Moving into the new year and cognizant of changes to downtowns nationwide and locally, the East Hampton Village Board has signaled that it is willing to consider new rules that might bring more life to Main Street and Newtown Lane. This is welcome, though any policy shifts would have to be made very carefully in order to maintain or even improve the commercial district’s character.

One new vision was presented in October to the village board by a group of architects, who offered a sketch of a greener and bicycle and pedestrian-friendly village with more places to live for working residents and centralized cultural attractions. More recently, the board spoke favorably about relaxing the longstanding prohibition on new restaurants or takeout shops. Done thoughtfully, such changes could add vitality to East Hampton Village, serving workers, residents, and visitors alike.

Also in the wind, but to be watched with substantial concern, is a proposal to relax rules about village inns and hotels, one of which seeks a major renovation. Because nearly all of these accommodations are in the designated historic district, the greatest degree of caution is warranted. 

For the most part, village inns and hotels, though few, were established before land-use rules were adopted, allowing them in close proximity to residences and in places where modernization might produce unsightly or overbearing effects on Main Street. 

In recent years, some hotel and inn owners have pushed the limits. In several instances, they have annexed nearby houses or garages, gradually converting them into guest rooms of questionable legality. Though these increasingly corporate businesses have the right to make a profit, they have proven by their own actions to be too aggressive as neighbors. Any zoning code changes they or their advocates suggest should be viewed with healthy skepticism.

The East Hampton Town Board acted properly last Thursday in agreeing to the possible sale of bonds to cover the cost of work on a taxiway at East Hampton Airport. However, another airport question — whether to increase the height of its control tower and move it to another position — is far stickier.

Borrowing money by issuing bonds is not the only option for the taxiway project, estimated at $2.1 million. The town anticipates that its airport fund, which is like a separate bank account, will have a sizable surplus, which could pay for the work out of pocket without the expense of interest to bondholders over time. The work, if and when it is approved, would connect two existing taxiways, bringing them up to contemporary standards. It also would cover the cost of replacing directional lighting on the main runway. Both the taxiway and lighting projects are overdue and are part of what should be seen as routine upkeep, which do not by themselves appear to be a back-door expansion of the airport’s capacity.

The tower is another matter. 

In 2012, when the tower was installed in a hasty, secretive deal that was billed merely as temporary, it was pitched by its backers as an experiment to control noise from helicopters. Few really believed that at the time, including the controllers themselves. The doubts have been borne out, as air traffic has, if anything, increased, and the town now has spent enormous sums and countless staff hours fighting aircraft interests and the Federal Aviation Administration for some limits. 

The thinking in 2012 was that restricting access to the airport was the only way to control noise; the same argument was at the core of the town’s more recent shot at regulating the loudest aircraft, which was rejected by a federal court. Today, helicopters and other aircraft are routed into East Hampton Airport by controllers in weather conditions that previously would have sent them elsewhere, anti-noise advocates say.

Now, after helicopters were sent on cloudy days last summer over several Sag Harbor neighborhoods when controllers could not see their approach from the south and southeast, there is pressure from the town airport manager, Jim Brundige, for a new, taller tower to be built on a spot with better sightlines. 

Opponents say that would be premature in light of the noise study being conducted at great expense as a first step toward new rules that might gain F.A.A. approval. East Hampton Airport might not be seen as even needing an air traffic control tower once the so-called Part 161 study is completed. 

That uncertainty might be behind the push for a new tower. Airport interests would certainly like to see the town commit to a new $800,000 tower before a report comes in that might conclude one was counter to noise-control goals. That seems ample reason for the town board to put on ice any further discussion of replacing the existing tower. When airport interests are in a rush to get something done, residents and officials alike are right to be wary.

One line from a recent story about a new restaurant being proposed at a Montauk hotel really jumped out at us. Speaking at an East Hampton Town Planning Board meeting on Dec. 13, Kathleen Cunningham observed that a 16-seat restaurant at the Hero Beach Club should not even have received any consideration until there was a better way to deal with the extra wastewater it would produce. Related, though not directly, is a town board proposal for a nearly $33 million Montauk sewage treatment system, into which the Hero Beach Club, among many other enterprises, could be tied.

