Skip to main content

Come Together, New Sag Harbor Mayor Says

Thu, 07/08/2021 - 09:09
Sag Harbor's new mayor, Jim Larocca, was sworn in on Tuesday.
Jamie Bufalino Photos

After being sworn in as mayor of Sag Harbor Village at a ceremony in John Steinbeck Waterfront Park on Tuesday, James Larocca asked residents to leave the "hard-fought election" behind them and rally together to focus on issues such as protecting the waterfront and water quality, developing affordable housing, and addressing the village's longstanding lack of parking.

Mr. Larocca pulled off a narrow upset in the June 15 election when he defeated Kathleen Mulcahy, the incumbent, with 379 votes to Ms. Mulcahy's 357, an outcome that he described as an "effective tie."

"I call on everybody -- those who supported me, and those who did not -- to come together at this time. The matters facing this village are too big and too important for anything less than a unified community with a unified purpose," he said. "That purpose is very simple. We want to preserve, protect, and nourish what we have, and lay the groundwork for the future."

Edward Haye was sworn in as a new member of the Sag Harbor Village Board at John Steinbeck Waterfront Park on Tuesday.

His first act as mayor was to appoint Edward Haye, an attorney and former member of the Sag Harbor School Board, to fill the village board seat he has vacated. In his announcement of the appointment, Mr. Larocca ticked off a list of Mr. Haye's accomplishments. While growing up in the village, he had been "an athlete and scholar" at Pierson High School and was a graduate of Dartmouth College and the Fordham University School of Law.

"When I first met Jim, I said I would try to help him any way I could, but I also said I wasn't sure what he had in mind, and I wasn't sure what was in store for me," Mr. Haye said in an interview after the ceremony. He became convinced that their goals for the village were aligned after having several more discussions with Mr. Larocca. The main priorities, he said, should be protecting the waterfront, "maintaining the character of the village, and finding ways to make it more affordable to live here."

Mr. Larocca reappointed Thomas Gardella as deputy mayor, and, citing his experience in public safety as a former chief of the Sag Harbor Fire Department and head of the ambulance corps, asked him to serve as police commissioner.

Mr. Larocca appointed Val Florio, an architect and a former member of the board of historic preservation and architectural review, as chairman of the zoning board of appeals, and Jeanne Kane as chairwoman of the preservation and architectural review board.

He reappointed Beth Kamper as village clerk-administrator, and announced the village board's committee assignments.

Mr. Larocca will continue to serve as liaison to public works as well as waterfront and docks. Mr. Gardella will be liaison to the Police and Fire Departments and the ambulance corps, Aidan Corish of the village board will continue to seek grants and serve as sewer liaison, and Mr. Haye will be liaison to the justice court and the Mashashimuet Park Board.

An assignment for the village board's Bob Plumb, who had supported Ms. Mulcahy's campaign and been the liaison to the Building Department during her administration, was not announced.

Villages

Owl's Death Prompts Call for Bird-Friendly Building

Window strikes kill up to a billion birds annually and rank up there with cats and habitat destruction as the leading causes of recent steep declines. After the recent death of a much-watched Eurasian eagle-owl that was set loose from the Central Park Zoo, a bill calling for bird-friendly building measures has been revived in the New York Assembly and Senate.

Mar 28, 2024

Architect’s Descendants Visit East Hampton Gem

Michele L’Hommedieu Hofmann had no idea until retiring last fall and starting to research her family history how prominent a role her great-great-grandfather James H. L’Hommedieu had played in Long Island’s late-19th-century architecture. On a trip to New York that included a stop at an East Hampton house he designed for Robert Southgate Bowne, a founder of the Maidstone Club and first president of the Long Island Rail Road, she and her family got a crash course in L’Hommedieu’s work.

Mar 28, 2024

Item of the Week: Gardiner Family Gossip From 1889

On July 16, 1889, while staying in Lenox, Mass., Sarah Diodati Gardiner Thompson wrote to her daughter Sarah Thompson Gardiner, who was vacationing at Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. Family news was top of mind.

Mar 28, 2024

Your support for The East Hampton Star helps us deliver the news, arts, and community information you need. Whether you are an online subscriber, get the paper in the mail, delivered to your door in Manhattan, or are just passing through, every reader counts. We value you for being part of The Star family.

Your subscription to The Star does more than get you great arts, news, sports, and outdoors stories. It makes everything we do possible.