Editorials

East Hampton Village banned the bags a while ago. Southampton Village did the same even before that. Now, East Hampton Town is poised to follow suit, ordering that those flimsy, thin bags commonly used in supermarkets no longer be welcome.

More than $15,000 was raised on Sunday during a show of classic cars and lifted trucks organized by friends and family of the late Tyler Valcich of Montauk, who died in May of an apparent suicide. All of the money is to be set aside for mental health services for young people here through the Greater East Hampton Education Foundation. Those involved in what is planned as an annual event deserve a big round of applause for turning a personal tragedy into something good to the extent possible under the circumstances.

At last there is an air of inevitability around the question of marriage equality now that the United States Supreme Court has, by declining to intervene in lower courts’ rulings, let stand same-sex marriage in five states. Right now 24 states allow gender-blind weddings; that number could reach 30 following Monday’s decision. It’s about time.

The East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals appears poised to deal a precedential death blow to a fundamental portion of local land-use law. But before its members allow a landscaping company to take over a residentially zoned lot at 103 Montauk Highway, they should take a very close look at the village code and ask themselves whether what they are being asked to approve meets the letter and intent of the law with regard to when and under what circumstances a pre-existing, nonconforming use can be considered abandoned.

As officials in the Town of East Hampton and the owners of private property along the ocean in Montauk puzzle over their relationship with the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the fate of a proposed beach protection project there, it is well worth reflecting on two unfortunate chapters in that federal agency’s relatively recent history.

For the first time ever, East Hampton High School’s annual homecoming game, held on Sept. 20, was not played by the football team. The match featured varsity soccer, and the boys defeated Hampton Bays by a score of 3-0, therein making history and signaling a change that was coming for a long time, accelerated by local demographic changes.

A sign boasting of East Hampton Town’s goal of meeting all of its electricity needs with renewable sources by 2020, which was carried by an activist during Sunday’s climate march in New York City, drew lots of attention. And well it should have; moving away from fossil fuels is essential if human-induced global warming is to be slowed within our lifetimes. It is terrific that a local resolution to do better, albeit one with limited direct effect, could reach beyond East Hampton’s borders and, perhaps, influence other communities to take their own steps toward a positive power future.

With East Hampton Village having accepted more than $100,000 toward a test project to spay deer, it probably will go forward, but it may actually delay effective management and avoid comprehensive analysis of the role their growing numbers play in tick-borne illnesses as well as their effect on the environment.

As we commented back when the matter was pending before the East Hampton Town Planning Board, the pitch made by the late Gregg Saunders for a commercial building on Montauk Highway in Wainscott was one for the textbooks. Now that work on the former Plitt Ford site is well under way, some residents are beginning to notice. They are right to wonder what the heck happened and why those who own the property now are getting away with it.

Saturday is International Coastal Cleanup Day, and East Hampton Town is joining the effort by providing trash bags, gloves, and collection sites for volunteers who want to help pick up trash from the beaches. Then, on Sunday, the organizers of the People’s Climate March expect it to be the largest demonstration in New York City since the anti-Vietnam War protests. Both are worthy.

Tuesday’s Democratic primary in which Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo managed to defeat a progressive insurgency from Zephyr Teachout, a first-time candidate, was a stunner to which New York’s old-line power brokers should pay close attention.

Serious attention is now being paid to water quality in the Town of East Hampton after a patchwork effort dating back decades. Georgica Pond, which has been closed to the taking of shellfish for years due to pollution, was found to be contaminated with a form of toxic algae about a year ago and closed to crabbing, its last remaining active harvest.

The mechanics of a proposed East Hampton Town registry for property rentals will require detailed consideration, but at this point it seems a good idea and long overdue.

Officials are revising a draft of a law that would require landlords to register with the town, providing details about the number of rooms and so on. An identification number would be assigned to each property, which would have to be displayed in all advertising and online listings. A hearing on the law should come before the end of the month.

East Hampton Town is getting its land acquisition strategy right and developing an approach that other local governments along the country’s coasts could consider a model. The money comes from two sources, the community preservation fund transfer tax and a newer federal program aimed at neutralizing at-risk properties. Taken together, the initiatives could improve marine and estuarine habitats, reduce potential erosion-control costs, and limit calls for government bailouts after catastrophic storms.