And there you have it. Even though downtown Montauk is an overbuilt, unmitigated summertime disaster from a planning perspective, the town board has been willing to look favorably at year’s end at a sewage proposal that would remove a major stumbling block for developers who in their own self-interest would make things far worse. At the same time that town officials are trying to figure out how to tamp down the high-season party in Montauk, this proposal is precisely what some observers have feared as ideas for new wastewater infrastructure are put forth.

Assurances to the contrary, a septic waste plan prepared for the town states that new restrictions would have to be written into the code in order to avoid increases in build-out density. Boards, such as those that review planning and zoning projects like the Hero Beach Club’s, are hampered by precedent and limited in the ways in which they can guide growth. Variances are sought, and granted, even though the cumulative effect of many small changes can be detrimental to the community’s overall interest.

In a prior editorial, we addressed our belief that the Montauk sewage treatment plan was an example of misplaced priorities — and that its funding was foolishly tied to the continued existence of erosion-threatened properties. Now, in pointing out how it could immediately lead to additional commercial growth where none is warranted, we hope the incoming town board sees it as yet another reason to slow the process.

There is a numbing ubiquity to plastic water bottles, despite their general pointlessness and woeful environmental impact. We were reminded of this by a photograph taken at a recent Springs School Board meeting, which showed one Nestlé Pure Life 16.9-ounce water bottle placed in front of each member’s seat. The Springs School Board is hardly the only group at which water in plastic is seen; plastic bottles were deployed at a League of Women Voters candidates’ debate, as they are at many public and private events.

Recycling plastics is known to be worthwhile, but the statistics are not encouraging. According to an academic study last year, nearly 80 percent of the plastics manufactured ends up in landfills or in the environment at large. Health studies have suggested that certain plastics can mimic estrogen as they degrade. Some leach compounds that have been linked to asthma, heart problems, diabetes, and certain forms of cancer. Environmentalists also recommend the use of certified water filters to reduce the chance of exposure to water from the tap.

The Springs School, as with the League of Women Voters and other public and private entities, could help by setting an example of refusing to supply bottled water at their events. Another school, Montauk, has been a leader in this, with a successful fourth-grade effort to get businesses to give up serving drinks with plastic straws. East Hampton Town and Village have banned single-use plastic bags, and a new Suffolk law encourages grocery customers to supply their own bags or pay a 5-cent fee. 

The Springs School’s dozen or so water bottles might not seem worth worrying about, but they are part of what advocates say is a growing crisis. Already, a million plastic bottles change hands each minute around the world, and the shocking number is growing. According to The Guardian newspaper, enough plastic bottles are now sold in a year to reach halfway to the sun if stacked end to end. Some of the world’s discarded plastic ends up in the food chain. 

Schools, above all, should seek to set examples of good stewardship of the planet. Ending the practice of supplying wasteful plastic bottles at meetings is one way to help spread the message that even the smallest steps can make a difference.

The East Hampton Town Board’s 3-to-1 vote last week to appoint David Lys to fill the slot vacated when Peter Van Scoyoc moved on to supervisor gets our qualified support. Mr. Lys, a Springs resident who is 41, will serve as a town councilman until the end of the year; beyond that it will be up to him and East Hampton voters if he chooses to run in the November election for the final year of the term.

What we know about Mr. Lys so far is not all that much, although it is positive. He is committed to public service, having been on the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals since 2013 and taken a leadership role in Citizens for Access Rights, which advocates four-wheel drive vehicle use of public beaches. He also has been a leader in the restoration of the Amagansett Life-Saving and Coast Guard Station. Where he stands on key issues facing East Hampton is less clear.

Councilman Jeff Bragman, the newest member of the board, voted against Mr. Lys’s appointment, hinting at differences over the airport, immigration, and the zoning code. These may turn out to be major concerns, but on a five-person board the effect might be minimal. Given that the public knows little about Mr. Lys’s overall views, however, it is good that, should he wish to stay on beyond December, he will have to campaign and ask the electorate for its blessing. He will have a year’s record to stand, or fall, on.

