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Budget Wins the Day

Budget Wins the Day

Bridgehampton voters approve increase by 62 percent
By
Amanda M. Fairbanks

On Tuesday night, by a vote of 240 to 145, Bridgehampton voters finally  pierced the state-imposed tax cap on a $12.3 million budget for the 2014-15 school year. The budget was before voters for the second time, and it passed by a supermajority of 62 percent, just over the 60 percent required. The same budget had been put before voters in May, when only 54 percent of voters were willing to pierce the cap.

Laura Spillane, the district treasurer, announced the results in the school’s gymnasium shortly after the polls closed at 8 p.m. The mood quickly turned celebratory, with relief audible. About a dozen residents of different ages had filtered into the gym to cast their ballots before the polls closed. Lois Favre, the district superintendent, stood watching, saying she remained “hopeful” in the minutes leading up the count. All told, 385 voters turned out.

On May 20, when only 247 turned out for the first vote, the result was 134 to 113. Had the budget gone down a second time, Bridgehampton would have been forced to adopt a budget based on this year’s figures — with cuts amounting to nearly $800,000 according to Ron White, the school board president. He blamed complacency and low voter turnout for the initial defeat.

Douglas DeGroot, who has served on the school board for the past four years, said Tuesday’s revote left him feeling vindicated. “A lot of people thought we were arrogant to go out with the same budget, but we cut as much as we could,” said Mr. DeGroot. “It’s great to finally get this community support.”

“I’m very happy,” said Tamara George, whose son is in the first grade. Since relocating from Virginia, she said her son has received unparalleled individual attention, helping him catch up to his peers. “This is a wonderful school.”

Dorothy White, who has worked as a custodian for the past 20 years, cheered. “This is awesome,” she said. A graduate of the school, Ms. White’s four children also are graduates and her son is school board president. In addition, she has two grandchildren who are enrolled now. “As a hard worker, I just didn’t want to see anyone lose their job.” 

The Bridgehampton School enrolls around 170 students. It asked voters to okay a $1.1 million, or 9.93-percent, increase over the current year’s $11.2 million spending plan. The 2014-15 budget translates to a $10.6 million tax levy — or an increase of 8.8 percent. Under a state law that went into effect in 2012, the cap on property tax increases is either 2 percent or the Consumer Price Index — whichever is lower. This year, school districts faced caps of 1.46 percent. 

Bridgehampton was among four districts across Long Island that put forth cap-busting budgets. Only East Hampton, with 73 percent of voter support, was successful during last month’s vote. Budgets in West Babylon and Sayville were similarly struck down, and these districts put forth reduced budgets on Tuesday. They were approved by 73 percent and 76 percent of voters, respectively. The Bridgehampton School Board had unanimously  agreed to resubmit the $12.3 million budget.  As a result, Bridgehampton will see the biggest tax increase across Nassau and Suffolk Counties for the coming school year.

 

Lake Montauk Pollution Solutions

Lake Montauk Pollution Solutions

A watershed management plan has been drafted to improve water quality in Lake Montauk and its surroundings.
A watershed management plan has been drafted to improve water quality in Lake Montauk and its surroundings.
Durell Godfrey
Buying vacant land and incentives for septic upgrades in watershed suggested
By
Joanne Pilgrim

A study of Lake Montauk and its 2,760-acre watershed has identified the threats to water quality in the lake and set out a list of recommendations for East Hampton Town to follow. Water quality is good in the lake’s center but poor in areas where the tide does not reach and pollution runs into the lake, the study says.

One approach to water quality protection, preserving vacant land around the lake, is already moving forward. East Hampton’s Department of Land Acquisition contacted the owners of 200 undeveloped properties totaling 150 acres within the lake watershed about possible purchase of their land with the town’s preservation fund. Forty-one responded, and several purchases are in the works.

Carrie O’Farrell of Nelson, Pope, and Voorhis, a consulting firm that worked with members of a town-appointed Lake Montauk technical advisory group to develop the watershed management plan, reviewed the plan’s findings and suggestions at a town board meeting on June 10.

With funding from a New York State Department of State grant, the study group looked at the watershed’s topography, depth to groundwater in the areas surrounding the lake, land ownership, including an inventory of land owned by the public or nonprofit organizations, drainage infrastructure, and surface water impairment in the entire watershed, including the 20 freshwater wetlands around the lake.

 The filling and removal of some of those wetlands contribute to poor water quality, Ms. O’Farrell said, as does the removal of trees and vegetated buffers, over-fertilization of lawns, and the discharge of stormwater and sanitary waste to surface and groundwater without adequate filtration.

Problems are particularly evident in the southern part of the lake, the report says. High levels of pathogens there are attributed to conditions in the Ditch Plain neighborhood, including poorly draining soils, shallow depth to groundwater, and poor quality wetlands in a high-density residential area.

