Government

The double-yellow stripes running up and down Town Line Road make up the official dividing line between the hamlet of Wainscott and the Village of Sagaponack, in East Hampton and Southampton Towns respectively. But where it divides, it will also now unite — albeit in the wake of a tragedy.

The Nov. 8 midterm elections may be a tough one for Democrats, but three months before Election Day, Gov. Kathy Hochul, the Democratic incumbent, is comfortably ahead of her challenger, Representative Lee Zeldin, in the race for governor of New York State. 

The Suffolk County health commissioner has announced the first mosquito samples to test positive for West Nile virus this year, 12 of them from samples collected late last month. 

The effort to preserve and restore the Springs house and studios of the Abstract Expressionist artists James Brooks and Charlotte Park took on new urgency this week when a consultant told the East Hampton Town Board that the 1,318-square-foot Brooks studio, called by one advocate of its preservation "a cathedral to midcentury abstract art," was beginning to collapse.

The Suffolk County Legislature is considering a bill introduced on July 26 that aims to address a chronic concern for parents, educators, and others in the wake of New York's landmark cannabis legalization law that passed in March of 2021: the packaging of pot products, and especially edibles.

Throughout New York State, "people are talking about their safety, their freedoms, and their economy," Alison Esposito, the Republican Party's nominee for lieutenant governor of New York State, said last Thursday at the Clubhouse in East Hampton. 

A new affordable housing fund, to be paid for by a .5-percent real estate transfer tax, is headed for the November ballot in East Hampton Town.

East Hampton Town’s Nature Preserve Committee has recommended to the town board that the 6.9-acre wooded area bordered by Crandall Street, Lincoln Avenue, Norfolk Street, and Fort Pond Boulevard in Springs be made part of the town’s nature preserve. Not everyone agrees.

After National Grid closed off the Reutershan parking lot for half the day on Friday to complete the tie-in of a new gas main, East Hampton Village Mayor Jerry Larsen, who had not been contacted in advance, was incensed. Disrupting traffic at the busiest time of the year is something local officials do not take lightly.

Since July 4, ordinance enforcement officers have observed numerous instances of overcrowding at tt’s, at 466 West Lake Drive, and Sel Rrose, at 4 South Elmwood Avenue, according to a town attorney. East Hampton wants to compel both establishments to comply immediately with the town code.

The draft environmental impact statement for the 50-lot Wainscott Commercial Center is still not ready for public comment, the East Hampton Town Planning Board agreed earlier this month.

The East Hampton Town Board will hold a public hearing next Thursday at 2 p.m. on the adoption of the draft Coastal Assessment Resiliency Plan, which was issued in April. The plan is described as a first step to reduce the town’s vulnerability as a coastal community and adapt to a changing climate.