Editorials

As Fourth of July weekend and the peak of the summer season approach, complaints already have been heard about the plethora of taxis operating in East Hampton Town. Some residents object to places where drivers park to rest. Others find their sometimes littered and noisy congregation points sore points, which may interfere with the public’s access to shopping.

Other than for fans of the banana Bailey’s colada, a “for sale” sign on the former Cyril’s Fish House on the Napeague stretch of Montauk Highway is welcome. The eponymous owner of the bar and restaurant decided this spring to not open after losing a case in East Hampton Town Justice Court that involved a raft of building code violations.

Speaking at an Amagansett citizens advisory committee meeting recently, Ed Michels, the East Hampton Town harbormaster and the person in charge of the town’s Marine Patrol, said that Montauk’s beaches had as many as 100 bonfires on a summer weekend night. He told the group that as of next week, town officers would begin enforcing a rule that fires be kindled only in metal containers and that a two-gallon bucket of water be kept within 10 feet of a fire at all times.

Two recent conservation initiatives from the South Fork’s larger utilities caught our eye and support a sense that the area has reached some sort of maximum. PSEG Long Island and the Town of East Hampton have announced energy awareness days next week with a goal of dialing back on power consumption. At the same time, the Suffolk County Water Authority is pushing a voluntary odd-even day irrigation schedule to cut demand. Meanwhile, cellular companies are scrambling to erect new antennas, and ambulance companies across the region have added paid paramedics to help the volunteers cope with emergencies.

In the Democratic primary on Tuesday, David Calone, a political first-timer, faces Anna Throne-Holst, a former Southampton Town supervisor. The winner will battle Representative Lee Zeldin, a Republican nearing the end of his first term. How support for the Democratic Party candidates gelled presents an interesting picture of East End politics in which the person one knows well is not necessarily the favorite.

No matter where one might stand on the question of Napeague Truck Beach, it is likely that no one is going to be happy once the verdict is announced in the ongoing lawsuit, probably at the end of the summer.

The East Hampton Town Board appears ready to put a measure on the November ballot intended to provide up to 20 percent of the community preservation fund for water quality improvement. Despite its backers’ good intentions, this has the makings of a massive boondoggle, leaving far too much to the discretion of politicians, if it were approved by voters.

Local officials and community activists might have been a bit premature in declaring that recent measures designed to tame the summer party scene are a success. In the week and a half since Memorial Day we have heard variations on the theme of “it wasn’t so bad.” To those who might think this is the real story, we have one thing to say: You haven’t seen anything yet.

As soon as next year, the South Fork could see a rail shuttle designed to help cut congestion on the roads and provide a meaningful alternative for people traveling among the hamlets and villages.

We were rather pleased to see that Sag Harbor Village as regards an application for a new high-end residential complex on the waterfront near the North Haven bridge is taking a hard line. In meetings last month, Greystone Property Development was told by one of the village’s legal team to think again about its calculation that it could have 11 houses with private parking and boat slips.

Judging from the Memorial Day weekend crowds, East Hampton Town should adopt a zero-growth strategy. Unfortunately, the approach evident in a new round of official advisory studies is to encourage increased development, with commercial sprawl extended in some cases into predominantly residential areas under a smokescreen of “smart growth.”

The past weekend’s reopening of BookHampton on Main Street in East Hampton Village, under new ownership, is worth celebrating. For years, we’ve heard new-technology enthusiasts say that print is dead, but what with BookHampton re-establishing itself, a couple of lively bookshops in Sag Harbor, a cozy and delightful one in Montauk, and others thriving elsewhere on the South Fork, it seems that reports of print’s demise have been exaggerated.

The East Hampton Town Planning Board now has in its collective lap a request that could turn the whole town zoning code on its ear. The board has been asked to retroactively okay the Dunes, a “luxury, inpatient rehabilitation center,” in its own words, which sprang up in a house in Northwest Woods about five years ago.

Dare we say it? Amagansett shoppers will soon have a place to pee. With a long-sought Suffolk County Health Department okay finally in hand, the town has begun work on a public restroom in the hamlet’s downtown parking lot. This might not seem like much, but considering that the saga about building the thing has gone on for more than 12 years, is big news.

