Another Great Event
Montauk
August 3, 2025
Dear David,
The Friends of the Montauk Library would like to thank everyone who helped to make this year’s July 4th weekend book fair yet another great annual event. Our first fair was on the green in 1980, before there was a library. That is 45 years of fairs that generations of Friends have used this event to raise money for our wonderful library.
There are so many people to thank for their contributions, from the 45 businesses in Montauk that gave us wonderful things to offer as prizes, to the many who baked goodies for us to sell, to the four landscaping businesses and four members who provided the material for our plant sale. And the more than 40 volunteers who come out in the early days of summer to help us pack and move the books, move tables, set up tents, cashier, do crafts with the kids, sell raffle tickets, and even direct traffic in the parking lot. Then there is our wonderful board of directors, who work all year to make this such a fun event for everyone. Last, but certainly not least, we must thank Denise DiPaolo and the fabulous staff of the library who are our year-round partners.
So again, many thanks to all! Here’s to many more years of Montauk Library Book Fairs.
Sincerely,
SALLY KRUSCH
President
Friends of the Montauk Library
Traffic Conundrum
East Hampton
August 4, 2025
Dear David,
So everyone is quite aware that it’s now August and, at the height of the summer season, there is more and more road construction taking place. Why? Is this a state blunder? Are the persons in charge simply unconcerned? Why is it taking so long? Does the Town of East Hampton have any control in this matter?
As year-round residents, we all want solutions to traffic and congestion, but not solely at our expense. Surely there must be a way for us to have our cake and eat it, too. Why can’t all-day rush hour traffic be rerouted without disturbing our local residents?
The intersection at Old Northwest is a prime example. Previously, bulk traffic had to make a stop before, while local traffic (the few) had the right of way. Now rush hour has the right of way, and we have to yield. Seems like a moot point, but once the Stephen Hand’s Path extension becomes one way, I’ll never be able to make the left turn. By the way, it’s not a 90-degree left turn as it should be, and there is no turning lane with arrows. Traffic cuts the line and doesn’t even stop. The intersection should have been left as is. It worked fine.
The entire traffic conundrum has, in my opinion, been poorly addressed. Sure, traffic circles keep motorists moving. They work in all cases, in some cases only to pile up at the next intersection and cause a bigger bottleneck.
I would love to see more “No Left Turn,” “One Way,” and “Local Traffic Only” but it would not get enforced. Residences south of the highway would never put up with it. I’ve lived here 50 years and the disrespect to our local village neighborhoods is appalling. We all see it: Miller Lane, Osborne Lane, Sherrill Road, Oakview Highway, Gould Street, and even Church Street, not to mention Wainscott Stone Road. It has become a free-for-all.
I plan my routes to not make a left without a light, if at all possible — doing so causes aggravation, not only for myself, but for the eight or 10 drivers backed up behind me. I do not use shortcut routes because it’s not fair to the neighborhood. Now I have to take the long way to get anywhere to avoid the congestion.
Hopefully, we can get this all fixed and working well for everyone once the construction is completed — just in time for winter.
ROBERT LINKER
The Velvet Ropes
Montauk
July 31, 2025
Dear Editor,
Is it just me? Why do so many restaurants or, should I say, clubs disguised as restaurants, have velvet ropes and well-groomed men in suits picking and choosing who gets in? What could possibly be going on inside that is so important that all this security and staff are needed? The velvet rope syndrome has run amok!
Years ago in Montauk the most insulting sign was, “No shirt, no shoes, no service.” Bummer, dude! Montauk was different. The “vibe”(a word that was not used that often) was a feeling, not a term mentioned in every other sentence. A night out was, perhaps. a burger at The Dock and an ice cream cone at John’s Drive-In, while still in your bathing suit and flip-flops with sand stuck to your ankles and sunscreen visible on your nose.
Today, that experience can still be had — right after you grease the doorman and agree to Venmo a casual $5,000 or $10,000 for a table (not including drinks). The velvet ropes open as if they were the pearly gates. You’ve just entered a pop-up brand activation, disguised as a restaurant.
Many of the restaurants that once gave Montauk its soul have now been replaced by branding vehicles, lifestyle billboards, and Instagram backdrops with menus. And most of these establishments consistently repeat the same thing in their press releases: “We are going to be open year-round and we will use only local ingredients.” Branzino, anyone? To me (yes, I am a boomer), but also to some Gen-Zers with whom I have chatted, Montauk has become a branded, velvet-roped, monetized town. And to all those nice people standing outside of the velvet ropes, suffering from FOMO, what are you really missing?