Water quality tests by the Suffolk County Health Department, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and other agencies have led to the closures of bathing beaches at East Lake and South Lake Drives, due to high coliform levels, and shellfishing closures at Star Island, South Lake, the Montauk Lake Club, and Coonsfoot Cove, which has been closed permanently to shellfishing.

High nitrogen and chlorophyll-a levels, toxic cyanobacteria, and poor water-column quality has been noted at Big Reed Pond.

The report contains recommendations for action in six areas: stormwater runoff and water quality; municipal facilities; wastewater; regulatory issues; public education and stewardship, and the water bodies themselves.

It suggests that tidal flushing and circulation in Lake Montauk be studied, identified, and mapped, that the contribution of septic systems to pollution in the lake be investigated, and that water quality testing be increased. The use of aeration systems should be considered in the lower part of the lake, the report suggests.

Improvements to stormwater drainage systems are recommended.

The entire stormwater management system around the lake — or its ?“sewershed” — should be mapped to track inspections and maintenance of stormwater systems, the report says.

To reduce sewage leeching into the lake, the management plan suggests the town consider establishing incentive programs for septic system upkeep or replacement, or low-interest loan programs, and investigating options for alternative septic waste treatment in highly developed areas in the watershed.

In addition, the report suggests the town could provide incentives to encourage the use of “green” infrastructure in site and drainage design around the lake.

A Lake Montauk protection overlay district, or watershed improvement district, should be established to raise money for watershed protection initiatives and facilitate the adoption of area-specific regulations, the plan says. One that is recommended would require a vegetated buffer of at least 50 feet along the lake on residential properties and of at least 20 feet on commercial sites.

Signs should be posted, the report says, to educate the public about the ecological importance of the lake, and to inform swimmers about the potential health hazards of taking a dip at the South Lake beach.

The report includes a list of state and federal agencies from which money could be sought to implement aspects of the watershed management plan. Adopting such a plan, the consultants say, is “a key component in securing funding.”

With money already available from the 2-percent real estate transfer tax that supplies the community preservation fund, Scott Wilson of the town’s Land Acquisition Department told the board that parcels around the lake were targeted in a wide-ranging outreach to property owners, the first that has been undertaken. The procedure could also be followed to acquire properties in areas around other pollution-affected waters, such as Three Mile and Accabonac Harbors.

The town board will hold a hearing tonight at 6:30 at Town Hall on the purchase of three Lake Montauk watershed properties — a .35-acre lot at 148 Greenwich Street owned by Virginia Colombi-Carbone for $275,000; a half-acre lot at 15 Furness Road owned by Fred Pederson for $250,000, and a 38 South Greenwich Street lot of just over an acre owned by Anthony and Irene D’Agostino for $345,000.

 

Targeted in 'I.R.S.' Con

Targeted in 'I.R.S.' Con

MoneyPak cards are at the center of a new schere, police warn.
MoneyPak cards are at the center of a new schere, police warn.
Courtesy of Flickr
By
T.E. McMorrow

Southampton Town police sent out a warning about phone scams this week, and East Hampton residents may want to pay heed. At least two East Hampton residents were targeted by telephone con artists last week, with one of the two falling victim.

A Springs resident received one such call Friday, in which the caller posed as an Internal Revenue Service agent. Rosalio Sigua told police the caller said he owed back taxes and threatened to seize his 14th Street property along with his immigration card if he did not send him the money. Mr. Sigua contacted his accountant, who assured him his taxes were in good order, leading to the call to the police.

The alert issued by Southampton Town Police Detective Sgt. Lisa Costa this week said that such scammers usually ask for payment via Green Dot cards or Western Union.

Another local resident received a similar call, but was not so fortunate Friday. Hung Kieu of East Hampton was told by a caller that he had to pay $1,000 in back taxes or he would be arrested. Mr. Kieu was instructed to buy two Green Dot MoneyPak cards, and phone the caller back with the number, which he did. He then contacted his attorney who told him the call was likely a scam, and that he should contact police.

Mr. Kieu is now minus the $1,000, plus the $9.90 in Green Dot fees.

The Southampton Town detective included in her email an informational release from the New York Police Department regarding Green Dot card scams, in which the N.Y.P.D. urged caution with Green Dot cards, saying "anyone who has the number on a Green Dot MoneyPak card has access to the funds on the card." The N.Y.P.D. went to say, "Never give out personal or financial information to anyone who calls or emails you, unsolicited."

Detective Costa warned in her press release issued Monday night that callers posing as I.R.S. agents are not the only con artists making the rounds these days. The detective described another common telephone and email con game. "In this scam, the caller will claim to be a friend or relative that got into trouble or was involved in an accident in another country and needs money to get out of jail," the detective wrote. "In some cases the scammer will tell the victim they are a police officer and their grandchild or relative has been arrested and needs to have money sent to them for bail."