East Hampton Town’s effort to rein in some of the excesses of the summer bar and party scene is beginning to show results. This is a welcome change, as it is safe to assume that the preponderance of residents and season-long renters do not choose to live or summer here to carouse; the area’s natural and cultural attractions are the draw.

It was Representative Lee Zeldin’s right, we concede, to endorse whomever he chose in the race for the United States presidency. However, it was an insult to a large proportion of the people he is supposed to represent that he jumped aboard the Donald Trump train so quickly once his nomination appeared assured. By supporting Mr. Trump, Mr. Zeldin has appeared to hitch his political future to an incendiary demagogue, one who appears ready to throw the world into assured economic turmoil and closer to nuclear war.

The imminent closing of the Child Development Center of the Hamptons Charter School in East Hampton is a sad moment for an educational institution that provided an alternative public school and did great things for many kids and families. A note of hope can perhaps be found in the site itself, which belongs to East Hampton Town, and for which creative reuse opportunities are intriguing.

If you look at a photograph from 100 years ago, you might be startled by how far the eye could travel over town, once upon a time. Standing near Hook Mill, you could see the Maidstone Club; stand in the windmill’s upper reaches, and you could see clear to Amagansett. From the second story of a house on Main Street, you could see the waves breaking on the ocean beach.

If you take the time to really think about it, East Hampton Town does not have an affordable housing problem, it has an economic problem — a problem of demand greatly exceeding supply.

Several contested races will be on the ballot when annual voting for school board members and district budgets takes place on Tuesday. Would that there were more challengers; the status quo isn’t apt to result in a fresh look for a solution to the growing inequities between rich and poor districts, and new blood might speed the way.

A for-sale sign sways in the wind outside the shuttered Star Room nightclub on Montauk Highway in Wainscott. The apparent lack of activity there, however, belies what is going on behind the scenes: A dangerous proposal to build a car wash on the roughly two-acre site is working its way through East Hampton Town offices.

You can’t fault Scott Rubenstein for asking. And, frankly, we might assume that even he is surprised by how smooth the path in Town Hall has been so far for his plan for a bowling alley, miniature golf course, and 200-seat sports bar.

Plans to make the East Hampton Village Green more “green” are moving ahead, with a proposal to install contaminant-absorbing landscaping near Town Pond. Another project, a bioswale (whatever that is), will go in near Hook Mill. Both will help improve water quality in Hook Pond, whose headwaters reach to roadside drains on North Main Street.

Getting a snack or a little ice cream at one of East Hampton Town’s beaches on a summer’s day is one of the simple pleasures of living or visiting here. That is why (we guess) the town allows vendors to lease spots at most of the ocean beaches where lifeguards are stationed.

You know the sound. It’s a lovely weekend afternoon and suddenly you hear the thudding of shotgun blasts. A small group is off in the distance target shooting.

Five work weeks remain before Memorial Day, which hardly seems enough time for East Hampton Town officials to do what would be needed to maintain the delicate balance between the demands of summer and the interests of residents. There is a lot to do, and, while it is evident that all of summer’s ills cannot be solved in a single year, there is reason to worry that Town Hall remains satisfied with what is to many observers an unacceptable status quo.

Plum Island, a federal facility off the North Fork within eyesight of the South Fork and coastal Connecticut, could soon be sold to private interests unless a broad effort by officials at several government levels and environmental groups succeeds in having it set aside for preservation, most wisely as a national wildlife refuge.

It has been a long time since a New York presidential primary really mattered. And it has been a long time since a primary season has generated anywhere near this level of interest among East End residents. No matter where one might be on the political spectrum, the big-picture debates about the direction of the country have been significant.

The South Fork’s school districts are beginning to finalize proposed budgets for the coming year, and some boards appear willing to ask voters to authorize going above the so-called 2-percent tax cap. As tough as this might be for some residents, it reflects the fact that in most cases there are few places to make further cuts in spending after years of forced belt-tightening.

All but lost amid the discussion of new setbacks and coverage rules for construction in Sag Harbor was a proposal to ban rooftop solar energy systems in nearly the entire village.