On April 7, Councilwoman Jane Bonner was joined by County, State and Federal officials at the “Take Back 25” litter clean-up along Route 25 [Middle Country Road] in Coram, Middle Island, Gordon Heights and Ridge.
The event was sponsored by the Town of Brookhaven, the Coram Civic Association and the Longwood Central Schools.
By Katherine Kelton
Three Village Rotary Club held a fundraiser at the Reboli Center for Art & History Wednesday, April 10, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. All proceeds went directly to the Reboli Center to fund maintenance on the building.
The fundraiser was the first event the club held since its name change from Stony Brook Rotary Club. A name update was important to President Marios Patatinis, as “there’s not just one little ZIP code — everyone works together in the community,” he said.
Rotarian Chris Sokol spearheaded the event with local businesses catering the event: Elaine’s Restaurant and Bar provided refreshments; The Bench provided a plentiful food spread; The Jazz Loft provided music; Chocology provided chocolates and several other businesses also contributed.
“It’s just a nice opportunity to get everyone in the Three Village community together to support this gem in a time of need,” Sokol said of the event’s importance.
People entered through the gallery doors of the Reboli Center and walked through the building to the outdoors. The spring weather aided in creating an atmospheric space, with music in the background.
In addition to the many people flooding the space as the night went on, Suffolk County Legislator Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) was also there. He has a long history with both the Rotary Club and the Reboli Center. Accounting professor Daniel Kerr and Brookhaven Town Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich (D-Stony Brook) shared remarks regarding the legislator’s support for the center.
Many of the people in attendance consisted of current and aspiring Rotary Club members. Rotary Clubs, which have long screening processes before admittance, attract people with different careers.
Patatinis charmingly referred to Three Village as “our backyard” and said, “People care about Three Village, they want to come back to our backyard.”
Some goals of the Rotary Club include creating an “ecosystem” between local businesses and residents, as Sokol described it. The Rotary also wants to just bring more members of the community together at events.
Kornreich admitted he is not one to sugarcoat things as he shared the importance of the Reboli Center as a “pillar of our community,” which made it the perfect place to host this Three Village Rotary event.
President of the Reboli Center, Lois Reboli, was also in attendance. With the proceeds she hopes to supervise much needed updates on the building, including the awning, parking lot and beautifying the space.
She is the widow of Joseph Reboli, to whom the gallery is dedicated and that houses his work. The president shared her husband’s community involvement: “He was on the board of Gallery North and he was also on the board of The Ward Melville Heritage Organization. He was always giving back and he was always going to meetings. And I would say, ‘Why would you want to go to all these meetings?’ to which he said, ‘I love the community and I want to give back.’”
With excited members and a rebrand, the Three Village Rotary Club is hoping to expand its influence on the community and bring people together with more events.
By Nasrin Zahed
Port Jefferson Board of Education convened on Tuesday, April 9, to kick off the start to the final quarter of the school year. The meeting highlighted achievements and initiatives, such as academic recognition and community engagement discussions. Updates on student activities were shared alongside discussions on budget and curriculum enhancements, reflecting the district’s focus on educational advancement.
John Ruggero, principal of Earl L. Vandermeulen High School, announced the valedictorian, Eric Chen, and salutatorian, Michelle Wu, for the Class of 2024. Both students were congratulated on their exceptional academic achievements.
Capital projects
Following a few other brief presentations, Sean Leister, deputy superintendent, provided a comprehensive overview of the current status and future plans for capital projects. Leister began by addressing the delays encountered at the state level regarding project approvals, which contributed to the district falling slightly behind schedule.
For the 2022-23 period, Leister highlighted ongoing projects such as the middle school retaining wall and drainage, the high school bleacher project, the elementary pool repair and the completion of a segment of the high school roofing project. He noted that despite initial budget estimates, actual project costs varied with some coming in under budget while others exceeded projections.
Transitioning to the 2023-24 period, Leister outlined projects still under review, including the ADA bathroom and phase one of the windows replacement at the high school, while also mentioning completed projects such as the rear boundary fence at the elementary school and the cancellation of the stop-arm booth project.
