SOUTHOLD

We need to find common ground 

It’s disheartening to see vandalism in your small town, especially when it reflects frustration with larger businesses and development projects. It seems there’s a complex dynamic at play here. On one hand, there’s resistance to big business and corporate influence, yet the regulatory hurdles and delays imposed inadvertently support these larger entities over smaller ventures.

This situation highlights a common dilemma in many communities. The desire to preserve local character and prevent overdevelopment often clashes with the need for economic growth and job creation. Balancing these interests requires thoughtful planning and community dialogue to find solutions that support both economic vitality and local values.

It might be beneficial to foster discussions within the community about alternative approaches to development that could support smaller businesses while addressing concerns about corporate influence. Finding common ground and exploring creative solutions could help mitigate future conflicts and promote sustainable growth that aligns with the values of your small town.

Vincent Guastamacchia

RIVERHEAD

LAUREL

These goals were never achievable 

Last weekend, five years after adopting a state plan to drastically slash its reliance on fossil fuels to generate electricity, the administration that championed the plan acknowledged that it was years behind meeting its goal. You didn’t have to be Nostradamus to see that coming.

With the New York State Independent System Operator now predicting energy demand almost doubling over the next 18 years, the climate activists who run Albany adopted legislation in 2019 requiring the state to generate 70% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. Oil, coal and gas are out; windmills and solar panels are in, except nowhere near the level called for in the law. With the state currently generating only 29 of every 100 watts of power using “green” energy, a published report quotes Gov. Kathy Hochul as saying it might be time to rethink the 2019 plan. Duh. The 70% goal by 2030, popular as it was among the far-left voters who control the state, wasnever achievable.

For decades, the rule in New York was that utilities be capable of generating, on an as-needed basis, sufficient energy to meet previous peak demand plus 18%. The current rush to place Battery Energy Storage Systems in local neighborhoods is acknowledgment, by advocates, that the sun and windmills cannot meet that capacity goal. Batteries, which don’t produce any electricity on their own, are needed to store unused energy generated during times of non-peak use so it can be applied to the grid when winds are calm and the sun doesn’t shine sufficiently to run the tools and conveniences that New Yorkers use and demand. And that’s not to mention the needs of powering our developing AI systems or charging the millions of EVs that Albany envisions providing transportation for drivers whose internal combustion vehicles the state hopes to outlaw.

Hopefully, last weekend’s realization of the pie-in-the-sky nature of Albany’s energy goals and Gov. Hochul’s apparent acknowledgment of same will lead to a tempering of the state’s race into unknown and largely untested technologies — battery technology in particular, which poses safety as well as reliability issues.

David Levy

AQUEBOGUE

Thank you, grazie, gracias, merci 

I want to thank Angela Colangelo and Times Review Media Group for publishing announcements for the Well Spoken Writers Club. The announcements helped bring supportive, articulate and incredibly talented writers together.

During our meetings, which often turn into inspiring discussions, we take turns reading our written work. After each person reads, fellow writers provide their feedback. It’s a great time seeing how everything is interpreted, which really gets interesting when Brandon reads his artistic and well thought-out poetry.

One person in our group had his first novel, “Even to a Jelly Fish,” published July 24! We were lucky to hear Jim read the first two chapters, and it is captivating!

Franco brings a genuineness to his writing that makes you want to get to know the characters, and Anne wrote a heartstring of a story about her dad that made me want to drive to my dad’s house and hug him.

We have a few more people who said they’d like to join and then I think we will reach our limit — for now. All of this would not have happened had I not picked up the phone to call Angela and ask her how I would go about getting an announcement in The Suffolk Times and Riverhead News-Review.

Frank Petrignani

founder, Well Spoken Writers Club

ORIENT

Feeling proud and equal today 

When I was in my teens, I took notice of women leaders. In the ᾽60s

there were the white-haired ladies Indira Gandhi and Golda Meir, presidents of India and Israel. I was out of college when Margaret Thatcher came to power in the U.K., which has now elected three women as prime minister. In the ᾽90s was the young and beautiful Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan. And then things seem to normalize, with the long-running leadership in Germany of Angela Merkel and in Ireland, with two Marys back-to-back, totaling 20 years of presidency.

As a child in grade school, my memory is: Didn’t we all love and admire Jackie Kennedy? She seemed like a very important person as first lady. Not “Mrs. Jack Kennedy” but her own person, Jackie, playing a leadership role in promoting historic preservation of American buildings, including the White House, and serving as a traveling ambassador.

Repeating women presidents? I looked it up. Finland and Iceland have had four women leaders in their recent history; New Zealand, Poland, Trinidad and the U.K. three; and France and Ireland two. The current prime minister of Italy and president of Greece are women.

