2024 Preview: East End News Stories to Watch This Year

Now that the calendar has flipped to start the new year, the Hamptons and North Fork have the promise of a fresh page — but we can see some news to come. Some stories are hard to predict, such as local tragedies or surprise political drama, but we can set our watch by other big issues that continue to influence the East End.

Here are some of the major Twin Forks region stories to watch in 2024.

ELECTION FRICTION

Since this is a presidential election year, voter turnout is expected to surge, which could prove pivotal for local races further down the ballot, such as U.S. Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Rocky Point), the freshman congressman who represents the East End, seeking re-election.

Democrats lining up to challenge LaLota include former New York State Sen. James Gaughran, Administrative Law Judge Craig Herskowitz and Nancy Goroff, a Stony Brook University professor who unsuccessfully tried to unseat former U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin.

Also up for re-election this cycle will be the state lawmakers representing the East End: Sen. Anthony Palumbo (R-New Suffolk), Assemblymember Jodi Giglio (R-Riverhead) and Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. (D-Sag Harbor), in addition to the usual medley of local town races this Election Day.

GETTING WINDED

Now that the first turbines have been pumping energy from the South Fork Wind project into the local electric grid, in the coming weeks and months we can expect to see focus turn from the impending competition of that project to start on the next.

Like South Fork Wind — billed as the first offshore wind farm in the state and the first commercial-scale wind farm in the United States — the one next closest in the pipeline to start construction is Sunrise Wind, which is also planned for waters about 30 miles east of Montauk Point.

However, Ørsted, the Danish wind energy developer building South Fork Wind and Sunrise Wind in partnership with Eversource, recently cast doubt on the financial viability of Sunrise Wind, so there are big questions ahead for the offshore wind farm industry to be answered this year.

ON THE FLY

East End vineyards and winemakers have been on high alert for the inevitable arrival of the invasive spotted lanternfly that is known to feed on grapes that are the lifeblood of the wine industry.

Winemakers, government leaders and agricultural experts say that although the insects don’t hurt people, animals or structures, the eastbound invasion is a serious concern to Long Island Wine Country, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last year. But experts’ understanding of the invasive species — and how to fight them — is continuing to evolve beyond widespread publicity campaigns urging the public to squish the bugs on sight, which has only slowed the insects’ arrival.

“Unfortunately — believe it or not — there is not a lot that can be done about it or to prepare for it,” Kareem Massoud, an award-winning winemaker at Paumanok and Palmer vineyards, and president of Long Island Wine Country, told Dan’s Papers. “I describe it as a slow-motion train wreck. You can see it coming, but there is not a lot you can do to avert the consequences.”

POT SHOPS

The extremely slow rollout of the state’s legal recreational adult-use cannabis industry is finally starting to play out on the local level.

With three dozen companies awarded state licenses to sell legal weed on Long Island in the past year and only two opened to date, securing locations to set up shop that meets stringent requirements has proven frustrating for many startups.

So far the only two that have opened on LI are in the Town of Babylon. The fight for the next shops is sure to play out on the East End this year, where the towns of Riverhead, Southampton and Brookhaven were among the minority of municipalities to allow such retailers to do business.

FIMP OFF

The long-stalled $1.7 billion Fire Island to Montauk Point (FIMP) storm flooding mitigation project has begun to make its way to the East End, but potential costly court battles remain before construction is completed.

Attorneys for wealthy Hamptons oceanfront property owners who will be asked to provide for FIMP easements — a legal right of way allowing crews to perform work on private property — may fight such requests. Hundreds of easements are required to advance the project. If negotiations break down, cases can go to court under eminent domain, the legal process in which the government acquires private property for public use.

So far, work has been done to build up beaches outside of the most likely litigious stretches of shorefront. In the meantime, recent strong winter storms continue to remind us that pumping millions of dollars worth of sand on the beach is only a bandaid in the face of the ocean’s wrath and rising sea levels.

SOCIAL STRIFE

Between the rise in anti-Semitism since the start of the Israel-Hamas War in October and the Town of Riverhead taking a leading role in trying to block the migrant crisis from overflowing from New York City to the East End, racial friction remains at the forefront.

With no end to either crisis in sight, it is impossible to predict when tensions will ease. Barring some miraculous solution on either front, it is likely that both issues will continue to be in the news and play out locally for months to come at the very least.

Until cooler heads prevail among the powers that be, the most many can do is pray for peace.