Looking ahead to 2024-25, Leister proposed additional projects, including the renovation of the high school orchestra room, further pool maintenance and additional roofing work. He emphasized the importance of maintaining a contingency budget to address unforeseen circumstances, detailing the restrictions and limitations associated with such a budget.
Public comment
During the presentation, community member concerns regarding declining enrollment and long-term planning were raised. Leister acknowledged the importance of addressing these concerns and assured attendees that discussions regarding future plans were ongoing.
However, concerns raised by Port Jefferson residents during the public comment period shed light on broader community apprehensions.
Village resident Suzette Smookler expressed worries about declining enrollment and long-term planning, emphasizing the need for transparency and proactive measures. She urged the board to consider contingency plans and engage in open dialogue with stakeholders to address these concerns effectively.
“Whether I look at BOCES reports, your reports, Newsday’s reports, we definitely have a significant declining enrollment,” Smookler said of the district’s current enrollment figures.
Smookler asked the board how they plan to address the current enrollment numbers. “What is the plan B?” she asked. Smookler continued advocating for a more inviting conversation from residents. “Openness and communication go a long way,” she said. “I would appreciate it if maybe you [the board] can get a committee, a group together, some people from in town, some who have never had children, some who have put six through the distinct. I think by doing that you will foster less divisiveness and distrust.”
Another resident, Gail Sternberg echoed similar sentiments, posing questions before the board with regard to the district’s current reserve fund status. Sternberg noted the current amount of reserves the district has, at approximately $23 million, though only $1.8 million can be used on an unrestricted basis, as Leister explained.
Board President Ellen Boehm reassured attendees that discussions regarding long-term planning and enrollment were ongoing. Boehm noted the board’s intention to consider the formation of a committee to facilitate dialogue and collaboration among various stakeholders.
By Brian Monahan
At the Three Village Civic Association meeting on April 1, residents listened to a presentation regarding the legislative effort in Albany to take actionable steps at implementing the recommendation of the report of the Legislative Commission on the Future of the Long Island Power Authority to make LIPA a “true publicly owned” power authority. This would allow LIPA to run its own electric grid with considerable savings, according to the report.
Yet, the plan’s prospects appear dim in the backdrop of Albany as a late state budget muddies the waters of progress. The commission’s co-chair, Assemblyman Fred Thiele (D-Sag Harbor), has legislation in the Assembly, but no such bill exists in the Senate.
Thiele was not available for comment prior to press time.
“This is something that will be discussed outside and after the budget during the remainder of the legislative session,” said the deputy communications director for state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D) when asked if the majority leader would support putting forward a corresponding bill in the Senate.
PSEG Long Island has reportedly been lobbying heavily in favor of retaining the current “service provider” model, which is uncommon in the United States. Additionally, PSEGLI points to metrics such as reliability, customer satisfaction, “most improved large utility since taking over the grid 10 years ago” and having the “lowest Department of Public Service complaint rate in New York state” as reasons the current model should stay.
“The public-private partnership has worked for our customers on Long Island and in the Rockaways,” said Katy Tatzel, director of communications for PSEGLI. “Continuous improvement is one of PSEG Long Island’s core tenants. We have made significant improvement to the customer communications system and hardening of the system both before and after [Tropical Storm] Isaias [in 2020] and will continue to make improvements in the future.”
If LIPA were to be a fully public utility, it would have access to tax-exempt bonds and government grants, which it is argued would help lower prices paid by ratepayers. The utility does not have current access to these potential benefits.
The financial analysis of the LIPA commission identifies between $48 million and $78 million in annual cost savings through “LIPA directly managing the operation of its electric system,” primarily by eliminating the PSEGLI management fee.
Opponents to this municipalization plan include the Long Island Association and the Empire Center. “The Long Island Association opposes a fully-municipal electric utility for our region as recommended by the Legislative Commission on the Future of LIPA, as it would adversely impact ratepayers and Long Island’s energy future,” LIA President & CEO Matt Cohen said in a statement.
The Empire Center, a free-market-oriented think tank in Albany, notes that the unique situation of a public-private utility makes it an easy target when service goes awry but believes the commission “failed” to make its case for municipalization.
