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Ali Mohammed, a financial industry executive, has been appointed to Long Island Power Authority as a trustee. Photo from Ali Mohammed

Ali Mohammed, a financial industry executive, has been appointed to Long Island Power Authority as one of nine unpaid board members charged with overseeing the quasi-governmental agency.

The appointment comes at a pivotal time and in the wake of controversy. The agency has come under public attack after it filed tax lawsuits against Long Island communities in an effort to save money. And as the state transitions to a clean-energy economy, state leaders are looking toward Mohammed and the board for new direction.

“One of my first priorities as a LIPA trustee will be to end LIPA’s practice of reckless tax certiorari lawsuits against communities and school districts,” Mohammed said in a statement. “LIPA must immediately cease all litigation.”, n

Mohammed’s background includes 20 years of experience working in senior leadership roles for major financial organizations, such as JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs and TD Ameritrade.

He’s been involved in restructuring Fortune 500 companies to become more efficient, while lowering costs, according to press releases. The technology sector is also one of his areas of expertise. In June, Mohammed joined Broadridge, a global financial industry analytics company, which has 33 U.S. offices, including one in Lake Success.

“I will work to modernize a board so desperately in need of good governance reforms to ensure LIPA finally starts serving ratepayers best interests,” Mohammed said. “The time has come and gone for LIPA to behave as a responsible corporate neighbor, and I look forward to bring an unequivocally ethical and honest voice to the board.”

Mohammed’s position aligns with many local elected state officials, who have written and/or sponsored bills that aim to counter the potential financial blow to communities and school districts if LIPA’s tax strategies prevail through courts.

“One of my top priorities as a state senator has been to hold LIPA accountable and protect taxpayers,” said state Sen. Jim Gaughran (D-Northport). “For too long LIPA has been a runaway authority, accountable to no one but themselves.”

He thanks Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) for prioritizing Long Island taxpayers through Mohammed’s appointment and applauds her choice.

“I am proud to appoint Ali Mohammed to the Long Island Power Authority board,” Stewart-Cousins said. “Mr. Mohammed’s expertise in transforming organizations will help usher in a new ‘green era’ for LIPA, while at the same time fighting to support ratepayers.”

Mohammed becomes the first Muslim-American to serve on the all-male LIPA board.

LIPA was created in 1986 by the New York State Legislature. In 1998, it acquired the electric transmission and distribution system of the privately owned Long Island Lighting Company, known as LILCO, through a public bailout after the failed Shoreham nuclear project incurred $7 billion in debt.

The nonprofit entity employs 51 full-time staff members, according to LIPA spokesperson Sid Nathan, and manages a budget of $3.6 billion. LIPA holds contracts with National Grid and PSEG Long Island, two shareholder-owned businesses that generate electricity and operate electric services for Long Islanders.

Mohammed was due to attend his first LIPA board meeting July 24.

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From left, Tom Kehoe with Reggie Tuthill, owner of Oysterponds Shellfish in Orient. Kehoe will serve as trade adviser after establishing an international market for oysters and shellfish. Photo from Tom Kehoe

Local businessman and Village of Northport trustee Tom Kehoe has been appointed an adviser to the Trump administration on international trade in the seafood industry.

U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue appointed Kehoe to serve on the USDA’s Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee for Trade in Animals and Animal Products. The group consists of 140 private-sector members, who will offer input on negotiating and enforcing new and existing trade agreements. Kehoe is the only individual representing the seafood industry. 

Kehoe said that he is honored and humbled that the Department of Agriculture has selected him to serve.

“The sustainability and success of the seafood and agriculture industries is vital to the health and safety of all Americans,” Kehoe said. “I look forward to sharing my expertise in international trade and insight on where American trade policy needs to go in order for American businesses to thrive in international markets.”

Congress established the advisory committee system in 1974 to ensure that U.S. agricultural trade policy objectives reflect U.S. public- and private-sector commercial and economic interests. Perdue and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer jointly manage the committee.