A third common scam the detective warned about was when the caller again poses as an officer, this time saying that a warrant for arrest has been issued for the targeted victim for failing to serve jury duty. The caller will then say that the target can pay a fine to avoid arre

Driver Airlifted After Rollover on Napeague Stretch

Driver Airlifted After Rollover on Napeague Stretch

An S.U.V. rolled over on the Napeague stretch of Montauk Highway on Wednesday afternoon.
An S.U.V. rolled over on the Napeague stretch of Montauk Highway on Wednesday afternoon.
By
Taylor K. Vecsey

A sport utility vehicle rolled over on the Napeague stretch of Montauk Highway, west of the Lobster Roll restaurant, on Wednesday afternoon, injuring the driver. The accident happened at about 1:05 p.m.

Police reported the driver was already out of the vehicle when the first responding units arrived and that he was being treated for a head injury. A paramedic with the Amagansett Fire Department called for a medevac helicopter to airlift the driver to Stony Brook University Hospital from East Hampton Airport.

Only one person was said to have been injured, and a tow truck was called for one vehicle, the S.U.V., which Second Assistant Chief Wayne Gauger said was on its side. He said the accident involved only one car, but he did not know the cause of the crash. The S.U.V. rolled over one and a half times, he said. 

Shortly after the accident, an Amagansett Fire Department ambulance was dispatched to a second alarm, at a laundromat on Montauk Highway, where a man was reportedly injured in a fall.

This story will be updated as more details become available.

Correction: An earlier version of the story said the accident was east of Cyril's Restaurant, near the state beach access. 

No Strangers to Sag Village Hall

No Strangers to Sag Village Hall

Four candidates are vying for two seats on the Sag Harbor Village Board, clockwise, John Shaka, Sandra Schroeder, Bruce Stafford, Robby Stein.
Four candidates are vying for two seats on the Sag Harbor Village Board, clockwise, John Shaka, Sandra Schroeder, Bruce Stafford, Robby Stein.
Two incumbents, an activist, and former clerk running for two seats on board
By
Taylor K. Vecsey

Four candidates are vying for two seats on the Sag Harbor Village Board in an election that will be held on Tuesday.

Robby Stein is the only incumbent running for re-election, as Kevin Duchemin is not seeking another term after serving two years on the board. Mr. Stein is joined on the ballot by Sandra Schroeder, John Shaka, and Bruce Stafford. The terms are two years each.

Ms. Schroeder is a familiar face in village government, having worked for the village for 21 years under eight mayors until her retirement in 2010. She was the village clerk and later the clerk administrator. Last year, she ran for mayor, losing by 11 votes to the incumbent, Brian Gilbride.

She had not planned to run again this year because she did not want to run against Mr. Stein or Mr. Duchemin, but when Mr. Duchemin decided not to seek re-election, she said he called her and asked to reconsider.

In her retirement, Ms. Schroeder said, “I started wondering about an awful lot of things — the Havens Beach progress, flooding, the police arbitration.” Many questions she asked at meetings, or answers she was looking for through Freedom of Information Law requests still left her with more questions. For instance, she said, she asked the board if there was any money put aside for when the police contract is settled. The answer she got was that it was “tucked in somewhere” into the budget. “There’s something really wrong going on,” she said.

She wants to see better long-range planning and a capital plan. “We need to be proactive, not reactive,” she said. “I do understand that Brian doesn’t want to finance anything, but you’re never going to get an interest rate thislow,” she said. She would also like to see the village board working more with its advisory boards, like the harbor committee, in case local laws need to be tweaked. “I certainly understand government and the process. I like to work with people. I like to help people. I just want to get in there and work and help.”

Married 38 years to John Schroeder, a former truck driver, she went into municipal work when her children were in school. Having been in the Fire Department’s Ladies Auxiliary for nearly four decades, she is now an honorary member.

Mr. Shaka, a Save Sag Harbor board member, has lived in the village for 15 years. Over the past three years, he worked with others to fight the Harbor Heights gas station and convenience store project on Route 114, which he believed was too large and out of character for the historic district. The current traffic calming project under way in the village started with a meeting in his dining room a year and a half ago, he said.

“Over the past few years, I’ve been working on specific issues in the village, things that really sort of spoke to me. In doing that, I realized, A, I expect other people are taking care of things and they’re not necessarily, and B, you can make a contribution and you can getthings done,” he said. “At some point you realize you can be effective as an advocate but why not be up there being the one making decisions as opposed to trying to convince other people what you’ve just learned? I think I can be more effective if I’m in the place of making the decision instead of trying to continually educate someone else.”