Where does this web lead ratepayers? “I’ve heard a number of different perspectives, but the one that always resonates is how unhappy people are with the current situation,” said Herb Mones of Stony Brook, expressing how few people have time to understand the present system.
Others see municipalization, which would reconfigure the governing body of LIPA, as a key way to getting local political bodies and organized labor represented on LIPA’s board.
Questions of which model of governance may be adopted or any other plans for the future of municipalization are secondary to whether the legislation will pass. In the interim, ratepayers remain united in seeking the best service for the best rates possible, whatever arrangement this means.
By Daniel Dunaief
Different name, different location, same mission.
On Monday, April 8, Northwell Health opened its family health center at 1572 New York Avenue in Huntington Station. The center will replace the Dolan Family Health Center in Greenlawn.
The new center, which occupies a space formerly held by Capital One Bank, will provide primary care, as well as multi-specialty care for women.
Easily accessible by bus lines, the center is “in the heart of the community we serve” with the majority of the expected 30,000 patient visits each year coming from Huntington Station, said Lee Raifrman, Assistant Vice President of Operations for Huntington Hospital and the Northwell Family Center Health Center. Instead of having patients travel to the center, “we’re moving to them.”
The center anticipates around 30,000 visits per year.
“The new location, nestled in the heart of the neighborhood it serves and conveniently close to bus lines, ensures that our care remains accessible to all,” Stephen Bello, regional executive director of Northwell’s Eastern region, said in a statement.
The almost 18,000 square-foot building will provide pediatric care, adult/ family medicine, OB/GYN, ophthalmology, podiatry, gastroenterology, orthopedics and infectious disease care specific to HIV.
The center’s prenatal care assistance program, which offers expanded Medicaid coverage for pregnant women and children under the age of 19, will continue to operate. The center also provides outreach through its Women, Infants and Children program, a supplemental nutriton offering that features nutritious foods for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding and postpartum women, infants and children through the age of five.
The center also features a Nutrition Pathways Program, which is a collaboration dating to 2020 with Island Harvest that offers personalized nutrition counseling sessions with a registered dietician, access to nutritious foods from the on-site healthy food pantry, referrals to community resources and assistance with SNAP enrollment.
Through Nutrition Pathways, the center screens patients for social determinants of health.
“One of the areas we found that’s becoming more prevalent, unfortunately,” said Raifman. The center directs patients who are food insecure to a registered dietician, who can not only help balance food intake, but who can also manage the financial aspect of finding food.
“Better eating equals improved outcomes,” said Raifman.
Staff at the center reflects the diversity of the patient population.
About 19 percent of the patients are self pay, while a small percentage are on medicare. The center accepts many insurance plans, including all types of medicaid.
Staff at the Family Health Center will reflect a staff that reflects the patient population.
“Our mission is clear: to elevate the health of the communities we serve,” Nick Fitterman, Executive Director of Huntington Hospital said in a statement. “From our homeless to immigrant patients, we open our doors to all, offering care that’s not just accessible but compassionate.”
The hours for the center will be the same as they were in the previous location, opening 8:30 am to 5 pm on Monday and Wednesday and 8 am to 8 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Northwell executives would like to build similar healthcare facilities in other places within its geographic range.
The health care provider “anticipates replicating this model throughout the system in other under-served communities,” said Raifman.
By Steven Zaitz
Most times, a harmless looking “1-3” in the scorebook isn’t the most impactful play in a baseball game.
But with the Northport Tigers clinging to a skinny, one-run lead in the bottom of the 5th inning against Smithtown East on Thursday night, that 1-3 became a lucky 13.
Relief pitcher Vincent Staub entered the game in a bit of a mess. Smithtown East had already scored two runs in the frame and had cut a 5-1 Tiger lead to 5-3. Staub allowed an RBI single to short-stop Evan Schickler that brought the Bulls to within one.
After Schickler stole second base, the tying and go-ahead runs were on second and third.