Discover more of Montauk. Here are a few suggestions: Go out on the Lazy Bones and catch a fish. Rent a sailboat. Visit the Montauk Lighthouse or the Montauk Historical Society and learn about Carl Fisher. Go horseback riding and discover some of the most beautiful open space. Of course, go to the beach. Montauk is, after all, a beach town. But stay a little longer at the beach. Go swimming. Relax. Order a pizza. I doubt many of the people who wait in those lines will read this. If you ask them whether they’ve ever heard of The East Hampton Star, they may think you are talking about them!
If The Dock, John’s Drive-In, Sail Inn, or Ditch Witch put velvet ropes out, I’m moving.
DAVID A. MARCLEY
Clear Message
East Hampton
July 31, 2025
To the Editor:
I’d like to commend Mayor Jerry Larsen and the East Hampton Village Board for posting “No Biking on Sidewalk” signs in the village.
While enforcement may be a challenge, the signs send a clear message: The village values the safety and comfort of residents and visitors — especially pedestrians, including children, seniors, and those walking dogs — who simply want to enjoy a peaceful stroll in our beautiful community without having to dodge speeding bicycles.
As someone who walks regularly with my dog, I’ve found myself constantly checking over my shoulder for cyclists zooming by on the sidewalk, often without warning. Though New York State law requires bikes to be equipped with a bell or other audible device, I’ve yet to hear one used.
Ideally, the village could eventually develop dedicated bike lanes to encourage safe, car-free transportation to town, the beaches, and beyond. But in the meantime, this step is a welcome sign — literally and symbolically — that pedestrian safety matters.
Thank you again to the mayor and the board for listening and acting.
Sincerely,
SUE RAKOWSKI
After-Hours Rescue
East Hampton
August 4, 2025
Dear David,
There was a recent after-hours rescue at Main Beach by a good Samaritan who used one of the village’s after-hours rescue flotation devices. I understand emergency medical services and police arrived immediately to aid. The devices — called torps — contain prominent warnings that 911 should be called and that only the experienced should use them. They worked as intended here.
It is sensible to have these around at our unprotected beaches. I saw a family minutes after their mother drowned at an unprotected beach. The town has roughly 20 miles of ocean beaches and 30 miles of bay beaches, the majority of which are unprotected.
Consider an after-hours torp one more tool to help keep our bathers safe. These torps were donated to the village (where I work) by East End Ocean Rescue (of which I’m a member). Kudos to Village Hall and beach management for agreeing to install them on the lifeguard stands.
We are lucky to have tons of well-trained lifeguards on the East End (going back generations), so there’s a reasonably good chance someone who was trained here will be around. Plus, anyone can call 911, which can then dispatch our first responders: e.g., Marine Patrol, the police, Fire Department, E.M.S., Volunteer Ocean Rescue, East Hampton Village Surf Rescue.
Sincerely,
SPENCER L. SCHNEIDER
A Fabulous Pair
Springs
August 4, 2025
Dear David,
With all of the upsetting news we are subjected to, I would like to share a heartwarming incident that occurred in East Hampton at the wonderful Warby Parker store. Two years ago, I bought a fabulous pair of sunglasses at Warby Parker — the frames are a fantastic green color, which inspire great compliments each time I wear them. In fact, when I bought them, they were the last pair available at all of the Warby Parker stores (unfortunately the store seems to discontinue fab frames even while people continue to ask for them).
About two weeks ago, I lost them. I was distraught, retraced my steps, but did not find them. I intuited that I would find them but gave up when they did not materialize, despite all my efforts. Then I walked into the Warby Parker store in East Hampton to get another pair. I told the salesperson my sad story about losing my favorite glasses, secretly hoping one last pair could be found. Instead, something fantastic happened.
She pulled out the familiar black case with the intense green-framed sunglasses and asked if these were the glasses I had lost. Yes, they were! Some lovely person found them and took them to the store. In the midst of August crowds pushing and pulling and disconcerting news, a good-hearted person of integrity returned my sunglasses (which she easily could have kept for her own).
I am eager to share this wonderful story and would love to thank the lovely person who returned them. If you read this, please contact me at [email protected].