Since announcing his candidacy, Mr. Shaka, a painting contractor who specializes in decorative painting, said he put his work with Save Sag Harbor on hold. His husband, Matthew O’Grady, an executive with the Nielsen Company, introduced him to Sag Harbor nearly two decades ago.

Mr. Stafford is a former member of the village board who was ousted in a three-way race with Mr. Stein and Mr. Duchemin in 2012 after one full term. He said he never stopped attending meetings over the past two years and wants to be back on the dais. “I kind of miss it. There’s a lot of issues that are still here when I was here. I’d like to see if I can be of some help,” he said, specifically naming the police contract, which is still in arbitration, and drainage issues. “With Brian at the helm, I think it’s a great thing. I’m sure they’ve got a lot accomplished, but there’s always something else that can be done.”

While on the board, he said, he helped the village get solar panels for the Fire Department headquarters, implement a false-alarm fee as a revenue source for the village, and secure a used boat for the Fire Department dive team, as well as dry suits, through a grant, among other things.

He shares Mayor Gilbride’s philosophy of “pay as you go, if you can.” A pumper the Fire Department received when he was on the board was purchased with money from a reserve fund for that very reason, he said. Another pumper that was brought previously, he said, will likely have to be replaced before it is paid off.

He is a longtime member of the Fire Department and now sits on the board of wardens. He is also the president of the Sag Harbor Fire Department Benevolent Association and chairman of the board of the Sag Harbor United Methodist Church.

Mr. Stein, a clinical child psychologist, was appointed to the board six years ago to fill a vacancy when Mr. Gilbride, then a board member, was elected mayor. Mr. Stein had just lost a tight race for election to the board. He later won two more elections for full terms.

“The reason I’m running is pretty straightforward — I’m right in the middle of a whole series of projects. This has been a very complicated time in terms of what the board is actually doing in Sag Harbor because of the domination of the last election by the police negotiations. We’re in the midst of a building boom here, and the code has to be revised and relooked at and adjusted,” he said. Also, he is in the midst of proposing some parking re-designs, including attendant parking.

Asked what his greatest accomplishment has been on the board, he said it includes raising awareness about the problems of stormwater runoff. He is the village’s representative to the Peconic Estuary Program. During his first year in office, he helped establish music permits and legalize outdoor dining. The village’s waste management plant is running at a higher level of efficiency, too, he said. But, there is still plenty of work to be done. “I do frankly feel we haven’t been strong enough at really re-looking at the code,” he said.

Mr. Stein is a member of the board of the Bay Street Theater and Mashashimuet Park, and has been working to make the “shoulder seasons” more rich in recreational activities and cultural events. His wife is Alex Mc­Near, a former reporter at The Star.

While all the candidates are running on their own party lines, both Mr. Shaka and Ms. Schroeder said they support Mr. Stein and hope to see him re-elected to the board. “He’s a delight to work with,” Mr. Shaka said. “He’s phenomenal. He cares the same way I do. He has wonderful ideas. He’s a very good asset to that board,” Ms. Schroeder said.

Mr. Stafford said he “likes doing things on my own,” but that he would work with anyone. “I’ve worked with Robbie before, I know Sandra. I’m impressed with John Shaka. I’m impressed how he talks about the village.”

Mr. Stein said Mr. Shaka has shown he can get things done. “I’d love to see him elected. At the same time, I’ve worked with Sandra. When I first got on, I would come to the village every morning at 7 a.m. and she taught me a lot. She’s a wealth of knowledge,” he said.

The election will be held at the Sag Harbor Fire Department headquarters on Brick Kiln Road on Tuesday from noon to 9 p.m.

 

The Art of the Open House

The Art of the Open House

By
Debra Scott

Step right up. Come one, come all. Lobster rolls! Live music! Free iPads!       

With distractions aplenty and about 100 open houses a week, South Fork real estate agents have had to hawk their events with come-ons worthy of P.T. Barnum to lure other agents to open houses. Even the balloons, festooned to signs, give open houses a circus atmosphere.

There are two kinds of open house: for customers and for other agents. Open houses for customers take place on weekends, when most prospects are around, while those for agents are on weekdays, when agents aren’t as busy showing customers properties. It is for the latter that most ploys are used.

“You don’t want to tempt buyers with nonsense,” said Jennifer Linick of Halstead Property. “You want buyers to come because they have an interest in the house.”

Gimmicks used to lure agents have run the gamut from offers of free spa treatments to croquet tournaments. Winners of free gifts are determined by business card drawings. It’s imperative to get other agents to open houses because “Brokers show what they know,” according to Chris Chapin of Douglas Elliman. Mr. Chapin admits to only attending open houses where food is served, not a rare occurrence. Most open houses have at least a sandwich or so awaiting hungry agents.