East third-baseman Ryan Diffley hit a sharp one-hopper back to Staub, who managed to deflect the ball towards the first base foul line. Staub scampered off the mound and flipped the ball to Tiger first-baseman Dylan Sofarelli just in time to beat Diffley to the bag.
Northport retained its lead and Staub would finish the game, retiring the side in order in the sixth and seventh for a 5-4 win.
Liam Ryan, who pitched a courageous 4 ⅔ innings, recorded his second win of the year. He and Staub combined to pitch a no-hitter against Centereach in the season opener and are proving to be quite a one-two punch for Sean Lynch’s Tigers who improved to 3-1 with this win.
Northport jumped out to 4-0 lead with two in the first and a loud two-RBI double in the third off the bat of second-baseman Thomas Hardick. Sofarelli drew a bases-loaded walk in the fourth to make it 5-1, but Northport had the bases loaded with nobody out after that, but did not plate anybody else.
Ryan, who is making his debut in the starting rotation this year, was effective through his 4 2/3, retiring the side in order in the fourth. But he tired in the fifth, setting up Staub’s houdini act to rescue him and the Tigers. The duo combined to strike out six Bulls.
The two teams moved west on Friday night and East got a measure of revenge with a 7-0 win. Northport is 3-2 on the year and Smithtown East 3-1. The Tigers will face North Babylon next week for three games and East will play Centereach.
– Photos by Steve Zaitz
By Lynn Hallarman
East Beach is a village-owned strip of sandy shoreline situated between the northern front of the Long Island Sound and the base — or toe — of a steeply set bluff, roughly 100 feet high.
A jetty opens into Mount Sinai Harbor eastward of the bluff. To the west, the shore stretches past a series of private properties, then past the village of Belle Terre, and finally curves inward, reconfiguring as Port Jefferson Harbor.
For decades, the village-owned Port Jefferson Country Club, perched near the crest of the bluff, was invisible to beachgoers below, shielded by a thick tangle of greenery clinging to the bluff’s north front.
But in recent years, a series of intense rainstorms, combined with sea rise and pressures from human-made alterations in the landscape above the bluff, have set in motion deforestation and scouring, denuding the bluff of vegetation and accelerating erosion in the direction of the country club’s foundation. The club has become precariously close to the bluff’s edge. Without a plan, there was no doubt it would slide down the bluff onto the shoreline below within a few years.
To make matters worse, the bluff stabilization project, whose aim is to stabilize the position of the club, has been beset with complications in the wake of a series of recent storms unraveling costly work completed just last summer as part of Phase I of the project.
As communities across Long Island are confronting relentless coastal erosion, TBR News Media focuses on the obstacles facing the bluff stabilization project at East Beach, exploring the complexities, costs and alternative solutions to rescuing the country club.
The big picture
Bluffs change naturally over time, feeding sand to the beach and replenishing the shoreline. They respond to the force of winds, waves and tides, creating new states of equilibrium with the beach below and the landscapes above. The Long Island shoreline has been reshaping for thousands of years, sometimes imperceptibly and sometimes in dramatic fits of landslip — that is, chunks of shoreline abruptly falling into the sea.
East Beach and its bluff are inseparable from the adjacent coastline — they move as the coastline moves. When humans make changes in the shorelines by adding bulkheads, jetties and other rigid structures, the effects resonate laterally, affecting the movement of sand and ocean from beach to beach along the shoreline.
“Port Jefferson’s experience with bluff restoration is a microcosm of what has been happening all over Long Island,” said Chuck Hamilton, a marine biologist and former regional natural resource supervisor for the state Department of Environmental Conservation for some 33 years.
“For a long time, farmers on Long Island had their farms right on top of the bluff, and shoreline erosion happened naturally,” he said. But now those same areas are being subdivided and developed, adding weight and impermeable surfaces abutting the shoreline. “And guess what? Now we need to stabilize.”
The project
When Port Jefferson’s mayor, Lauren Sheprow, took office in July 2023, the bluff stabilization project was already in motion. Sheprow, a former public relations professional, had campaigned on a platform of two core values: financial transparency and safeguarding of village assets. However, the realities of rescuing the country club — purchased in 1978 when her father, Harold Sheprow, was village mayor — while keeping project costs under control have proven to be complex and demanding.
