Recent Stories: Villages

    How to make the Village of East Hampton safer for bicyclists and pedestrians was the primary topic at a village board work session last Thursday, when Paul Fiondella and Howard Lebwith, who had made a presentation  at the board’s April 4 work session, returned to make the case for bike-friendly streets.

    “I am disappointed that he shot down federal money that could have saved or helped maintain the 11th position,” Kevin Duchemin, a Sag Harbor Village board member, said on Tuesday of Mayor Brian Gilbride’s announcement last week that the village would not apply for a grant that the police chief, Tom Fabiano, had suggested as a means to help hold onto an officer whose job was eliminated last month.

    Willie Nelson is coming to Montauk’s Surf Lodge for a concert on Sunday and a representative of the popular night spot tried to assure members of the Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee on Monday night that everything would be under control. The crowds that the country-western star is expected to attract will be monitored by the East Hampton Town Police Department and fire marshal’s office, he said, who will be standing by on land and on boats in nearby Fort Pond.

    Despite the ravages of Hurricane Sandy and a northeaster that followed, East Hampton’s Main Beach has been named the best beach in the United States on the 23rd annual Top 10 Beach list, as ranked Dr. Stephen P. Leatherman of Florida International University.

    While beachgoers can still pay by the day to park at Two Mile Hollow Beach this season, there will be no parking attendant on duty at the parking lot there. Those without a village beach permit who wish to park in the lot between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. will have to purchase a daily permit from the office at the Main Beach pavilion before heading to Two Mile Hollow.

    Memorial Day observances begin Monday morning at 9 with a ceremony at Main Beach in East Hampton for those members of the United States armed forces who were lost at sea.

    At 10 a.m. veterans and others will begin to gather near Guild Hall for a 10:30 parade along Main Street. Traffic will be diverted onto Dunemere and Further Lanes for the duration.

    Montaukers will proudly wave the American flag this weekend in honor of Memorial Day. The hamlet’s three-day event is in its third year. The services begin at 5 p.m. on Saturday at the Montauk Coast Guard Station, where a fish-and-chips dinner honoring veterans will be held on the grounds overlooking Lake Montauk. Veterans eat free. Guests will be asked for a $20 donation, $10 for children 10 and under.

    Changes are afoot in downtown Montauk in time for the summer season. One is a trash recycling pilot program; the other the institution of a two-hour parking limit in much of the area.

    After winning election to the Montauk Library’s board on April 27, Perry Haberman learned that he was ineligible for the position. The board took action at a meeting on Monday to declare the election null and void, leaving Mr. Haberman, who was elected with 62 votes, off the board.

    A funny coincidence brought Marcus Mumford and Kirsty McGaul and the tandem bike they had ridden from Boston to the Ladies Village Improvement Society’s headquarters in East Hampton on April 23.

   Words of wisdom from Margaret Mead warned to “never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
    Save Sag Harbor, founded in 2007, has taken those words to heart, making it its mission “to safeguard the scale and fabric of a historic village,” effecting positive change while preventing what it sees as negative, and backing the village’s commercial code, which the group helped push for.

Drivers on Montauk Highway from Bridgehampton to East Hampton Village began to experience delays Wednesday as roadwork got underway. The New York State Department of Transportation announced Tuesday that a 2.3-mile section of the heavily used road between Stephen Hand's Path and the Route 114-Main Street intersection in East Hampton Village would be resurfaced.