Editorials

Let’s say something positive about leaf blowers for a change, shall we?

There was a time not that long ago when closing the airport was not something mentioned in public; now it is among the options.

What has happened to Montauk is a shame.

It is an indication of Trumpism’s tragic grip on the Republican Party that Lee Zeldin could be considered the presumptive nominee in a bid for governor of the State of New York.

Contrary to assumption, East Hampton Airport is not nearly as economically important as it was said to be in the past.

East Hampton will never build its way out of its housing crisis.

In the run-up to Tuesday’s primary, East Hampton Town Democratic Committee-backed candidates benefited from a sizable campaign finance loophole.

Many here on the East End might not have known it at the time, but Tuesday’s late-day rain was a reminder that hurricane season is well upon us.

It is difficult to know what is worse, that because of latent racism, East Hampton did not put out American flags for the very first Juneteenth national holiday or that public officials and veterans groups whose members often are the ones who do the actual work did not know about it.

If Democratic primary voters are still undecided about whom to back for supervisor, consider East Hampton Airport.

The East Hampton Town Board is picking on kids. It is not intentional, to be sure, but in sticking with the idea of allowing an emergency-lite medical facility to replace a pair of side-by-side baseball diamonds and offering an insufficient replacement near the far western edge of the town, it sure looks that way.

James Larocca’s record as a member of the Sag Harbor Village Board and his previous career suggest to us that he is the right person to pick up the fight for the future of the “unHampton.”

If Democratic voters do not bounce the supervisor from the ballot, we can expect months more tension until the general election in November or even until 2022.

Tuesday’s flare-up among members of the East Hampton Town Board was unusual only in its intensity; sadly, we have gotten used to a certain level of steam when the group gets together.

A confluence of events on the retail scene has many people in and around East Hampton talking about what exactly is the nature of this community.

Of all the dumb things that the newest members of the East Hampton Village Board have thought of so far in their term, reducing Newtown Lane to one lane eastbound, that is, toward Main Street, may be the topper.

Readers of this newspaper may know that we have a thing about signs. The South Fork villages and East Hampton Town have fairly rigorous laws regulating their size, placement, and illumination.

East Hampton Town could once again set an example in banning balloons, but is it going a step too far?

This week, East Hampton Village and the Village of Sag Harbor both implemented a pay-for-parking system that required users to download a smartphone app. This seems a lot to ask of both residents and visitors alike.

Even in a slow year, there were 12,500 flights in or out of the airport — an astonishing number in itself that should tell you that our kind-of quiet skies are about to get a whole lot louder as Covid-19 restrictions ease.

School district elections are Tuesday, and we encourage residents to take part. While there is a dearth of contested school board races, important ballot measures are proposed in Springs, Sagaponack, Sag Harbor, Montauk, and Amagansett.

Sag Harbor Mayor Kathleen Mulcahy put it well during a public forum last week when she said that the village has the power to control the use, size, and character of development.

We can only hope that the more than 1,200 people who signed a petition demanding fast action for the eroded Montauk ocean beaches now begin to understand the folly in waiting for the federal government to save the day.

The East Hampton Independence Party’s support for a slate of candidates this week is important because it instantly injects a hearty dose of democracy back into the race.

When East Hampton Town first floated the idea of running its own vaccination clinics, we were skeptical the town could pull it off. And now we are happy to have been proven wrong.

This is a good time to bring up the longer-term question of sharing superintendents among the South Fork’s smaller districts.

Early on in an effort begun by a Star intern to document the history of slavery in East Hampton, one of the project’s advisers said he could draw a direct line from omission of enslaved people of African heritage from the American founding story to police killings of Black men today.

For the first time, there is a baseline on nitrogen levels from which the several mandates can be evaluated. Before now, sampling for nitrogen was inadequate, when it took place at all. This created a situation in which policy got out ahead of science.

Not a lot seems to be scheduled here for Earth Day, which comes next Thursday and marks the 51st anniversary of the first Earth Day. It is the pandemic no doubt that has prevented organized activities, but that does not mean that individuals cannot step outside to pick up litter, support an environmental group, or cut back on fossil-fuel use and nonrecyclables.

On Long Island, Covid-19 numbers have fallen since their peak, but they remain surprisingly and stubbornly high. Deaths from the virus have also declined, but even so lives are lost that should not have been. The 3,300th person in Suffolk County died from the disease between Monday and Tuesday this week. More than 41,000 New Yorkers across the state have died from Covid-19, which is still taking the lives of more people of color and Spanish speakers, by population, than whites.