Looking toward a brighter future

The spring holidays and weather often fill people with hope and joy. This year is no different as residents may feel more optimistic than ever.

Local egg hunts and holiday events that took place last weekend exemplify the optimism our fellow residents are experiencing. While some community events during the past two years were able to take place, many of our social gatherings were severely limited. With egg hunts, organizers asked attendees to sign up for time slots. After egg hunting, they would need to complete any additional activities during a specific period due to COVID-19 precautions. Some events experienced low attendance amid COVID fears, with many people hesitant to return to their usual social activities.

This year, organizers were able to hold events resembling those held before COVID-19. Community members embraced the opportunity to get out of the house. For our reporters who were photographing the egg hunts and Port Jefferson parade, it was a delight to see community members able to fully enjoy activities and engage with each other.

It’s no surprise that we’re getting back to life as we knew it before 2020. It’s taken a while to get here, but it feels as though we are slowly approaching normalcy. As of April 6, the Suffolk County Department of Health Services reported 1.9% tested positive in the county, and the sevenday average was 1.8%. The COVID-19 Community Level for Suffolk is low. The DOHS also reported that as of April 7, 78.9% of county residents are fully vaccinated.

The community getting out and about regularly and mingling, as well as fewer COVID infections and more vaccinated people, are positive signs for the future.

This wave of good news is beneficial for small businesses as well. After spending a day full of fun activities, consider stopping by a local restaurant for lunch or dessert or patronizing a local store on the way home. Like community gatherings, our local mom-and-pops add a sense of place and charm to our towns and villages. Frequenting local downtowns gives these areas a chance to thrive, to employ even more of our residents and to pay taxes to our municipalities.

Our readers should keep an eye out for upcoming events in our coverage areas throughout the year as listed in our Arts & Lifestyles section.

We also remind residents that April 30 to May 6 marks National Small Business Week. Started by the U.S. Small Business Administration, these seven days recognize the contributions of entrepreneurs and small business owners. While enjoying the warm weather in the months ahead, we encourage our neighbors to grab a bite to eat, buy a new ornament or a plant for their home locally.

New York State Department of Health statistics indicate that nearly 5,000 Suffolk County residents have died from COVID-19. Many more throughout our state, nation and world have not survived the last few years. While we cannot undo what has happened, we can chart a course ahead. May these COVID years make us stronger, wiser and more socially responsible citizens. May we begin to thrive again, reminded of the joy and hope life has to offer. May we continue to rejoice and celebrate right in our backyards.

Please see revised letters policy below.

Letters to the Editor

Wind power presents significant problems

According to a March 23 TBR News Media article, Sunrise Wind will soon be providing us with a wind farm which will contribute to New York state deriving 100% of its energy requirements from renewable sources by 2040. Presumably this implies that the contribution of energy provided by all hydrocarbon fuels, including coal, oil and natural gas, will be eliminated entirely.

While this may sound like a noble and virtuous goal, it does present a number of very significant problems, none of which were addressed in the aforementioned article. The production and distribution of electrical power began in the 1880s, as a direct result of the invention of the incandescent light bulb by Thomas Edison. Since that time, it has been generated by a combination of hydrocarbon fuels, supplemented by hydroelectric sources and, more recently, by nuclear reactors.

All of these power sources share a common characteristic: They reliably provide huge amounts of energy satisfying all of our needs, 100% of the time, day and night, in all kinds of weather, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, year in and year out.

If we choose to arbitrarily eliminate the vast energy contributions of hydrocarbon fuels, and if we also follow the advice of letter writer Arnold Wishnia and his friends and eliminate our nuclear power plants as well, we will thereby create a new problem. If our virtuous green power sources are only active with a very limited duty cycle, certainly much less than 50% of the time, what will provide our energy when the wind is not blowing, and the sun is not shining? Clearly, we will need some form of energy storage system, in which we will produce and store energy when it is available, i.e., when the wind blows and/ or the sun shines, and recover this stored energy during the off times.