Kehoe, a native New Yorker, initially got into the seafood business in 1975 in Maine with lobsters. He worked on a daily basis from 1975 to 2017 with fish and fishermen, but now deals largely with importing and exporting seafood. In 1992, Kehoe and business partner Roger Boccio opened K & B Seafood, an East Northport fish market. In 2008, they established Seaflight Logistics, a fish wholesaler that transported food both nationally and internationally. The fishmongers expanded their operation after attending an international fish market and finding a growing market for oysters and shellfish in China and Moscow. Kehoe is currently the CEO of Kingsbridge Strategies Inc., an import/export firm experienced in public policy and business consulting. The international seafood trade remains an important aspect of his operation.

“Working with small businesses, large businesses, and eventually growing my own company into an international business, I have a unique understanding of the needs of Long Island and New York’s businesses — as well as businesses nationwide who rely on international trade — and I look forward to representing these interests on this committee,” Kehoe said.

One of Kehoe’s biggest customers for 25 years has been the Grand Central Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station. Sandy Ingber is the executive chef there and part owner of the restaurant. He said that Kehoe’s appointment will help him. In the summer, Ingber said the Oyster Bar offers 20 different types of oysters and each day serves as many 4,000 oysters on the half shell.  

“Tom is an honest man and knowledgeable about the seafood industry,” he said. “I’m excited about getting European oysters here in America.” 

Kehoe is also a representative on the U.S. Department of Commerce, New York District Export Council. He formerly served as the president, vice president and director of the East Coast Shellfish Growers Association. Kehoe is a former Northport police commissioner and deputy mayor. Kehoe currently serves as the village’s commissioner of commerce, his third stint at the post. Kehoe’s term with the USDA will expire in 2023.

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Students from Northport, Huntington and Southampton high schools, as well as from Tug Valley High School in West Virginia, are working together to curb the opioid crisis. Photo from Northport-East Northport Union Free School District

Students from Northport, Huntington and Southampton high schools, along with the hard-hit Tug Valley High School in Kermit, West Virginia, have been working together to address the opioid crisis through a unique exchange program. Northport students, who are a part of the Students for 60,000 Club, visited West Virginia earlier this year on a service trip and were deeply affected by the magnitude of the crisis. 

Club advisers Darryl St. George and Kim Braha coordinated a “student exchange” in which the students from West Virginia came to visit Long Island to discuss realistic steps to solving the crisis. 

During the week of July 7, the students met in a variety of forums to learn from each other and discuss ways to address and solve the crisis. Students met with U.S. Rep. Thomas Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) and Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D) in Huntington to engage in discussion and also visited Southampton High School to hear from local Southampton representatives. Students asked questions, shared personal experiences and offered their thoughts on curtailing opioid use. 

Ideas included creating more mental health programs in schools and providing a greater sense of purpose for students. 

At the end of the week, students spent some time volunteering at the Northport VA. 

“The most inspiring part of this week long student exchange experience included seeing how empowered our Northport students were working with Southampton, Huntington and West Virginia students,” said Braha, “and the incredible opportunities to have conversations about how we can all work together to improve our communities.

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Local authors will read from their new publications and answer questions at an event organized by Councilwoman Joan Cergol. Photos from Councilwoman Cergol’s office

Town of Huntington Councilwoman Joan Cergol is inviting residents to join her July 18 as she places the spotlight on three published authors at a special “Readings Under the Tent” event at Melville’s Arboretum Park.

The three Huntington authors will join Cergol under a tent at the park, read from their recently published works and answer questions. The event begins at 7 p.m., is open to the public and is free.

“This is just another wonderful way to enjoy our parks and spend a summer evening. I look forward to hearing the stories behind the works of our highlighted authors, and hearing them read excerpts from their published works,” Cergol said. “Huntington has a rich literary history, dating back to Walt Whitman. The writers who will be speaking continue that tradition and represent different genres of literature, which should make it very interesting.”

