Editorials

Remember those giant “Welcome to New York” signs that appeared in Montauk two summers ago — only to be taken down after the public pointed out that they were not just ugly but totally pointless? They were part of a campaign funded by the state that was supposed to boost tourism by informing tourists who’d already arrived that, yes, you could eat and drink in New York, and visit unspecified “attractions,” and fill your days with delight by accessing an I ♥ NY app.

A proposal to pave the eastern parking area at Ditch Plain in Montauk brought an outpouring of emotion to East Hampton’s Town Hall on Tuesday. Surfers and others who enjoy the ambience of the rutted, gravel-and-sand patch known as Dirt Lot were vigorous in opposition. But officials are in a bind: Conditions there at peak times are unacceptable.

Enthusiasm among many on the left on eastern Long Island about taking the congressional seat now held by Representative Lee Zeldin notwithstanding, Democrats in the First Congressional District remain underdogs. Both CNN and the Cook Political Report recently rated his seat likely to remain Republican, considering the candidates’ fund-raising, election history, and registration data. This means the Democratic opposition must take swift action if it hopes to oust an incumbent whose position appears secure.

A new, recently released study of Georgica Pond’s water quality contains a big surprise. Bacteria tests conducted by the Surfrider Foundation and Chris Gobler’s Stony Brook Southampton laboratory, paid for by the Friends of Georgica Pond, have for some time shown elevated fecal bacteria levels, especially after heavy rain. Now, thanks to further work by Dr. Gobler and several colleagues, a culprit, if not the source, has been identified: dogs.

The National Aeronautic and Space Administration reports that all but one of the 16 hottest years in its 134-year-long record have occurred since 2000. The data underscore the truth about global warming, and that some of the world’s most vulnerable populations already are suffering.

Visitors to the East End often giggle when someone mentions the Ladies Village Improvement Society in casual conversation. Sounds like a flashback to prewar Britain: Do the ladies specialize in marmalade boiling, bootie knitting, and the singing of patriotic songs? Of course you, dear reader, know better: East Hampton’s L.V.I.S. is a mighty institution that has for 123 years and counting represented the best of what a volunteer civic organization can be.

In the run-up to Tuesday’s vote on the Springs School expansion bond, one statement was repeated frequently that needs examination — the question of overcrowding, the sense that Springs has many more than its fair share of students. The numbers, it turns out, do not support this.

Time was Montauk was only really crazy one day a year, as thousands of green-bedecked revelers descended looking to get loose. Now, and by comparison to just about any weekend night between June and September, the St. Patrick’s Day events are tame.

hose who have handled a semiautomatic rifle of the sort used in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shootings on Feb. 14 know that these are not ordinary weapons. Their power is unmistakable; an errant shot striking a small tree will go through that tree and the one behind that, and so on. A shot striking a human body will result in a cascading wave of force, crushing tissue and making recovery difficult for anyone who manages to survive the instant, massive bleeding or organ damage.

Ethnic animosity has, unfortunately, turned up in an ugly way in advance of Tuesday’s vote on the proposed renovation of the overcrowded Springs School.

The red-winged blackbirds returned to Cranberry Hole Road this week, announcing themselves by their rusty, spring-sounding calls from hiding places among the scrub. It seems far too soon.

The East Hampton Town senior citizens center on Springs-Fireplace Road is in need of an upgrade. However, a plan revealed last week may not be the solution.

The East Hampton Town Trustees have come dangerously close in recent months to becoming entirely co-opted by the anti-wind power crowd. This has led them to inappropriately take on a role on the South Fork Wind Farm project over which they have minimal say and which runs the risk of their otherwise looking past their specific responsibilities.

There is no question that the Springs School needs more space. The question is whether voters will approve a nearly $17 million bond to pay for expansion. They should.

Central to the new East Hampton Town hamlet studies are recommendations about one of the greatest challenges: how to increase the supply of houses and apartments that the town’s working people and other residents can afford. Meanwhile, a proposal to pay for other answers to the housing shortage via an additional real-estate transfer tax has been put forward at the state level by Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr.

East Hampton Town Hall might well be built on a foundation of forgotten studies. But much of what was presented this week in a series of proposals has the makings of substantial change for the better.

Last month, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority began the work of raising the railway tracks above the much-battered trestles at North Main Street and Accabonac Road in East Hampton Village. For neighbors Down Hook, it has become something of a sport to wager when the next overambitious driver will wedge a too-tall truck under the bridge. This has its humorous side, it’s true, but the potential damage to the tracks and trestles from repeated strikes by drivers who ignore warning signs isn’t really a laughing matter.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo chose to make a new, tough proposal on domestic violence and guns the very first initiative in his 2018 State of the State Message this year. Under current law, judges issue orders of protection for alleged victims to protect them from harm after an arrest but before the case goes to court. Once an order is issued, defendants must turn in any licensed guns, that is, handguns, but they can continue to possess rifles and shotguns. Therefore, under the law, domestic abusers might not be able to shoot spouses at short range but could pick them off from a distance. That discrepancy makes no sense.

The East Hampton Town Board is poised tonight to approve an up-to-99-year lease for a Southampton Hospital-run emergency facility on land it owns off Pantigo Road in East Hampton. Given a number of unanswered — and even unasked — questions, the anticipated board action appears overhasty.

It is safe to say that few people like the sound of leaf blowers, unless, of course, they are in the property-care business, and then they sound like money. That conflict is at the core of a renewed call for limits, which are now under consideration by the East Hampton Village Board. Residents want less noise, especially on weekends when they are likely to be most irritated by the vexing on-and-off buzz; landscapers say that their work is all but impossible without them.

Along the East Coast, we thought we already had this fight settled. Now, after the Trump administration opened almost all United States federal waters to oil exploration and drilling, the battle to protect the oceans, as well as to slow global warming, must be taken to another level.

Plenty of able candidates could be found in the local Democratic Party to fill an open East Hampton Town Board seat for a year. It might not be the best option.

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.

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.

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.