Sag Hampton » Our Town

Shadow Goes Home

Saltbox — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 02:47:42 +0000

I usually use this space to write about issues facing our East End communities. But, every once in a while I digress from the serious side of life to honor one of those ephemeral moments that make living in Sag Hampton so rewarding. Today I joined about two hundred students, teachers, administrators and parents on Haven’s Beach as Shadow, a Gray Seal who was rescued in April and rehabilitated by the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation was released into the wild.

First there was a moment of sweet anticipation, as a representative of the Foundation thanked the children of Sag Harbor Elementary for adopting Shadow, and making his return to the wild possible. Then, Shadow was carried in his transport cage from the foundation’s van down to a spot near the water’s edge. One of the students was called upon to help open the cage door. As the door began to open, Shadow first stuck his nose out and then cautiously emerged from his temporary shelter. Looking a bit confused, he headed for the water, then changed his mind and tried to reverse direction and return to the safety of his cage. Apparently prepared for this eventuality, volunteers from RFMRP (as the foundation is awkwardly known), used large plywood squares to block his way, gently encouraging the seal to move seaward again, which he quickly agreed to do. A few minutes later Shadow was in the water. After swimming a few quick circles in the immediate vicinity of the beach, with just one quick backward glance, he was gone.

I’m not sure if Shadow was entirely happy about this turn of events — after all, he will now have to catch his own meals, after being hand-fed for many months — but we humans at least could bask in the happy feeling of having participated in a small worthwhile act of kindness and community. For us, it really doesn’t get any better than this.

Enjoy the photos.

Carrying Shadow to the water's edge.

A student helps to open the cage door

Shadow pokes his nose out.

Taking a look around.

Heading for the sea.

A bit reluctant, but almost there.

On his way.

A quick look back, and then he's gone.

The Five Top Problems Facing Sag Hampton

Saltbox — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 01:22:00 +0000

Over Development / Inappropriate Development
Simply put, over development is the poison that will kill the golden goose. As we all know, people love this area because of its natural beauty, open vistas, fresh air, and rural feel. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that suburban sprawl, McMansion ghettos, charmless villages filled with chain boutiques and real estate offices, condos lining the waterfront, mega-yachts clogging the harbors and bumper to bumper traffic are the antithesis of the characteristics that made this place desirable. Yet, all that and more just keeps on coming. So, as we approach full build out — a scenario that’s not nearly as far away as you might think — it is ever more imperative that we speed up our progress towards that “goal” (full build-out) by dramatically reducing the amount of land available for development through upzoning and open space preservation.
The Automobile
If you live in the remote reaches of Northwest, or somewhere towards the middle of Deerfield Road in Water Mill, you better have a car so you can get to work, shopping, or the doctor’s office, because there just isn’t any other way to get there. Looked at the other way around, the fact that we almost all have cars, has made it possible for us to build houses in these remote areas. Without cars, most of us wouldn’t put up with the inconvenience of living so far from the hamlets and villages where essential services are located. This, in a nutshell, is the cause and effect of the suburban sprawl that is rapidly destroying the beautiful vistas, unspoiled woodlands, pristine coastline and rural feeling of this area. Getting people out of their cars is a worthy goal on many levels, but one that seems almost impossible to achieve. One technique that has some hope of working, is smart growth: pushing development in close to the hamlets and villages through intensive upzoning of areas further away from the hamlet centers, and incenting developers to build and re-purpose properties closer in. This has the effect of increasing density to the point that some forms of public transportation make sense, thus getting people out of their cars, at least some of the time.
The Cost of Living
A community consisting entirely of wealthy second-home owners is not a sustainable community. As the cost of homes (and everything else) rises, working people are driven out of the community, as are the businesses they need to sustain them, and which are in turn, sustained by them. Eventually, the community itself is gone, replaced by a make-believe version that only exists for a few months of the year, and has no ability to provide the underpinnings of a real community such as a volunteer fire department and ambulance service, police department, and local government. Wealthy part-time residents don’t volunteer to serve in the fire department, or run for local office. Police can be brought in from somewhere else, but will not be as effective as a force made up, at least partially, of local residents. When local family businesses close, because their customers have been driven out of the area, what will replace them? Who will we turn to for groceries, hardware, and other household necessities? Ralph Lauren? Starbucks? Corcoran?
Provincialism/Nimbyism
Either we all bail together, or we all sink together. Don’t want that windmill in your neighbor’s yard, or that wind farm off your coastline? Well then, tell us where we can locate them, or sit back and watch your house disappear under the rising ocean. Don’t want that bicycle path running next to your estate, or cutting across your greenbelt? Well then, you’ll just have to put up with more automobile traffic and the massive amounts of pollution it generates. Don’t want affordable housing in your community? Then say good-bye to your community (see #3 above). This problem isn’t unique to individuals either; it also applies to local governments. One example of this type of provincialism with which I am familiar is in the area of transportation. In order to solve the area’s transportation problems, it is necessary for all five east end towns to work together. Local government officials understand this, and yet only pay lip service to the concept. One town doesn’t want ferries. Another doesn’t want buses. Another wants to sue the one that doesn’t want ferries. Villages block improvements to roads because the businesspeople in those villages are afraid their bottom lines may be hurt if a few parking spaces are lost. The net result is that we’re all so busy protecting our backyards that we don’t notice that the house is burning down.
Loss of Place
A sense of place is not something you can fake. I’m a big fan of historic preservation, but when I see the facades of historic buildings acting as camouflage for obscenely swollen McMansions tucked away behind the original modest structures, I am keenly aware that something important has been lost. When local agriculture, once a mainstay of the East End’s economy has come to mean horse farms for polo ponies and jumpers, a way of life that defined this area has slipped through our fingers, along with the definition it provided. When what was traditionally an artist’s community has more art galleries than working artists, it’s an indicator that the community’s balance has shifted away from individualism and towards commercialism. When the vast majority of the people who work here come from someplace else, a large hole has been torn in the fabric of the community that robs it of its sense of place. An authentic sense of place is what makes a community vibrant. For generations, people have come here because eastern Long Island was a “real” place. Once that’s gone — and we’re pretty darn close to losing it — well, once that’s gone, what’s left is Disneyland.