But what form will this energy storage system take? Can it be a huge collection of lithium-ion batteries? Can we perform electrolysis of sea water to produce hydrogen, which we can store in huge tanks? Can we pump vast amounts of water into huge towers, and then use it to power hydroelectric turbines? What shall we do?

We are told in the article that the windmills to be provided by Sunrise Wind will provide enough power for about 600,000 homes. However, we are not told whether this includes only the power delivered directly to the homes when the wind is blowing, or whether it includes the extra power that must be stored, such as in a battery, to power the homes when the wind is absent.

If Sunrise Wind, or Mr. Wishnia or anyone else, can describe an energy storage system that is compatible with achieving 100% elimination of hydrocarbon fuels and nuclear power generators in New York state by 2040, at an even remotely achievable cost, it would be most interesting and enlightening.

In my humble opinion, I believe that windmills and solar arrays can be useful supplements. We see this, for example, with a homeowner who installs solar panels on a roof, or a farmer who uses a windmill to pump water from a well. But to rely on these sources 100% of the time, for a venue the size of New York state, is, as they say, a horse of a different color.

George Altemose Setauket

Opportunities squandered

Everyone deserves to live in safe, affordable housing. We are facing a housing crisis on Long Island. State and local governments must use their power to address this problem in a thoughtful and equitable way that benefits all of us.

Unfortunately, the response from too many Long Island elected officials to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s [D] “housing compact” fails to address the issue for the public good. In his perspective piece March 30, Dan Panico [R-Manorville], Town of Brookhaven deputy supervisor and current town supervisor candidate, accuses the governor of threatening “local municipalities” and her push to increase housing availability as a “political charade.”

While I do not agree with all aspects of Hochul’s plan, I recognize that she is speaking to a need that local governments have failed to address. One example of this would be the development of the Heritage Spy Ring Golf Club senior complex in South Setauket, which is a project that Mr. Panico voted for in 2014. This project was approved despite the opposition of the community. It has not generated any affordable housing, with monthly apartment leases priced from $2,900 per month. What we desperately need in our communities is affordable housing for both young professionals and retirees, and this was an opportunity squandered.

Town Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich [D-Stony Brook] has also weighed in about local control, saying that “town council members are uniquely qualified to know and be accountable to the needs of our districts” in an April 6 Village Times Herald op-ed.

However, the Brookhaven Town Board isn’t listening to constituents. This past week, the Town Board unanimously sent a statement in support of New York State legislation to alienate protected parkland to facilitate the siting of a waste transfer station not allowed by local zoning, in an environmental justice area and disadvantaged community. They did this over the objections of nearby communities of color and the state NAACP.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time we’ve seen this kind of action. In 2021, the Town Board unanimously voted to rezone 130 acres of land surrounding the Brookhaven landfill from residential to light industry, again over the objections of residents. That is not how representation should work.

This year, our local government is up for election at all levels. Too many politicians have placed their self-interest and personal ambition over the voices of those they are elected to represent.

We saw this in our town redistricting process last summer, where the Town Board unanimously approved the redistricting maps that residents spoke in opposition to at numerous public hearings.

There is too much at stake, from affordable housing to environmental protection to the democratic process itself, to allow the status quo to continue unchecked. We deserve better, and we must demand it from our elected officials.

Shoshana Hershkowitz South Setauket

WRITE TO US … AND KEEP IT LOCAL

We welcome your letters, especially those responding to our local coverage, replying to other letter writers’ comments and speaking mainly to local themes. Letters should be no longer than 400 words and may be edited for length, libel, style, good taste and uncivil language. They will also be published on our website. We do not publish anonymous letters. Please include an address and phone number for confirmation.

Email letters to: editor1@tbrnewsmedia.com or mail them to TBR News Media, P.O. Box 707, Setauket, NY 11733