If your daughter or son is about to graduate from high school in a few months, congratulations.
You will undoubtedly reflect on the many wonderful things, and maybe some that were not so magnificent, along the way, as he or she grew up, embraced you, emulated the way you talked, walked or ordered dinner at a restaurant, pushed you away, decided your existence was embarrassing, your breath was intolerable and your voice was like nails on a chalkboard, until he or she rediscovered some of your finer, or at least more tolerable, qualities.
Yes, the relationship between parents and children can and often does move closer and further away. If we’re lucky, the invisible rubber band only stretches so far before parent, child or both close the distance.
Some time this summer, those spectacular people who made you so proud will likely push you away again.
This, from what we experienced and what others have told us, is completely natural and is a way for them to assert their independence and prepare you for the moment you go up to their suddenly empty room and they are no longer in it screaming at you to “Get out, leave me alone, can’t you bother someone else?”
It’s a wonderful, terrible reality when their room is as clean or messy as it was when they left it, with their trophies, ribbons, pictures or abandoned former toys waiting, as if in an animated movie, until a young family who doesn’t mind hand-me-downs revives them.
These graduates will receive advice over the next several months. A graduation speaker will likely offer them important nuggets about being true to themselves, about challenging themselves to do something safe but outside their comfort zone, and about not being afraid to fail.
And a particularly helpful graduation speaker might also urge them to clap for you and for everyone else who made this achievement possible.
The speaker will suggest that they stay in touch with you when they go away. That, as it turns out, is not as easy as it sounds, nor is it a guarantee.
Not hearing from your kids for any length of time can and often is somehow even more challenging than the time they and their friends removed their footwear after a sporting event and made the air so toxic in a confined car that we opened the window in 20 degree weather so we could breathe.
A graduation speaker, friends, and family might suggest that you establish a minimum of a once-a-week call. That is good advice and can and does establish guidelines and expectations for a child you’re sending out into a world with new challenges and, at times, unfortunate temptations.
“Sure, let’s go to a party on Tuesday night. I have a few hours to study after the party before my midterm on Wednesday at 8 am.”
Whoops, bad idea, but they’ll learn that lesson the hard way.
Amid all the other advice or rules parents might give their children before they wish them the best and try to stop picturing them as five-year-olds toddling off with their colorful backpacks into kindergarten is to make sure they stay in regular contact.
The rules we established when our children were four and we didn’t allow them to cross streets without holding our hands might change when they go to college, but we still have an opportunity to create new ones for our children.
No one suggested we encourage our children or our nephews to call us when they were walking to class. And yet, in those moments when they called to catch up, hearing their voices on the way to school, with the sound of birds chirping in the background, gave us an opportunity to connect.
Not only that, those calls helped narrow the geographic distance between our nieces, nephews and children and us while also allowing the rubber band to slacken, bringing us closer to these people we love unconditionally who will, hopefully, one day bring whatever family can attend together to celebrate another graduation.
Northwell Family Health Center at Huntington. Photos courtesy Northwell Healt
Northwell Family Health Center at Huntington. Photos courtesy Northwell Healt
Northwell Family Health Center at Huntington. Photos courtesy Northwell Healt
Northwell Family Health Center at Huntington. Photos courtesy Northwell Healt
Northwell Family Health Center at Huntington. Photos courtesy Northwell Healt
Northwell Family Health Center at Huntington. Photos courtesy Northwell Healt
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.
A scene from 'The Adventures of Peter Rabbit'. Photo by Steven Uihlein/Theatre Three Productions, Inc.
A scene from 'The Adventures of Peter Rabbit'. Photo by Steven Uihlein/Theatre Three Productions, Inc.
A scene from 'The Adventures of Peter Rabbit'. Photo by Steven Uihlein/Theatre Three Productions, Inc.
A scene from 'The Adventures of Peter Rabbit'. Photo by Steven Uihlein/Theatre Three Productions, Inc.
A scene from 'The Adventures of Peter Rabbit'. Photo by Steven Uihlein/Theatre Three Productions, Inc.
A scene from 'The Adventures of Peter Rabbit'. Photo by Steven Uihlein/Theatre Three Productions, Inc.
A scene from 'The Adventures of Peter Rabbit'. Photo by Steven Uihlein/Theatre Three Productions, Inc.
A scene from 'The Adventures of Peter Rabbit'. Photo by Steven Uihlein/Theatre Three Productions, Inc.
The cast of 'The Adventures of Peter Rabbit' Photo by Steven Uihlein/Theatre Three Productions, Inc.
By Heidi Sutton
Spring has sprung in Port Jefferson and that means the return of one of Theatre Three’s most popular children shows, The Adventures of Peter Rabbit. Written by Jeffrey Sanzel and Brent Erlanson with music by Kevin F. Story, the original musical is based on the characters and stories created by Beatrix Potter and is too cute for words.
