the U.S. on J-1 visas.

Taking the legal path to hiring seasonal foreign workers can be expensive and time-consuming, but knowingly hiring undocumented workers can result in significant fines, ranging from $2,100 to $21,000, Ms. Trinh said last Thursday.

“Employers have to be careful to request and keep a record of proper documentation,” she said, “but they also cannot engage in any discrimination.” Requesting too much identification can be seen as discriminatory. “Do what you need to do, but make sure you’re not doing too much.”