Editorials

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.