timwferguson

Checking Hamptons’ Building Bent, From the Ground Up

Growth controls on luxury housing may be coming to the town of Southampton, N.Y., after earlier moves in East Hampton township and Southold town on the North Fork of Long Island. Southampton councilman Michael Iasilli, a young Democrat with a progressive bent, is taking a slightly different tack in legislation he’s adapting for formal introduction.Continue reading “Checking Hamptons’ Building Bent, From the Ground Up”

A Peek Into Special-Ed Primacy

Before the smart phone disrupted American classrooms (a disruption that is now being contained) the earlier great change in recent decades was what is broadly called “special ed.” Programs designed to address a range of learning disabilities have shifted resources across U.S. schools, for better or otherwise. The subject is an extremely sensitive one forContinue reading “A Peek Into Special-Ed Primacy”

Echoes of the ’70s in a Changed Sag Harbor

As the village of Sag Harbor, N.Y., sought fitfully in the 1970s to renew itself, two young men from west of the Shinnecock Canal–a symbolic divide in the Hamptons real-estate game, which is mostly to the east–came to play notable roles. One was Ted Conklin, who purchased the American Hotel on Main Street—a hostelry andContinue reading “Echoes of the ’70s in a Changed Sag Harbor”

‘Poor’ Greenport Wants Slice of a Preservation Bounty

Land prices have ballooned on the North Fork of Long Island, particularly since the Covid pandemic, adding to fears of “Hamptonization.” And these are felt in Greenport Village, long established as a fishing and boating burgh and in recent years as a foodie haven amid the fork’s surrounding farm and vineyard culture. (It’s also theContinue reading “‘Poor’ Greenport Wants Slice of a Preservation Bounty”

Shinnecocks vs. Southampton and the Road Most Traveled

Continued legal strife between the Long Island, N.Y. town of Southampton and the Shinnecock tribal nation this week brought a key piece of South Fork land-use history into the picture. No–not the original “treaties” by which white settlers laid claim to their now-rich foothold on the Atlantic Ocean, but a more recent land seizure. ThisContinue reading “Shinnecocks vs. Southampton and the Road Most Traveled”

Sag Harbor’s Re-Emergence, in One Address

This weekend’s New York Times real-estate section has a nicely turned encapsulation of changes in the village of Sag Harbor, N.Y., over the last four decades. It’s told through the ownership of one of the formerly modest homes from the “UnHamptons” village’s industrial past–houses that now sell or rent for a fortune in Sag Harbor’sContinue reading “Sag Harbor’s Re-Emergence, in One Address”

Gridiron Riches Aren’t for Everybody on Saturdays

The “college” football season is in high gear, with ever bigger dollars flowing through what is actually a business. As a result–and also to raise their profile in attracting more students and fans–ever more schools are joining the bigtime (expensive) competition. Paradoxically, this is occurring even as participation rates in high-school football have declined noticeablyContinue reading “Gridiron Riches Aren’t for Everybody on Saturdays”

Hamptons Builders Face Less Room for Outsizing

Today’s Newsday catches up with East Hampton township’s reductions in just how large houses there can be built. This issue has gathered on the East End of Long Island, N.Y., in recent years as “mansionization” is blamed for changing the characters of neighborhoods–both visually and demographically–and for quickening the rise in land and thus homeContinue reading “Hamptons Builders Face Less Room for Outsizing”

Is Southampton Using Permits to Weed Out Commerce?

It’s common among preservationists on the East End of Long Island, N.Y., to regard the town of Southampton as lax in its allowance of development and other commercial concerns. There’s some basis* for that, especially in contrast to the town of East Hampton, but just as much reason to see dilatoriness in getting projects approvedContinue reading “Is Southampton Using Permits to Weed Out Commerce?”