timwferguson

Legacy of a Suffolk County ‘Moses’

The death of Lee Koppelman, as noted in this Newsday obituary, closes a long chapter of land-use policy on the eastern end of Long Island. Koppelman was Suffolk County’s planning chief from 1960-1988, as its post-war population boom led to pushback from preservationists, many of them well-off New Yorkers coveting weekend and summer retreats. KoppelmanContinue reading “Legacy of a Suffolk County ‘Moses’”

Yet Another Blockage at West Coast Ports?

After all the shipping/logistics industry has been through over the past two years, it might hope for some relief in the middle months of 2022. But not necessarily–the dockworker cartel represented by the West Coast longshoreman’s union is threatening one of its periodic walkouts, as this Wall Street Journal story flags. With pay already wellContinue reading “Yet Another Blockage at West Coast Ports?”

He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother

Sometimes it’s the advertisements that make the print product of a publication the more interesting version, and that is decidedly true at the New York Times. Various political entities want to put their cause in front of a prestige audience in the time-honored “tombstone” way. Last week, it was a collection of M.D.’s and othersContinue reading “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”

Casualties of a Binge of Antisocial Motoring

This week’s New York Times article zeroed in on one of the many victims of a two-year period of especially reckless behavior on America’s streets and highways. It’s a phenomenon that’s widely noted in conversations and comments sections around the country. Some ascribe the mayhem to pandemic-related effects on behavior, while others see it asContinue reading “Casualties of a Binge of Antisocial Motoring”

When a Shopping Mall Came to the Hamptons

Articles appearing on the front pages of their weekly papers 50 years ago—Feb. 3, 1972—were a surprise to many who’d begun making the Hamptons a weekend or summer home. Construction was beginning on a shopping center in their idyllic midst. Plaza East would be a first…and remain to this day the only of its kind.Continue reading “When a Shopping Mall Came to the Hamptons”

Who Will Pay for European-Style Medical Coverage

Even after ObamaCare, a frequent impulse on the left and in mainstream media remains the shoring up of health-care coverage for millions of Americans by further taxing the rich, however defined. This frame for redressing inequality in the U.S. carries over to other areas of policy, but medical services are the most politically acute. TurnsContinue reading “Who Will Pay for European-Style Medical Coverage”

Vanguard’s ESG Policy Choice Is to Echo

Morehouse College President David Thomas and Airbnb executive Tara Bunch joined rareified company this past year with appointment to Vanguard Group’s board of directors. They can expect annual pay of about $300,000 to help oversee the money-management giant’s 240-some mutual funds and ETFs. Beyond that, they will be at the forefront of a battle toContinue reading “Vanguard’s ESG Policy Choice Is to Echo”

Milestone: Early Hamptons Farmland Preservation

The great story of land-preservation on the South Fork of Long Island (“the Hamptons”) is losing many of its first-hand witnesses. Another departed this life just before Christmas: John V.N. Klein, who as Suffolk County Executive launched the first major effort to sustain farmland on some of the richest (both in nutrients and dollar value)Continue reading “Milestone: Early Hamptons Farmland Preservation”

A Burmese House of Mirrors

Burma is such a complex mess of a nation that it calls for the talents of a reporter like Hannah Beech to hold those responsible to account. The best Western journalist in Southeast Asia, Beech dropped a Christmas special in the New York Times that unmasked a seemingly sympathetic business figure’s dealings with the murderousContinue reading “A Burmese House of Mirrors”

The Landfill Squeeze Reaches Long Island

If Americans stand accused of precipitating a supply-chain seizure by demanding too many goods in the past year, their purchasing habits also are perpetuating problems at the other end—the landfills. Many if not most population centers of the U.S. have more trash than they know what to do with. It’s not just the capacity ofContinue reading “The Landfill Squeeze Reaches Long Island”