Save Sag Harbor (Cinema)

Saltbox — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 04:19:00 +0000

Yikes! This is serious. The Sag Harbor Cinema is for sale. There’s nothing more iconic in Sag Harbor than the Sag Harbor Cinema, the art-house theater that’s been a part of the local scene for decades. Just look at all the fuss that arose when my fellow Sag Harborites thought they were losing the theater’s sign! Now, it seems, we may be in danger of losing the entire theater and all that it stands for.

I know that a phrase like “all that it stands for” is a bit pretentious when talking about a commercial enterprise; but the Sag Harbor Cinema does a darn good job of representing the iconoclastic nature of our village in an easily identifiable way. It is after all an art house theater that plays lesser-known, usually small-budget, quirky, independent movies. Doesn’t that sound a lot like Sag Harbor itself? OK, well we’re not really lesser-known anymore, and we’re losing our small budget cachet, but we’re still arty, quirky and independent; in a nice example of symmetry, the Sag Harbor Cinema is one of the features of our village that keeps us that way.

It’s old, and slightly seedy, with a musty smell and seats that fall somewhat short of comfortable, but so what? Where else can you find so many stimulating and entertaining foreign and independent films week in and week out? East Hampton? I think not. Southampton? Don’t make me laugh. Westhampton? Where? OK, so maybe you don’t go to foreign or independent films that often, but isn’t it nice to know that you can see one locally now and again if it should come to your attention? Unfortunately, I suspect that most of us (myself included) don’t go to this type of film all that often, which probably means that the owner of the Sag Harbor Cinema isn’t exactly raking in the dough. It also means that it will probably be tough to find someone who wants to buy the theater to keep it going as it is.

On the other hand, the alternatives are pretty unsatisfactory. While the facade of the building may, or may not, be protected if it is designated as an historic landmark — it’s not clear that it is — anything could happen on the inside of the building. Perhaps it will be split up into several small retail spaces, or one large one. With retail rents being what they are, the probable inhabitants of such spaces will most likely be limited to high-end designer boutiques. Not exactly the small-scale, mom and pop businesses for which our village is known and loved. Whatever it ends up becoming, it will be a far cry from the integral part of the village it is today.

Now we come to the part of the post where a more ingenious thinker would lay out a strategy for preserving the theater in some way that would be more acceptable then turning it into boutiques. If only that writer were penning this article! Unfortunately, all we’ve got here is me, and I haven’t a clue as to what can be done. Here’s the best I can come up with: Let’s all start going to the movies more often here in Sag Harbor. Perhaps, if we do so consistently, we can make the Sag Harbor Cinema a more economically viable business that may attract a buyer interested in maintaining this local institution just as it is (perhaps with more comfortable seats). Got any better ideas? Think the Library should buy it? Add your thoughts to the comments section below. Otherwise, I’ll see you at the movies.

