Suffolk Executive Steve Bellone was to have visited the East End yesterday and you would have thought the president was coming from the advance fanfare. Advisories to the press from his Hauppauge office arrived on Monday afternoon, then the phone calls started, then we had Tuesday follow-ups.

    According to a preliminary schedule provided by Mr. Bellone’s staff, he was to have met with representatives of the five East End towns, had an interview at WLNG radio, and visited with the Montauk Chamber of Commerce and taken a turn around the Lake Montauk docks before heading to Southampton for a farm tour. It all sounds like a nice enough way to spend a day, but when the county executive’s rare visit is pitched as big news it kind of proves that the East End is an afterthought.

    Considering that the East End has what amounts to Suffolk’s only internationally known region, the Hamptons, one might think that it would have more clout than to merit very infrequent appearances by its top elected leader. However, with only a small fraction of the county’s total population, and just 2 of the Legislature’s 18 members, it has been all too easy to overlook.

    For decades, Suffolk’s municipal orphans on the North and South Forks, as well as in Riverhead, have mumbled about seceding from the county and forming their own alliance. Going back to the 1960s, the sense has been that the needs and outlook of the five East End towns are different from that of the west of Suffolk, and that a new entity, tentatively called Peconic County, might be advantageous.

    Taking over county functions, such as courts, jails, and health services, would no doubt be exceedingly complicated and expensive. Still a 1996 nonbinding referendum seeking support for secession was approved at the polls by a stunning 71-percent margin. It is interesting to remember that in the mid-’90s, Larry Cantwell, now East Hampton Town supervisor, was the chairman of the Peconic County Now advocacy group.

    Then, as presumably today, both Suffolk and state officials were not keen on the prospect. State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has not allowed movement on the separatist undertaking, fearing, it has been speculated, a wave of similar bids statewide. Chances for a Peconic County appear limited as well by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s avowed interest in reducing, not increasing, the number of municipalities in the state.

    Interest in going separate ways might be lessened if the county executive visited more often. But until that day, the idea of a Peconic County will live on.

    In terms of the long haul, the United States Army Corps of Engineers’ meager offer of a temporary fix for Montauk’s threatened downtown oceanfront could be a blessing in disguise.

    As some observers have pointed out for years, Montauk’s commercial center is not economically important enough to compete with cities like New York and Miami for an adequate share of federal erosion mitigation money. Instead, the oceanfront there is likely to continue picking up the funding scraps, forcing local officials, business leaders, and residents to begin, finally, to admit to the inescapable reality that the town is on its own and will not see Washington rushing in to save the day.

    Representatives of the Army Corps were in East Hampton Town Hall with state officials and others last week to describe the federal offer: a $6 million sandbagging project intended to bolster at-risk structures along a 3,100-foot section of the beach. To put that sum in perspective, Senator Charles E. Schumer is backing a call for $21 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for generators at a single hospital in West Islip. From the numbers, it is pretty easy to see how Montauk ranks.

    Beyond the Army Corps’ immediate plan, it dangled the possibility of additional funding when the Fire Island to Montauk Point Reformulation Study finally moves out of the planning stage — if ever. As we see it, waiting on such a vague promise would be foolish. Instead, given the assumption that vast piles of federal cash are not going to be forthcoming, East Hampton Town officials must begin to speak frankly about the dwindling options.

    One thing is clear: Montauk’s first row of hotels and residences along the beach from South Emery Street to about South Essex Street — on about 10 privately owned parcels in all — would not withstand a direct hit by a hurricane that was even moderately powerful. As dramatic as 2012’s Sandy was, its winds did not reach hurricane speeds on eastern Long Island, and its stormwater surge was considerably below others recorded on the South Fork historically.

    Making matters even more ominous, almost no natural, protective dune remains in downtown Montauk. This means that over-washes from even routine storms could reach several blocks of the commercial district. A so-called 100-year storm along the lines of the 1938 Hurricane would liquefy the first row of structures, turning their remaining fragments into battering rams that would then lay waste to the rest of downtown as they rode in on  raging water. To get a sense of how bad it could be, consider that in the aftermath of ’38, high windrows of splinted walls and roofs, furniture, cars, and the occasional human body were found piled up along the shore of Shinnecock Bay. The houses along Dune Road from which it all had come were entirely swept away.