With heartfelt gratitude,
CAROL STEINBERG
Highly Recommend
East Hampton
July 24, 2025
To the Editor,
We had a wonderful time last night at Multi Aquaculture on Napeague. The paella was delicious, but, most of all, the party-like atmosphere was the best. We all got served at the same time and, hence, socialized as if we were all there as friends.
I highly recommend it.
PATRICIA ANHOLT HABR
Garbage and Worse
Amagansett
August 1, 2025
To the Editor,
Recently, as of last Tuesday, I went to the town dump to dispose of recyclables and garbage. Hard to believe the condition of the place. Ground littered with garbage and worse. It appears there is a general lack of supervision.
Sure hope someone buys a broom.
GENE VASSEL
Just Not Right
Montauk
July 22, 2025
Dear David,
I was honored last week to attend and support my dear friend Ann Peterson at the Montauk Senior Center board of directors meeting on Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. There were many issues; below I will highlight a few.
My first concern is that the scheduled meeting was at 9 a.m. on a Tuesday and it wasn’t posted at the senior center. Many of the seniors were unaware of the meeting and/or unable to attend due to the early morning scheduled time. Informing the seniors of the meeting and scheduling at a more convenient time, perhaps after lunch at the center when all the seniors are there, would have let them all have a voice.
My second concern is that the seniors were continuously agitated by a local, aggressive Montauk man who attended the meeting. He would ask a question and then not let anyone answer. This particular local was quite disrespectful. I finally asked him to refrain so the seniors were able to answer his questions and share their opinions.
My third concern is that after the meeting there was an executive board session in which one of the longtime board members retired. I was very appalled to find out that the newly appointed board member was the combative Montauk man from the meeting — talk about no transparency. He should not have been at the meeting. It seems deceptive to have him sit in the meeting as a local and not as a board member. That’s just not right.
Another unbelievable moment from the meeting was when one of the board members said, “What’s in a title?” They decided to change Anna’s title from director to coordinator. In unison we all replied, “Dignity!”
The Senior Center is a place where many seniors feel a sense of community and that connection was due to Anna. Anna went beyond the call of duty. She is compassionate, kind, thoughtful, and truly cares about the seniors. It’s a shame the board can so easily discredit her connection there. John Keeshan eloquently asked what we were all thinking: If he personally spoke to Anna and she was willing to come back would they consider this? A simple yes or no. It was never answered.
ANNIE ARMSTRONG
But Cameras?
East Hampton
July 30, 2025
Dear Editor:
Last Monday while waiting to be served lunch at the Senior Center, my friends and I were enjoying our coffee and chatting when we heard noises coming from the dining room. We checked it out and found that there was cable wire spread over the floor, and noise from drills, etc., could be heard throughout the room. We couldn’t imagine what was going on, but because the center is in dire need of repair, we thought that must be what was happening.
During the announcements before lunch we were told sorry for the inconvenience but we are installing cameras at the center. Huh! What! Cameras? What is the town board hoping to see? Hanky panky in the lunch room, hard-working employees stealing pots and pans, women of a certain age doing Zumba in the activity room, ladies playing mah-jongg or strangers coming in for a free meal, what?
I guess because we are a bunch of old folks, we don’t deserve an explanation. It would have been nice if one of the town board members had come to explain why we need cameras.
Very few of the town board members have spent any time here so they probably don’t really know what the most-important needs are. I would think that since we will be moving to the new Center for Modern Aging it isn’t necessary to improve the old senior center. However, if they wanted to spend some money to make a few improvements they could update the restrooms, which are in terrible condition and very hard for people on walkers and in wheelchairs to get into or out of without help. The same goes for the front doors. They could also do a few improvements to the dining room or the activity room, but cameras?
Someone said that the cameras were installed because of the groups that use the center at night. I don’t know who is here at night but I do remember that Alcoholics Anonymous meetings were held here, and it would seem to me that anonymous is the key word here: These people do not want to be on camera.
We have not heard anything lately regarding the big, beautiful new center, which I assume is still being built, and, since it seems that the old center will not be moving any time soon, it would be advisable to give it a face-lift instead of installing cameras. The last time I looked, East Hampton was not a hotbed of crime, and I’m sure the people who meet here at night would like to remain anonymous.