The authors are:

Michael Bobelian, an award-winning author, lawyer and journalist whose works have covered issues ranging from legal affairs to corporate wrongdoing to human rights.  As a contributing writer at Forbes.com, Michael currently covers the Supreme Court, Wall Street reform, white collar crime, regulatory agencies, human rights and high-profile trials. His current book, “Battle for the Marble Palace: Abe Fortas, Earl Warren, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and the Forging of the Modern Supreme Court”,  is a narrative account of the politicization of the court during the 1950s and 1960s and the revolution it sparked in the confirmation process. He lives in Cold Spring Harbor. 

Amy Giles, an award-winning copywriter and young adult author of “Now Is Everything” (a Bank Street Best Children’s Book of 2017) and “That Night” (a Junior Library Guild selection). Published in October 2018, “That Night” explores how two teens, who each lost a brother in a mass shooting, slowly become friends and then something more, learning to heal and move forward together. Amy lives in Huntington with her husband, two daughters and rescue dog.

Jeannie Moon, a USA Today bestselling author of romance and women’s fiction. A lifelong Long Island resident, Jeannie sets her stories in the coastal towns and hamlets that influenced the story of her life. Additionally, Jeannie is a school librarian and an English teacher with more than 30 years of experience in public and private schools. The author of 16 contemporary romances for Tule Publishing and Penguin Random House, her latest novel “All of Me” — the third installment in her Compass Cove series — is  scheduled for August 28 publication. Jeannie is married to her high school sweetheart, and has three grown kids and three lovable dogs.

Cergol is already working on a second session, to be held in August, at a different town park and with a different lineup of authors. “This is a wonderful opportunity for residents of all ages and literary tastes to experience some of the hidden jewels of our town park network and appreciate first-hand why Huntington has been a magnet for authors dating back more than 100 years,” the councilwoman said.

Arboretum Park, home of the town’s Anne Frank Memorial Garden, is on Wilmington Drive, off Bagatelle Road in Melville. For more information, call Cergol’s office at  631-351-3173 or email her at  [email protected]. 

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Huntington town board listens to residents complaints at a March 5 meeting. Photo by David Luces

Many Huntington residents rely on income from accessory apartments to help offset high property taxes. The Town of Huntington has proposed legislation that would change rental rules. In some cases, the new rules are more lenient, making it easier for people to rent space in their home.  But the proposals also include a ban on basement apartments, unless a valid dwelling unit permit already exists. 

The fate of these accessory apartments has proved to be a contentious issue and residents have been debating the pros and cons of such a change in May and June at two town board meetings. 

“This could create cramped and unsafe living conditions.”

— Hector Gavilla

At a May 30 public hearing, a change in local zoning law was discussed and would reduce the lot size requirement for accessory apartments from 7,500 square feet to 5,000. The frontage requirement for an apartment would change from 75 feet to 50 feet. 

Hector Gavilla, a real estate broker in the town for the past 16 years, spoke at the hearing and sent a letter stating that high property taxes are the real problem that needs to be addressed. He also said it is a false narrative to tell people that these changes in the law will lower the rates for apartment rentals. He argued that the changes in law could harm more people than it would help. 

“[The proposal] this will allow too many people to occupy much smaller dwellings,” he said. “This could create cramped and unsafe living conditions.” 

Town records show that the town unanimously approved a resolution to ban basement apartments without a valid permit.

At a June town board meeting, a proposal to ban all basement and cellar apartments, unless a valid permit already exists or is pending with an already-filed application, was put on the table as well as changes to short-term rental rules.  Some residents argued that the ban would negatively impact lower-income homeowners. Others said basement apartments are a safety concern and potentially hazardous, because the space is prone to mold and carbon monoxide leaks. 

Huntington resident Dale Gifford said she is in favor of the ban on basement apartments in the town. 

“Expert environmentalists have come from out of town to lend their voices to educate the public and the board on the damages caused by overdevelopment and overcrowding,” she said. “Nitrate seeps through the soil from stressed cesspools and gets picked up by the heavy rain.” 

John Esposito had similar sentiments on the legislation, stating that it is a no-brainer. Accessory apartments, he said, can be especially hazardous to EMT and emergency response workers due to possible carbon monoxide issues that can occur in basements. 

