Sag Harbor is divided between the towns of East Hampton and Southampton by Division Street. True fact. When my family and I first moved here we lived on Grand Street just one house east of Division, which placed us in the Town of East Hampton. We lived there for nearly ten years. Then we moved to our current home, which backs onto Town Line Road -- which is what Division Street is called once you leave the Village of Sag Harbor -- but on its west side, putting us squarely (well, actually barely) in the Town of Southampton.

Boy, have we changed! At least that's the conclusion you would draw if you were listening to the East Hampton Town Board after they were presented with a summary of the findings of the SEEDS (Sustainable East End Development Strategies) report. Since we moved approximately 50 yards over the town line, our needs have changed completely. "We don't need what Southampton needs," said East Hampton Town Councilperson Pat Mansir, according to coverage of the meeting in the Sag Harbor Express.

Really? I guess that God-awful traffic I was stuck in on Montauk Highway in Wainscott was somehow qualitatively different than the God-awful traffic I was stuck in a bit earlier in Water Mill. I guess I'm just not observant enough to see the difference that Councilperson Mansir sees.

The SEEDS study is an exhaustive look at the transportation problems plaguing the East End...all of the East End. Among other key points, SEEDS flatly states that our transportation problems are regional and must be addressed on a regional basis. Another major finding of SEEDS is that transportation issues are inextricably linked to the land-use decisions made by local governments. For example, if the town you live in continues to allow full development of previously undeveloped outlying areas as permitted under current zoning, it is in effect decreeing that the automobile will remain the de facto method of transportation. A town with its population dispersed more or less equally over its entire geography is not a candidate for mass transit, because mass transit cannot effectively or economically serve areas that do not have sufficient population density. Therefore, we remain stuck (literally) in our cars.

So, among many other things, SEEDS recommends that the towns and villages of eastern Long Island carefully consider land use strategies that will encourage people to live close to where they work and shop, thereby creating a series of hamlet centers that could more easily be served by various types of mass transit. (Not to mention that people could also walk and/or bike to work and shopping.)

Last week, representatives of the East End Transportation Council (EETC), including the East Hampton Town Planner, who serves on EETC (which itself was created by the East End Supervisors and Mayors Association, of which the East Hampton Town Supervisor is a member), presented an overview of the SEEDS findings to the East Hampton Town Board.  They then asked them to consider signing on to an inter-municipal agreement stating that they support the SEEDS findings.  The agreement would empower the EETC to begin work on the implementation phase by making recommendations to the member towns and villages as to the steps they could take to improve the transportation situation on the East End.

The result of this meeting was disappointing to say the least. One Councilperson, Debra Foster, demonstrated her complete mastery of the contents of the study by saying "The comprehensive plan took a hard look at smart growth. It would not work in East Hampton." I love it when someone is able to dismiss an entire study that took years to compile and has dozens of disparate findings and recommendations, with one put-it-in-a-box-and-stick-a-label-on-it turn of phrase. (By the way, the term "smart growth" is not used in the SEEDS study.)  Other insightful comments by Town Board members included, "I don't see a right of refusal here." (Councilperson Brad Loewen), and "We need a promise of maintenance of what we have." (Councilwoman Pat Mansir). Huh? You might want to rethink that, Councilperson Mansir, perhaps while stuck in traffic, on Montauk Highway on a Sunday evening. Some things are worth fighting for, but the transportation status quo, even in fabulous East Hampton, is not.

So here's the point, and it's really quite simple. Getting back to where I started this post, I've live in East Hampton Town, and I've lived in Southampton Town, and traffic sucks in both places. As much as they hate to admit it over there in far-away East Hampton, the problems confronting all of the towns and villages of the East End, including the North Fork, Riverhead (oh, my God, not them! We're nothing like them!) and Shelter Island are very much the same. We've got a very limited supply of land, and lots of people who want to develop it for different purposes (or not develop it, which makes it unusable for other purposes), and on each fork, we've got one through-road, and a hell of a lot of people who want to drive on it. If any one of the five East End towns thinks they can solve these problems by themselves, they are tragically mistaken. Are you listening, East Hampton?  Yes, I'm speaking to you, the very same town that selfishly passed a no ferry ordinance because you were afraid of the additional traffic a ferry might bring to your town, without a thought to the fact that you were thereby mandating that East Hampton residents needing ferry service would have to drive through one or more of the other East End towns in order to get to the existing ferry in Orient.

My suggestion is that the bright lights on the East Hampton Town Council actually read the SEEDS study, and then listen to the knowledgeable voice of their own Town Planner and of their Supervisor, who during the same meeting that heard the pearls of wisdom quoted above, wisely counseled, "It's the beginning of trying to get a cooperative transportation and land use strategy. We need to take a regional look at what's going on here." Amen.

(Full disclosure: the author respresents Sag Harbor Village on the EETC, however the opinions expressed in the post above are my own, and not those of the Village of Sag Harbor or its elected officials.)