TBR News Media attended the annual New York Press Association Spring Conference held at Saratoga Springs April 26 and 27. We were privileged to receive many awards and would not have done so without our readers — so, a sincere thank you.
This yearly conference traditionally serves as a platform for press organizations to meet with and learn from seasoned speakers and professionals within the industry, though this year emphasized a specific focus on a newcomer in the industry — artificial intelligence.
The printing press, invented around 1440, revolutionized how we shared information. Now, AI is poised to do the same for local journalism. While some may fear robots taking over the newsroom, AI offers exciting possibilities for strengthening our community’s connection to local stories.
Imagine a future where AI combs through public records, uncovering hidden trends in traffic data or school board meetings. Journalists, freed from such tedious tasks, can delve deeper into these trends, crafting investigative pieces that hold power to real change. AI can also translate interviews, allowing us to share the stories of a more diverse community.
Local news thrives on hyper-personalization. AI can analyze reader preferences, tailoring news feeds to your interests. This ensures you see not just the headlines, but the stories that truly matter to you. Imagine getting in-depth reporting on the school board race or up-to-the-minute updates on road closures that may affect your usual commute.
Of course, AI isn’t a magic bullet. Ethical considerations abound. We need to ensure AI doesn’t become an echo chamber, reinforcing existing biases. Journalists will remain the cornerstone, using AI as a tool to amplify their human touch — the ability to ask tough questions, identify nuance and connect with the community on a deeper level.
The future of local news isn’t about robots replacing reporters. It’s about AI empowering journalists to tell richer, more relevant stories that connect with you. It’s about ensuring a future where local news remains a vibrant part of the community, informing, engaging and holding power to account. This is an exciting transformation, and together we can ensure AI strengthens, not diminishes, the essential role local journalism plays in our lives.
And we’ll continue to strive for more NYPA awards next year.
National Grid’s pending joint proposal before the state’s Public Service Commission could see monthly rates paid by the average residential customer increased by $28.52 for Long Island and $30.95 for New York City starting June 1 if approved.
The lengthy process of proposing a rate increase, called a “rate case,” is organized akin to a court case, with administrative judges assigned to rule over the proceedings. The entire process, as well as the subsequent public feedback and negotiations with the state, can take over a year. The most recent joint proposal came after public comment on two separate proposals was heard for the New York City and Long Island region last year.
“National Grid is proud to play a vital role in achieving New York’s energy goals. The joint proposal submitted today includes critical improvements in infrastructure maintenance and upgrades that will enable us to continue providing reliable, affordable service while advancing the state’s energy priorities,” said Phil DeCicco, New York general counsel for National Grid April 9. “We are proud of the agreement we have reached with the Department of Public Service staff and other parties and look forward to receiving additional feedback from our stakeholders in the downstate region during the upcoming public review process.”
The current proposal has elicited varying reactions across the region, especially based on National Grid’s commitment to “transition to cleaner energy sources,” and investing in its existing gas mains to reduce emissions.
“It is always troubling to see rate increases but especially at a time when our families are having an issue putting food on their tables due to the faltering economy,” said state Sen. Mario Mattera (R-St. James), a member of the Energy and Telecommunications Committee. “The fact that these increases are being pushed in an effort to comply with the rushed elimination of fuel choice in New York State is disturbing to me.”
He added, “I have repeatedly stated that these haphazard and ill-conceived efforts will cost New Yorkers trillions, and we are already seeing the impact of putting the cart before the horse.”
Rate hikes are typically approved, albeit with some modifications.
Suffolk County has 109 volunteer fire departments and 28 EMS agencies with more than 13,000 active men and women firefighters and EMS personnel. Each year they respond to thousands of calls, never knowing what they will face as they leave their homes — saving countless lives and protecting homes and businesses in our communities.
But these departments need help. Suffolk County is currently part of an aggressive recruitment and retention drive for new volunteer firefighters and EMS personnel. It is easy to take for granted that someone will swiftly come when you dial 911. Over the past two decades, our region’s recruitment has fallen behind, leaving those that remain burdened with extra responsibilities to shoulder.
The government has been working to provide more incentives to those who are interested in becoming a part of their local fire or ambulance department.
Despite what may appear as a difficult endeavor, it has never been a better time to be a volunteer firefighter or EMS personnel. Through a combination of local, state and county programs, volunteers receive property tax reduction, New York State income tax benefits, free health care checkups, free insurance, college tuition reimbursement and service pensions as well as free equipment and training.