When the lights dimmed at last Saturday’s show, all the children in the audience shouted “It’s starting!” and settled in to watch eight uber talented actors — Sean Amato (Peter Rabbit), Kyle Breitenbach (Benjamin Bunny), Elizabeth Ladd (Mrs. Rabbit), Cassidy Rose O’Brien (Flopsy), Julia Albino (Mopsy), Courtney Gilmore (Cotton-Tail), Gina Lardi (Mrs. McGregor) and Liam Marsigliano (Mr. McGregor) — bring the mischievous adventures of Peter Rabbit and his cousin Benjamin Bunny to life just in time for Spring Break.
The audience is whisked away to the countryside home of Mrs. Rabbit and her four bunnies who live next to Mr. and Mrs. McGregor who spend the day tending to their pride and joy — their garden.
While Flopsy, Mopsy and Cotton-Tail listen to their mother by staying inside and doing their chores, Peter Rabbit and his cousin Benjamin Bunny sneak out to steal from their neighbor’s garden again and again to satisfy their insatiable appetite for carrots, lettuce, peas, parsley and string beans.
When his patience grows thin, the farmer, who’s “a meanie with a temper like a bear,” makes it his mission to stop these bunnies once and for all. At first, Peter is caught but manages to wiggle out his socks and shoes and jacket and hat to escape. The second time Peter is not so lucky. Will he become rabbit stew or will his family come to the rescue?
Directed by Steven Uihlein, the show has so many wonderful moments. When Peter sneaks off to the garden, his sisters go searching for him and ask the audience members if they’ve seen him. (“He’s right behind you!”) When Peter returns home after losing his clothes, he recounts the story and the entire scene is retold in slow motion as Mrs. Rabbit, Flopsy, Mopsy and Cotton-Tail watch from the sidelines.
The wonderful song and dance numbers, choreographed by Sari Feldman and accompanied on piano by Douglas Quattrock, are terrific with special mention to “One More Time Around,” “Run, Peter, Run” and the fun hip-hop number, “Peter’s Socks.” The final number incorporates all of the songs in a super mega-mix extravaganza. Costumes by Jason Allyn, from the bunnies’ spring dresses in pink, purple, green and red to their white bunny tails, pull it all together perfectly.
Don’t miss this show — you and your kids are guaranteed to love it. Meet the entire cast in the lobby after the show for photos.
Sponsored by Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, Theatre Three, 412 Main St., Port Jefferson presents The Adventures of Peter Rabbit through April 27.
Children’s theater continues with a brand new production, The Mystery of the Missing Ever After, from May 25 to June 15 followed by Raggedy Ann & Andy from July 5 to 27 and Pinocchio from Aug. 2 to 10. All seats are $12. To order, call 631-928-9100 or visit www.theatrethree.com.
“Don’t fall” is a good motto for people of a certain age. Bad results can happen from a fall, starting with broken wrists and arms, wrenched muscles and tendons, and the oft killer, broken hips. I know that. We all know that. I chuckle, sometimes, at the memories of the many times I have fallen off horses and face-planted on skis. It meant nothing when I was in my teens and 20s. It’s meaningful for me now.
So, yes, just recently I fell.
It happened by accident. It’s always an accident, I guess. No one ever falls on purpose. But this time, it seemed like such a benign situation.
I was visiting a dear friend in South Carolina and staying in her spare bedroom. I had been there several days, and together we were going to leave for a short road trip. We were packed, the car was loaded, and I just went back inside for one last look to check that I had taken everything.
Nothing left in the bathroom, good, but as I started toward the bed, I thought I should toss the bedspread over the sheets. So I did that with my right arm, then as I turned left to leave, my shoes got caught in the skirt that hangs over and hides the mattress. This skirt was somewhat long, the edges draped on the floor, and theytripped me as I tried to step away from the bed.
Down I went.
No doubt you have experienced that accidents seem to replay themselves in slow motion. As I twisted and fell, there was enough time for me to voice an unrepeatable expletive but nothing to catch hold of.
It’s almost eight weeks now, and the various parts of the left side of my body, especially my ribs, have almost healed. But with all this spring air encouraging us to greater animation, I thought I should issue the standard warning: don’t fall.
There are many places to be extra cautious about falling. First and most commonly treacherous is the home, especially the bathroom. Every surface in there is unforgiving. Put grab bars in the showers. Whatever the cost, it’s much less than a visit to the emergency room. Make sure those cute little bathroom rugs are skid proof or they may take you for an unwelcome ride. Think about walking slowly on the tile floor, which can be wet from an enthusiastic bath. Ditto for the kitchen floor.
Stairs can be dangerous. I have a rule that I never walk down—or up —steps without holding the banister. That is true even for two or three steps.
