Sag Harbor Village launches investigation into homophobic comment from Mayor Gardella

The cost of energy in the NYC metropolitan area, particularly electricity, home heating oil and natural gas, rose in February compared with a year earlier as Long Islanders and others in our region tried to stay warm in the face of unusually cold temperatures. James T. Madore reports in NEWSDAY that energy prices are up substantially more this month as the cost of gasoline climbs in response to the war in Iran, economists said yesterday, adding that pump prices weren’t a factor last month. They were down 4.3% from February 2025.The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported its energy index for the 25-county region, that includes Long Island, increased 5% in February compared with a year earlier. That’s a faster pace than January’s 2.7% but slower than December’s 6.1%. The economists said rising prices can cause consumers to reduce their spending, which in turn can hurt economic growth. Consumer spending accounts for roughly 70% of economic activity on Long Island and nationwide.The energy index, which is released with the consumer price index, tracks the cost of natural gas, electricity, home heating oil, kerosene, firewood and gasoline — but only the latter’s price is broken out, according to bureau economist Georgia Wright.Frigid temperatures and record snowfall are largely to blame for the energy index’s rise last month.The cost of fruits and vegetables also climbed 7.2% in February compared with a year earlier. Nonalcoholic beverages and household furnishings were up 7.1% and 4.8%, respectively, according to the statistics bureau.The increases were partially offset by declines in the cost of gasoline, recreation and used automobiles. Recreation was down 2.6% and used automobiles were down 3.5%.The overall price index for the New York-area rose 3.2% last month compared with February 2025. That was a faster pace than January’s 2.9%. The national index climbed at a slower rate: 2.4% in February and January, year-over-year.***The Village of Sag Harbor has launched an investigation into a comment by Mayor Thomas Gardella on social media that critics described as homophobic and for which he apologized on Tuesday.The comment was made on an Instagram video by Texas resident Rebecca Chavez, which shows her and her wife, Deanah, who has a short haircut, dancing to a song. Gardella posted a comment: “What’s that thing in the background ? A guy A girl? some creature ?” as written, appearing to refer to Deanah.After seeing Gardella’s comment, Chavez searched his name, found his status as mayor and posted a second video identifying him and encouraging people to send him emails. She told Newsday’s Alek Lewis that Gardella’s comment was "homophobic" and "horrific."Deputy Mayor Edward Haye, in a statement during Tuesday’s Sag Harbor Village Board meeting, said Gardella’s comment “disparaged members of the LGBT community."“Sag Harbor has long prided itself being a welcoming and a tolerant village, and those values deeply matter to us both as members of the village board and as residents,” Haye said. “While the comment appears to have been made on a personal social media account, it has understandably caused concern and hurt within our community.”Haye said the village board learned of Gardella’s comment on Monday. It will “be reviewed through the appropriate village processes so we … can address it thoughtfully, fairly and transparently.”After Haye’s statement, Gardella apologized. “I also would like to apologize for my many friends in the LGBT community who feel disappointed in me,” he added.“This administration holds a high standard of conduct and accountability and no one is above reproach, especially the mayor,” Gardella said.Gardella, a former village board member, was elected mayor of Sag Harbor in June 2023.Chavez said she and her wife are glad Gardella apologized and that his comments are being taken seriously by the village board through its investigation.***Join Peconic Baykeeper and Peconic Estuary Partnership for their fourth year of Winter Watershed Walk Series! This year’s series features four new and different locations around the Peconic Estuary. This coming Saturday, March 14 from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. you may join them for free at Mashomack Preserve 79 S Ferry Rd on Shelter Island. The walk will be co-led with The Nature Conservancy.Driving instructions and parking details will be sent out prior to the walk. Please dress for your comfort, warm layers, hats and gloves are encouraged. Plan to meet at the trailhead and begin walks shortly after the given start time. If you are running late or can no longer attend a walk you have signed up for please let the organizers know. We will do our best to wait for all confirmed registrants.For further info and registration visit peconicbaykeeper.org***A Staten Island delivery driver was killed after the van he was driving eastbound on County Road 39 wandered into oncoming traffic last week, striking four other vehicles before colliding head-on with a large pickup truck. Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that the accident happened about 3:30 p.m. last Wednesday, March 4.Police have not said why they think 33-year-old Anasser Almontaser’s van strayed out of his lane as he rounded the sweeping curve in County Road 39 just a few hundred yards to the west of the Tuckahoe Road stoplight. None of the drivers of the other vehicles the van struck suffered significant injuries, they have said.The crash forced police to close the road for nearly four hours — mostly as detectives and emergency crews waited idly for a coroner from the Suffolk County medical examiner’s office to examine Almontaser’s body and record the circumstances of the crash before the deceased victim could be removed from his vehicle.By 4:30 p.m. a trip from anywhere east of Southampton Village to Hampton Bays took three hours or more.But it was not anything new.Similar commuter nightmares of somewhat varying degrees seem to grip the region several times a year following accidents on either County Road 39 or Montauk Highway. How long the gridlock lasts depends on how long it takes to clear the blocked roadway — with the delays typically taking an hour to two hours to shake out even after the roadway is opened again. When there’s a fatality involved clearing the scene can take even longer.Local officials are well aware of the problem and the nightmares it causes for commuters.Discussing the situation at this past Tuesday’s Southampton Town Board meeting produced just two lasting responses: that the town would post digital warning signs along Montauk Highway east of Bridgehampton to warn afternoon commuters of severe delays in hopes that fewer of them would wade into the crawl and worsen gridlock on backroads, and that the town needed to find a way to get around the need for a coroner from the medical examiner’s office to come all the way from Smithtown simply to record the circumstances of the death.***Two barges and four months later, the dredging of Montauk Harbor is now complete — and fishermen say passage in and out of the inlet has been easier since the completion of the operation. Jack Motz reports on 27east.com that looming over Gosman’s Dock starting in December was Oyster Bay, a 144-foot-long dredge equipped with a 7-foot cutter head — a spiked rotating cone that breaks up underwater materials, like sediment and sand. Once the machine got moving, Oyster Bay could pump up to 10,000 cubic yards of sand per day.But the Oyster Bay did not last. Running into tough layers of sediment, the dredge suffered two major setbacks — one brought on by a fractured main shaft, the other due to a hydraulic failure. That took the dredge out of commission for several weeks and prompted the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to bring in a second, much smaller dredge, the Scrod II.“There was only a small channel on the west side that was deep enough for the bigger boats to go through,” said Al Schaeffer, a commercial fisherman. “On the east side, the east jetty, it was so shallow that even a boat like mine that only draws 4.5 or 5 feet couldn’t pass over that.”But that has since changed.“I went away for three weeks, and I came back, and I’ve been in and out quite a lot,” said Schaeffer. “I went from the west side to the east side — and we had a lot of problems at the very end of the east side — that hump is gone, and in the whole place, I saw nothing less than 17 feet at any given time.”The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and East Hampton Town officials partnered to undertake the operation, which was 14 years in the making. In the fall, before the dredge arrived, the federal and local governments had earmarked $9 million and $1.5 million, respectively, but bids came in high, and the East Hampton Town Board moved to kick in an additional $1.1 million to see it through.The plan was to deepen the inlet to 17 feet, building on a 12-foot emergency operation undertaken in early 2025. The dredge, this time around, pumped sand from the surface of the inlet onto Sunset Beach, immediately to the west. Scrod II took over for Oyster Bay about halfway through.East Hampton Town Councilman David Lys said, “The main success is that the mariners and the fishing industry will see about the safety of the inlet. They’re telling me right now that they’re not seeing a place in there where the inlet is anything less than 17 feet deep.”***To celebrate the 20th annual Cutchogue St. Patrick’s Day Parade, the North Fork Chamber of Commerce and Cutchogue Fire...