On Sunday, Bobbie and I were on our way to New York to visit some freinds from my college days. As we were driving down Scuttlehole Road, we began to pass a steady stream of bicyclists. The further we went, the more bicyclists there were. Obviously, it was some sort of planned ride. Now as anyone who has driven or biked on Scuttlehole knows, this road is far from an ideal place to ride a bicycle. It is a major back road “shortcut” used by countless motorists to avoid the stretch of Montauk Highway that bottlenecks in Bridgehampton. It’s also a quick way to get to Sag Harbor, and maybe, via Rt. 114 to East Hampton and beyond. Unfortunately, although it’s used by an inordinately large number of vehicles, it is only two lanes wide (one in each direction), has many twists and turns, at least one of which is entered blindly from either direction, a roundabout that can barely accommodate the cars that squeeze through it (and can’t accommodate the trucks and buses that also use this back country road) and has no shoulders anywhere along its length. In short, a road that’s barely safe for motorists, and entirely unsuitable for any other form of transportation.

Well, as I was saying, riding along this very dangerous road, which was crowded with weekend traffic, were at least fifty or sixty cyclists strung out over its entire length. Now, as inconvenient as this was for me as a driver, I’m not going to say that they did not have a right to be there. They were clearly well within their rights. I’m also not going to vent about the few who found it necessary to ride two and even three abreast, forcing traffic to a crawl behind them. Annoying, but not a crime. But what I am going to complain about, and LOUDLY, was that at least two of these bicyclists had children riding along with them in this potentially deadly exercise. One had what looked to be a homemade tandem bike, larger in the front, and smaller in  back so his child could ride along behind him. This one wobbled so badly at one point that Bobbie and I both flinched as we thought they were going to tumble over in front to our car. The other cyclist with child was towing one of those covered child carriers behind his bike. I assume there was a very young child inside, or what would be the point of towing the device? I was and am aghast that any parent would knowingly subject his or her child to a situation as fraught with peril as riding a bike on Scuttlehole road. I can see no justification/excuse for that behavior. And, as we all should do with our friends who have had too much to drink, their bicycling buddies should have “taken away their keys,” rather than acquiescing to this insanity.

OK, these two parents were irresponsible, and it made me sad and angry, but why blog about it? The answer is simply that bicycles, whether for recreation, sport, or transportation have long been part of the local scene here in Sag Hampton, and as fuel costs continue to rise with no relief in sight (or even possible, despite the “drill baby drill” nonsense) we will undoubtedly see an ever increasing number of bicycles on our roads. Where will they go to fit in safely? And, if a bicyclist wants to ride from Sag Harbor to Water Mill, and bring his or her child along, what route will they travel? Currently, there is no good answer to these questions. Yes, there is a Bike Committee in Southampton Town. All volunteers, they have done an admirable job of putting together a plan for bike paths, lanes, and routes (all different, but that’s another story). However, given the restrictions they have had to work under, the plan is fragmented and incomplete. Even if fully implemented, best case you will be able ride safely on some roads, but not others. This may work for recreational bikers, but it’s wholly inadequate for anyone hoping to use a bicycle for serious transportation.

That’s a shame, because a road system that truly accommodates bikers is not only good for them, but good for the rest of us too. More people on bikes means fewer people in cars. Fewer cars on the roads means less traffic, less pollution, less noise, fewer automobile accidents, and fewer frayed tempers. It could also mean fewer overweight children and adults, as we get in shape by rediscovering our ability to generate our own power. As more of us get in shape, we remove some of the strain on our precarious health care system, and potentially lower the cost of health insurance for everyone. (When there are more healthy people in a plan, the insurer faces less risk, and can lower the cost to all members of the plan.)

So, in a perverse way I’m grateful to those two irresponsible parents who endangered their children on Scuttlehole road this weekend, because they’ve made me think more deeply about why our local governments need to get off their asses and get to work developing a serious plan to make our roadways more accommodating to bicyclists. A few “Share the Road” signs are not a plan. Really. There are lots of good reasons to get out ahead of this issue before it reaches critical mass. This time, let’s not wait until the issue has to be addressed because of a rising accident toll a la County Road 39.

And, since you were probably wondering, no, I don’t (currently) ride a bike.

At that point the staffer who had dealt with these two individuals and I, who had witnessed the carnage, shared a knowing look. “Summer must be here,” she said.

The second sign of the onset of the high season has been making itself known to me over the past few weeks as an ever increasing number of suicidal maniacs attempt to have their vehicles occupy the same spot on the road that the vehicle I’m driving happens to be occupying at a given moment. These folks are quite inventive in their single minded quest to to end their lives, and mine. I won’t bore you with the details. If you’ve driven a car anywhere in Sag Hampton recently, you have undoubtedly encountered the same idiots, or their brethren. There’s apparently no shortage of them. So far, I guess our luck has held as you and I are still here to laugh (ruefully) about it.