He recounted a time when he went to an open house serving iced tea and granola bars. He remembers thinking, “Wow, this house is a great deal.” So, a couple of weeks later when a customer asked him for the best deal on the market, he immediately thought of the property, and brokered the sale. The only reason it occurred to him was that he’d attended the open house.

“Most agents sell through a co-broke,” Patrick McLaughlin of Elliman said. “My job is to get as many brokers there as possible.” Mr. McLaughlin, known to other agents as “the king of the open house,” has done everything from holding wine tastings to giving away iPads to lure brokers. Two of hisevents had particularly successful turnouts, one an author signing for a book called “Tan Lines: Sand, Surf, and Secrets,” written by a friend of his, the other a feast from Joe’s Stone Crab, which he had flown in from Miami.

Because of intense competition in the local market, he said, a turnout of 25 is “good these days.” Does he go to open houses himself? “I make the effort to go to open houses of brokers who go to mine.”

In the past couple of weeks there have been quite a few open houses offering incentives. Nanette Hansen of Sotheby’s International Realty offered $100 gift certificates to the East Hampton Grill to agents who attended hers last week at a house on Springy Banks Road in East Hampton asking $975,000. It was attended by about a dozen agents, a number that she said was “pretty good,” considering it was on a Friday. That is a day when “agents are typically running around getting ready for their weekend customers.” Bill Williams, also of Sotheby’s, won the certificate.

Ann Ciardullo of Sotheby’s held a putting and chipping contest — “equipment supplied!” — for a “Zen retreat” asking $2.795 million on Beechwood Court in Northwest, East Hampton, designed by Bates Masi Architects of Sag Harbor.

Robin Kaplan of Douglas Elliman held two open houses, each offering a $50 gift certificate for BookHampton, to see her listing on Chatfield’s Ridge Road in East Hampton, a 2.6-acre property bordered by a reserve, asking $4 million. Ms. Kaplan has owned bookstores and is a proponent of the non-digital form of the medium. The first one attracted 4 agents, the second 13. The heavier turnout at the second might have been a result of her sending out an email blast announcing the winner of the first one — Ms. Linick. Ms. Linick purchased a book by Peter Beard that cost $70, an extra boon for the local business.

If given a choice between attending an open house with or without an incentive, agents will almost invariably choose the one with the free food or possibility of an iPad. But they also want to see the properties.

“Knowing the inventory is the hardest part of my business and the easiest not to do,” Ms. Linick said. “It’s also the easiest to remedy.” She holds open houses “as often as I can,” and always serves food. On Saturday she made a goat cheese, prosciutto, potato, and rosemary frittata and banana coffee cake. When she supplies sandwiches by Luigi’s, a popular East Hampton deli, she makes sure to broadcast that.

Some agents are not huge fans of over-the-top enticements. “At end of the day, the product lures them to the property, not the food,” said Robert Tramondo of Saunders. Of course, that doesn’t stop him and his business partner, Vince Horcasitas, from serving lunch. They held a recent open house for a “very special” waterfront rental property on Old Mill Road in Water Mill asking just shy of $10 million. Food and drinks were supplied by Janis Bronstein of Citibank. Mortgage brokers traditionally supply food in order to network with brokers.

Ms. Hansen tries to hold open houses for her listings every two weeks. Even if turnout is low, she still gets the listing in front of brokers’ eyeballs by way of an email invitation.

There are many reasons to hold a broker open house, according to Ms. Hansen. It’s especially effective when you have a listing “that for one reason or another has not gotten a lot of interest.” That could be because agents weren’t able to attend previous showings as a result of tight schedules, or because they didn’t have customers in that category, so it wasn’t on their radar.

In the case of the house on Springy Banks, it had been on the market in the past at a higher price. “Agents think they know a listing,” Ms. Hansen said, “but they need to come see it again when it’s at its best with the garden in bloom.”

Open houses are deemed so crucial that competing agencies actually coordinate open houses so that they are held near one another for ultimate convenience. At one point, certain days were designated to certain areas, but that never caught on, Ms. Linick said.

Most agents agree that open houses work. Sometimes they’re seen as acts of desperation, however. “You can always tell those by how long they’ve been on the market,” said Kieran Brew of Brown Harris Stevens, who holds open houses “as often as I get a new or noteworthy listing.” But if it’s a worthwhile listing, he believes it will be well attended.

“If you add lunch you might get a few extra people,” he said. “I don’t really think open houses sell properties. They are only as good as the listing.”

 

 

Bill Wilkinson Is Sued

Bill Wilkinson Is Sued

Whistleblower Harry J. Ellis alleges retaliation
By
Joanne Pilgrim

In a federal lawsuit filed last week, former East Hampton Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson is accused of retaliating against a Montauk whistleblower who alerted state officials to environmental violations committed by Keith Grimes, a contractor and longtime Wilkinson political supporter and friend.