Sag Harbor: Alive, Well and Still Kickin’

Saltbox — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:49:29 +0000

Observed in and around Sag Harbor recently:

More Priuses per block than perhaps anywhere else in the country;
Tibetan Monks running programs at the Unitarian Universalist Church and North Haven Village Hall;
Heavy trunout for meetings of the various Village Boards;
A rejuvenated public library with more visitors, circulation, programs and joie de vivre than ever;
An Alternative Energy Fair at the Whaling Museum, which also seems pretty spry these days;
An agressive and effective Greening of Sag Harbor Committee;
An agressive and effective Save Sag Harbor group;
Our very own (aggressive and effective) Town Councilperson, in the person of Sag Harbor (soon to be Noyac) resident, Anna Throne-Holst;
Our very own baseball team;
For better or worse (depending on your point of view), a green light for the renovation of the Bulova watchcase factory;
A rambunctuous public meeting (or two) of the Sag Harbor School Board at which the community voiced its opinion loudly and clearly, and the Board, in its own way, responded;
An activist Village government that is not only trying to protect Sag Harbor’s future, but listens and responds to the concerns of residents and businesses as it goes about its business;
The Hamptons Music Festival at the Old Whalers’ Church;
The bigger than ever Bay Street Theatre Gala back on Long Wharf;
A sparkling new website for our home town newspaper, The Sag Harbor Express;
And, under the category of “things never stand still in Sag Harbor” the iconic Sag Harbor Movie Theater is apparently up for sale!!

I sometimes (okay, often) find myself slipping into the role of local curmudgeon here at Sag Hampton, forgetting the qualities that drew me to this town some thirty years ago. So, while Sag Harbor may need “saving” (and I believe it does), it’s good to look around now and then to remember that Sag Harbor is still an exciting and vibrant place to live, work, play and raise a family.

Did I leave out your favorite sign of life in Sag Harbor? Add it in the comments area below.

Sag Harbor: Still Making History

Saltbox — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 02:20:00 +0000

What’s the one constant in Sag Harbor’s 300 year history? Change. Starting as the port for the farmers in Sagaponack, Sag Harbor went on to become a bustling center of trade, home to one of the country’s largest whaling fleets, and an industrial center producing everything from watchcases to parts for the lunar landing module. As you walk the village, you can see bits and pieces of those various histories: The Custom House dating from the earliest days of the village; the Bulova Watchcase Factory, perhaps the jewel in our industrial crown, and the many lovely structures on south Main Street that started life as the homes of the prestigious and wealthy captains of the whaling fleet. Commercial, industrial, residential, waterfront, religious, and other structures from many different eras crowd together in the barely two square miles that is the entirety of Sag Harbor village. Wherever you walk history abounds, some from long ago, some of a more recent vintage — for history is an ongoing process. Yesterday’s obscenely modern structure is today’s honored period home. (Think Norman Jaffe’s south-of-the-highway homes.) A previous generation’s cheap motel is now a chic boutique hotel (Think Alexis Stuart’s Bridgehampton Motel.) Yesterday’s Watchcase factory is tomorrow’s luxury condos.

Many say that Sag Harbor has entered a period of unprecedented change that may irredeemably alter its character forever. Others, with perhaps a more long-range view, understand that there has never been a quintessential Sag Harbor. This village is not frozen in time. It evolves to meet the needs of its inhabitants. Looking back, or ahead, we may not recognize those inhabitants, but it was, and will be their village, not ours. Ours is the Village that we have today: historic, funky, upscale, charming, nautical, artistic, resorty and small-town. It’s the culmination of all that came before, and the root from which the Sag Harbor of tomorrow is sprouting even as we watch.

To help us reflect upon these changes and consider how the village will continue to evolve and adapt, a few members of the 300th anniversary organizing committee, led by Benito Vila, have put together a workshop which will be held on Saturday, October 13th at the Methodist Church on Madison Street, to celebrate the character and legacy of Sag Harbor. This workshop, which looks to be a lot of fun, will begin with a presentation and discussion led by experienced preservationists and local artists, after which everyone will head out into the streets to “catalogue” in photos, sketches, or what have you, various aspects of the village’s public and private spaces. Once the cataloging has concluded, the collected materials will become the basis for one or more collaborative projects. One such project might be an online “wiki” where digital photos and digitized sketches are stored, tagged as to content, and commented on by participants, and later by others who view the wiki. The John Jermain Memorial Library has offered the use of its computers to facilitate the creation of the wiki, or other online project, and will make the results available to the public through its website. Other projects may also be developed based on ideas brought forward by participants.

Everyone is invited to participate. At the very least we hope to enjoy an afternoon with friends and neighbors celebrating together the place we live. At best we will create a time capsule of sorts, recording images of the village, documenting what is currently here, and identifying the qualities we hope to retain and encourage for the future. Given the proposed commercial development of existing properties and parcels throughout the village, there will be much to compare and contrast. The effect of those initiatives will be an important consideration as we observe Sag Harbor continuing to make history.
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Currently listening to: Our Little Town by Greg Brown.