East Hampton Town Supervisor issues statement on ICE actions in Minneapolis

The Southampton Town Board yesterday approved the $25.8 million purchase of an oceanfront mansion, which the town plans to demolish to create a beach access point.The three-story, 11-bedroom home at 1950 Meadow Lane — a stretch of multimillion-dollar oceanfront estates in the Village of Southampton — will be acquired by the town, razed and ultimately replaced with a small public parking lot, officials said.Alek Lewis reports in NEWSDAY that Southampton Town officials have framed the purchase as a rare opportunity to secure prime beachfront land for passive recreational use and protect the area's maritime dune habitat. The removal of the home and its pool meets the state's goal of moving people and structures away from the shoreline, which are at risk of flooding during an extreme storm, said Jacqueline Fenlon, the director of the town's Community Preservation Fund, during a hearing earlier this month.The unanimous vote by the board authorizes Southampton Supervisor Maria Moore to sign the town’s contract with the seller, Frances Katz, to buy the 2.2-acre property."It's going to be used for generations," Councilman Bill Pell told Newsday. He called the purchase a "good investment" and said the town is pursuing more waterfront properties for acquisition.Some town residents have said they were elated at the prospect of expanded beach access in Southampton Village. Town residents who live outside of the village are subject to high beach fees.Supervisor Moore told NEWSDAY most town beaches are west of the Shinnecock Canal, Southampton Town's geographic midpoint. Residents who live further east will now have a closer beach to enjoy.Money for the purchase comes from the Community Preservation Fund, which generates revenue for land preservation and water quality projects through a 2% real estate tax. The fund can be used to purchase properties for a variety of reasons, including open-space and parkland preservation.***North Fork residents came to the Southold Town Board’s meeting last night urging the board to make a strong public statement of their support for the local immigrant community and their grave concern about federal immigration enforcement actions here and around the country. Beth Young reports in EAST END BEACON that they brought with them a petition signed by 800 residents, which many said they’d continue to carry. The crowd was unimpressed with a statement read by Southold Town Supervisor Al Krupski, who said it was drafted during a lengthy discussion with the town’s police chief about public safety earlier Tuesday.Supervisor Krupski’s statement discussed the town police department’s commitment to fair enforcement of the law, “treating all individuals with dignity” and ensuring that everyone in town feels comfortable interacting with town police.“We pledge to work proactively to ensure all community members, regardless of background or immigration status, feel safe calling 911, participating in school, shopping for needs and accessing health care without fear,” said the supervisor, adding that the Town of Southold plans to follow up on a letter it sent to federal immigration officials in early December “expressing concerns about public safety with immigration enforcement.”Though immigration enforcement has been quiet out on the North Fork in recent months after two reported raids in Greenport last summer, ICE agents have been deployed to Riverhead, Riverside, Hampton Bays and Westhampton Beach in recent months.***The Eddie Westfall Arena - the ice rink at Veterans Memorial Park in Calverton - is closed while the operator works to remove ice and snow from portions of the dome and its perimeter.Rink staff are working to reopen the facility as soon as possible, Peconic Ice Rinks said in a social media post yesterday.Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that a portion of the dome deflated under the weight of the snow and sleet that accumulated during Sunday’s storm, according to Peconic Rinks director Kevin McCormack. “We’ve had extensive conversations with the town engineer and the fire marshal and the building inspector,” McCormack said. “Before anybody occupies the building again, it will be signed off by an independent engineer,” who will certify that everything is safe, he said. Riverhead Town Supervisor Jerry Halpin in a press release announced that the arena had been “temporarily closed by order of the Fire Marshal due to possible impacts from the snow event this past weekend. On Tuesday afternoon the supervisor said that the town fire marshal, building department and the town engineer have been out to Veterans Memorial Park to look at the dome. “So it’s closed until they can remedy it,” Halpin said. “We want to make sure there’s no damage. It’s our facility. We have insurance on it. The town owns it, and at the end of the day, it’s the town’s responsibility and if it needs repair, that’s added cost.”***Nine vigils for people killed by federal agents in Minneapolis are being organized for this Friday evening across the east end.“Faith leaders and community volunteers will be on site to lead the vigils and everyone is welcome to attend to share in community and a call for peace and justice,” said the press release, sent out by Anita Boyer of Hampton Bays, one of the organizers of the actions. Participants are asked to bring a flashlight or candle.Friday evening’s vigils are planned from 6 to 7 p.m. at the following locations:East Hampton at Hook Mill; Sag Harbor at the windmill; Southampton at Agawam Park; Hampton Bays at Macy’s lot; Westhampton Beach at the gazebo; Riverhead at Town Hall; Cutchogue at the Village Green; Greenport at Mitchell Park; Shelter Island at Town Hall.A second event is planned for Saturday, Jan. 31, along Route 58 in Riverhead. Organizers said they are inviting residents from across the East End to gather from 10 a.m. to 12 noon outside Staples Plaza.“Our call to action is to engage community members to join action groups, to demand accountability for ICE agents who are acting outside of the law, and to get our community leaders and all government officials to step up in meaningful ways to protect public safety,” the press release states.“This is a coordinated response of concerned local advocacy groups and community members working together to defend our democracy and uphold our constitutional rights,” the press release continued. “Both actions are peaceful gatherings within our First Amendment rights to gather and protest.”***The Hampton Bays movie theater will close for good following its final showings Thursday night, January 29…that’s tomorrow.The cinema’s longtime manager, Mary Russo, confirmed Monday that the theater will close this week — a decision made between the theater’s parent company, Cineworld, and the landlord, WDP Enterprises.The property’s owner, Walter Morris, said he is preparing to apply again to Southampton Town to “de-theaterize” the two-story, 15,000-square-foot cinema space so that it can be repurposed for rent to a retail or similar type use.Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that the theater was shuttered for more than a year during the coronavirus pandemic and had been on the chopping block as Cineworld went through bankruptcy in the wake of the pandemic but reopened in 2021 amid the “Barbenheimer” double-feature surge in movie-attendance.Referring to Cineworld, “They were great tenants,” Morris, a Huntington-based developer who owns and operates several other commercial malls and properties around Long Island, said. “They told me that they were not going to be there long term but that if I gave them a reduced rent they would stay open as long as they could. That time has come. They were losing money.”In 2019 Morris signed a 25-year lease with CVS to take over the 15,000-square-foot space. But the application to the Southampton Town Planning Board for the structural renovations to the building were met with opposition from the community, he said, and after 5 years the pharmacy giant backed out of the agreement.So now the landlord is back to hunting for a new anchor tenant to the small shopping center, with much more urgency.Morris said he reached out to “every theater company in the country” in hopes of finding someone that would take over the cinema as it is — to no avail.“So the plan is to remodel the shopping center, which is something we’ve been wanting to do for a long time,” said Morris, who has owned the Montauk Highway shopping center for 25 years. “The last time it was remodeled was in the 1990s so it needs work. New roofing, nice mill work, nice lighting, copper accents, some better signage so we can attract retailers. Something really pretty.”***East Hampton Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez...a Democrat who is running for reelection this year... has issued a statement in response to ICE agents actions in Minneapolis. It reads as follows:“An American exercising his First Amendment rights was killed by his own government. A son. A friend. A nurse who cared for our veterans. A person who spent his life helping other people survive their hardest moments, and he did not make it home.When the Trump administration decided that fear and intimidation is a governing strategy, the result is not safety. The result is a parent grieving the loss of their child, and a country where more and more people feel like one encounter with the federal government could shatter their lives forever.The harm does not stop at one street or one city. It spreads. It changes how families live. It changes who feels safe asking for help. It changes whether