LILCO, LIPA, PSEG — the names may have changed over the years, but for more than 30 years electrical service on Long Island has been one frustration after another. At a meeting in East Hampton on Tuesday, residents and elected officials were expected to speak out about a host of issues; whether their pleas will receive a meaningful response is subject to doubt.

The East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals has it exactly right in asking an applicant for a rock revetment in Montauk for a full environmental impact study before proceeding.

Credit must be given for a new East Hampton Town Board initiative to deal with persistent quality-of-life violations and business owners who act as if laws do not apply to them. It is about time and should send a message that the rules matter and will be enforced.

Acting on complaints made by neighbors, officials have cited two Montauk property owners for allegedly turning their houses into hot-mattress hotels with a different set of guests every weekend. As difficult as these cases may be to prosecute, enforcement of existing law is not optional.

“Justice will bring peace,” Lesley McSpadden said during a television appearance this week. Ms. McSpadden is the mother of Michael Brown, who was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo., on Aug. 9. While the focus now is rightly on the circumstances of the death of the 18-year-old, whom friends called Big Mike, the anger in the streets appears to be equally about how those in authority in this country treat people of color, particularly young black men.

As the summer high season rapidly draws to a close, East Hampton officials and leaders of the various environmental and business organizations here should take a look around and ask if a new, overarching plan is warranted to manage our town’s exploding popularity as a destination for short-term tourism and visitors.

Things are bad in the air around East Hampton Airport. Even though just how bad may be open to debate, there is no question that residents across the North and South Forks have been suffering from aircraft noise. The good news is that relief may be on the horizon.

On paper, East Hampton Village’s proposed code changes to allow some duneland projects to proceed with reduced official scrutiny may make sense; on the ground, however, one of the proposals — to allow property owners to place “beach-compatible” sand on the dunes without applying for a variance from the code — is regrettable. Hearings on these and several other changes are scheduled for tomorrow’s village board meeting.

In and of itself, a massive members-only club proposed for the former East Deck Motel site at Ditch Plain does not represent the end of Montauk as we know and love it, but it comes close.

Here is what is understood so far: An anonymous new owner has come up with a plan to more than double the use of the property by building a two-story complex with an Olympic-size swimming pool, a restaurant, and below-grade parking. The club would be open to some 179 members, along with their families and guests, based apparently on the space available on the beach in front of the parcel.

Everybody eats; not everybody plays golf. And there, in a nutshell, you have why a private club’s offer to take over most of a large parcel of town-owned former farmland in Amagansett should be rejected out of hand.

As a discussion heats up about what — if anything — should be done about commercial trucks parked in residential parts of town, greater focus is needed on the underlying question: whether a house lot has become a place of business.

By any standard it is a large number: East Hampton Town ordinance enforcement and other personnel have removed some 151 illegal signs from the public right-of-way in recent weeks.

That the number was so high is hardly a surprise. Previous town administrations had tolerated, if not encouraged, a certain studied lethargy in enforcement of many regulations. The chaos now is finally coming to an end under the leadership of Supervisor Larry Cantwell, who, having managed East Hampton Village in a by-the-book manner as its administrator, is now bringing order to Town Hall.

It has been a shared belief for some time that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s ambition and assumed presidential aspirations have gotten in the way of what at one time had the promise of a real revolution in the state capital. Now, after a devastating New York Times story about his meddling with a much-heralded anti-corruption initiative, suspicions about Mr. Cuomo are fast turning to deep disappointment.

“Clean up Albany,” Mr. Cuomo said more than once when he was the state attorney general running for New York’s top job. Now it seems that role will have to fall to someone else.

Pity poor Montauk. First it comes under attack from hordes of people partying on weekends, then it becomes overrun with guests in illegal short-term rentals, and now, parts of the public’s property are being usurped by private businesses.

It is difficult to imagine a more convincing argument for the immediate consolidation of school districts than the president of the Wainscott School Board’s plea that a modest affordable housing development be kept out of that school district. That this was not roundly rejected from the start is disappointing, to say the least.

The chief executive officer of the Starbucks corporation and the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals together have a world-class stall job under way, though the Z.B.A. appears to be inching toward putting a stop to it. This display of backbone, however cartilaginous, is overdue — though we will believe it when we see it.