Editorials

With less than a month to go before Election Day, East Hampton voters have some difficult choices to make. The toughest among them, however, might be on the town trustees portion of the ballot. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: It’s high time the venerable elected body with nine members adopted staggered terms.

It is movie time again in East Hampton. Next Thursday at Guild Hall, the Hamptons International Film Festival officially opens with the screening of “Just Mercy.” From then until the afternoon of Oct. 14, it will be a cinephile’s delight, with dozens of features and short films, as well as talks and parties, from all over the world and homegrown directors, writers, and producers, famous and not so famous. With this much to choose from in a short few days, just choosing what to see can seem daunting. Tickets have gone on sale, and while some of the biggest titles might be sold out, there are always plenty of other choices.

Regular readers of this newspaper know it has made a significant editorial commitment of time, resources, and newsprint to issues surrounding greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution in its coverage of alternative energy sources and the reduction of demand.

People who leave their vehicles in the Amagansett municipal parking lot to ride the Hampton Jitney are incensed about Town Hall’s plan to eliminate or sharply reduce long-term use of the lot. Having gotten used to the convenience of parking relatively close to the Jitney stop, they are unhappy about losing this perk. However, it is not entirely clear that reserving public parking spaces for users of a private, for-profit service is good policy.

For some time, we have observed that the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals operates in what seems to be a universe unto itself.

As a legal standoff between East Hampton Town and the Springs Fire District over a disputed radio and cellphone tower drags on toward a fourth year, emergency communications — as well as mobile phone service — in the populous hamlet remains poor to nonexistent.

It has often been said that if you weren’t for impeachment already, you were not paying attention, but nothing has been quite enough.

On Saturday, voters in the East Hampton, Wainscott, and Springs School Districts will have a chance to support an institution that is a cultural and educational hub for the community. The East Hampton Library, on Main Street overlooking the Village Green, is asking residents to approve a modest tax increase to help pay for its growing services.

Thousands of young people are expected to rally around the world tomorrow in a students’ day of action to call attention more aggressively to the need to combat the looming crisis of human-caused global warming. New York City leaders are taking climate change seriously, to the point that they are allowing the 1.1-million public school students to leave classrooms and take part in the protests without penalty. Closer to home, some students are expected to walk out on their own; others are likely to be among those headed to the city on rented buses.

While the White House either is or is not hurtling toward war with Iran, the Democratic primary, and, not to overlook it, the beginning steps of a presidential impeachment, we should not forget that thousands of residents of the Abacos Islands in the Bahamas remain in dire need of assistance.

Members of the Springs Fire Department were upset that a town planning board hearing on a controversial radio and cellular telephone monopole behind the firehouse was scheduled for last night — that is, Sept. 11, the same evening that the somber annual memorial ceremony is held at Hook Mill.

For East Hampton voters who have not followed the bumpy and bruising run up to the November town election, the lack of choices will be surprising. Notably, there will be no Republican candidates for supervisor or town board because the county party would not sign off on the local party’s choice of nominees, a requirement since none of them are registered Republicans.