Recently, the state income tax benefit was expanded, and the service pension was enhanced for EMTs. With rising medical costs, the value of health care and routine checkups has only increased. We will continue to work with state and local governments to expand these benefits wherever possible.
Firefighters are the heart of our communities. Whether it is in the scope of their official duties or through the many ways they charitably enhance our communities, the fire department is never out of the beat with the community.
Volunteers point to the camaraderie, lifelong friendships and professional development as reasons for joining and staying.
It has never been easier to join your local fire department. A visit to the website suffolksbravest.com will provide all the information you need to start your journey. If you have a passion for serving your community and are willing and able, now is the time to heed the call.
Five decades after graduating from John Dewey High School in Coney Island, Ellen Pikitch recently received an award from a group founded by one of her high school teachers.
Lou Siegel, one of the founders and Nassau County Director of the New York State Marine Education Association (NYSMEA), helped present the Hugo and Anita Freudenthal Award for contributions to furthering scientists’ understanding of the marine environment to his former student by zoom on April 20th.
“It’s wonderful when you have students that follow the same interests that you’ve had,” said Siegel. “Not only has she done excellent work in the field, but she worked to popularize it and to get it out to the general public.”
Endowed Professor of Ocean Conservation Science in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University, Pikitch, who grew up in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, a short train ride from the New York Aquarium, and who said she knew she wanted to be a marine biologist “from the time I was born,” has tackled marine conservation issues from several perspectives.
Anita Freudenthal and the late Hugo Freudenthal, who died in 2021. Photo courtesy of NYSMEA
Pikitch, Distinguished Professor Christopher Gobler and Associate Professor Bradley Peterson worked to restore Shinnecock Bay by planting filter feeders such as hard clams and oysters and reseeding seagrass beds, which have cleaned the waters and prevented the appearance of brown tides. For at least five years, Shinnecock Bay hasn’t had any brown tides, breaking a decades-long cycle.
Indeed, Mission Blue named Shinnecock Bay, which is home to a range of biodiversity including dolphins, a wide variety of fish and birds and, occasionally, sharks, as the first Hope Spot in the state of New York. Other Hope Spots include global attractions such as The Galapagos Islands, the Sargasso Sea and the Ross Sea in Antarctica.
At the same time, Pikitch has been involved in numerous efforts on a global scale to conserve ocean regions through Marine Protected Areas. Working with a group of 42 scientists, she helped develop a framework to understand, plan, establish, evaluate and monitor marine protected areas.
Pikitch is following in the footsteps of the Freudenthals for whom the award and recognition is named, as the married couple were involved in a range of local, national and global projects.
Hugo Freudenthal was “the first person to recognize the symbiotic relationship between algae and corals,” said Pikitch. He was also involved in the creation of the first space toilet, designed in the 1970’s for the Skylab, which was America’s first space station and the first crewed research lab in space.
In an amusing presentation called “Turds in Space” at the Experimental Aircraft Association three years ago that is available online at Turds In Space by Hugo D Freudenthal, PhD, Freudenthal explained how he helped design a toilet that would work in zero gravity, which, he said, “was one of the few things on Skylab that worked perfectly.”
The toilet had a soft seat, which was like a saddle, that was lined with holes on the outside and had vectored air coming in from the sides, which brought the feces down into a collection device, the late Hugo Freudenthal described in the video.
Anita Freudenthal, meanwhile, was the first female marine biologist in Nassau County. She also taught and did research at C.W. Post.
“Both of them were accomplished,” said Pikitch. “I’m excited and honored to have received [the award].”
Humble origins
The granddaughter of immigrants who didn’t speak English, Pikitch came from humble origins, as her parents had high school educations.
Pikitch volunteered at the New York Aquarium during high school, where her job was to stand in front of the shark tank and talk about sand tiger sharks.
Living near the aquarium, which is on the beach in Coney Island, strengthened her interest in marine biology. During summer in her childhood, Pikitch and her family took day trips near and in the water, which cultivated her love of the ocean.
Despite her passion for marine biology, Pikitch came from limited means. She credits her high school teachers, including Siegel and math teacher David Hankin for directing her to pursue degrees in higher education.
Ongoing work
For five years, Pikitch has been using eDNA to study biodiversity in various aquatic habitats.