Sincerely,
PENNY DAUCH
Waiting Five Months
Amagansett
July 24, 2025
To the Editor,
Last spring, I decided to replace my windows in my house located in the Amagansett dunes. I submitted my application on March 5. Since they were being replaced in-kind and no enlarging was necessary, I thought it would be a straightforward process. I waited and waited, then received a call from the East Hampton building inspector’s office on July 7. My project was approved, and the permit would be issued when I paid $500 to East Hampton Town. I explained that the representative from Andersen was visiting my house on July 21 and I would be in their office that day or the next one to pay the bill.
On July 15, a representative from Renewal by Andersen visited and reassured me their measurements were correct. I appeared at the building inspector’s office, and a woman named Jen informed me that she had sent my application back to me because I had waited too long to pay. I became irate. I asked her why had she not spoken to the man who had called me the previous Monday. She said she did not speak to any staff member. At that moment, a woman named Dawn appeared and informed me that my application should be brought back in person and she would expedite my permit by personally taking care of me that same day. I would merely wait till she printed it at her desk.
I received the application at my post office box four days later and did appear at the building inspector’s office that same morning. Dawn was in the back and too busy to come to the front to take care of this permit. I returned the application with my check and another four days passed. I then received an email notice that the permit was issued that morning. I appeared in person and the woman who had made the original error in returning my application went to the back and informed me that I had to wait for a phone call to get permission to pick up this permit.
The frustration in waiting for five months for a building permit has made me tell the staff that even though I am not a fan of Elon Musk I think that the Department of Government Efficiency should pay a visit to this department. No one communicates with each other, and no one acknowledges his mistakes. An independent person should analyze how many permits are requested daily and how long it takes to issue these permits. It seems to me there is no building inspector at the helm making decisions.
I have lived in Amagansett 46 years, and I remember a time when men like Bill Gale and Tom Preiato ran this department efficiently and politely and when revenge-time waits were unheard of because the staff did not like what one said.
Sincerely,
JUNE O’REILLY
Violated Goals
Springs
August 4, 2025
Dear David,
In just six months, the town board has violated seven goals of the comprehensive plan, an adopted document that is the legal blueprint for East Hampton’s development. Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez is seriously violating many goals of the comprehensive plan when she states, “Build it and they will come!”
If town projects are incompatible with the comprehensive plan goals, the town board can be sued by residents under an Article 78 and must appear before a judge.
If the judge finds the town board’s decisions are harmful to the community’ s health, safety, and quality of life and do not comply with the comprehensive plan, the judge can force the town to bring the projects into compliance with our comprehensive plan.
There is more, so stay tuned.
Sincerely,
DEBRA FOSTER
Outdoor Lighting
Springs
August 4, 2025
Dear David,
Ever wonder why the majority of outdoor lights are left on all night, seemingly without a reason? The United States Department of Energy estimated that 90 percent of outdoor lighting does not serve a useful purpose.
And, why so many lights produce glare from exposed bulbs, which is blinding drivers and pedestrians, along with upward-directed light obscuring our view of the stars? The reason is that the people who select and install the lights (engineers, architects, electricians, landscape architects, and fixture salesmen), for the most part, are not trained by the Illuminating Engineering Society. They do not learn about photometrics (the distribution of light around the fixture and onto the ground) and professional recommendations for light levels and the variety of lighting controls.
Only lighting designers trained in dark sky methods can reduce energy waste, reduce glare, sky glow, and the many impacts on the greater environment.
Throughout the East End there are thousands of poorly specified night lights. We hire architects to design structures, and we should employ qualified lighting designers to design the “structure” of our outdoor environment.
SUSAN HARDER
Dark Sky International
Reduced Water Pressure
East Hampton Village
August 1, 2025
Dear East Hampton Star,
In response to the article “The Thirst for Green Lawns Is Draining Tanks,” I wanted to add some thoughts.
It’s no secret that humans generally are wasteful, especially of a resource as precious and vital as clean, potable water. I have also experienced water shortages and lived through times of rationing in my lifetime. I remember the day the Montauk aquifer ran dry in the 1970s, mostly because I pulled the chain on an outdoor shower and got a head full of rusty mud instead of water. I also remember around the same time that New York State was experiencing a water shortage and part of the water-saving measures was to not flush toilets until the stink became unbearable. So I know what it’s like to really have a water problem.