Most of Phase I of the project happened before the current mayor took office. This work included the installation of a 454-foot rigid wall at the base, terracing and native grass plantings on the bluff face. With Phase II now under her purview, Sheprow believes it is her responsibility to see the project to completion: the installation of a wall system along the bluff’s crest, directly seaward of the imperiled country club.
“I swore to protect and preserve the property owned by the Village of Port Jefferson, and therefore the residents. Preserving and protecting is not ignoring an erosion issue,” the mayor said.
Phase I, costing approximately $5 million, relied on local taxpayer dollars financed through a bond repayable over time. Phase II, estimated at $4.8 million, will be financed mostly by federal taxpayer dollars by a FEMA grant of $3.75 million.
Financing the endeavor has been rife with holdups and stymied by a six-year-long permitting process. It has been almost a year since Phase I was completed. Final signoffs related to the FEMA funding for Phase II are still pending, preventing the village from seeking bids for construction of the upper wall. However, the village treasurer, Stephen Gaffga, said he hopes to see the signoffs come through this month.
By many accounts, questions about the project’s funding have rankled residents for years. The prevailing sentiment is that the village pushed through a $10 million bond for the stabilization project (phases I and II combined) without a community vote through a bond resolution.
“When I am asked about my position about the bluff restoration, I never saw the arguments on all sides of the project flushed out,” said Ana Hozyainova, president of Port Jefferson Civic Association. “Village officials took the position from the beginning that the building must be saved, no matter what. That imperative has limited the discussions about options.”
Complications
The uncertainty surrounding the cost and timing of needed repairs because of winter storm damage to the bluff faces further complications in Phase II. “Negotiations are ongoing” between the village and the contractor about who is responsible for absorbing these additional expenses, Gaffga said.
Drainage issues at the bluff’s crest are also hampering progress, and likely contributed to the recent collapse of the newly-installed terracing along the western part of the bluff, below the tennis courts. “There are huge puddles sitting at the crest, after heavy [recent] rainstorms,” Sheprow said. The strategy and cost related to addressing the drainage issues have not yet been determined, she added.
Although the project was divided into two phases because of funding constraints, “its ultimate success,” according to Laura Schwanof, senior ecologist at GEI Consultants of Huntington Station, “hinges on both walls working together to curtail erosion and prevent the club slipping down the slope.”
GEI has been involved with village erosion mitigation projects since 2009. The two-wall system for the bluff stabilization was their design. “The problem with this project is protection number two — the upper wall — has not been installed,” Schwanof said. When asked how long the wall system might hold up, she couldn’t say.
“What does happen, and has been seen across the Northeast, is that as we get more frequent storms, higher wave energy, higher rainfall events, rigid wall structures may work in the short term. But if you look 50 years down the road, they may not be as effective,” she said.
“Hard erosion protection structures such as revetments or bulkheads can be costly, only partially effective over time and may even deflect wave energy onto adjacent properties.” Jeff Wernick, a DEC representative, wrote in an email. The DEC, he said, permitted the East Beach project based solely on “the immediate threat to significant infrastructure.”
Retreat?
When Steve Englebright, 5th District county legislator (D-Setauket) and geologist, was asked about the stabilization project, he started with a lesson about glacial formations dating back 17,000 years. Englebright scrutinized photographs of the bluff during an interview with TBR News conducted after the recent storms.
“When the bluff, which is partially made of clay, is overweighted it behaves like squeezed toothpaste,” he said. “You can see toothpaste-like extrusions on the beach.”
Missing from the conversation, according to Englebright, is a reckoning of what is happening along the entire Long Island coast. “People don’t understand the overall dynamics,” he said. “That’s why I’m trying to give you the big picture — that the entire North Shore is unstable.”
“Trying to defend a single property is human folly,” he added. “You can buy some time, but how much are we paying? I don’t believe it’s realistic because you can’t stop the overall dynamic. The village should celebrate the fact that they have the ability to retreat and use that ability. Right? The bind is if you don’t have land, but they have the land. Strategically retreat, rebuild the building.”