Have a light on, however dim, when you get out of bed in the night. You may have cleared the path to the bathroom beforehand, but you never know what may have occurred since then, like a pet nestled along the way.
Don’t walk along with a bundle in your arms that blocks your view of the floor. There may be an obstacle in your way. If you bend over for any length of time, as when you are drying your feet, or are working in the garden, straighten up slowly and give yourself an extra second to regain your balance.
Speaking of outdoors, there are plenty of possibilities for falls there, too. A friend twisted and broke her ankle by just stepping off a curb carelessly and falling. Uneven pavement can be nefarious and cause you to trip. This is also true where two different types of terrain meet, as in grass and cement. And public bathrooms can have wet floors that are not always flagged. Office buildings, too.
For me, the worst danger comes when I am in a hurry. So the answer is to give ourselves enough time to do what we need to do. It’s okay to get somewhere we have to be a little early, but if we are pressed for time and rushing, we are courting disaster.
By the way, these cautions can also apply to those of a younger age.
Island Federal Credit Union (Island Federal) will award $50,000 in college scholarships to graduating seniors in June 2024. Long Island high school seniors who plan to continue their education at a university, college, community college or recognized vocational school are invited to apply.
The Island Federal Scholarship Program provides scholarships to 11 local high school seniors with 3 recipients receiving $10,000 and 8 receiving $2,500, all selected by random drawing among qualified applicants. There are no essays or transcripts required to enter.
For complete requirements and applications, go to islandfcu.com/scholarship or visit any Island branch. Applications are due no later than Friday, April 19.
“Island Federal’s mission is to enable Long Islanders to achieve their dreams for themselves and their families; that includes helping them afford a college education. Since the launch of the Island Federal Scholarship Program in 1992, Island has given out $855,000 in scholarships to a total of 363 recipients,” said Craig Booth, Interim President/CEO, Island Federal, who continues, “I look forward to presenting the scholarships to the 2024 recipients this spring.”
About Island Federal Credit Union
Island Federal Credit Union, headquartered in Hauppauge, N.Y., is a not-for-profit, full-service financial institution, providing affordable banking products and services to Long Islanders. Founded in 1955, Island has grown to be among the top performing credit unions in New York State with $1.4 billion in assets, serving over 50,000 Members.
PSEG Long Island and Suffolk County join forces for the popular Energy-Saving Trees giveaway
In honor of Earth Day 2024, PSEG Long Island and Suffolk County, in partnership with the PSEG Foundation and the Arbor Day Foundation, will provide more than 250 customers in Suffolk County with a free tree through the Energy-Saving Trees program. The program showcases how planting the right trees in the right location can reduce utility bills and promote ongoing system reliability.
“Earth Day is a chance for all of us to stand up and do our part to help build a greener, more equitable future,” said David Lyons, PSEG Long Island’s interim president and COO. “Strategically planting trees helps save up to 20% on summer energy bills once the trees are fully grown, while also improving air quality and reducing storm water runoff for all residents across Long Island and the Rockaways.”
The free energy-saving trees can be reserved at www.arborday.org/pseglongisland starting Monday, April 15, until all trees are claimed. The reserved trees will then be available for pick-up on Friday, April 19, at the H. Lee Dennison Building in Hauppauge, from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. All reserved trees will be held until noon, when they will become available on a first come, first served basis.
“We continue to identify and find every opportunity to make Suffolk County environmentally sustainable, and planting just one tree can make a difference,” said Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine. “We encourage all of our residents to take part in the PSEG Long Island Energy Saving Trees program and work collaboratively to embrace clean energy and improve our region’s air quality. Together we will continue to raise awareness and make a difference.”
“Trees add beauty to neighborhoods, help reduce energy consumption, filter pollutants that improve the overall health and wellbeing of our communities, provide places of respite, along with many other benefits. Of course, we also always recommend planting the right type of tree in the right place,” said Calvin Ledford, president of the PSEG Foundation. “The PSEG Foundation is proud to support the Energy-Saving Trees program, which will help provide more than 200 trees for Suffolk County residents. We are excited that our employees have this and many opportunities to provide energy efficiency information and help create a more sustainable ecosystem across Long Island and the Rockaways.”
The Energy-Saving Trees online tool helps customers estimate the annual energy savings that will result from planting trees in the most strategic location near their homes or businesses. All customers that participate will receive one tree and are expected to care for and plant them in the location provided by the online tool, taking into account utility wires and obstructions. The types of trees offered include the following: gray birch, eastern white pine, flowering dogwood and scarlet oak.
PSEG Long Island will also be on site at the H. Lee Dennison Building on April 19 to share information about energy saving and financial assistance programs. In addition, they will distribute reusable shopping bags and free LED lightbulbs to save customers money and energy, and to support the environment. Information, shopping bags and lightbulbs are available to all customers. The Energy-Saving Trees must be reserved ahead of time.