I admit that my family installed a sprinkler system 30 or so years ago. However, I was against it at the time. It broke down after six years and it has never been turned on since. It never really worked right and, like most such systems, would come on even if it was raining. I wince every time I see a sprinkler system running while it’s raining or simply watering bare concrete in the road.
One thing which I really don’t understand is why landscapers and pest control workers are allowed to open hydrants in order to fill tanks and mix chemicals. I always thought that public tampering with municipal firefighting/suppression equipment was against the law, but I asked about it some years back and was told it was kosher. Still, it bothers me no end to see a big tank on the back of a truck being filled from a hydrant. That can’t be good for the pressure. Wouldn’t it make more sense for these companies to prepare their chemicals at their headquarters instead of bleeding our hydrants? This I think is just as relevant, if not more so, to the subject of reduced water pressure than the question of lawn-irrigation systems.
Bottom line, we don’t have an infinite water supply, and, given the current conditions, it would be wise for those who irrigate their lawns to think twice about doing so.
Thanks for reading.
Sincerely,
MATT HARNICK
Courageously Trying
East Hampton
August 4, 2025
Dear David,
The GABS (Galas, Affairs, Benefits, Soirees) season is fully on — frenetically, and with a vengeance.
With the cutting back of federal support and grants to so many of the vulnerable, workers, the working poor, the underserved in our community, and the middle class, many well-meaning individuals and local organizations are courageously trying to take up the slack — which only promises to get worse.
Groups such as the Ellen Hermanson Foundation (Ellen’s Run), OLA (Organizacion Latino Americana), Bridgehampton Care and Recreational Center, the Retreat, Maureen’s Haven (for the homeless), Animal Rescue Fund, the East Hampton Food Pantry, the Shinnecock Indian Health Clinic are just some of the many groups who are generously trying to offer their services, trying to make sure that no one falls through the cracks, and that no one gets turned away for lack of insurance or inability to pay.
The robber barons of the late 19th century and early 20th century, including the Rockefellers, Carnegies, Melons, Vanderbilts, Kennedys, Fords, etc., saw their wealth gained by the sweat and labor of millions as a sign of divine grace and privilege.
Many of their children and grandchildren were more enlightened and realized that their parents and grandparents were practicing a cruel exploitation toward millions. Many of them reacted to their families’ greed through philanthropy, public and political service. No small part was also probably in response to their own guilt feelings — as Freud would argue — guilt at being part of families that had done so much harm to so many other families.
Interesting to footnote here that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is planning to fire all the members of the independent Preventive Services Task Force, which will gut early cancer detection, routine screening for heart disease and diabetes, and generally make it harder to get preventive care. The Ellen Hermanson Foundation’s job of early cancer detection has just been made immeasurably harder. No wonder almost all in the Kennedy clan have distanced themselves from him.
The other side to the philanthropy game is well put by philosopher Bertrand Russell’s famous quote: “In a just world there would be no need for charity.” In an ideal world, there would be no philanthropy — it’s justice, not charity, that is wanting in the world.
When you’re stuck in your next traffic jam on 27, made worse by those rushing to the next benefit and gala, think about the policies and political forces behind philanthropy that try to sustain privilege for the few. Many of these gala-goers are the same people who work for the corporations, politicians, and multi-billionaires whose policies have helped create the conditions that create the need and calls for more GABS.
There are many wonderful people in our community who are involved in many wonderful, loving philanthropic efforts to make life more bearable, just, and humane. There are others who need to assuage their own guilt and reinforce a sense of superiority and privilege by being noticed, reported, and photographed at these events.
These GABS become vehicles through which these people become better adjusted to injustices that they are often part of creating and sustaining. They enable them to become better adapted to their own indifference.
Sincerely,
JIM VRETTOS
On Life Support
East Hampton
August 3, 2025
Sir,
Donald Trump has perfected the Art of Distraction, using headlines and controversy to hide brazen corruption and a relentless grab for power. While the public chases his latest outrage, he enriches himself with gifts like luxury aircraft and uses government agencies for personal and political gain. This isn’t speculation — it’s happening in plain sight.
Even as the Epstein scandal rattles parts of his base, Trump remains politically insulated. He now leads a Congress largely too scared or complicit to stop him. From gerrymandered districts to tax-funded self-dealing, the systems meant to hold him in check are either silenced or corrupted. Agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement echo the behavior of politicized enforcers, and the Supreme Court, reshaped in his image, often shields him from legal consequences.