    Readers and policy-makers should picture, too, that when downtown Montauk was laid out in the 1920s by the developer Carl Fisher, a road, South Edgewater Avenue, was plotted in front of the now-threatened motels and condos, between them and the sea. Although the road still appears on official maps, where it was to have been is now underwater. If this does not illustrate that the structures there are simply in the wrong place and that time has caught up with them, we cannot say what does.

    It appears that the town now should concede a localized defeat. No one, neither the Army Corps, nor the Town of East Hampton, nor oceanfront property owners, will be able to hold back the Atlantic Ocean. A separate tax district like the one created in Southampton to fund a $25 million sand-pumping project is one possibility. However, in the long term, it probably would be more cost-effective to offer buyouts to the 10 affected property owners or come up with a creative scheme of publicly-aided relocation.

    The bottom line is that the town must preserve the beaches for all its residents and visitors. That means rethinking what structures must be saved and at what cost. The process should begin now.

    The United States made it official this week in a report that linked global warming primarily to human activity. For every American, a heating planet is reason for concern. Here on the South Fork, where a rising sea level linked to the climate heating up is a real and present danger, concern should be heightened.

    Here are a few of the National Climate Assessment findings: Climate change is already being felt in the United States, including in more-extreme weather. “Multiple lines of evidence” have showed that mankind is the main cause of warming. The 10-year period just ended was the hottest on record, and 2012 was the warmest year in the U.S. ever. Temperatures are projected to increase by a further 2 to 4 degrees Fahrenheit in the coming decades. Heat-related droughts and wildfires are becoming more common. The rate of global sea level rise is accelerating. Marine waters are becoming acidic. Negative effects on wildlife are widespread, but are only beginning to be understood. And agricultural productivity and human health are at risk. The Northeast, the report says, is already being affected by heat waves, extreme precipitation, and coastal flooding and erosion.

    For Long Island communities, particularly those along the shoreline, the effects are already becoming clear — and alarming. Residents and business owners can see the narrowing of beaches here as a direct result of global warming. The choices Americans make are affecting the here and now, as well as the future. The time to act is already upon us.

    East Hampton Town Hall was crowded last Thursday for a hearing on a proposed law that would strictly limit how and where so-called formula stores can be opened. In general, blocking the homogenization of the town’s commercial strips will be important to maintaining the area’s desirability among second-home owners and tourists. However, several aspects of the proposal should be looked at closely before going further.

    In short, the law would ban chains and franchises with 10 or more worldwide branches except in central business zones. They would be prohibited in portions of those zones that are designated as historic districts, within a mile of a historic district, and within a half mile of a historic landmark. Even where they would be allowed, formula retailers would be subject to tough limitations.

    It is in these limits that the proposal appears to have gone too far. Perhaps the most extreme provision is limiting formula stores to no more than 2,500 square feet of floor area. This would appear to unfairly benefit all other retail businesses, which under present law can be up to six times as large.

    This arbitrary square-foot maximum might have the unintended consequence of preventing the kind of stores residents might actually want here, for example, a Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s market, unless a specific exemption were made. Furthermore, it is almost certain that this substantial impediment would be challenged in court, as might restrictions on how interior space is decorated.

    There is also reason for concern that the wording of the proposal might turn out to block or limit the size of locally owned shops that are part of large distribution chains or use nationally recognized logos or uniforms. These might include some supermarkets, hardware stores, and paint suppliers, among others.

    It should be noted that fast food restaurants are already subject to permit standards, including that their design must conform to the “traditional and indigenous style” of East Hampton architecture. Drive-through windows are controlled in such a way as to make them nearly impossible to get through the permitting process.

    These rules could be a model for more equitable formula store regulation. The East Hampton Town Board is to be commended for attempting to make sure that new retail development meets the overall goal of keeping the town unique, but more work needs to be done.

    East Hampton Town officials have been working during the past few months on revising the way large assemblies are regulated. It is an important undertaking, and the time is now to get a handle on these before the summer’s high season.

