Column | East End Beacon

Column Greenport Opinion Recent

Opinion: Southold’s Agenda Priorities Leave Water Quality Behind — And Greenport at Risk

August 10, 2026August 17, 2026 East End Beacon

by Greenport Village Trustee Mary Bess Phillips When the Southold Town Board met on July 28 for its Work Session, the agenda told a story that Greenport residents have seen too many times. The Board entered Executive Session to discuss a possible land acquisition under the Community Preservation Fund (CPF). Yet nowhere on the full agenda was there any mention of updating the CPF Land Preservation Plan or creating the long‑overdue CPF

Column Editorial Opinion

Editorial: We Need to Adapt

August 3, 2026August 14, 2026 East End Beacon

Back when we were starting our careers in journalism around the turn of the millennium, the term climate change was just being adopted by scientists, who realized that the concept of “global warming” will not accurately reflect the changes in our atmosphere that we are now seeing every day. This summer on the East End has been marked by many climatological events, despite the fact that we’ve not, to date,

Column Letters Opinion Recent

Letters: On Skipping the Stuff & Doug Cooper’s Flag

July 28, 2026August 1, 2026 East End Beacon

To the Editor: I have lived in Southampton Town my entire life, learning to swim and surf in our waves. But over the years, I've watched something besides tourists accumulate on our beaches: a tide of plastic waste arriving faster every season. Every day, thousands of takeout orders go out stuffed with plastic forks, napkins, condiment packets, and stirrers — "stuff" nobody asked for and most of us toss straight

Column Dave's Desk@Ditch

Dave’s Desk@Ditch: There It Is

July 21, 2026July 28, 2026 East End Beacon

I always find it rather interesting how certain life events seem to arrive when we least expect them, that one can go for months, if not years, without experiencing something so life-altering, and then — poof! — like it or not, there it is. By ‘life-altering,’ I’m referring to those impactful incidents that far exceed the ones that we typically experience over the course of our day, and seemingly arrive

Minerva Perez spoke with the North Fork Action Center Monday evening.

Column Letters Opinion

Letters: OLA on LaLota’s Threats, The American Dream

July 20, 2026July 25, 2026 East End Beacon

To The Editor: In a letter dated July 16, 2026, Congressman LaLota addressed myself and members of our team along with several others trying to justify threats against our East End municipalities. The congressman continues to avoid the very simple question we have posed to him directly: “What are the specific provisions of the local law that the Congressman opposes?” Pictured Above: Ms. Perez addressed a crowd of concerned North

Members of the Southold YETI cleaned up Arshamomoque Preserve this spring.

Advice from the Southold YETI Column Recent

Advice from the Southold YETI: A Spring’s Worth of Work

July 13, 2026July 17, 2026 East End Beacon

* Youth Environmental Task Force Initiative by Brielle Born YETI, also known as the “Youth Environmental Task Initiative,” uses many different techniques, ideas, and plans to help observe, assess, and restore the environment around us. YETI is made up of many different students from Greenport, Southold, and Mattituck, which makes our discussions even more involved so we get all the different perspectives from town to town. Pictured Above: Nolan Kaessinger,

hsi-in-greenport-1 ice raid Feb. 4, 2026 courtesy photo

Column Letters Recent

Letters: OLA on LaLota, Southold & Riverhead Public Safety Resolution; Southold Senior Housing

July 10, 2026July 16, 2026 East End Beacon

OLA's Minerva Perez Writes An Open Letter to Southold Town: To Southold Town Leadership: This email has been shared publicly. Attached to this email is our letter to Congressman LaLota requesting clarification concerning the recent threats made to local municipalities to withhold federal funds. Attached to this email is also the most recent version of the OLA Public Safety and Accountability Law that takes out redundancies found in the overlapping

river and roots community garden after sandy

Climate Local Now Column Recent

Climate Local Now: Riverhead—A Workable Plan For Resilience

July 6, 2026July 10, 2026 East End Beacon

by Mark Haubner Remember Sandy? One thing I remember vividly about “Hurricane” Sandy was being on the phone with my then-24-year-old daughter. She was living in a basement apartment in her grandmother’s house, less than a block from the docks in Sheepshead Bay. It was the end of October, it was late evening by this time, and the ‘perfect storm’ of high tide, full moon and storm surge was driving

Column Letters Opinion

Letters: Enclaves & Affordable Housing, Sustainable Gardens, Public Safety & The Reflecting Pool

July 2, 2026July 6, 2026 East End Beacon

Housing Crisis & The Enclaves To the Editor: We are in a "housing crisis". Southold Town is looking for ways to help with down payments on homes. Buy The Enclaves property with taxpayer dollars, zone it residential and get HUD NYS grant money to help. Hire a builder and there ya go! A Hotel and 100 people event room along with whatever else is planned is way too big to

Column Opinion Recent Viewpoint

Opinion: Greenport’s Strengths Deserve to Be Matched With Investment, Not Generalizations

June 30, 2026July 6, 2026 East End Beacon

by Mary Bess Phillips Greenport is a village with a rare combination of assets — the kind most communities spend decades trying to build. We are a historic, walkable, human-scale village with a working waterfront, a diverse year-round population, and a small-business ecosystem that punches far above its weight. These are not abstract qualities. They are the foundation of our economic resilience, our cultural identity, and our sense of place.

Column Featured Peconic Dish

Peconic Dish: A Celebration Fit for a Democracy

June 27, 2026June 27, 2026 Alison Boyd Savage

Summer berries have a brief season here on the North Fork. June’s sun-ripened strawberries soon give way to tangy blueberries and delicate raspberries. To honor their fleeting stay, I serve them raw or cook with just enough heat to enhance their flavor while preserving their freshness. For longer cooking pies or cobblers, pair them with sturdier fruits such as peaches or apricots. The following recipes use gentle heat to bring