The plaintiff, Harry J. Ellis, asserts that Mr. Wilkinson, in his official capacity, engaged in a pattern of intimidation and retaliation against him, violating his civil rights. “During his tenure as supervisor of the Town of East Hampton,” the lawsuit charges, Mr. Wilkinson “and his political allies repeatedly and systematically targeted enemies and subjected them to retaliation.”

The class-action suit was brought “on behalf of all those citizens and residents of the [Town of East Hampton] who have been or are likely to have been intimidated in the exercise of their Constitutional rights by the actions and policies of defendant Wilkinson. . . .”

Speaking by phone yesterday from Haiti, James S. Henry, a Sag Harbor lawyer who is representing Mr. Ellis, said that his client, a longtime Montauk resident, had provided “enormous service to the community by helping to protect the environment.”

“He stuck his neck out,” said the lawyer. He said Mr. Ellis “was just one of several such environmental activists or whistleblowers who was singled out. . . .”

The lawsuit alleges that Mr. Wilkinson fast-tracked the construction of a 6,000-square-foot drainage retention pond, parking lot, and public footpath on wetlands adjacent to the Ellis residence on East Lake Drive in Montauk, “in direct retaliation” for Mr. Ellis’s role in bringing illegal activities by Mr. Grimes to light.

The contractor, along with his wife, Susan Grimes, and Rick Gibbs, the owner of Rick’s Crabby Cowboy Cafe on East Lake Drive, was charged by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation with numerous violations of state environmental law, including dredging in Lake Montauk without a permit, constructing a road in a tidal wetland without a permit, and depositing dredge spoil in state navigable waters.

In June 2010, the lawsuit says, following complaints by Mr. Ellis, the D.E.C. began an investigation that resulted in 20 notices of violation, which could have subjected the Grimeses and Mr. Gibbs to fines of more than $2 million. Ultimately the parties were assessed penalties of between $75,000 and $130,000.

The morning after the D.E.C. issued the summonses, the lawsuit says, Mr. Wilkinson was seen at 6:50 a.m. in an official East Hampton Town car “driving back and forth directly in front of the wetland and the Ellis property.” Documents filed with the court include an image captured by a security camera at the Ellis property that purportedly depicts the supervisor in the car.

“In direct retaliation,” the lawsuit says, Mr. Wilkinson pushed forward with plans for the drainage pond on the strip of wetlands. That October, Mr. Ellis filed suit to stop the drainage project and also made a title claim to the strip. Since 1974, the Ellis family had been using a part of it for their driveway.

The title suit (“quiet title” in legalese) is still before the New York State Supreme Court; the class action suit claims town officials have deliberately delayed the proceedings.

The drainage pond project was not fully vetted, nor were other, more suitable locations considered, the current lawsuit says. The project was “not being driven by objective necessity but by reprisal.”

Others named in the suit, although not as defendants, include John Jilnicki, an assistant town attorney; Carl Irace, a former assistant town attorney, Larry Penny, the former the town natural resources director, Susanne Roxbury, an outside counsel for the town, and the current town supervisor, Larry Cant­well.

Mr. Cantwell is accused of failing to respond to Mr. Ellis’s attempts to resolve the underlying issue of the drainage pond. He declined to comment this week.

The civil rights lawsuit against Mr. Wilkinson says that during a September 2010 meeting at the Montauk Library, attended by Mr. Wilkinson and Mr. Irace, more than 30 members of the East Lake Association expressed opposition to the stormwater pond project. “Immediately after the meeting, at a local bar in Montauk, a local resident overheard assistant town attorney say, with respect to plaintiff Harry J. Ellis, ‘It’s not like the guy doesn’t have it coming to him anyway.’ ”

The former supervisor’s actions, the lawsuit claims, resulted in a “chilling” of “the willingness to speak out on public issues and cooperate with agencies like the D.E.C. to enforce environmental laws, even against those who have ‘powerful friends’ at Town Hall.”

“Left unpunished, this kind of high-handed behavior by local government officials will continue to happen again.”

Mr. Wilkinson referred a request for comment on Tuesday to Mr. Jilnicki, who said yesterday that the matter had been referred to an outside counsel, Steven Stern of Sokoloff Stern in Carle Place. A call to Mr. Stern was not returned by press time.

Mr. Ellis seeks compensatory and punitive damages “to the extent permitted by law” after a trial, an injunction against the threat of further “retaliatory behavior,” and a judgment declaring that Mr. Wilkinson and others violated his civil rights and those of other residents, and that the former supervisor abused the power of his office.