In recent years I’ve watched Ursula von de Leyen be elected and overwhelmingly reelected as president of the European Commission — a doctor and defense expert successfully leading on climate solutions and securing COVID vaccines.

To me it is so exciting that the U.S. has joined the world with a woman nominated for president — the second time! I’m feeling proud. We are equal.

Mary Foster Morgan

MATTITUCK

More compromise needed on Strong’s plan 

The debate about the Strong’s yacht warehouse project has been going on for more than four years. As the Southold Town Planning Board considers the developer’s newest proposal, it’s a good time to remember what this is about. At its core, this is a debate about what balanced development could look like and how our choices today will impact the shape of our community tomorrow.

The new proposal would reduce the project from two buildings to one,and calls for the excavation of 70,000 cubic yards of sand, down from 134,000 cubic yards. The smaller development would require 444 trees to be cut down and 2.74 acres of coastal oak-beech forest to be removed.

While some may look at the new proposal as a compromise, it does nothing to respond to the significant issues raised by the Final Environmental Impact Statement. It still poses significant impacts to ecology, traffic, safety and community character — all of which we expect to be explored in a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement. The Planning Board is reviewing the current application and will outline next steps at its Sept. 9 meeting.

The guiding principle for those of us who formed Save Mattituck Inlet in opposition to this proposal is unchanged: to protect the inlet against irreversible damage from a project that has little benefit to the community. We are not opposed to the development of yacht storage in principle, but this is the wrong location. The negative impact to the ecology, to public safety, to traffic and to the local quality of life is just too high — even in the scaled back proposal.

While we oppose its specifics, we view the new proposal as a positive step toward finding a better solution. Mr. Strong’s latest plan shows he can be flexible. We encourage him and the town to build on that flexibility to explore alternatives that balance his desire to expand with the community’s welfare.

There are other alternatives worth studying that do not include such severe changes to this cherished coastal feature and the surrounding neighborhood; some were raised in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement but only got cursory examination. And, should the developer and town settle on an acceptable alternative site, there are ways to preserve the land in question at a fair market price.

Jeff Pundyk and Anne Sherwood Pundyk

GREENPORT

A personal note on Sunfish race 

As always, The Suffolk Times did a wonderful job reporting on “The World’s Longest Sunfish Race” around Shelter Island, and this year was no exception. As the founder of the race, however, and a participant in all but three of the 54 races sailed, please permit me to make a few minor clarifications.

“Fifty-four years ago, a group of sailors sat on the beach at the Southold Yacht Club looking across at Shelter Island and mused, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun to race our 14-foot long Sunfish around the Island?’” the story reads.

FACT: The scene was indeed 54 years ago in 1970. It was hot as Hades and I was sitting on the screened-in porch at SYC with future commodore Joe Potorski. I asked Joe if he knew anyone who had sailed or raced a Sunfish around Shelter Island. He did not!

I then asked the same question to other Sunfish sailors and received the same reply. However, several people were intrigued with the concept and I proposed it to the commodore and Board of Governors. A year later, in 1971, the concept became reality!

None of us envisioned the popularity of what we had created, and official finishing times were not recorded until the seventh annual race. I had won the sixth race and didn’t look at my watch until I cleared the finish line and sailed to the SYC beach. The total time from the start until I hit the beach was 3:40.

In closing, I would be remiss in not remembering Dr. Dick Heinl, who arrived at SYC about an hour before the start of the sixth or seventh race with several colleagues from the Manhasset Bay Sunfish fleet. Dick won the race multiple times and didn’t retire from participating until he was 93 years old. He passed away last fall prior to his 100th birthday. May he rest in peace.

Joe Sullivan

In addition to race founder, Mr. Sullivan is a past commodore of Southold Yacht Club.

SOUTHOLD

Our Constitution is the question 

The critical issue when our next president is elected is will they follow the instructions and guidelines of our Constitution first, and then their leadership skills? Failure to be guided by the Constitution will mean the end of the oldest democracy .

Warren McKnight

LETTERS POLICY

The Suffolk Times welcomes all letters addressed and written exclusively to the editor.

All letters must be signed and include a return address and daytime phone number, which are used for confirmation purposes only. Letters deemed to be libelous will not be published. Letters about personal disputes will be published only when deemed to be of significant community interest.

The newspaper reserves the right to edit all letters for length, grammar, style and clarity.

Letters should be less than 350 words. Individual writers are limited to two letters per month, at the discretion of the editor.

Letters suitable for publication will appear in the next available edition, as space allows.

Please email letters to [email protected]. Handwritten letters can no longer be accepted.