Editorials

East Hampton Town officials have a real problem on their hands as a deadly pine tree infestation rages in Northwest Woods. Officials hope to get private property owners’ permission for crews to take down trees under attack by the southern pine beetle at the town’s expense. But, as residents of the affected area learn that they will be responsible themselves for the hefty cost of disposing of the downed trees, some may balk at allowing the town access.

Voters expressed themselves loud and clear on Election Day, as Democratic candidates enjoyed huge wins, including governorship in Virginia and New Jersey and in many other contests. In East Hampton, it was the same, with Peter Van Scoyoc and nearly the entire Democratic slate winning strongly. In Southampton, forgetting for a moment the politically mercurial Jay Schneiderman’s re-election as supervisor, voters rejected a Republican incumbent, instead awarding seats on the town board to two Democrats.

We took a break on Tuesday afternoon to rake the office lawn. About half of the leaves from the maple out front had fallen by then, and, with rain and wind in the forecast, the rest would soon follow. But the curled yellow leaves were dry that day and easy enough to move into a pile at the curb. Here in the village, crews still go around in the fall with a big truck to vacuum them up.

It is unfortunate that the Deepwater Wind plan to put power-generating turbines in the Atlantic has become politicized. But perhaps more alarming is that a substantial portion of the opposition comes not from commercial fishing interests legitimately concerned about the turbines’ proposed location at Cox’s Ledge, but from climate deniers.

Voters will be asked on Tuesday to select two people to serve four-year terms on the East Hampton Town Board. The job involves setting the town’s spending priorities, overseeing land-use policy, protecting water and the environment, appointing members of the planning, zoning, and architectural review boards, and the hiring and firing of many town personnel. They will earn $68,000 next year, plus benefits. Board members sit in on advisory committees and each is assigned as a point person on a portfolio of town departments and issues.

For South Fork voters there is really only one choice for Suffolk legislator: Bridget Fleming. Her opponent, Heather Collins, has hardly campaigned and her candidacy appears to be little more than a placeholder for the Republican and Conservative Parties, whose ballot lines she occupies. Ms. Collins is an assistant clerk in the Suffolk County Board of Elections, an office ripe with political patronage. She lost twice to New York Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. after he switched to the Independence Party. She also has declined invitations to appear at local debates, which all but confirms her as a wasted choice.

So what do the East Hampton Town Trustees actually do? That might be among the legitimate questions voters here will ask themselves as they look at the intimidating section at the far end of the ballot on Nov. 7, the one with 18 names. Voters need to play close attention, since all nine of the trustee positions come up for election every two years.

The role of supervisor is unique in East Hampton Town government. Nowhere else is there a town office in which the role of presiding officer, titular figurehead, and agenda-setter is so entwined. As such, the direction of town government has tended to reflect the personal style and outlook of the person who held that elected office, which has a two-year term.

Anyone who has been on the roads lately will have noticed new, huge political signs here and there. That they are hard to miss is the point, but they are illegal.

No indication has been forthcoming about what caused the deaths of three, possibly four, dolphins found washed ashore along the ocean here and another discovered in distress in Three Mile Harbor. Whether or not a definitive cause of death is determined, the fact that several dolphins ended up separately over a relatively wide stretch of the East Hampton coastline in the space of a few days is cause for concern.

The question on Election Day will be whether Albany could get any worse. New York voters will be asked on Nov. 7 to approve or reject a proposition that would trigger a constitutional convention, which could potentially revise state government completely.

On the eve of the Hamptons International Film Festival, a rumor that the East Hampton movie theater was going to be no more tore through town with notable speed. Facebook was alight with variations on a story that a developer had plans to remove the screens and turn the site over to retail. Calls to the theater, now owned by the Regal Entertainment Group, as well as to the corporate office, were answered by plausible denials.

A well-attended formal dedication of a pollinator garden at the East Hampton Historical Farm Museum on Sunday was a fitting tribute to the late Matthew Lester, the East Hampton High School student and Eagle Scout candidate who conceived it. But the event, which included lunch for 300 people, live music, speeches, and a brief ceremony, demonstrated that a new and important town square is available here.