The lawsuit is the second in which Mr. Wilkinson has been accused of reprisals and violations of citizens’ constitutional rights. In 2010, Mr. Henry, Mr. Ellis’s lawyer, also represented Edward Johann of Montauk and the Third House Nature Center in a similar action against the former supervisor and his deputy, former Councilwoman Theresa Quigley.

That suit was brought after the town evicted the nature center from the town-owned Fort Pond House and made plans to sell the property. Many in Montauk and elsewhere objected vociferously. The suit was settled in 2012 when the nature center was allowed back on site to retrieve property and offered use of another town facility.

 

It’s Project Hero to the Rescue

It’s Project Hero to the Rescue

Joanna Howard, seated at right, a teaching artist with Project Hero, oversaw a group session with East Hampton Middle School students on Friday.
Joanna Howard, seated at right, a teaching artist with Project Hero, oversaw a group session with East Hampton Middle School students on Friday.
Barbara Jo Howard
Anti-bullying program for middle schoolers fosters self-awareness, empathy
By
Carissa Katz

“I believe that theater can save the world,” Kate Mueth said at Guild Hall on Friday after wrapping up a three-day anti-bullying program with fifth and sixth graders at the East Hampton Middle School. “That may sound a little Pollyanna, and I’m okay with that. If you don’t have an element of hope, you don’t have that element of caring to make a difference.”

Ms. Mueth, an actor, director, and choreographer, develops the curriculum and directs the teaching artists for Project Hero, a collaboration between Guild Hall and the Hamptons International Film Festival. The program uses film, theater exercises, vocal and physical warm-ups, and improvisation to get students thinking about their fears, their insecurities, and how both relate to the issue of bullying.

They start on day one by watching and then talking and writing about a movie with bullying as its theme. For the session at the middle school last week, David Nugent, the festival’s artistic director, chose the 1980 film “My Bodyguard.”

Over the next two days, participants break into smaller groups led by teaching artists to do improvisational exercises, play theater games, and do writing and movement exercises that build on the foundation they established that first day. At the middle school last week there were seven teaching artists. The goal is to foster empathy for fellow students, and theater is a perfect medium for such a message, Ms. Mueth said. When you work in the theater, she said, you work with all sorts of people from all different backgrounds with all kinds of stories. Some are confident. Some are shy. Some have been through war or abuse. You realize, she said, “that everybody has a story to tell and it’s all valid.”

That’s an important life lesson, too, and one that comes across in subtle ways over the three days of Project Hero.

In one exercise, students stand along a line of gaffer’s tape on the floor. One end represents “strongly agree” and the other “strongly disagree.” Students are given a series of statements and questions and asked to position themselves along the line according to their responses. It starts out easy — a statement like “I like pizza” — and then gets more challenging — “I am usually nice” or “I am sometimes a bully.”

“We tell them, ‘Notice each other, don’t judge,’ ” Ms. Mueth said.

The curriculum doesn’t only addressthe easily identifiable bullies, the ones who shove kids in lockers and make fun of them when they walk down the hall. “That’s the extreme, but how do we get to that point?” Ms. Mueth asked, and then, “How do we prevent that from ever happening?”

Bullying, she believes, grows from a “lack of empathy, a lack of identification, a dislike of ourselves.”

“Project Hero is about strengthening our self-awareness and our self-knowledge,” she said. The theory is that the better students can understand themselves and their feelings, the better they will understand others.

During the program with middle schoolers, “we talk about ‘red flag words,’ ” words that hurt you or make you angry.

“Sometimes with kids, this is happening in their house,” Ms. Mueth said.

Students explore how their bodies react initially to those words and the emotions they evoke, and then the teaching artists talk with them about choosing their words and actions when “the brain kicks in,” so they “don’t feel hopeless, they don’t feel powerless,” Ms. Mueth said. “We tell them, ‘You have the power to diffuse the situation.’ . . . We’re getting them to be aware. It’s freeing.”

They talk also about the power of positive behavior and how important it can be to say even one nice thing to someone else, even if it’s as simple as “That’s a beautiful dress.”

Project Hero, which is funded through grants and earmarked donations to Guild Hall and the film festival, began four years ago and has been offered at the Montauk School and the Springs School. This was the first time its teaching artists have visited the middle school, but the organizers hope it can be an annual offering at all the local middle schools, ideally in the fall so that the skills they develop can be carried on throughout the school year.

 

Market At Dump Reopens

Market At Dump Reopens

A home exchange area at the East Hampton Town Recycling Center on Springs-Fireplace Road has reopened on Fridays and Saturdays, subject to new oversight.
A home exchange area at the East Hampton Town Recycling Center on Springs-Fireplace Road has reopened on Fridays and Saturdays, subject to new oversight.
Lucia Akard
Town Board answers residents’ pleas
By
Lucia Akard

Scavengers and treasure hunters rejoice: Caldor East, East Hampton’s one and only free flea market, is open again. Announced by the East Hampton Town Board last Thursday in response to numerous requests, a grand reopening of the home-exchange program took place last weekend, although a lengthy set of rules came with it and, with little advance notice, pickings were slim.

