Bridgehampton Group Wants to Spruce Things Up

The geranium planters that line Bridgehampton’s Main Street come spring and the Christmas trees that light up over the holidays are the handiwork of the Bridgehampton Village Improvement Association. Members were also behind landscaping at the Bridgehampton train station in recent years.

The organization’s new chairman, Richard Bruce, thinks the association can do more to enhance Bridgehampton’s beauty. In that regard, he went to a meeting of the Bridgehampton Citizens Advisory Committee on Monday looking to drum up some suggestions for what else the B.V.I.S. should put its touch on. “If you had a magic wand, what would you like to see change?” he asked.

Some members of the advisory committee did not know the B.V.I.S. existed, although it dates back to 1898. His description of their work was simple: “We do things the town won’t do, is unable to do, or will take forever to do.”

However, he said — and many agreed — the Town of Southampton should do more for Bridgehampton. He claimed the assessed value of Bridgehampton properties came in at over $7 billion last year and that $26 million was paid in taxes that year. And he said there was no downside to making Bridgehampton nicer.

One suggestion given was to fix the roundabout on Scuttlehole Road, perhaps by putting up a flagpole. Suggestions he had mentioned in a recent email were to identify eyesores and put a plan in place to clean them up, hire a worker to monitor and clean up the overflow of garbage at beaches, hire someone to clean up around the hamlet on weekends during the summer season, place benches at bus stops, plant trees where old ones have been removed, and improve the appearance of the public bathroom near the Golden Pear on Main Street.

The members of the citizens committee said they would think about the suggestions and get back to Mr. Bruce. “We do have money, by the way,” Mr. Bruce said. It has about $52,000 in the bank.