American democracy is not just under pressure — it’s on life support. The unchecked consolidation of power, authoritarian behavior, and weakening oversight are pushing us down a dangerous path.
This is a moment for clear action. Irrespective of party, we must demand accountability, defend democratic institutions, and resist the smokescreens. Stay focused. Speak up. Show up. Vote — because otherwise democracy won’t survive.
Sincerely,
ANDREW VAN PRAAG
Sixteen Million
Amagansett
August 3, 2025
To the Editor:
I was born to live on Napeague. A major obstacle to owning a home in my younger years was an aversion to ever being responsible for a lawn. Now I live on a dune decorated by our native prickly pear cactus, which flowered beautifully a week or so ago, and unearthly pale green lichens, and which is held in place by the ubiquitous American beachgrass.
Some of my neighbors, however, have laid down mulch over the sand, to grow the traditional middle-class lawns of my childhood, as well as flowers and shrubs that have no business near the ocean.
The sociocultural phenomenon of trying to transform wild Napeague into boring Westchester would furnish a modern Thorstein Veblen material for an amusing book. But, as is usually so, this activity constitutes not only a personally wasteful foible, but is harming us all by depleting the water table, as hoses and sprinklers irrigate these plants, which in many cases, a few years down the road, will fail to take hold. (Some of my neighbors’ homes are also decorated by bone-dry mulch and the fossils-in-waiting of dessicated bushes and plants.)
Christopher Gangemi’s article “The Thirst for Green Lawns Is Draining Tanks” contained one of those rare factoids that leaves me (“me!” he said, arrogantly, earnestly) speechless. “A Meadow Lane residence in Southampton was pumping over 16 million gallons annually in 2022.”
For democracy, stewardship, and survival-oriented common sense in the Hamptons,
JONATHAN WALLACE
Continues Ignored
Bridgehampton
August 4, 2025
David,
Will you remain silent while the greatest political corruption story of our country’s history continues to be ignored by the very same media that knowingly promoted it?
THEODORE DAMIECKI
This Is a War
North Haven
August 4, 2025
To the Editor:
Jeff Gewert invites all American Jews to follow his sage advice regarding his concern for a Mideast peace. And if we don’t, we risk causing him deep internal agita and the possibility that his thinking may incline him to a place (should we say it?) that sounds awfully like antisemitism. To that we say: “What a Guy!” And based upon the drivel he is peddling here and has peddled in the past, it is our view that he has already reached that perch. Let us briefly comment upon and refute some of the same points he brings up in every one of his letters but never responds to factual refutations.
Genocide: Those that use this term most promiscuously detract from the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust where the savage intent of the Nazis was to completely rid civilization of all Jews. The United Nations Convention on genocide defined that term as the “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, racial or religious group, as such.” As Brett Stephens wrote In a recent New York Times Op-Ed, “Genocide does not mean simply ‘too many civilian deaths’ — a heartbreaking fact of nearly every war, including the one in Gaza. It means seeking to exterminate a category of people for no other reason than that they belong to that category; the Nazis and their partners killing Jews in the Holocaust because they were Jews. . . . When Hamas invaded on Oct 7, intentionally butchering families in their homes and young people at a music festival, they also murdered Israelis ‘as such.’ “
There is simply no evidence of any Israeli plan to deliberately target and kill Gaza civilians. We don’t deny the extraordinary destruction or the unfortunate loss of life. But this is a war and like the American and British bombing of civilian areas in Dresden, Germany, at the end of World War II, resulting in enormous civilian casualties. The goal of eliminating Hamas is made enormously difficult by this terrorist group secreting itself among the citizenry of Gaza.
Hamas is an existential threat to Israel. Israel is within its rights to take all steps to eliminate that threat. At the same time, Israel is making efforts to alleviate the serious problems of food shortage in Gaza exacerbated by the Hamas groups stealing of much of the food and supplies intended for the citizens.
End of the conflict: All of the horrors of which he complains would be completely eliminated if Hamas would surrender, agree to relinquish its hold on governance and return the remaining hostages. Is that too much to ask?
DAVID B SAXE
MITCHELL AGOOS
Labeled
Amagansett
August 3, 2025
To the Editor:
I always took to heart a line from at the end of the film “American History X.” Ending a paper with a quote which cannot be improved upon, fittingly enough from Robert Wilkinson. How I know I’ve been labeled:
“I’m not surprised I’m labeled difficult because I refuse to let manipulative behaviors slide quietly by. Calling out toxic actions often makes people uncomfortable, especially when they’re used to silence. Speaking up doesn’t make me difficult, it makes me honest.”