    At one level, the effort is intended to bring the diffuse references in the town code about parties, benefits, and similar events into a single chapter. This would make it easier for the public to understand the law and help provide clarity for officials dealing with approving permits or clamping down on violations. Looked at a different way, the suggested changes to the code could significantly rein in for-profit gatherings that are regularly held outdoors at some restaurants and bars.

    John Jilnicki, a town attorney, presented his draft at a town board meeting earlier this month, and it appears the board is moving in the right direction. The most straightforward suggestion in the draft is that gatherings of between 50 and 100 people on private property be eligible for a fast-track permit from the town clerk. Party permits for 101 to 249 participants could be considered by an existing committee including town board members. When a resolution of the full town board were required, applications could be due as far out as 60 days before party time. An existing set of fees to cover traffic control and other town costs would be reviewed. In general, permit applications could require much more detail than required now and the identification of responsible individuals.

    A key provision is about commercial properties. Depending on how a proposed new law develops it could mean that outdoor activities at bars and restaurants would be reviewed by the town board and subject to the strictest permit standards. Demonstrating just how tough they may be willing to be, there could be no sale of goods or services at any event unless it was for a bona fide charity.

    Mr. Jilnicki’s draft suggests that large gatherings such as music performances or movies be allowed on commercial sites by permit only, with assurances that parking areas not be used by attendees and that no fee be charged. The law would bring some relief to neighbors of those bars and restaurants, mostly in Montauk, that have improperly taken over lawns or parking lots as good-weather annexes. Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell has said this was something the town lawyers should make a priority. It is high time that the town tackle the troublesome outdoor expansion of pre-existing businesses, and it appears that the revisions of the mass gathering law will present an opportunity to do so.

East Hampton Town officials were on the right track last week when they denied a last-minute request for a permit from the operator of an annual for-profit bicycle ride to Montauk. Unfortunately, with as many as 1,500 participants already having paid up to $300 apiece, officials had little choice but to reach a settlement and allow the ride to go on.

However, the town asked the correct question this time around: Whether big, organized weekend outings with only marginal local benefit should be encouraged. Put another way, the issue was, and is, to what degree should residents have to put up with living in a playground for others.

Most people were only slightly inconvenienced as the Ride to Montauk throngs wound their way east. Still, drivers had to wait on Wainscott Main Street for a turn to get around groups of cyclists, and in some instances, bunched-up bikers swerved into the Montauk Highway traffic lanes. But, unlike last year, there were few calls for emergency assistance.

The intrusions are not limited to roads and bike events, of course. Commercial uses of public spaces are many and include paddleboard outings and kayak rentals at otherwise secluded locations, fitness classes on the sand and in parks, and resorts annexing portions of adjacent beaches for their guests’ exclusive use.

A new town committee has been taking a closer look at permit requests, particularly with an eye toward distinguishing between those that genuinely benefit local organizations and those that make inconsequential charitable donations as a form of cover. One key element of the committee’s work will be to convince officials to resist the temptation to review late permit requests, such as the problematic one from the Ride to Montauk organizers. An encouraging signal can also be found in the recently revised town mass-gathering law, which may soon be used to bring increased scrutiny to crowds at bars and restaurants, particularly outdoors, that are well in excess of those places’ legal maximum occupancy.

We expect to hear “no” a lot more often from Town Hall to requests that might have been swiftly green-lighted in the past. The balance, we hope, may be tipping back toward preserving peace, tranquillity, and less-hectic roads for those who call this place home — and none too soon.

Not to sound ungrateful, but we are hardly alone in thinking that there are some 14 long weeks before we get our town back. An Amagansett innkeeper of our acquaintance said that the weekend just past was the strangest he had seen in more than three decades in business. In Montauk by Saturday noon, there were scores of people drinking on the upper deck at one of the more notorious bars. Traffic was terrible — and dangerous. At a grocery checkout counter Sunday evening, the checker helping to load bags looked on in dismay as six young share-house women, obviously a little tipsy, packed a young man into a shopping cart and tried to wheel him out of the store. It all seems a little too much, and too soon.

It is far easier said than done, but the path toward reclaiming this place for those of us who simply live here is clear: Rein in overcrowded clubs and bars, clamp down on illegal group houses and new developments, and put the brakes on the short-term rentals that only add to the frenetic pace.