With eDNA, scientists take environmental DNA from water samples that contain the genetic material shed from scales, fins, tissues, secretions and oils of the organisms living in the water. The genetic material generally lasts about 12 to 24 hours in shallow, warm water.
Environmental DNA has numerous benefits, including that it doesn’t disrupt the ecosystem by removing or harming individuals and it collects DNA from fish and other aquatic organisms that might otherwise be too small, too large or too quick for a trawling net to capture them.
Hugo & Anita Freudenthal Research Award. Photo courtesy of NYSMEA
Through an eDNA sample, Pikitch was surprised to find DNA from a basking shark, which is the second largest living shark after the whale shark.
She and other scientists saw a picture in a local newspaper of a basking shark soon after the eDNA sample revealed its presence.
To be sure, an eDNA sample, could, theoretically, include DNA from species outside the range of a sampled environment. Pikitch uses multiple survey methods besides eDNA.
Indeed, she plans to submit a few manuscripts that are in the works later this year that will compare the range of biodiversity from eDNA samples with the species collected from trawling.
This fall, she’s planning to use high tech equipment that has never been used together before, deploying an uncrewed surface vehicle (or USV) to collect and analyze samples.
Powered by solar energy, the USV doesn’t emit any greenhouse gases and is self-righting, which means that a hurricane could knock it over and, like a Weebles Wobble, it would adjust back to a vertical position in the water.
Pikitch hopes to collect samples off the waters of the Shinnecock Nation. She is involved in consultations with the Shinnecock Nation and is optimistic about a fall collaboration.
Pikitch hopes the eDNA sensor expedition will provide a proof of concept that will encourage other scientists to bring this technology out to remote areas of the ocean, which could help address questions of where to create and monitor the biodiversity of other marine protected areas.
As for the award, Siegel, who helped found the NYSMEA in the same year Pikitch graduated from high school 50 years ago, understands the excitement of the student-teacher connection from the student side as well. Anita and Hugo Freudenthal were his professors at C.W. Post when he earned a master’s in Marine Science.
There are many benefits to living in the Three Village area, and access to world-class medicine is one of them. I learned that when I made an unplanned trip to Stony Brook University Hospital via the emergency room. Being in the hospital is no picnic but what I encountered at Stony Brook was overwhelming and mind-boggling, in a very good way.
From the moment I arrived in ER, I knew I was in right place. Comprehensive care was administered immediately, and this continued throughout my stay. Every member of the health care team, from doctors, nurses, nursing supervisors, aides, technicians and staff who performed diagnostic tests, treated me with the utmost kindness and compassion, even though I may have been a train wreck at times.
Stony Brook’s advanced infrastructure and specialized capabilities are legendary, and I experienced firsthand that the level of expertise of their doctors and staff is on par with those standards of excellence. Specifically, I must commend the physicians of the Stony Brook Heart Institute and North Suffolk Cardiology, who worked collaboratively to deliver cutting-edge medicine.
The entire operation at Stony Brook was first rate and reached the heights of optimal patient care. Everyone I encountered was exceptionally polite, and even the food was good. We are certainly fortunate to have several excellent area hospitals to choose from. In this case, I’m glad I headed to Stony Brook.
Alan Golnick
Stony Brook
Please don’t be late to the East Beach bluff ball again
I have been privy to the changes of Port Jefferson’s East Beach bluff health over four-and-a-half decades that have not previously received emphasis. Initially, the bluff was stable with healthy vegetation to absorb storm runoff from the blacktop, tennis courts and clubhouse. The western jetty entering Mount Sinai Harbor prevented beach sand from washing into the harbor.
After a number of storms 15-20 years ago, the jetty was destroyed and we watched the beach sand progressively wash into the harbor, taking the bluff with it. It took until 2020 to reconstruct part of the jetty. This delay led to the loss of much of our beach, an undermining of the bluff at its base and loss of its erosion-protecting vegetation. This was caused more by negligence than the 15 years (0.27 inches) of tide rise.
To make matters worse, deforestation for future pickleball courts at the west end of the parking lot destroyed the vegetation that gave protection from parking runoff during storms and led to additional bluff erosion. Since the jetty’s reconstruction — and after subsequent replacement of beach sand from inlet dredging — our beach is continually restoring itself with accumulation of new sand.
Phase 1 constructed a seawall on half of the eroding bluff and was highly successful in preventing undermining, but it can’t prevent ongoing undermining along the now-unvegetated bluff where no seawall was constructed, nor prevent unprotected drainage erosion from above.