Stan Loucks, a village trustee and a former country club liaison, was asked to put together a retreat plan by former Mayor Margot Garant — confirmed by her to TBR News. “I did a plan A — proceed with the restoration project — or plan B, retreat —about three years ago,” Loucks said. “I got prices for the demolition of the country club, moving the tennis courts and an architectural rendering of a new club further inland.”
“The drawings had a huge deck on this side overlooking the Sound, and the huge deck on this side overlooking the golf course. I would have loved to take that plan to the end,” he added.
Loucks’s retreat plan was never vetted publicly. Sheprow told TBR she never saw a retreat plan.
Loucks remembers when tennis court No. 5 went in a landslide a few years ago. “It was massive and happened overnight,” he said. “And the slide took the gazebo, too.”
By Daniel Dunaief
Ashley Langford’s college basketball life is coming full circle.
This time, instead of dishing assists as a guard, she’ll be patrolling the sidelines as head coach.
After three successful years as head coach for Stony Brook University’s women’s basketball team, including the first ever postseason win in the WBIT, Langford is replacing the retiring Lisa Stockton, her former coach at Tulane University. Langford, who was a star guard from 2005 to 2009 at Tulane, will become the seventh head coach of the women’s team and the first African American to lead the team.
“I didn’t even think I’d be coaching,” said Langford in an interview from Tulane just hours after touching down in the Crescent City. Stockton “is the one during my senior year who thought I should start coaching. It’s ironic that I’m now taking over for her.”
In a wide ranging interview, Langford, who is Tulane’s career leader in assists, assists per game and minutes per game and was inducted into the school’s athletics Hall of Fame in 2018, reflected on the recent record-setting audiences for the women’s games in March Madness, her time at Stony Brook and her new opportunity as coach at Tulane.
March Madness
While Langford didn’t watch much of the tournament, as she prepared the Seawolves for their postseason games and was contemplating a move back to New Orleans, she did catch the Final Four.
At the end of a Final Four game watched by a record 14.2 million people between the University of Connecticut and Iowa, Connecticut was behind by one point with the ball and seconds left on the clock.
An official called a foul on a moving screen on Connecticut’s Aaliyah Edwards, who was blocking Iowa’s Gabbie Marshall. Numerous prominent basketball pundits thought the call was either incorrect or inappropriate.
“That call has been made all season long,” Langford said. “In my opinion, they call that a moving screen. It’s up to the ref making the best decision in that moment.”
Officials “aren’t supposed to make calls depending on the time of the game,” she added. “To me, they called that all season long.”
Langford thought a final between Iowa and South Carolina expected a more competitive game because she thought Iowa had a deeper team than Connecticut, a perennial powerhouse that had been dealing with injuries.
For the first time ever, the TV audience for the women’s final far outdid the men’s final, with a peak of 24 million viewers for the women’s game on Sunday compared to the 14.82 million for the men.
In the final, Langford was “looking for some good basketball” and thought it was exciting that South Carolina became only the 10th women’s team to finish the season without a loss.
Langford was rooting for the Gamecocks and their coach, Dawn Staley, who was also a standout player before joining the coaching ranks.
Staley has “been a great representative of black women,” Langford said.
Her SB legacy
As for her time at Stony Brook, Langford is pleased with how well the team came together and with the school’s winning culture, which she anticipates continuing.
“I told the team when I departed, ‘No one will be able to take that away from us. This team is etched in Stony Brook history,’” she said. “We have a great group of women who were great in the classroom and on the court. They were able to achieve a lot of success.”
Indeed, Stony Brook finished first in the Colonial Athletic Association, winning the conference with a record of 16-2 and an overall record of 28-5 in Langford’s final season as coach. The team went 13-1 on their home floor.
The Seawolves were one win away from entering March Madness, when they lost 68-60 in the conference championship game to Drexel.
“We played one of our worst games of the season on one of the most important days,” Langford recalled. “There’s shots that we normally make that we didn’t make and there’s shots that they made that they don’t normally make.”