If this weekend showed anything, it was that even a good thing can be bad when there is too much of it. East Hampton Town already has too much of too many things. It is time to tip the balance back. Sucking it up until September rolls around again, as one former town supervisor once advised, is no longer acceptable.

    Although it may seem coincidental that May is Mental Health Month and also the time when New York voters are asked to approve school budgets for the coming academic year, the link between mental illness and school safety is becoming increasingly clear. Unfortunately, school administrators and boards have been slow to catch up, opting for big-ticket expenditures on hardening buildings against the extremely rare chance of an armed attacker and failing to also expand counseling, on-campus therapy, and other programs.

    Nationally and locally, the numbers tell the story. There are almost 1,400 or more suicides reported every year in the United States among high school students and about 1,000 among those in college. This is a genuine crisis. The Centers for Disease Control rates suicide as the third leading cause of death among teens.

    In 2008-9, the latest year for which good figures are available, the National Center for Education Statistics said there were 17 in-school homicides compared to 1,344 suicides of youth between the ages of 5 and 18. These totals are down slightly from the averages of the preceding 17 years for which data is available. East Hampton’s schools mirror the national trends. There were two student suicides in recent years and no murders.

    Those who think about the issues surrounding students’ well-being are increasingly pointing to mental health care as key. They say that if schools and community organizations take on the too-high number of student suicides in the United States every year, they may at the same time prevent a significant portion of the homicides. In other words, if mental health problems are identified and dealt with early on, we may help stop the uncommon but occasionally horrendous assaults.

    Given all this, the focus on bullet-proof doors and surveillance cameras appears misplaced or at least out of balance with the real risks. For an example, we need look no further than the East Hampton district, which put $1.43 million in unspecified security upgrades into its proposed 2014-15 spending plan while at the same time the high school principal’s meager $30,000 request for additional mental health staff was cut to an unacceptable $5,000.

    Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. was able to have $150,000 set aside in the state budget for mental health services in the South Fork schools. But the money will be spread among a number of districts and, while better than nothing, it is far from enough. Much more time and money must be set aside to get at-risk students the care they need. Every dollar spent for building better walls should be matched by a dollar for making sure every young person has access to the help he or she needs.

    With annual school votes on Tuesday, the nearly complete lack of public controversy is striking, especially as two districts are seeking 60-percent support for budgets that will increase the amount brought in by taxes by more than a state-mandated cap. Notable as well is the absence of competitive races for school boards.

    We wonder whether everyone is just too busy now that the South Fork economy is humming again, whether the absence of heat reflects tacit public understanding that the schools are being managed satisfactorily, or something else. One possibility is that the constrained budgets and increased standardized testing have decreased the power of elected school boards, while the ever-increasing consolidation of authority of hired administrators and bureaucrats has diminished what elected overseers can actually accomplish. In many cases, superintendents sit at the head of the table at board meetings, signaling an inversion of the system of checks and balances. Almost no one appears to care that school boards and parents are now taking at best a supporting role in districts throughout the state.

    In East Hampton, voters will be asked on Tuesday to approve a spending plan that increases their taxes by 1.3 percent. This is a modest amount, but it does go beyond the state cap. Our sense is that the district should be given a pass this time around after digging relatively deeply in the search for cuts. However, the district should be forewarned that the next time around residents might demand that it take a harder line on what appears to be excessive administrative costs. The two incumbent board members running unopposed, Pat Hope, a no-nonsense former East Hampton High School teacher, and Jackie Lowey, a parent of two students in the district with a deep and impressive résumé, merit unequivocal support.

    Bridgehampton is the other South Fork district seeking voter approval to exceed the tax cap. No incumbents are running. Michael Gomberg, Jeffrey Mansfield, and Kathleen McCleland are on the ballot for two open board positions. We are impressed by Ms. McCleland’s and Mr. Mansfield’s clear commitment to the school and endorse them over Mr. Gomberg. We are less enthusiastic about the budget’s 8.8-percent tax levy increase. The district administration has said that the additional $1.1 million in the 2014-15 budget is necessary just to keep things where they are. Given that other districts are staying within the cap or close to it, that explanation isn’t quite good enough. Even if the spending plan is approved, however, a serious time of reckoning appears to have arrived for the district. Bridgehampton must quickly begin to explore how to cut non-program costs for the long term, whether by further sharing of services with nearby districts, or even consolidation.