I believe insufficient attention has been given to the latter, which was responsible for the recent storm damage in two areas. It is apparent that we need to quickly remediate the huge nonabsorbent parking lots and tennis court surfaces that surround the clubhouse. With neither huge grants nor the need for extensive approvals, I wonder why we cannot emergently mitigate by converting blacktop parking to absorbent gravel surfaces, redirecting stormwater inland into storm drains, vegetating where tennis courts now exist, and giving serious thought to the village trustee Stan Loucks’ “retreat plan.”
Let there be no doubt, this problem was initiated by not tending to prompt reconstruction of the fallen jetty and subsequent loss of bluff protection from poorly-managed storm drainage above. Now that the ongoing loss of the beach has been reversed with jetty reconstruction, we need to save the bluff with completion of the seawall below, mitigate the nonabsorbent surfaces above — and stop ignoring reality.
Al Cossari
Port Jefferson
Advocating local Recycle and Save programs
As we look at our high rates of waste generation — close to 5 pounds per day per person on Long Island — it is good to explore ways to bring this number down. One of the alternatives that many communities have adopted is Recycle and Save programs which used to be called Pay As You Throw. The advantage of this approach is that it has greatly reduced the rate of individual waste disposal.
Since this would be a radical change in our area, it is best for us to plan over a three-year period in multiple stages.
First stage is training: This would involve training for the waste management staffs, the various town councils, and committees that would be established in each town and village.
Second stage is special topics and challenges: This would involve research on specific issues of concern to our communities, such as which items can be recycled and how and where they are to be recycled.
Third stage is data collection: This would involve surveys of our citizens to reveal their attitudes, behaviors and acceptability.
Fourth stage is behavior change: This is accomplished through publicity and the creation of a comprehensive and explicit website. I would recommend the one that was created by the Alameda County Department of Waste Management in California. The county has decreased its rate to 1.6 pounds of waste per day per person.
This approach moves us in the direction of zero waste and is long overdue in our area. Many communities in the United States have been embracing this policy since the 1980s.
John J. McNamara
Rocky Point
RIP
It’s time “Lady Justice” removes her blindfold, as our nation perishes. “God bless America,” from a veteran of World War 2 and the Greatest Generation.
Front, left to right, Chief Deputy to the President and Senior VP for Government and Community Relations Judy Greiman, Director of Athletics Shawn Heilbron, President Maurie McInnis, Mayor Lauren Sheprow, CEO and COO of Stony Brook University Hospital Carol Gomes, VP for Student Affairs Rick Gatteau. Back, left to right, Trustees Drew Biondo, Robert Juliano, Stan Loucks and Rebecca Kassay.
Photo by John Griffin.
By Nistha Boghra
The Village of Port Jefferson has officially become “Seawolves Country.”
“In Port Jefferson, we are so lucky to be here as a resource and respite to the 40,000-plus people who work and study on the beautiful and amazing campus 6 miles down the road,” said Port Jefferson Mayor Lauren Sheprow at the Board of Trustees meeting Wednesday, April 24.
Sheprow and the Board of Trustees presented the declaration to prominent representatives from Stony Brook University, including President Maurie McInnis, Vice President for Student Affairs Rick Gatteau, CEO of Stony Brook University Hospital Carol Gomes and Director of Athletics Shawn Heilbron.
“We are thrilled that the village has named Port Jeff as Seawolves Country,” Gatteau said. “It speaks to the wonderful partnership with our student body and student affairs team, including opportunities for student employment and internships, and to enjoy entertainment, restaurants and shopping in the downtown area.”
The redesignation of Port Jefferson as Seawolves Country follows a similar 2012 announcement. Signage and banners are to be featured around the village, to the shared sense of Stony Brook pride and reinforce the close relationship between the university and the local community.
Heather Banoub, assistant vice president of community relations at Stony Brook University, expressed similar enthusiasm about the benefits of this proclamation.
“Declaring Port Jefferson as Seawolves Country will foster the creation of new partnerships and opportunities for Stony Brook students, faculty and staff to enjoy the village,” Banoub said. “It will likewise encourage our neighbors in Port Jefferson to enjoy all the resources offered on our campus — from continuing education to exceptional health care and from athletics to performing arts.”