Still here,
JOE KARPINSKI
Never Felt at Home
Springs
July 28, 2025
To the Editor,
My name is Nyssa Eva Dickman-Frank. I went to the Hampton Day School, Springs School, Ross School on scholarships. My parents moved here in 1984. I’m 40 years old and left the second I graduated from high school.
I grew up here. My parents bought their house for around $80,000. My mother was an artist, Ellen Frank. My father, a composer, Stephen Dickman. He tuned pianos here, delivered newspapers. Both had odd jobs. My father was also an integral part of Pianofest and the Music Festival of the Hamptons. He had concerts at Guild Hall. My mother was on the cover of Dan’s Papers (tons of other press and there is a nonprofit: Google her), had numerous exhibitions here. I, myself, was on the cover of USA today in 2012, when I opened my own gallery in Brooklyn that still exists, the Living Gallery. It is more of a community space. We have a free fridge and host tons of concerts, art openings, pretty much whatever you can dream. Both my parents recently died and I have to come back here to take care of their house.
Oh, and my father pretty much single-handedly petitioned the Town of East Hampton to turn the land in front of our house, on the bay, into a nature preserve open to all. I could go on trying to prove how “cool” I am, that Erykah Badu kissed my cheek when I was 25 and running a gallery in TriBeCa. But what is the point?
I never felt at home here. A Jew, but not a rich one. An artist, but not a rich one, but also not poor. We would rent our house out in the summers so we could travel to Bali, India, we drove to Mexico when I was 6, but we always had shitty cars that sometimes had dead rats in them and I’d die a bit inside each time I was picked up in them and every time my last name, Dickman, was said in school. My best friend lived on the Shinnecock Reservation, where I spent most of my time. She went to the Ross School, too. But of course, I didn’t fit in there either.
Anyway, I don’t like it out here. Yes, it’s beautiful and, yes, there are beautiful people here; nothing is black and white. People’s bags could save a family from starvation. But I don’t feel “okay” here in my own skin. My skin, my-face-tattooed-by-myself skin. Oh, and maybe this is why I went out, which I never do here, to see my friend D.J. at a bar in Montauk. I dressed up, looked pretty amazing, so much so that people at the bar asked me about my tattoos and I felt welcomed a bit. But then I realized the bartenders were not serving me. I only had one drink and was outside most of the night. I thought it was all in my head and then the bartender said he was told not to serve me. I was astonished. I asked why, and he said he didn’t know. So, shaking, I said, “Can I speak to your manager?” He came out and said, “Many people complained that I smelled and was weird.” Why don’t you come by 73 Squaw Road and smell me?
I left crying and shaking hysterically. It brought back all my childhood of feeling weird and not fitting in. The other bartender was so nice and said he loved my style and to not get mad and say fuck it. But then what?
When I grew up there wasn’t a Chanel in town but it was still bad. And the irony is the reason all these rich people come here is because the artists made it cool. So, I wasn’t served. The nice bartender asked me not to name the bar when I told him I was going to write this. He said the 30 people working there were nice and were just doing their job and didn’t really agree or know what was going on. And they did their job. The nice one made me a drink and hugged me in the corner. But yes, they did their job, they didn’t serve me.
I know most people who work at these places rely on the summers to make their money, most are immigrants, most are amazing and beautiful humans and, yes, it isn’t their fault. I used to work at the Maidstone Club when I was 16 and they used to not allow Black people or Jews in, but I worked there, and my dad tuned their piano. They literally told me I was a “slave.” So what or who am I mad at? Why am I writing this? How could I not? The bar is called Ruschmeyers. Oh, and they have an old Airstream trailer in front with fake graffiti tags.
How could I not? How could I not? Does it matter that I own a 13-year-old gallery, was on the cover of USA Today, yada yada. No! I am a human. I was not served because I was weird and not wearing Chanel No. 5, and instead of telling whoever complained about me, “Fuck you,” they said fuck you to me. They don’t know if I’m rich or poor. They don’t know me. But they said fuck you to me. What now, Long Island? What now, Montauk? What now, East Hampton? What now?
NYSSA FRANK