Two hopefuls, wearing matching salmon shirts and khakis, approached on Friday to see if there was anything to make a commotion about. “Oh my God. There’s nothing, jeez,” one muttered as he got close. Some Christmas lights and decorations — ideal for anyone who wanted to start hoarding for the holiday season — were seen among children’s toys and books, and a rather handsome set of dinner plates and bowls were waiting for a new owner.

The need for a home exchange goes back to the 1960's when then-Supervisor Bill Collins lamented about beach chairs and andirons making their way into the landfills. In 1988, the town set up a circus tent in what it called the "voluntary recycling and salvage area" for residents who wanted a convenient place to drop household goods. The nickname "Caldor East" came from a discount department store that used to be at the Bridgehampton Commons. In 2005, however, things got somewhat out of hand. Scavengers  were reportedly overstaying the 30-minute rule, spending all afternoon circling and stockpiling items until closing time. When a child was nearly run over amid the chaos, a red flag went up, and it was closed for a time. Then, in 2011, during the administration of Supervisor Bill Wilkinson, a death knell was sounded. The town board decided to avoid the cost of having employees monitor what went on, as well as what it said was the nightmare of managing it. With Supervisor Larry Cantwell now at the helm and with Highway Department cooperation, Caldor East has now been resurrected. 

“We hope that those who need the recycled things that can be reused will benefit from it and that those of us who’d like to get rid of something that’s usable, that we don’t want to throw away and destroy, will be able to do so,” Mr. Cantwell said on June 5.

The rules, which are posted on a large sign, emphasize that items must, in fact, be “in good working order, clean, and ready to be reused.” As a precaution, residents are to check in with an attendant at a nearby booth before proceeding. No mattresses, upholstered furniture, scrap metal, or overstocked or personal care items will be accepted.

Scavengers are limited to two visits per day, and there is a 15-minute parking limit. Those using the exchange are to be polite and to “wait for items to be placed in reuse area” before taking them (in other words, one is not to attempt to clean out someone’s trunk unless encouraged to do so). The rules will be enforced via an honor system and good will, and on Saturday morning, the second day of operation, not only were the pickings slim but there was nary a task-enforcer in sight. 

At least until further notice, the exchange will be open only on Friday and Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. And the word at Town Hall is that Caldor East will return to its former glory.

 

 

 

Republican Voters to Choose Bishop Challenger

Republican Voters to Choose Bishop Challenger

By
Christopher Walsh

The Republican Party’s primary election to determine the candidate who will face the incumbent, Representative Tim Bishop, will take place on June 24. The primary pits Lee Zeldin, a two-term state senator from Shirley, against George Demos, an attorney formerly with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission who lives in Stony Brook.

Mr. Bishop, who is seeking a seventh term in what is expected to be a closely contested election, does not face a primary challenger.

Mr. Zeldin is a graduate of the State University at Albany and earned a law degree from Albany Law School. He spent four years on active duty with the Army and served in Iraq. At present he serves as a major in the Army Reserves. He is backed by the Republican and Conservative Parties.

Mr. Demos, the grandson of Greek immigrants, served on the team that prosecuted Bernard Madoff, the investment adviser convicted in what is considered to be the largest financial fraud in U.S. history. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Gov. George Pataki have endorsed him.

Both candidates point to the economy as the top issue facing the district. Mr. Zeldin, who ran unsuccessfully against Mr. Bishop in 2008, criticized the congressman for what he called an ineffective effort to obtain funding for Hurricane Sandy recovery. “By the first Memorial Day, Jones Beach had new dunes, new roads, and money was flowing into Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island,” he said in an interview. “Yet the Fire Island to Montauk Point plan is still loaded with projects that haven’t seen a dime. It’s important for our local representative to be our strongest and most effective advocate to get those projects started.”

Mr. Zeldin was also critical of the implementation of the Common Core academic standards, the Affordable Care Act, and the state of veterans’ health care.

Mr. Demos, who is also critical of the Affordable Care Act, has positioned himself as a political outsider not beholden to his party’s establishment. “The defining issues of this campaign are Obamacare and taxes,” he said. “On both issues, Lee Zeldin went to Albany and voted for Obamacare and higher taxes, and I would not have done that.”

Voters, Mr. Demos said, “want someone who’s going to stand up and defend conservative principals regardless of what the establishment says. The problem in Washington is we have too many go-along-to-get-along politicians who take their marching orders from the Republican bosses.”