The decision to declare Port Jefferson as Seawolves Country was made with consideration of the significant presence of the Stony Brook community in the village. More than 500 faculty and staff, along with nearly 250 students, call Port Jefferson home. The relationship between the village and Stony Brook University extends into various areas, including the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, which conducts a majority of its research in Port Jefferson.
The Port Jefferson Emergency Medical Service is another example of collaboration, where dozens of Stony Brook students volunteer to serve the local community. Additionally, Stony Brook University programs like the Seawolves Outdoor Adventure Program and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes often host activities in Port Jefferson
“The proclamation celebrates the close connection that has developed and flourished between the Village of Port Jefferson, Stony Brook University and Stony Brook Medicine,” McInnis said. “Port Jefferson is home to a large portion of our Stony Brook community, welcoming them to live, learn and discover this special place.”
Nistha Boghra is a reporter with The SBU Media Group, part of Stony Brook University’s School of Communication and Journalism’s Working Newsroom program for students and local media.
Three Village and Port Jefferson civic associations in support
By Samantha Rutt
With increased development pressure from the likes of the Staller proposal for the Jefferson Plaza in Port Jefferson Station, as well as many other potential projects like the Malkmes property on Oakland Avenue and Brook Meadows on Sheep Pasture Road — the potential of an alternative norm exists within the Port Jefferson Station/Terryville hamlet.
With these pressures and their potential impacts on traffic, the Port Jefferson Station/Terryville Civic Association is taking proactive steps to address the impact of rapid development in their community. On April 10, the civic association sent a letter addressed to Highway Superintendent Dan Losquadro (R), Brookhaven Town Supervisor Dan Panico (R) and members of the Town Board, urging them to consider an impartial formal generic cumulative traffic study for their respective region.
“I think an overall planning review of the entire region of Port Jefferson Station/Terryville, the Upper Port area, through Lawrence Aviation is needed. There is so much coming and proposed and potential charges down the corridor that it’s incumbent upon us to do a good job of forward thinking,” Ira Costell, president of the civic association said in an interview.
The civic association’s request for a traffic study aims to assess the cumulative impact of these developments on road capacity, traffic flow and public safety. The study would provide insights into the existing traffic conditions on State Route 112 and Terryville Road, both of which are already strained according to NYS Department of Transportation rankings.
“By doing a comprehensive assessment we can help answer questions like where do we go? How do we absorb this growth? What do we want to see? What can we do to work with the town and developers to bring something that helps the community and minimizes how it can be impacted negatively,” Costell explained.
The association’s document outlines the need for a comprehensive planning effort to address the challenges posed by development. By securing funding for an impartial entity to conduct the study, the association hopes to identify traffic calming measures, road improvements and other mitigation strategies to alleviate the negative impacts on public health and safety.
The initiative has garnered support from neighboring civic associations as well as local stakeholders, including town Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich (D-Stony Brook),who has in the past expressed backing for the effort.
“We support a traffic study commissioned by the town to give a truly independent assessment of how infrastructure is handling both existing and projected density,” said president of the Port Jefferson Civic Association, Ana Hozyainova.
“We would support that since we feel planning should always take a comprehensive approach,” said Charles Tramontana, president of the Three Village Civic Association. “Everyone knows that traffic on Long Island is a major concern, so a traffic study makes sense to see the impacts on the community and what, if anything, can be done to mitigate those impacts.”
However, despite the association’s proactive approach, there has been no formal response from town officials thus far. To get more information, visit www.pjstca.org.
Stony Brook University mascot, Wolfie the Seawolf, helps paddle a student-made boat across the 200-yard Roth Pond. Photo courtesy John Griffin/Stony Brook University
Photo courtesy John Griffin/Stony Brook University
Photo courtesy John Griffin/Stony Brook University
Photo courtesy John Griffin/Stony Brook University
By Samantha Rutt
Stony Brook University students set sail on the 35th annual Roth Pond Regatta Friday, April 26. Since 1989, this beloved tradition has been making waves on campus, marking the beginning of final exams with a spirited competition like no other.
Students put their creativity and ingenuity to the test as they constructed one-, two- and four-person homemade boats with nothing more than cardboard, duct tape, string and paint. Each year, the student-made makeshift vessels attempt to navigate across the 200-yard Roth Pond in a race to the finish line.
This year’s theme, A Fairy Tale Regatta: This Is Our Swamp, provided a whimsical twist to the competition. The race featured several judges who awarded points based on design, appearance, seaworthiness, originality, spirit, environmental sustainability, endurance and adherence to the rules.