But in putting Mr. Lys forward, the Democratic town board members other than Mr. Bragman made a curious decision in another way: They had a chance to name a first-ever female majority but failed to seize it. At a time when gender equality and sexual harassment is at the top of the news, not selecting a woman for the post — among whom there were a number of qualified options — seems tone-deaf, especially when a Republican man who had never run for elected office was their ultimate choice.

A week or so after the second act of the women’s marches in cities and communities large and small across the country, questions remain: Do they matter, and where does the moment go from here?

The total number of participants in the rallies held on Jan. 20 from Maine to Alaska is guesswork, but two academic researchers estimated that, at minimum, 1.6 million or up to 2.5 million people took part. This is about half the estimated turnout for the inaugural marches in 2017, but still. On the South Fork, a march held in Sag Harbor on Jan. 20 drew a crowd in excess of 500, so large that many of those at the edges of the assembly near the foot of Long Wharf could scarcely make out what Suffolk Legislator Bridget Fleming and other speakers were saying.

Such widespread demonstrations of support for a political cause, albeit one that it is hard to define, deserved more attention than it got in many national media outlets. Amid the Russia election investigation and President Trump’s sedate trip to the Davos billionaire’s conference in Switzerland, the press noted the number of marches and quickly moved on. Such is the nature of the warp-speed news cycles these days. But, thinking all the way back a week and a half, as well as recalling the many protests large and small against the Trump administration’s policies and the president’s unfortunate Twitter habit, it seems a sustained movement is underway.

That so many have waved signs and taken public action for more than a year is noteworthy. Their enthusiasm seems to have taken hold and helped galvanize Democrats. This is likely to be the marches’ most important effect.

Representative Lee Zeldin of New York’s First Congressional District is not alone in coming under near-constant needling, online and at public appearances and his Long Island office. His seat will be contested in the November election, and while there appears to be little interest among Republicans in forcing a primary, there already are six declared candidates for the Democratic nomination.

Often in American elections, the outcome is decided not by how people vote but by how many bother to take time from their day to go to the polls or fill out absentee ballots — by who is motivated enough to put down the remote and get up off the sofa, so to speak. At the moment, and for the foreseeable future, the motivation meter is tilting toward the Democratic Party, which is, to a large degree, because people have taken to the streets and are likely to stay there.

Tuesday’s State of the Union speech probably did little to change the political map for 2018. The old fear-mongering about immigrants was there, if tempered from last year’s “American carnage.” Mr. Trump was notably silent on the #MeToo movement — and sexual harassment in general. This is hardly surprising, considering that he is said to have carried on an extramarital affair while his current wife was pregnant with their child, and it was his own recorded “grab ’em by the pussy” remark that led to the now-iconic hats of the same name and arguably to a force that could change the course of history. 

November is really only a few short months away. There is no reason to doubt Americans will stay engaged until Election Day and beyond.

It is still a good time to get your flu shot. Speaking in Montauk on Monday at a business conference at Gurney’s Resort, Dr. Thomas McGinn, who oversees physician operations for the giant hospital network Northwell Health, said that influenza cases on Long Island were spiking and that the vaccine offers a needed degree of protection. Although it has been reported that this year’s flu shot is only partially effective, Dr. McGinn said some defense is better than none.

Anecdotally, we have heard that local ambulance crews are seeing an increase in patients with flu symptoms, especially among vulnerable older residents. Practitioners say this year’s strain is especially virulent, knocking down those who are affected for a long and debilitating period. Nationwide, the number of people seeing a health-care provider with flu-like symptoms this year has been the highest since 2003-4. As of last week, the rate of infection was considered widespread in 32 states, including New York, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In addition to getting a last-minute flu shot, medical professionals recommend a number of steps to decrease the chances of exposure. They are frequent hand washing with warm water and soap and not sharing food, drink, or eating utensils with others. But, get that flu shot if you have not done so already.

