Villages

On Friday, the day that the Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg turned 17, one of the legions she has inspired around the world staged his own climate strike outside East Hampton Town Hall, hoping in turn to inspire others.

A new seal for East Hampton Village, created to mark the 100th anniversary of the village’s incorporation, was unveiled at the village board meeting last Thursday.

The 37-unit affordable housing complex under construction at 531 Montauk Highway in Amagansett is on track to be move-in ready by the end of the year, Catherine Casey, the executive director of the East Hampton Housing Authority, said on Friday.

It was tide, not bombs, that did in Fort Tyler.     

Fort Tyler, a pile of rubble and concrete walls that had been a landmark for boaters and favorite fishing spot, has nearly been consumed by the sea after standing for 120 years on a shrinking island north of Gardiner’s Island.     

When an out-of-town animal rescue group showed up to remove domestic ducks from the Nature Trail in East Hampton a few days before Christmas, local wildlife advocates and stewards of the trail reacted with outrage, accusing the group of “terrorizing” the resident waterfowl.     

On the heels of the controversial construction of electronic billboards on Sunrise Highway last summer, the Shinnecock Council of Trustees is in the early stages of planning a gas station and a medical marijuana dispensary, both part of a multifaceted approach to broaden the tribe’s income to support much-needed programs for its 1,600 members, according to Bryan Polite, the council’s chairman.     

An East Hampton Village law prohibiting professional landscapers from using gas-powered leaf blowers from June 1 to Labor Day, and another that requires them to obtain licenses annually, took effect Thursday, the first day of the new year.     

Sharone Einhorn and Honey Wolters, the owners of Ruby Beets home furnishings store, which has been a Sag Harbor fixture for 14 years, recently announced they will be closing the shop later this month, not because of soaring rents, or sagging sales, but because they didn’t want to overstay their welcome.     

Up for a challenge . . . for a good cause?

The bravest swimmers on the South Fork can answer the polar plunge call to raise money for charity by taking a winter dip on New Year's Day in Montauk, East Hampton, or Wainscott.

The first one of the day is on the beach at Gurney's Montauk Resort at 10:30 a.m. Donations collected during the Gurney's polar plunge will benefit the Retreat, a domestic violence shelter program based in East Hampton.

After a search, an architectural design firm has been selected for Stony Brook Southampton Hospital’s new location, 15 acres on the Southampton campus of Stony Brook University, on Tuckahoe Road in Shinnecock Hills. The $305 million project is targeted for completion by 2025.

Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle, and other state and local officials attended the East Hampton Village Board meeting on Friday to pay tribute to Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr., who will be resigning on Tuesday, more than six months before his term is up. 

After nearly a full year of dismal real estate sales, the East End market has begun to heat up, according to several  brokers.

“Something happened in December, and buyers started snatching up homes that had been sitting on the market for months,” said Judi Desiderio, the president of Town and Country Real Estate. 

Todd Bourgard, a regional vice president at Dougas Elliman, agreed. “The fourth quarter has been a boom, it really has exploded,” he said.