PSEG Long Island will host a similar event in Nassau County on Friday, April 26, and will participate in an Earth Day event in the Rockaways on Saturday, May 4.
PSEG Long Island is committed to giving back to the people and communities it serves by actively supporting hundreds of local charity events each year through the company’s Community Partnership Program. For more information on how PSEG Long Island supports the communities it serves, visit https://www.psegliny.com/inthecommunity/communitypartnership.
Port Jeff Branch LIRR riders still waiting for basic amenities at Grand Central Madison
It has been 14 months since the Long Island Rail Road began full-time East Side Access service to the $11.6 billion Grand Central Madison terminal in the Midtown East neighborhood of Manhattan, with the prospect of benefits for Port Jefferson Branch riders. So it is disappointing that MTA Chairman Janno Lieber just announced the release of a request for proposals for a master developer to manage and operate all 32 vacant storefronts at GCM. Responses are due by June with a contract award in summer 2024. MTA anticipates that all 32 storefronts should be open for business by 2026.
In the meantime, only one storefront will be occupied later this year. This is a sad commentary on MTA Chairman Janno Lieber, MTA Office of Capital Construction and MTA Real Estate in management of the LIRR ESA GCM project. The original completion date was 2011. Full-time service began in February 2023. MTA Real Estate had years to find tenants for the vacant storefronts. They should have completed the process to hire a master developer to manage the storefronts years ago. This would have given the master developer plenty of time to find tenants for the vacant storefronts and give tenants adequate time to coordinate the opening of their stores.
Waiting three years until 2026 before all 32 storefronts are open for business is a failure. Given the physical layout, it is also not credible to believe that you can replicate the Metro-North Grand Central Madison Dining Concourse. There is no central location for significant seating. MTA clearly dropped the ball for planning retail openings. It also represents a loss of three years’ worth of tenant revenue. Riders will continue looking at the artwork covering up the vacant storefronts. Commuters and taxpayers have to also ask when will the other vacant storefronts at NYC Transit, Long Island and Metro-North Railroad stations be leased. Why was MTA Real Estate unable to lease all vacant assets in a timely manner? It would have generated badly-needed revenue and provided riders with the basic amenities they are still looking for.
NSPC Brain & Spine Surgery has been ranked as the No.1 neurosurgical practice in New York State by Castle Connolly, a New York City research and information company.
NSPC was one of the physician practice groups recognized in a new national awards survey called the 2024 Castle Connolly Accolades.
According to Steve Leibforth, Managing Director, Castle Connolly, “We introduced Castle Connolly Accolades this year to recognize multiple institutions – ranging from health systems providing comprehensive care to an entire region, to community-based physician practices excelling in specific and specialized care. These institutions,” he notes, “all employ exceptional physicians, who have been recognized as Castle Connolly Top Doctors, ensuring the highest quality care for their patients.”
“We are honored to have been ranked by Castle Connolly as one of the top neurosurgery practices in the nation and the top ranked neurosurgery physician practice in New York State,” declares Michael H. Brisman M.D., F.A.C.S., the chief executive officer of Rockville Centre, NY-based NSPC. “This achievement,” he asserts, “confirms our practice’s 65-year commitment to patient care and excellence in spine and brain surgery.”
NSPC is Long Island’s largest, independent neurosurgical group with 14 experienced physicians and seven conveniently located offices on Long Island and in Manhattan.
The NSPC Castle Connolly “Top Doctors” are: Jonathan L. Brisman, M.D., Benjamin R. Cohen, M.D, Vladimir Y. Dadashev, M.D., Zachariah M. George, M.D, Yusef Imani, M.D., Stephen T. Onesti, M.D. , Sachin N. Shah, M.D., and Brian J. Snyder, M.D.
For decades, Castle Connolly has been conducting a peer-review survey to select the region’s top doctors based on the theory that medical professionals are best qualified to assess the qualifications of other practitioners. Licensed physicians vote online for those doctors they consider outstanding. A Castle Connolly doctor-led research team then counts the nominations and vets the nominee pool with the aid ofseveral screens, including confirming board certifications and investigating disciplinary histories. In 2020, Castle Connolly was acquired by the Everyday Health Group, a division of J2 Global Inc.
Further destruction of terracing and plantings on the East Beach bluff after recent rainstorms. Photo by Lynn Hallarman
Recent setbacks in East Beach bluff stabilization project have officials and residents on edge
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.”
For decades, Port Jefferson Country Club was invisible to the beachgoers, shielded by a thick tangle of greenery clinging to the bluff. Undated photo courtesy Port Jeff historian Chris Ryon
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.”
Completion of Phase I in spring 2023, before winter storms unravel work on the bluff face. Photo from the PJ Village website
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.”
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.”
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