Helpful Perhaps, But . . .

    Gazing from our office windows onto Main Street this week, we watched with a mild degree of curiosity as two men in a white, official-looking pickup truck pulled up and began unloading things. It soon became apparent that they were installing a tall sign right smack in front of the East Hampton Library’s main entrance. On closer examination, we saw that the sign announced Home, Sweet Home Museum was ahead and to the left, helpful perhaps, but. . . . And it turned out that the sign was joined by two more breaking the same press-stopping news nearby.

    It is an irony that in this age of online information and global positioning systems on nearly every dashboard someone in some office somewhere thought it wise to clutter up the cultural and historical heart of East Hampton Village in this way. Main Street here is a state road, and New York long ago had proved itself tone deaf to the way we like things out here. This is further proof. Taking down the signs would seem the thing to do. We, and our visitors, will be just fine without them leading the way.