Government

Due to a booming real estate market, the Peconic Bay Region Community Preservation Fund collected $61.1 million in revenues so far this year, the most for the first seven months of a year in the program's history, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. announced last week. 

The preservation fund, which provides money for land preservation, water quality improvement, and the protection of maritime heritage, receives the proceeds of a 2-percent real estate transfer tax. The money goes to the five East End towns: East Hampton, Southampton, Shelter Island, Southold, and Riverhead.

Earlier this month, East Hampton Town intervened to stop an extravagant outdoor entertainment concept called Etiquette at the establishment; it featured music, aerial performances, burlesque dancers, and other acts, and nightclub-style lighting.

A proposed law that increases the number of littering offenses in East Hampton Village and makes it easier to prosecute those who improperly dispose of garbage in public receptacles was passed by the village board at a meeting on Friday.

Representative Lee Zeldin of New York’s First Congressional District will be a featured speaker at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night, delivering his speech from Long Island.

Around 70 people rallied to draw attention to the United States postmaster general and the Trump administration on Saturday morning in East Hampton Village, demanding Louis DeJoy’s dismissal, the return of mailboxes and mail sorting equipment that were removed, and the universal right to cast ballots by mail.  

An East Hampton Village part-time resident, Robert Wood Johnson IV, the American ambassador to Britain, is under fire over allegations that, at President Trump's direction, he solicited the British government's help in having the British Open golf tournament held at a Trump-owned course in Scotland.

The Town of East Hampton appears to be following the lead of other municipalities on the South Fork in moving to enact restrictions on the use of gas or diesel-powered leaf blowers.

Last week, the Cook Political Report announced that its rating of New York's First Congressional District — where Nancy Goroff, the Democratic Party nominee, is challenging Representative Lee Zeldin — had moved its rating for the district from "likely Republican" to "lean Republican." 

The three candidates running for mayor of East Hampton Village on Sept. 15 Barbara Borsack, the deputy mayor, Arthur Graham, a village trustee, and Jerry Larsen, the village's former chief of police discussed their priorities and visions for the village's future in interviews last week.

"We broke up the existing town structure in order to better communicate and effectively deal with the crisis during this emergency," Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said. Now, with the state and county's infection rate under control, "I'm confident we can go back to our existing town structure" and return to a semblance of normal operations at Town Hall."

East Hampton can take a large step toward deriving its energy needs from renewable sources by joining 61 other municipalities in New York State with an active community choice aggregation program, speakers said during a webinar on the topic on Monday.

"We've historically had certain areas within town where there were dead zones and poor coverage," East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said. That condition worsens with the influx of summer residents and visitors, he said, and has deteriorated further since the Covid-19 pandemic brought second-home owners to town months earlier than usual, many of them working remotely.

Poll workers are needed more than ever before as the threat of the pandemic looms over older populations afraid to work on Election Day because they may be at increased risk for Covid-19.

The most recent test of the air quality at the Manor House complex, a new affordable housing development on Accabonac Road in East Hampton, once again found elevated levels of volatile organic compounds in the units' basements, according to Tom Ruhle, director of the town's office of housing and community development. 

Laura Ahearn, the Port Jefferson attorney and social worker who won New York’s First Senate District primary in June, announced that she has been endorsed by the 2.5-million-member state A.F.L.-C.I.O.

The Town of East Hampton's 2019 financial statement had "no material weaknesses or significant deficiencies," an auditor told the town board on Tuesday.

In his re-election campaign, Representative Lee Zeldin on Tuesday welcomed endorsements from 14 Long Island and statewide law enforcement associations, including the East Hampton Village Police Benevolent Association, the Suffolk County P.B.A., the Suffolk County Police Conference, and the Suffolk County Detectives Association.

The Sag Harbor Village Board took a first step toward a temporary moratorium on commercial redevelopment in waterfront areas, proposing to suspend site plans, special permits, and subdivisions.

Residents of Southampton Town have been asked to fill out an anonymous online survey intended to help officials create policies and plans around housing needs. The survey is open through Sept. 15 and can be found at southamptonhousingsurvey.metroquest.com.

"Public participation is most important to this important process and we welcome everyone to take the survey," the town says, welcoming residents, businesses, and employees alike to respond.

The New York State Department of Labor issued a statement on Twitter Tuesday reminding those who are currently receiving unemployment benefits to continue to certify their status each week, amid what it called "confusion following the president’s announcement on Saturday about additional unemployment benefits."

A bloom of toxic cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, was discovered in the Georgica Cove section of Georgica Pond on Saturday. It is the first such event of the year in the pond, which has experienced varying degrees of cyanobacteria blooms every summer since 2012, but came as little surprise given the ripe conditions for such an occurrence.

A public meeting of the Suffolk County Aquaculture Lease Program's 10-year review advisory group will happen next Thursday from 3 to 5 p.m. The meeting will take place via video conference.

Registration in advance is required to participate in the meeting and can be done at bit.ly/3gReUoy. Registrants will receive a confirmation email with a unique link to join the webinar. Public comment can be made through Zoom.

The Town of East Hampton and the advocacy group Renewable Energy Long Island will co-host a webinar on community choice aggregation on Monday from noon to 1 p.m.

A popular annual event celebrating East Hampton’s maritime heritage might be another casualty of the coronavirus pandemic, but may also happen in modified form this year.

Wearing stars-and-stripes polos and red caps, supporters of Donald Trump gathered for a TrumpStock boat parade on Friday. An estimated 1,500 boats were expected to join the event, which began in Noyac and stopped around the Orient Point Lighthouse before motoring east to the Montauk to eventually tie up as a flotilla in Fort Pond Bay in Montauk.

Citing “multiple ongoing violations,” East Hampton Town has taken legal action against the Marram Montauk resort, alleging the creation and use of multiple unapproved bar areas and the unauthorized conversion of a retail snack bar to a full-service restaurant with an expanded outdoor cooking area. The town is seeking an injunction to prohibit the resort from using them.

Three candidates have officially qualified to compete in East Hampton Village's Sept. 15 mayoral election, and five will vie for two open trustee seats.

The Federal Aviation Administration has found that the Town of East Hampton complied with federal regulations in connection with its use of airport revenue, in responding to lawsuits challenging restrictions on operations at East Hampton Airport.

In a final report issued on July 23, the F.A.A. said the town "is permitted to use airport revenue to pay for legal fees when such fees are incurred in connection with airport-related litigation." The town issued a statement reporting the finding on Monday.

Nancy Goroff, the Democratic Party's candidate to challenge Mr. Zeldin, announced that her campaign had raised more than $620,000 in the three weeks since winning the nomination.

Representatives from Verizon Wireless have proposed to install a temporary cellular tower on town-owned property off Stephen Hand's Path in East Hampton. The tower, they told the East Hampton Town Board on Tuesday, would alleviate "substantial dead zones" in the area and would also accommodate a substantial uptick in wireless traffic in the town.