Editorials

Come January and February — and, come to think of it, March — when the days are cold and the nights colder, cultural events are few and far between. This isn’t really surprising; half the year-round population of the South Fork is in Florida or Rincon, Puerto Rico, and the other half doesn’t feel like leaving the house. Yet for those motivated to put on an overcoat and venture out, there are options.

East Hampton Town’s planned purchase of the development rights on the 35-acre Whitmores landscaping nursery on Long Lane presents a dilemma. On the one hand, the $3.2 million deal would prevent the site’s ever being turned into a housing development. On the other, it does not appear to do much for the town as a whole, provide public access, or assure the land’s return to crop growing. A hearing on the purchase is scheduled for tonight at 6:30 in Town Hall.

That the East Hampton School District might radically overhaul its entire energy and heating approach is intriguing news. If the school board signs on, Johnson Controls, a leading national firm, would install 634-kilowatts of solar panels atop the district’s three schools. It would also improve the way oil is burned for heating, decrease heat loss and gain in classroom windows, and seek to make doors more airtight. The heating systems in the three buildings would have better insulation and power-wasting light fixtures would be replaced.

Since its start, the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton Recenter has never quite seemed to get it right.

With this edition, The East Hampton Star celebrates its 130th anniversary. Much has changed about the communities The Star covers since its first 500 copies were published on Dec. 26, 1885, but much remains the same.

For East Hampton Town officials, these are the easy days, but January and February’s quiet pace will soon yield to frenetic spring preparations for the season to come.

Clean water is a vital but feel-good goal. Reflecting on past examples of the misuse of government funds is of the highest priority as officials prepare proposals for voter approval in November 2016.

A little-noticed aspect in the debate about East Hampton Town’s newly approved landlords’ registry is that even after it goes into effect in February, the town’s rental laws will remain among the most generous on eastern Long Island.

New drones weighing more than half a pound must be registered with the F.A.A., and the agency has reminded owners that drones cannot be flown within five miles of an airport, unless air traffic controllers are notified in advance.

At a time when terrorist attacks both abroad and at home have rattled anyone who is paying attention, it is perhaps understandable that loud nativist voices have dominated the conversation. Measures of support for Donald Trump’s presidential bid were not negatively affected after he called for blocking Muslims from entering the United States. Several recent polls have shown considerable Republican approval of Mr. Trump’s idea, as un-American as it might be.

Over the past few years, it has been disappointing to listen as one lawmaker after another uttered the “I’m not a scientist” refrain to sow doubt about climate change, when no less than 97 percent of actively publishing climate scientists agree that warming trends over the past century are very likely due to human activities.

Town officials in East Hampton and Southampton are facing a challenge to public confidence following the death amid questionable circumstances of a second immigrant from Latin America that was deemed a suicide. The quicker that police are able to regain the trust of the region’s Spanish-speaking residents, the better. Unfortunately, their outreach so far has been wanting.

The South Fork could, within just a few years, see a significant amount of its electricity generated by offshore windmills. Potentially, this is good news for reducing the carbon emissions associated with global warming as well as other forms of atmospheric pollution. But it is far from a sure thing.

One of the recurring themes in the debate about the East Hampton Town registry of rental properties has been that the members of the town board have ignored the views of those who have spoken out against it. Going further, some speakers at town board meetings, as well as other observers, have argued that a show of opponents’ hands should be the determining factor. To do anything else would be tyranny, they say. Well, maybe. But a brief civics reminder should dispel that particular conclusion.

As panic grips some segments of America over the idea of allowing Syrian or other Middle Eastern refugees to settle in the United States, a few simple observations should be kept in mind. The statistics show, notably, that the risk of a terrorist being among those who pass through the rigorous vetting already in place is extremely low.

As world leaders meet in Paris this week to try to agree on a meaningful strategy to combat global warming, those of us who live on the East End should pay close attention. Eastern Long Island is especially vulnerable to sea level rise, one of the byproducts of a hotter planet. Current and future officials will face budget-busting challenges in the years ahead, as well as painful choices about whether to protect private property at the expense of common assets such as the region’s beaches and public waterfronts.

Now that the absentee votes for East Hampton Town Trustee have been counted, the stunning reversal of fortune for the board’s longstanding Republican majority has become clear.

Among the pleasures of the East End are its clear skies and the notable absence of man-made lighting to spoil the view. East Hampton Village has taken this to heart — though some of its own municipal lighting could be better — and is working on new regulations, which, apparently, will conform to Dark Skies Association standards.

With the naming of A.J. McGuire to lead the Sag Harbor Police Department, the village’s board of trustees has effectively put to an end to any question about the force’s future.

As attention continues to be focused on the Army Corps project on the Montauk beach, it is vital that the far more encompassing problem of sea level rise gets attention.

“It’s almost Thanksgiving. Donate something.” That’s what a Star editorial staff member suggested as an idea for this page this week. So we took a short walk around the office, asking, “If you had $100 right now to give to charity, where would you send it?” Answers were easy to come by and showed a surprising range.

Now that the East Hampton Town Board has a problem on its hands of a long queue of people willing to be arrested in protest of the Army Corps of Engineers’ project in Montauk as well as some 250 others who pressed the matter at a meeting on Tuesday, the question is where the town can go from here.

Sag Harbor Village officials and their counterparts on the Southampton Town Board appear in agreement on a wish to see a portion of the Sag Harbor waterfront revert to public ownership. A developer has been working on a plan for townhouse-style units there and has filed application paperwork with the village. In effect, the structures would wall off that side of Sag Harbor from the water.

It’s about the money, and it’s about the desire of some, if not many, East Hampton Town landlords not to see the party end.

News last month that two more sections of Accabonac Harbor had been permanently closed to shellfishing was met with little more than a collective shrug. We were surprised by the lack of outcry, and hope that other announcements of this depressing sort are not ahead.

New York State has released a first-draft plan for considering sea level rise. But for all the effort, and a self-congratulatory public relations flurry, there is little promise of improving coastal policy. This is a regrettable failure.

Some time ago East Hampton Village passed an ordinance prohibiting anything other than street and directional signs on public property. And it has worked; passers-by are able to enjoy this fall’s unusually vivid foliage unencumbered. This is something the East Hampton Town Board should look into in light of the unsightly proliferation of political come-ons stuck along on nearly every roadside.

When the voting results come in on Tuesday, East Hampton residents might want to take note of the town trustee results. With all nine seats on the trustee board in play, only the most well informed among us would have been able to make a well-reasoned choice.

You have to hand it to Amos Goodman for running a credible campaign for Suffolk legislator. As a newcomer to politics, he has offered plenty of ideas and put in a huge effort to get elected. Among Mr. Goodman’s strongest arguments is that he would make tackling Suffolk’s ongoing budget deficits a central focus.

County Executive Steve Bellone has, by our count, made two significant forays into East Hampton Town in the past year and a half. This is far too few, but it is more than have been made by James O’Connor, his opponent in the Nov. 3 election. Both should have made the South Fork a bigger part of their campaigns.