Carrie Doyle, a member of the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals and a former planning board member, has declared her intention to run on the NewTown Party ticket for one of the two village board seats up for grabs in June 2022.
The seats are now held by Arthur Graham and Rose Brown. Mayor Jerry Larsen launched the NewTown Party for his mayoral bid, and the party holds a majority on the board with Chris Minardi, deputy mayor, and Sandra Melendez, a trustee.
Ms. Doyle, a former magazine editor and a novelist best known for a series of murder mysteries set on the East End, would be making her first bid for elected office. She cited Mr. Larsen's efforts to bring change to the village as her inspiration for running. In the 1990s, she lived in Russia and helped launch an edition of Harper's Bazaar, and later became editor in chief of the Russian version of Marie Claire magazine.
The country was experiencing a newfound burst of freedom after the collapse of the Soviet Union, she recalled, and the magazines embodied an "anything goes" attitude. "Everything was fresh and new and mattered," she said. "I've always loved East Hampton, and I thought, Jerry is finally opening it up to possibilities."
Ms. Doyle is a second-home owner who has lived in the village for most of her life. During his campaign, Mr. Larsen made a point of reaching out to second-home owners. She appreciated that effort, she said, because, "I feel very much a part of this community and invested in it, and I want to be part of making it a better village."
"When I met with Jerry, he said, 'I'm not going to do studies, I'm not going to do research, I'm very goal-oriented, and if I make a mistake we'll change it and go back.' And that's exactly how I am," Ms. Doyle said. "I'm very goal-oriented."
Affordable housing is one of the issues she would like to focus on, and she suggested that the East Hampton Village Foundation, a new nonprofit that raises private funds for public works projects, could help lead that effort. "Let's see how we can tackle that. There are some properties that maybe the village has to purchase with funding from the community," said Ms. Doyle, who is a co-chair of the foundation.
At a NewTown Party event at the Hedges Inn on Monday, Mr. Larsen said he was proud of the appointments he has made to the Z.B.A., including Ms. Doyle's. "During our campaign all we heard was . . . that you couldn't get anything done through the Z.B.A., that they were just a horrible bunch of people, so we came in and changed that," he said. "We changed the mentality from 'Gotcha' to 'How can we help you?' "
Ms. Doyle said her time on the zoning and planning boards has given her insight into how dedicated and knowledgeable board members are, and that she's taken to heart Mr. Larsen's advice to be thoughtful and respectful to applicants. "Even if you don't agree with what [they] are saying, the point is to not make people feel bad about asking," she said. "You're not an enemy because you want to build an upstairs bedroom."