Notably, the Roth Pond Regatta has earned recognition beyond campus borders, winning the National Association for Campus Activities Your Best Campus Tradition contest for schools with more than 5,000 students.
In coordination with the SBU School of Communication and Journalism, the entire Roth Pond Regatta was broadcast live on YouTube and is available for subsequent viewing.
Ted Sklar, a neighbor of the Northville property raises concerns over proposed development at the April 29 meeting. Photo by Mallie Jane Kim
Gas company is planning to develop its East Setauket property
By Mallie Jane Kim
Residents expressed grave concerns about Northville Industries’ plans to develop its East Setauket fuel tank farm at a sometimes rowdy April 29 public gathering in Ward Melville High School’s auditorium.
About 200 people attended, with several shouting out and heckling during Northville’s initial presentation, which company lawyer Tim Shea had to end prematurely to allow attendees to speak.
“We’re here to listen to everybody,” Shea said, referring to a controversial proposed driveway on Upper Sheep Pasture Road. “If everybody here says no curb cut on Sheep Pasture and the [Town of Brookhaven] agrees, it’ll be no curb cut on Sheep Pasture.”
Throughout the two-and-a-half hour meeting, which Northville hosted to see if residents prefer a within-zoning plan for large warehouses or a townhouse-style multifamily rental community that would require rezoning, Shea reiterated the company would be willing to listen and compromise — and he certainly got an earful.
Brookhaven Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich (D-Stony Brook), who was present as an observer at the meeting alongside town Supervisor Dan Panico (R), has been clear about his opposition to multifamily residences near the tanks, but Northville representatives indicated they hoped the meeting would inspire residents to petition councilmembers to approve rezoning. They also pointed out their plan has residences set back from the tanks a distance in keeping with legal requirements.
“Industrial is our highest and best use that we’re permitted to do,” said Steve Ripp, CEO of NIC Holding Corp, which owns Northville. “Multifamily is what we feel is the highest and best use in general, but would require community support to really request that.”
The answer was a resounding “neither” from most attendees, some of whom had specific concerns about impact on traffic, safety and the environment, while others expressed deep suspicion of the company’s trustworthiness.
“These people have not been good neighbors,” accused one woman who said she has spent most of her life living close enough to see the tanks from her home and worried about the impact on property values. “You’re not only taking our finances away but you’re taking away the ability for us to even enjoy our homes,” she said, suggesting the light, sound, air and noise pollution would ruin her ability to garden in peace in her backyard.
“You’ve been a thorn in this community’s side for over 50 years,” she added.
Northville’s rationale
The company’s plans to develop come with an eye toward the future and diversifying revenue streams, according to Ripp, who mentioned moves toward electrification of home heating and car engines could mean the eventual phasing out of fossil fuels.
“Obviously that’s going to have a significant impact, and our business is going to decline,” Ripp said, estimating the tanks would be phased out in about 30 years. “It would be a bad situation for Suffolk County to lose its only gasoline delivery point before the population is ready.”
He indicated the proposed industrial development could bring an estimated $600,000 in property tax to the community, while the residential project could bring about $1.5 million — with the caveat that either project may win a deferred tax relief benefit.
Ripp did not shy away from discussing the leak of 1.2 million gallons over a decade from a fuel storage tank in the 1980s, which roiled the surrounding neighborhood for years.
“Since that time, Northville has moved — in the last 35 years — tens of billions of gallons through our facilities with no operational mishaps to speak of,” he said, mentioning the company stayed open to supply fuel during Hurricane Sandy and that it hosts New York State’s strategic fuel reserve.
A subsequent search of New York State’s spill incidents database turned up seven spills on Belle Mead Road from 1998 through 2019, four of which specifically name Northville. The database does not include details, such as how big those spills were.
In a phone call, Ripp clarified that Northville must report spills as small as a gallon, so that number of minor spills over 25 years actually reinforces his assertion.”
At the meeting, he also touted Northville’s philanthropic giving and said the company doesn’t do enough to counterbalance its poor reputation in the community by sharing its good deeds.
Several attendees who spoke publicly, and those who shouted out from the audience, didn’t buy it.