In the aftermath of the horrifying gun deaths and hundreds of injuries in an attack at a Nevada music festival on Sunday, one question for those of us in New York’s First Congressional District is what to make of the $9,900 Representative Lee Zeldin took from the National Rifle Association last year. In receiving that sum, just short of the $10,000 limit on aggregate contributions, Mr. Zeldin was tied with an upstate Republican as the member of the New York delegation receiving the most from the group.

Two recent high-profile incidents involving Montauk party-fishing boats have drawn attention to a problem on the water in which paying customers take too many or too small fish, while the crews, captains, and vessel owners evade responsibility.

Incredible devastation has been the story of the 2017 hurricane season. With two Category 5 storms making landfall in the Caribbean, the period has been improbable, at least in terms of the historical record. Yet researchers have been saying for some time that years like this were possible, if not likely, as the oceans rapidly warm thanks to climate change.

The East Hampton Village Trustees appear willing to listen to ideas about how to lessen leaf-blower noise. However, as the board considers what primarily is an annoyance, it should also think about a safety problem on village streets — massive landscaping trailers parked in the lanes of travel as workers tend to adjacent properties.

While we were thinking about leaf blowers, we learned that East Hampton Town’s elected officials may be about to reinstitute free leaf pickup service in some form or other. This is an exciting prospect for residents, many of whom sorely missed the old program after it was eliminated in 2011.

“The Affair,” a cable television series mostly set in and around Montauk, has been back in town lately, shooting scenes for its fifth season. For the most part, the filming has drawn little notice.

Called the most important fish in the sea, menhaden, or bunker in local parlance, put in a great show this summer. Bluefish and striped bass feasted on their rich and oily flesh. Several species of sharks took wild swipes at their schools. And whales, dolphins, and osprey got in the act, too, putting on spectacular shows within easy view of the ocean beach.

Conventional wisdom might be that a bitter primary only benefits the opposing political party, but following a surprisingly lively battle between supporters of Zachary Cohen and Jeffrey Bragman for a Democratic slot on the East Hampton Town Board ballot in November, that assumption could use some rethinking.

Tuesday’s primary for two Democratic Party ballot slots in the forthcoming general election for East Hampton Town Board and for nine town trustees on the Independence line is a rather rare event: There have been few primaries for local elected offices here over the years.

And so it has happened again. A major American city is inundated after a hurricane, and officials claim they could not have anticipated how bad it might be. They have then used their lack of foresight as an excuse for inadequate planning, little evacuation preparation, and failure to obtain emergency supplies. This, of course, is complete nonsense.

East Hampton may one day look back and realize this was the summer that the internet changed everything. Just as online advertising took the strength out of many newspapers’ bottom lines and Uber cut a hole in the taxi industry, so too may the web and smartphone apps be changing the way people vacation. If so, it is likely to have long-term implications for East Hampton, where a new, highly transient resort scene appears to have had an underappreciated ripple effect.

Last week’s revelations in a lawsuit brought by a former East Hampton Village police chief and his wife bring to light the distasteful truth that some local officials have long traded their influential positions for lucrative side businesses.

A multiagency exercise conducted in Gardiner’s Bay and several other East End waterways over two weeks this month had a sobering premise, but it had at least one important benefit, too.

Things move fast these days, so fast, in fact, that Americans are getting accustomed to radical change almost overnight. The country’s lightning speed acceptance of same-sex marriage is one recent example of how public opinion can shift in what seems an instant.

East Hampton Town is taking on restaurants that turn into nightclubs in a newly invigorated push. Focused on Montauk, this is an important effort to tamp down a party scene that has grown out of control. It is the end of the season, but the effort is nonetheless worthwhile since it sends a message for next year.

As East Hampton Town prepares to go all-in on water quality, there is one place it is decidedly ignoring: Fresh Pond in Amagansett. According to tests done for Concerned Citizens of Montauk, Fresh Pond creek has as often as not been contaminated with fecal enterococcus bacteria. And this is not simply at mildly elevated levels: In a water sample last month, the bacteria count was almost 60 times higher than the federal standard for safe recreational contact.

If your garden is anything like that of a friend of ours, your status with the neighbors, who often receive its ever-increasing overage, must be skyrocketing. This summer has produced one of the most bountiful home vegetable harvests in years, and the wonder is that it’s happening after an unusually cold spring, with temperatures in the 50s halfway into June.