Things I’m Happy About in the Hamptons: Town Pond Swans, Airport Bluebirds, Being Santa & More

SWANS RETURN

Two swans have now made their home on Town Pond in East Hampton. It’s been six long years without them. Back then, the swan couple who’d been in residence for decades fled the pond when the mayor at that time pulled the plug on the bottom of the pond and let all the water out.

The idea was to shovel out the sludge on the bottom of the pond, then fill it back up to where it was before. The swans weren’t buying it. The water was too fresh. And so for all this time, there have been no swans.

This new swan couple arrived in June. They apparently decided the pond was gunky enough to take up residence again. But would they stay? Mayor Jerry Larsen told me yesterday he goes down to the pond on his way to work every morning to feed them cracked corn. So far, so good.

Stay, guys.

BAISLEY RETIRES

I’m happy that Paul Baisley Jr., the New York State Supreme Court Judge who issued several recent rulings of note to Hamptons residents, has now retired.

For example, he heard arguments in litigation involving the East Hampton Airport and the town’s plan to quiet down the noisy comings and goings of airplanes there. Baisley fined the airport a quarter million dollars for not following his instructions quickly enough.

Then, there was a clause in a deed written more than 100 years ago that gave the townspeople the right to go fishing and bring vehicles out on a 4,000-foot-long piece of Truck Beach in Napeague owned by the town.

The courts ruled that the public could not drive on this oceanfront beach. When fishermen tried to reverse that decision and demonstrated at the beach in protest, Baisley fined the town for nearly a quarter million dollars for letting that happen and then even threatened to disbar one of the protesters who happened to be an attorney who insisted on speaking his mind.

The rich now must be trembling in their boots to lose this friendly judge who tromps on the historical rights of the locals. Where will they find another?

We wish Baisley a happy retirement in Palm Beach, the South of France or some island in the Caribbean. Or maybe Flint, Michigan. Wherever.

BLUEBIRDS

I am happy there are now more than a hundred beautiful bluebird families thriving in box nests on the edge of the woods that border the East Hampton Airport.

This project to save these endangered birds, was begun nearly 40 years ago by environmentalist Larry Penny, and is now being carried on by volunteer Joe Guinta. The birds seem to like the aircraft. They even get excited about all the noise.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

I am happy that a small tax on the impossibly high prices being paid for real estate transactions in the Hamptons is being collected to build affordable housing for the local people.

Tens of millions of dollars have already been raised by this tax. The need for such housing was highlighted recently when police learned that one particular not-so-well-off couple had taken up residence in a summer mansion in the estate section of Southampton without permission from its owner.

They got arrested when the police learned that they were selling off pieces of the mansion’s furniture.

CELEBRATING OUR VILLAGES

I am happy to see the creation of John Steinbeck Waterfront Park alongside Long Wharf in Sag Harbor. I’m happy to see the creation of the Great Lawn as the centerpiece of downtown Westhampton Beach.

More downtown projects are under discussion for Southampton, Hampton Bays and Riverhead, to celebrate what makes these historic communities special.

FESTIVALS EVERYWHERE

I am happy that so many entrepreneurs have created festivals, parades, events and programs throughout the Hamptons. Among them now are the Hamptons International Film Festival, the Hampton Classic Horse Show, Polo Hamptons, the HarborFest and HarborFrost weekends, the Stony Brook Southampton College Writers Conference, the various St. Patrick’s Day parades, the San Gennaro Feast of the Hamptons, The Bridge car show, the Polar Bear Plunge, the Montauk Music Festival, the Southampton Rose Show, Authors Night, the Clamshell Foundation fireworks, the Fourth of July fireworks, the Rell Sunn Surf Contest and Benefit at Ditch Plains, the Dan’s Papers Taste Summer Series and even a Hamptons Whodunit Festival.

THE DISADVANTAGED

I’m also happy that we are now honoring and working to improve the lives of the Shinnecocks, the Montauketts, the African Americans and the immigrants. Southampton’s even now honoring a former slave who did good in the 19th century.

SANTA

I’m also happy to play the part of Santa Claus for East Hampton town at Christmastime. This year, my seventh, I will arrive by helicopter, be transported by police car to Main Street, climb up into the sleigh with Mrs. Claus, and then be pulled down Main Street by eight people zippered up in reindeer suits in the town’s Christmas Parade.

About noon, sitting in a comfortable chair at a local inn, I’ll talk to a hundred kids, one at a time, learning what they want for Christmas.

FAMILY

Perhaps the most important thing I am happy about is my family. Between my wife and I, we have seven grown children and 10 grandchildren, eight of whom are 10 years old and younger. Our youngest, a beautiful baby girl, was born just last week at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital.

When my dad bought White’s Pharmacy in Montauk 68 years ago and brought my mom, my sister and me, the teenager, to this place, it was windswept and wonderful, but there was little culture.

The county bookmobile was our library, TV had three channels, two from Connecticut and one from Providence. There were military bases in Montauk and Westhampton, racetracks in Bridgehampton and Riverhead, baymen in East Hampton, farmers, lobstermen and deep sea fishermen out for swordfish and stripers.

On Sundays, the stores were closed for church.

And did I tell you about the zoning? There wasn’t any. And an oceanfront lot could be had for $2,000.