Langford doesn’t want to take anything away from Drexel, as she recognized that they were “the better team that day.”
When she started at Stony Brook, she had several goals. She was thrilled that Gigi Gonzalez earned CAA Player of the Year honors for 2023-2024.
In guiding Stony Brook, Langford was voted 2023-2024 CAA Coach of the Year.
“The only thing that didn’t happen was that we didn’t go dancing” at March Madness, she added. She’s proud of everything the team accomplished.
Tulane approach
As for her start at Tulane, Langford plans to play an uptempo game, encouraging her players to score in the first seven seconds and average around 70 points per game, with about 15 to 20 points coming from transition baskets.
Langford believes games are won on the defensive end of the court.
In balancing between academics and athletics, Langford described her top job as helping the students on her team get a degree, which involves time management.
She encourages players to tap into the academic resources at the school and be proactive as student athletes.
As a head coach, she has learned to be patient.
“I realize I can’t get everything right away,” Langford said. “I’m going to need that patience again as I’m starting a new chapter.”
She needs to chip away each day until she’s helped build and shape the program into a conference champion. In the 2023-2024 season, the Tulane women’s team finished last in the conference, at 3-15, with a 12-20 overall record.
During each halftime, she focuses on statistics, encouraging her team to turn the ball over less or to focus on any rebounding disadvantage.
The game has changed since she played, with considerably more parity across teams. During her heyday as a guard, Tennessee and the University of Connecticut were the powerhouses.
Players are also more versatile, with post players who can shoot three pointers.
Settling back in at Tulane, she feels her most important role is getting to know her current players.
After recovering from a broken ankle earlier this year, she plans to get on the court and work with her players.
“I love getting on the court,” she said. “It’s fun for me.”
By Emma Gutmann
For World Water Day on March 22, Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine (R) announced the start of the 2024 funding cycle for the county’s Water Quality Protection and Restoration Program. Under this annual program, grants are provided to eligible projects designed to protect and restore the county’s groundwater and surface water resources.
The Drinking Water Protection Program was originally approved by the electorate in 1987 and has been modified over time to bring in other issues such as land stewardship. WQPRP funding is drawn from revenues generated by the 0.25% sales tax, as detailed in Article XII of the Suffolk County Charter. This article is designated to the program for environmental protection, property tax mitigation and sewer district tax rate stabilization.
With 11.75% of the total revenues generated each year under the 1/4% Drinking Water Protection Program, WQPRP grants funding to municipalities and nonprofit organizations for projects that fit under one of the following umbrella categories: (1) habitat restoration, reclamation and connectivity (2) non-point-source abatement and control and pollution prevention initiatives (3) no-discharge zone implementation (4) land stewardship initiatives or (5) education and outreach.
Proposers have until June 7 to apply for an award, ranging from $50,000 to $250,000, toward planning, engineering and construction costs. Applications from last year will roll over without further action.
According to the Suffolk County Press Office, 10 to 15 projects are approved every year, each serving to “maintain the ecosystem services that our natural aquatic environment provides.” This perennial attention to water quality is essential considering the county is enveloped by the South Shore Estuary Reserve, the Peconic Estuary and the Long Island Sound and replete with rivers, streams, tributaries, lakes and ponds.
One notable 2022 grant recipient was the Town of Brookhaven Cedar Beach Habitat Restoration. With the help of WQPRP funding, invasive plants were removed from coastal dunes and forest areas and replaced with a native plant species. This undertaking set out to harmonize the ecosystem through reduced erosion and improved nutrient/pollutant removal. The blueprint also proposed underground wildlife tunnels to provide diamondback terrapin turtles with a safer passage to their nesting grounds than treacherous Harbor Beach Road in Mount Sinai.
The WQPRP Review Committee evaluates projects with a mix of multiple choice and written responses, and also takes into account whether the project is of present priority and/or involves construction or site improvement components.
Online attendance at the Proposers Conference at 11 a.m. on April 16 will garner candidates points toward the scoring of their application. The standout projects will be recommended to the county Legislature for approval.
