Editorials

A cold calculus has dominated the unusual multi-candidate Democratic primary in New York’s First Congressional District this year. Of seemingly more concern to many active party members is who stands the best chance of defeating the incumbent, Representative Lee Zeldin, rather than determining who may be the most qualified.

A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month suggested that the United States is virtually awash in ticks — and the illnesses they can spread. Here, they include Lyme disease, a debilitating condition marked by lethargy and aching joints, among other symptoms.

If there is a single measure of how insane the absence of meaningful gun regulation in this country has become, it can be found in certain schools that are equipping students with bulletproof shields to carry in their backpacks.

East Hampton has not suffered so shocking a loss in modern times as the deaths on Saturday of four people when a small plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. Ben Krupinski and his wife, Bonnie, both 70, were influential members of the South Fork community, as builders, restaurateurs, and quiet philanthropists.

Sag Harbor’s already stunning waterfront will be even more beautiful once a deal is completed to expand public access west of the bridge to North Haven. This is something many people feared would never happen after a corporate development firm acquired about an acre and a half of derelict property there with the intention of building a 13-unit luxury condominium complex. In a 2015 artist’s rendering, massive structures, designed in faux-Colonial style, virtually walled off the rest of the village from any view of Sag Harbor Cove and its spectacular sunsets.

A collective madness has gripped many in East Hampton over the proposed Deepwater Wind South Fork Wind Farm, and it has proved the near undoing of the town trustees. Things hit a low point during a May 17 hearing on the proposed landing site of an electric cable from the distant offshore turbines when an elected trustee tried to prevent someone with whom he disagreed from speaking.

In case you missed it, the Army Corps is headed back to Montauk in a big way. Work is to begin in late fall on an estimated 18-month project to replace the stone armor at Montauk Point, which the corps says could not withstand a major hurricane in the condition it is in now. Doubts, which have greeted Army Corps plans for a bigger seawall at the Point in the past, are beginning to re-emerge.

A letter to the editor from a reader and a message from our electric utility company this week reminded us that balloon season is once again upon us — and that does not bode well for wildlife, or for power lines, it turns out.

On this Memorial Day weekend, it is important to remember that East Hampton men and women have fought and died in this country’s wars since the American Revolution. Marches and other observances will take place on Monday, but reminders of their sacrifices can be seen year round in the many monuments and the Hook Mill Green war memorials.

To hear farmers and other purveyors describe it, a proposed Saturday morning market in East Hampton Village, possibly in Herrick Park, is a nonstarter. The problem is that East End growers, food producers, and craftspeople who take advantage of existing markets already have a full weekly schedule.

Deepwater has done itself no favors in keeping key terms of its contract with the Long Island Power Authority secret, notably how much LIPA will pay for the power generated offshore.

In the absence of budget controversies and with a state cap on tax increases, the lead-up to this year’s school district voting, on Tuesday, has been uncommonly quiet. That is not to say that the balloting is insignificant; spending plans await approval, and two districts have contests for board seats.

A little more than two weeks from today, it will once again be Memorial Day. The East End will get an early look at the coming summer, eager crowds, lines, headaches, but also a sense that we are all in it together, lifelong local and visitor alike.

Several weeks ago the idea was floated that at least one of the often-packed ocean beach parking lots at Ditch Plain in Montauk be made residents-only. This came in response to complaints that the number of people had overwhelmed the lots, making it almost impossible on sunny summer days for East Hampton Town taxpayers to find a spot unless they arrived shortly after dawn.

With the summer season approaching at long last, PSEG-Long Island hopes that homeowners with central air-conditioning take up its offer of free, remotely programmable thermostats that will cut electric bills and help the utility deal with high demand. It is a program very much worth considering.

The million dollars it cost the Town of East Hampton to pile new sand on a row of massive sandbags on the Montauk ocean shoreline is perhaps the most immediate reason why officials are eager to find another way to respond to ongoing erosion there.

As enticing as glistening waters may be to kayakers, paddleboarders, and the like, it is still dangerous out there.

New York City could soon ban the sale of plastic water bottles in parks, beaches, and public golf courses to cut down on trash.

Every April since 1970, many Americans have celebrated Earth Day. While the holiday does not have the buildup of Christmas or the whoop-de-doo of the Fourth of July, it has become tradition in many places to take a hike, clean up roadsides and wrack lines, or take part in other outdoor activities. Numerous local organizations have laid on events this year, among them the South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton and the Nature Conservancy’s Mashomack Preserve on Shelter Island.

A massive water cistern planned for the Amagansett woods has the potential neighbors upset. This is understandable, as the 900,000-gallon reservoir would be built above ground on a Suffolk County Water Authority well site only a short distance from the road.

Luis Marin-Castro’s arrest by federal agents while he was working in Wainscott on April 9 highlights the need for a rational immigration policy. Mr. Marin, 31, came to East Hampton from Ecuador as a child, attended high school here, graduated from Suffolk Community College, and was a valued employee, working his way up from bus boy to sommelier at Nick and Toni’s restaurant in East Hampton.

The Earth is getting warmer and fossil fuel-burning power plants have a lot to do with it. That is why those who study climate and government policies say alternative energy sources are essential in order to avoid massive upheavals. Given present technology, wind power, either from land-based or offshore windmills, is considered the best, fastest way to make a difference.

At a time when young people have taken leadership roles in the fight for sensible gun control, led the Black Lives Matter movement, and generally found new political activism, allowing them to have a voice at the local level is a logical next step. Guild Hall, for example, recently created a teen council, in which high school students receive a stipend for attending meetings to help shape cultural programs and build audiences of the future. That would be most obviously valuable in some form on school boards and perhaps in Town Hall.

Public access and amenities at Boys and Girls Harbor in East Hampton could be improved soon. This is a good thing, but a word of caution is necessary first.

It is forgivable that Americans might be distracted by all the scandals and dramatic missteps of the Trump presidency and miss the less-noticed efforts to dismantle existing policy, in particular, clean air and water protections.

East Hampton Town needs a summer plan. Relatively recently, officials presented a set of hamlet-specific vision documents intended to guide redevelopment and new projects in the commercial centers with an eye toward a mix of business and residential needs and an emphasis on affordable living for workers. These studies were quite nice and contained some exciting ideas. What the hamlet plan authors did not do was look at the reality of East Hampton’s resort, day-trip, and short-term rental economy in a coherent way.

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.