The Trump administration’s announcement this week of high trade tariffs on imported solar panels and components continues his war on sensible energy policy and threatens a United States industry that employs as many as 260,000 Americans. The move was anticipated and is consistent with the Interior Department’s recent decision to open many of the country’s coastal waters to oil exploitation.

On Monday, the Trump administration said it would impose a 30-percent tax on solar panels from China in response to what it said was the dumping of below-market-value solar equipment. The White House move also helps prop up the faltering coal industry, which has had a difficult time competing with cheaper fuels, like natural gas, wind, and, yes, solar.

In the long term, domestic panel manufacturers could see gains, but a solar industry group said that 23,000 U.S. jobs would be lost this year alone. The huge growth in the residential use of solar energy has been attributed to the falling cost of imported panels. Take that away, and consumer demand falls, too.

For solar installers, including several on the East End, the tariffs will force prices up. This is likely to depress demand, especially since the generous utility rebates that drove consumer enthusiasm a few years ago have expired and generally have not been renewed. 

Large scale wind-power generation, like the project planned for a site east of Montauk, is near the top of the U.S.’s renewable energy portfolio over all. However, solar home systems remain an important potential source of electricity on the South Fork, especially in summer, when demand skyrockets. Putting unnecessary impediments in the path of those who would like to move away from fossil fuels is a grave mistake.

With the looming threat of climate change — observed here on the East End in the accelerating rate of coastal erosion due to sea level rise — every possible step toward an energy future that is more dependent on renewables is a step that is needed. 

The East Hampton Town Board got down to early 2018 business on Tuesday, doing routine housekeeping and appointing members of various boards and committees. Up soon on their agenda will be choosing someone to fill Peter Van Scoyoc’s councilman’s seat for a year, now that he is supervisor. A special election will be held in November, with the winner serving what would have been the last year of Mr. Van Scoyoc’s term.

Plenty of able candidates might be found among the local Democratic Party ranks to fill the vacancy. Mr. Van Scoyoc and the others on the board are all Democrats, and naming someone from within the family, so to speak, would be an obvious choice. It might not be the right one, however. 

Paul Giardina ran unsuccessfully for town board in November as a Republican and he received 2,464 votes, coming in third behind Kathee Burke-Gonzalez and Jeffrey Bragman. Seating him would be a bridge-building nod to his supporters and to party members who now are otherwise left out at Town Hall. 

If voters did not like what they saw in Mr. Giardina by next fall, they could send him on his way. In the meantime, the town would gain a seasoned public official who is not afraid to ask hard questions when hard questions are needed.

The most important work in the recent push to improve water quality on the South Fork has been done not by local government, but by a private organization, Concerned Citizens of Montauk, which has taken a science-first approach for more than four years. This is in sharp contrast to the elected officials in East Hampton and Southampton Towns, who have required expensive nitrogen-reducing septic systems for new houses without knowing for sure if they will result in measurable improvement for the environment.

One part of gauging success is knowing what the conditions are at the start. So far, none of our local government boards has embarked on meaningful data collection in the marine environment. Consider that. So far, the empirical information, which comes from a state program, actually shows nitrogen levels well below that considered harmful by the Peconic Estuary Program. Pio Lombardo, a consultant who is the architect of East Hampton Town’s water strategy, dismisses the state results, saying the handful of saltwater test sites were in the wrong locations. He might be right, but he might be wrong. The fact is, no one knows. Yet.

C.C.O.M. stands alone, having been committed to testing many South Fork waters for fecal bacteria for years in partnership with the Surfrider Foundation’s Blue Water Task Force. Several of the sample sites have consistently shown elevated bacteria levels, some in the dangerous range for human contact. Embarrassed officials have pretended that the C.C.O.M. program did not matter and have done nothing in response.

Now, C.C.O.M., working with the United States Geological Survey, has convinced East Hampton Town to come on board in baseline testing of pollutants in Lake Montauk. The data will help define water quality problems and put a system in place to monitor potential improvement. This approach must be expanded, ideally to the entire Peconic Estuary.