Then there’s The Golden Pear’s way of announcing the summer season. This Main Street eatery recently stopped offering/accepting their buy-ten-get-one free coffee cards and canceled the 10% discount they briefly and half-heartedly offered to employees of other Main Street businesses. The reason? “It’s summer,” they said, as if that explained anything. You’d think summer, being the busy season, would be a time when they could most afford little largesses. What they’re actually saying, though, is, “We neither need nor want local patronage while we’re busy fleecing the summer folk. Don’t bother us now, but please come back in the winter when when we won’t be full up with people falling over themselves to spend $13.00 for an omelet.”  Is there a more craven institution in Sag Hampton? In addition to the minor tackiness of the canceled discounts, the Pear also recently turned down a request to donate a prize to a raffle sponsored by a local non-profit. The reason given for not donating anything was because they have received “too many requests for donations.” Read that as too many requests from locals who don’t spend enough money here. Then there are those oh-so-friendly signs warning customers not to linger too long over their meals — another anti-local campaign aimed at the seniors who used to while away their mornings over breakfast and coffee, when the location now occupied by the Pear was the Harbor Deli. As if the local seniors could afford to eat breakfast at the Pear! There’s really no need for the signs; the Pear’s grossly inflated prices having already accomplished the intended result.

So, it seems that all the signs concur, summer’s here. Be careful out there.
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Currently listening to: Good Vibrations by Brian Wilson.

The consultant also introduced us to the idea of listening as a form of respect for the person speaking. He told us a story about an African official who was offered a job at the United Nations in New York. Although proficient at English, and highly regarded by his superiors and peers, after only a few months on the job in New York, this diplomat asked to be allowed to return home. When asked why, he said that he could not live in a place where he was treated with such contempt and disregard. After further questioning he explained that in his country to walk by a person on the street, or in a hallway without greeting them was an insult. It was as if you were saying, “you are nothing, you are dead to me.” Of course, in New York, this was an everyday occurrence, and the cumulative effect on the African was to send him into a deep depression from which the only escape was to return to place where his worth would be appreciated and confirmed. While not completely analogous, the story was meant to illustrate for us the disrespect that others in our culture feel when we don’t listen to them. By not listening, we are in effect saying, “your ideas are of no importance to me.”

We live in a culture where respect is traditionally shown by paying thoughtful attention to the words of others. Unfortunately, the traditions of our culture are breaking down, and it is now common to hear people interrupting other speakers, and even shouting them down at public meetings. Government officials too, often show disdain for the public by limiting input at meetings or disregarding the feedback they receive from knowledgeable sources. (While it may be tempting to think that I’m referring to a specific government figure here, I’m not. This trend is widespread enough that you can substitute the name of any politician you wish and have a good chance of finding that the shoe does indeed fit.)

By way of bringing this home to Sag Hampton, let me tell you that I recently witnessed an example of how things should be done. I want to send a shout out (as my son would say) to Pat and Michael Trunzo for their willingness to sit patiently through many meetings, quietly listening to what was said, and quite obviously, absorbing much of it. Mike and Pat have attended at least three meetings of the Sag Harbor Citizens Advisory Committee to Southampton Town (CAC) at which we talked at great length about the need for careful planning of future development at the southern gateway to Sag Harbor on the Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike, the need for more affordable housing in the area, and our envirnomental concerns for Ligonee Creek at the southern border of the Village, and for the Long Pond Greenbelt that abuts this area. The Trunzos own undeveloped land in this area. Taking advantage of their presence at our meetings, the CAC has pushed to find out what their intentions were vis a vis developing the parcel they own, and prodded them to consider building green and including affordable housing units, in whatever they ultimately do with the land.

While they didn’t give away much in terms of what their plans are, they obviously heard what we were saying. This came to light at a recent Town Board meeting at which a resolution to authorize a planning study of the gateway area was introduced and passed by the Board. I wasn’t there, but I am told by a pretty reliable source that both Trunzo brothers were in attendance, and that during the public input session Pat Trunzo spoke elegantly in support of the study and its aims. Many, in fact most, landowners, I suspect, would have viewed this study as a threat to their property rights, and railed against it. Instead, we saw two men who took the time to listen to what others in their community had to say, and in the end, validated those community members by acknowledging publicly the value of what had been said.

I don’t have a crystal ball, and so can’t predict what will ultimately happen on the the Turnzos’ land, though now we have reason to hope that it will be developed in a manner considerate of the community’s concerns. At the moment, though, that’s not what’s uppermost in my mind. Right now, I am just grateful to two people who made the effort to really listen.
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Currently listening to: City Hall by Vienna Teng

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It can be hard, when you’ve invested a lot of time and energy into something you believe in, to remember that not everyone knows as much as you do about a subject. It’s even harder to retain an open mind with regard to the ideas of people who are not fully informed. I thought it naive of my friend to think that the LIRR would respond in a meaningful way to the needs of the East End. But, does being naive make his idea a bad one? Not really. In fact, it’s essentially the same idea with which Hank DeCillia, and the other fine folks at 5TRT and EETC got started. They’ve just refined it a bit. (OK, a lot.) After mulling it over, I had to give my friend a lot of credit for thinking about the problem, and coming up with a possible solution.