“Thank you for pointing out how generous Northville Industries is, how environmentally conscious you are,” cracked one speaker, who identified himself as a business professor who has lived in the neighborhood adjacent to Northville for 27 years. He worried that if the company received a new zoning designation, they’d wind up developing the entire property, and called for the community to fight the proposals at Town Hall. “Otherwise, Northville Industries will make your life miserable,” he said.
While a couple of speakers suggested they’d prefer housing over warehouses if they had to choose, other attendees suggested the company put in a solar farm, find a way to contribute more taxes so residents could have relief, or create a philanthropic foundation to form additional greenway space on the property. The most popular suggestion was for a government entity to purchase the property to prevent development, but the price of such a move would be high, and Ripp indicated the Town of Brookhaven has not expressed an appetite for it.
Englebright calls for environmental study
One particularly hot topic for the crowd was the accusation that Northville is trying to avoid a complete environmental impact study — something lawyer Shea acknowledged Northville didn’t believe was required in this case.
As the crowd grew increasingly frustrated and passionate, Suffolk County Legislator Steve Englebright (D- Setauket), who has a long history of environmental action in state and county government, stepped up to the mic. He empathized with commenters and made clear his position that the project should trigger an environmental study with the town.
“Seven hundred trucks? Housing next to explosive liquids and vapors?” he said, to applause. “This is a critical groundwater area.”
Englebright also questioned the motives behind the meeting altogether.
“There is every likelihood that this is an initiative to scare the hell out of you to get their way on an alternative that they do not have an as of right for,” he said, and indicated he would continue watching the Northville situation.
Late in the meeting, one speaker acknowledged that Northville is a company that exists to make money, which is normal in American society, but made a call for the company to live up to its claim of being a good neighbor by listening to the concerns expressed throughout the night.
“At the end of the day, everybody from Amazon to the guy that sells Ralph’s ice cream in Port Jeff needs to make money,” he said. “Come back to the community at some point saying, ‘We heard you.’ Come back and be a good neighbor.”
BREAKING NEWS: This story is ongoing and will be updated as more information is available
By Samantha Rutt
In the early hours of Thursday morning, at approximately 12:15 a.m., Stony Brook University was rocked by a series of events that culminated in the arrest of 29 individuals, including students, faculty members, and external affiliates for violating various legal statutes and university policies.
What began as a peaceful demonstration on the university’s Staller steps escalated into a tense standoff between protesters and university officials, ultimately resulting in police intervention.
The university administration, in a statement released shortly after the arrests, expressed disappointment at the turn of events.
According to university officials, efforts were made to de-escalate tensions throughout the day on Wednesday, with administrators offering to meet with protest leaders to discuss their grievances. However, these attempts were rebuffed, and the situation continued to deteriorate as protesters erected tents and engaged in behavior that violated university policies.
“What began on Tuesday as a peaceful demonstration in compliance with our rules escalated to include intimidation and harassment of other students, the erection of tents in violation of the University’s policy, and the continued occupation of a space that must continue to be available to other student groups that had reserved its use well in advance,” University President Maurie McInnis said in a statement earlier this morning.
McInnis lamented the need for police intervention and emphasized the university’s commitment to upholding the rights of free speech and peaceful assembly. McInnis acknowledged the complexities of the situation, recognizing the importance of allowing all voices to be heard while ensuring the safety and well-being of the campus community.
“I am deeply saddened that we reached a point where police intervention became necessary. University administrators made every effort to avert this outcome. Nevertheless, I want to express my appreciation to all involved for the peaceful manner in which the events of yesterday evening unfolded. The police acted professionally and with restraint, and most of our students comported themselves peacefully and with dignity in a manner that contrasts sharply with the scenes we are seeing from many other campuses.”
“As we have stated previously, Stony Brook supports every individual’s right to free expression and peaceful assembly. As a campus community, we have hosted numerous demonstrations and events, for the most part, mindful of our responsibility to treat one another with respect and civility,” the statement continued.
The events at Stony Brook are reflective of broader tensions surrounding issues of free speech, activism, and campus governance that have been playing out on college campuses across the country. With protests related to the Israel-Hamas conflict sparking controversy and debate, universities like Stony Brook find themselves navigating challenging terrain as they seek to balance the rights of students to express their views with the need to maintain order and uphold institutional policies.
As the campus grapples with the aftermath of the events, questions remain about the future of student activism and student life at Stony Brook and the university’s approach to managing protests and demonstrations. While the administration has made clear its commitment to supporting free speech, it also stresses the importance of adherence to university guidelines and policies.
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