Although there is a wide range of eligible applicants, the priority project types for this year include wastewater treatment improvements, green stormwater infrastructure implementation, nature/nature-based infrastructure for coastal resilience, fertilizer use mitigation and habitat restoration, reclamation and connectivity.
Projects must have a thorough work plan and budget, as well as proof of the funds that Suffolk County would be matching. The project also must be ready to commence within a year of assuming the grant and completed within three years of the agreement between the applicant and the county.
“This program is an effective tool in our ongoing work to clean and protect Suffolk County waters,” Romaine said. “It is unique in the way it brings towns, villages and the not-for-profit environmental community together with the county to work on projects that make an impact locally and regionally.”
The Suffolk County Press Office adds that everyone’s small contribution toward protecting and restoring our local fresh and saltwater systems is “crucial for preserving and benefiting the environmental, economic, aesthetic and recreational advantages afforded to our community by our unique aquatic environment.”
Information on policies, eligibility and classifying water bodies and their quality can be found by searching “WQPRP” at www.suffolkcountyny.gov, along with an application.
By Samantha Rutt
At the Monday, April 8, Port Jefferson civic meeting, residents congregated to tackle one of the community’s most pressing issues: the fate of the Port Jefferson power plant. As the world pivots toward renewable energy and sustainable practices, the discussion revolved around embracing new energy sources while addressing the environmental and financial concerns associated with the current plant.
Xena Ugrinsky, a member of the Village of Port Jefferson Budget and Finance Committee, urged the need for a collective community conversation stating, “Everything is in motion. All we can do is ensure that we’re a part of the conversation and do our best to guide them to the right decisions.”
The conversation highlighted two essential work streams: Exploring new energy possibilities and navigating the political landscape in order to best incorporate the voice of the civic and community more broadly. Residents recognized the political sensitivity surrounding the issue and emphasized the importance of engaging local leaders to facilitate meaningful dialogue and action.
Ugrinsky and other affiliates have organized a committee to gather thoughts, concerns and invite further conversation on this issue.
“This is kind of a second run at this problem,” Ugrinsky remarked about the formation of the committee. “We’re going to do a bunch of research and we’re going to engage all the stakeholders. We’re not solutioning — we’re trying to gather the data, create a common conversation about what’s going to happen to the power plant and ensure that Port Jeff village has a voice in that conversation.”
“We’ve got the right people on board and we’re gathering more people. If you know of anybody who has either the background or the willingness to roll up their sleeves and participate let me know and we’ll get them engaged,” Ugrinsky said of the committee. “Our charter is to explore forward-looking and innovative possibilities for the future of the power plant, be a catalyst for positive change, while fostering a transparent and inclusive decision-making process.”
During the previous civic meeting, on March 11, Bob Nicols, a resident, shed light on the financial implications, emphasizing the need for strategic decision-making. With potential tax increases looming, residents expressed concerns about the economic impact on the community and the desirability of living in Port Jefferson.
As discussions delved deeper, the focus shifted toward finding productive solutions that align with the community’s values. In conversation, residents explored the possibility of repurposing the existing infrastructure to support new energy endeavors, such as hydrogen or battery storage, thereby maintaining the plant’s value to the community.
The urgency of the matter was brought to light by the recognition that delaying action could lead to missed opportunities and increased financial burdens. As Ugrinsky remarked, “If we don’t do this now, 20 years from now, tons of places will have done it, and we’ll think, ‘You should have done something about that when you had the opportunity.’”
The meeting also served as a platform to address broader community concerns, such as waste collection costs and upcoming events like the village’s first Arbor Day celebration.
The Arbor Day event will take place on Wednesday, April 24, at 5 p.m. in the parking lot behind Old Fields, Billie’s and The Pie where county Legislator Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) and Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine (R) will hold ceremonial plantings of two trees.
Looking ahead, the path forward for Port Jefferson’s power plant remains uncertain, but the commitment to engagement and collaboration remains. At the next meeting, the civic plans to invite candidates for the Port Jefferson school board.
“The next meeting will be May 13 and we hope that we will be able to invite the school board candidates to come and present their platforms, and have a discussion about their vision for their role,” said civic President Ana Hozyainova.
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