But there’s another issue that still bothers me. Why didn’t he know anything about Five Towns Rural Transit and their well-publicized plans to run a shuttle-train in the Hamptons? It’s been written up in all the local papers; multiple times in some, and Hank’s made many well-attended public presentations on the subject. Yet, the fact that other people had been thinking and working on this problem for years was news to my friend, and by extension, I’d guess a lot of other Sag Hamptonites too.

The Library Development Committee of the John Jermain Memorial Library has a similar problem. They’re holding a series of public forums to discuss various aspects of the Library’s planned renovation and expansion at the park. At each of these meetings there are always a few people who ask questions that have been answered countless times at previous meetings, in newspaper articles, and in information published and distributed by the Library. The effort to expand the Library at the park has been going on for years. At times it’s hard to believe that there’s anyone in Sag Harbor who isn’t sick of hearing about it. But, somehow, there seem to be quite a few people who still don’t know what’s been done and why. The reason for this seems to be that it just hasn’t been top of mind for them…until it is. Then they want to know the facts, to think them over, and express their thoughts and ideas. Does it matter that others have already thought about it, talked about it, explored and eliminated unworkable solutions, and put forth others that seemed to them to be more practical?  No. Not until they’ve had a chance to ask questions and think things through for themselves, will these latecomers be ready to test their ideas against those that have emerged from the work of others.

While this may seem like a problem crying out for a solution — especially to those who have been working on a project or idea for a while — there’s actually nothing that can be done about it. Each of our lives has a different focus, and no power on earth can change it, until we see the need for change ourselves. We see what we’re ready to see, and care about what we see when we can connect it to our lives in a meaningful way. I’ve cared about public transportation for a few years. Others have cared for a much longer time. My friend started caring last week. You may never care about it, and it doesn’t make a whit of difference that I wish you did. Same for the library. I care deeply about the future of the Library, attend meetings and think about it often. You may not care today, but tomorrow could be different. Then you’ll ask the same questions that others have asked so many time before. The good news is that you will be able to get answers to some of those questions. Some of the answers will make sense to you; some won’t. That’s when you’ll add your ideas to the mix.

Which brings me to another question that a different acquaintance put to me not long ago. (Wisely, he didn’t think I’d have the answer, he just wanted me to bring it up in the blog.) What he wanted to know was why someone, or more specifically, some group, didn’t glean unharvested food from local farm fields to feed the hungry. He believes that much usable food is left to rot in many fields after the main harvest is done. I don’t know if this is true or not. I don’t even know if it’s a good question. Maybe there’s some reason it can’t be done, or maybe it is being done and my friend and I just don’t know it. Certainly, it’s a subject to which I haven’t given much thought. My friend may have a great idea, but he needs additional information from others in the community who work on farms, or who help feed those who can’t feed themselves — people who have already thought this through. If that’s you, here’s your invitation to share your knowledge — not for the first time, I’m sure — with the community. Add your thoughts in the comment box that follows this post. This is how it works.

In this letter, Ms. Leigh-Hunt, based on a rumor she heard from a “reliable source,” casts aside all evidence to the contrary and publicly calls her neighbors who volunteer as Trustees of the John Jermain Library, liars. Of course, she has a “right” to do this if she wishes, but in my book, it’s just bad behavior and should be censured (not censored) by those of us who still think civility is important. (An aside: this rudeness appearing in the Express is particularly ironic in light of Phil Keith’s column, Core Values, appearing this week, and Anthony Brandt’s column on civility (not currently available online) which appeared last week.)

I don’t wish to debate the absurd assumption that Ms. Leigh-Hunt makes about the intentions of the Library’s Trustees. It’s ridiculous on its face. However, I would like to pose the following questions to Ms. Leigh-Hunt:

1. Which of your neighbors serving on the board of trustees do you think is lying to you? Would you stand up in a board meeting face to face with the trustees and say to one or all of them “You are a liar?”
2. Can you back up your accusation with facts, rather than rumor and innuendo?
3. If one or more of the Trustees are lying, what is their reason for doing so? In most situations where public figures find it necessary to lie to the public, you can figure out why they’re lying by “following the money.” Somewhere, someone’s got something to gain by lying. Where’s the money in this case? The Library Trustees, as you well know, are volunteers with no personal financial stake at risk, and no potential personal gain possible from an expanded library. Why would they find it necessary to lie about their intentions vis a vis the library building?
4. Who is your “reliable source?” If this source has so much reliable information, why isn’t he or she sharing it with the public? I know it’s hard to believe, but you were manipulated by someone spreading yet another ridiculous rumor about the Library’s expansion plans. What’s this one, number 1,438? Wise up, Ms. Leigh-Hunt. Your source knew that by providing you with his bit of misinformation, you’d rear up like the sword of righteousness and do exactly what you did; something he or she did not have the courage to do for him or herself.

I could go on with this, but I know it won’t make any difference. As Phil Keith pointed out in his column in the Express, by the time one is an adult it’s too late to learn a core value like civility. Let me just say this as a reminder to all of you who feel the call to righteousness burning within: you are not exempt from civil behavior just because you think you’re right.