    Despite all the pressures the Springs district faces in terms of a large and diverse student population its spending plan will stay under the tax cap. Teachers and administrators there have done an admirable job doing more with less, but how long that can continue is a worry.

    In Wainscott, voters have the curious pleasure of being asked to return David Eagan, unopposed, to the board. This follows a rebuke from the state comptroller last year over the district’s surplus income and Mr. Eagan’s arrest in February on a tax-fraud charge. He has laid the incident to a mistake, but there is reason for concern; it is not all that easy to get oneself arrested on such allegations. It is notable that residents either do not care or are willing to look past these red flags.

    Montauk has a bit of a competitive race for school board in an election that features a budget that stays well within the state limit. Jason Biondo and Cynthia Ibrahim are battling for one seat. We know Mr. Biondo well, his having been a reporter at The Star for several years. He is both outspoken and deeply involved in the community, which would bode well for his contributions to the district. Ms. Ibrahim likewise has a lot to offer. She has been involved with the Montauk Playhouse Community Center Foundation and is on the PTA. It is an extremely difficult call between two excellent candidates. The budget is actually down about $100,000 from last year’s and should cruise to approval.

    In Amagansett all appears well, with happy parents, no race for board seats, and a budget with only a modest increase that remains within bounds. Sagaponack’s increases are modest as well and stay within the cap. Cathy Hatgistavrou is running unopposed.

    Sag Harbor has three board seats in play, with Theresa Samot and Sandi Kruel hoping to stay on and Thomas Re and Diana Kolhoff opposing them. We are impressed by Ms. Kolhoff’s considerable education and teachers-advocate credentials. Ms. Samot has had three previous terms, and been the board president for three years; we respect her commitment and experience. And its budget also stays within the cap.

    Over all, the complacency sensed around this year’s school votes bodes well for those districts seeking to get above the 60-percent margin and break through the tax cap. Looking ahead, the time will soon come for consolidations. Millions are spent each year on administrative and back-office expenses that could be eliminated as smaller districts are joined into one or two larger systems. A potential benefit of regional school boards is that parents and taxpayers alike would become more engaged and demand greater accountability, better candidates, and more competitive elections.

    In the long run, the ennui that has gripped most districts this time around may be as much a cause for concern as an endorsement of a job well done.

    The juxtaposition between old East Hampton and new could not have been made more stark than the recent news, first reported in the New York Post, that a hedge fund manager had paid $147 million for a verdant 16-acre ocean-view property off Further Lane in East Hampton Village. While the supposed sum Barry Rosenstein agreed to pay for the three lots in the estate of the former owner was stunning in and of itself and a record for residential property, that two 18th-century Dominy family workshops remain there adds a significant twist.

    The Dominys’ rank among early American craftsmen is well known. Working in East Hampton from the pre-Revolutionary War period until the mid-19th century, four generations made household furniture, several of this area’s iconic windmills, and tall clocks, which are particularly well regarded. The East Hampton Historical Society has held several seminars on the Dominys and the Winterthur Museum in Delaware has many of the family’s tools in its collection, displayed in reproductions of a clock-making and woodworking shop that once stood on North Main Street here. The originals, if the Post’s account can be confirmed, are on what is now Mr. Rosenstein’s largest lot.

    As the story goes, Dudley Roberts Jr., himself a wealthy man by the standards of the time, had the workshops moved to the land in 1946, as the other Dominy buildings fell into disrepair and were eventually torn down. The ancient structures that stand there today overlooking the Atlantic are wrapped mostly in blue plastic tarps. What will happen to them now is anybody’s guess.

    There are, of course, plenty of Dominy reminders around — Hook Mill, for one — but it would be nice if these buildings could be preserved in some way, perhaps by the historical society, perhaps offered to Winterthur. With every passing year, appreciation of East Hampton’s material legacy and role in the early years of American commerce seems farther away. If saved and seen by a wider audience, objects from this period can help assure that we continue to know and understand where we came from as a country.