“This a step in the right direction. Myself and others object to the overdevelopment, zoning of multiple apartment units and the apartments behind Stop and Shop,” he said. “This will give us a better quality of life [in the town].”

Conrad Ege, a Huntington resident, opposed the legislation, saying it was too much of a financial burden. 

“It would make it harder for them to pay some lines of credit, to pay taxes, to pay for other improvements that are necessary on their home and it would just make it more difficult for them to live here,” he said. 

Despite being opposed to the accessory apartment ban, Ege said he supports the legislation that would put limitations on short-term rentals in the town. 

Roger Weaving Jr., president of the Huntington Township Housing Coalition, stated he is in favor of the bill, but asked the board to clarify what they meant by accessory dwelling units. Certain style homes, such as high ranches, could cause some confusion.  He stressed that high ranches should be able to continue to have accessory dwellings.

We are here with concerns and the town is simply putting Band-aids on our problems. The change to 90 days is a start, but we really have a way to go.”

— Justine Aaronson

With the popularity of Airbnb, residents have complained that these short-term rentals have negatively impacted their quality of life. In April, the town board voted to reduce the number of days that a homeowner can engage in short-term rental agreements from 120 days a year to 90 days. Some residents said that the limit is not enough. Justine Aaronson, a Dix Hills resident, complained that accessory apartments affect quality of life. She told the town board of an incident where a stranger’s car with out-of-state plates was parked on their driveway around midnight. Concerned, she called the police and later found out that the individual was staying in a neighbor’s rental unit. 

“I want the Town of Huntington to protect the quality of life in residential communities,” she said. “We are here with concerns and the town is simply putting Band-aids on our problems. The change to 90 days is a start, but we really have a way to go.”

“We’re talking about a win-win-win situation with these amendments as they will make it possible for our older residents to age in place, allow our younger residents to attain the dream of homeownership, all while giving the town a means by which to directly regulate, in many cases, previously illegal rental housing,” said Councilwoman Joan Cergol. “My prior sixteen years in Huntington Town government specializing in economic and community development have deeply sensitized me to the very real financial challenges and housing needs our residents face every day. I’m so gratified to be in a position to answer this call.”

The next public hearing is scheduled for July 16 at 2 p.m.

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Lisa Gaines, mother of 7-year-old Victoria Gaines, who was killed in a July 4th boating tragedy in 2012 joined town and maritime community leaders at the Harbormaster’s office, where officials announced plans to increase enforcement against unsafe, intoxicated and speeding boaters in Huntington’s waterways during the 4th of July holiday week.  They also announced a joint initiative between Neptune Sail and Power Squadron and the town to provide advanced boating safety training under Huntington’s newly renamed Victoria Gaines Boating Safety Program.

Gaines offered words of caution, including safety tips.

“You are responsible for the wake you leave behind,” and cautioned boat passengers not to assume the boat operator has taken all safety precautions, encouraging  passengers to “ask questions.”

On the evening of Thursday, July 4th, from 8:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., the Town will be enforcing a temporary 5 mph boating speed limit in the certain zones as identified on a map, which is available on the town’s website HuntingtonNY.gov and its social media pages.

“The Town implements these temporary speed zones due to the overwhelming number of boats in Huntington’s waters–from 800 to 1,000 boats–for the Fourth of July celebration and the danger that a wake from a speeding boat creates, potentially destabilizing a smaller or overcrowded boat,” said Supervisor Chad Lupinacci (R). “Sadly, this exact scenario tragically played out in 2012. Seven years ago, Lisa Gaines lost her daughter, Victoria, who was just days shy of her 8th birthday, when the boat they were on capsized in Oyster Bay after a Fourth of July fireworks display.”

Bay Constables will patrol the waters from 7:00 a.m. until 2 o’clock in the morning every day and will be on call 24/7.

“They [bay constables] will continue to support the Suffolk County Marine Bureau to crack down on speeders, intoxicated boaters, conducting boat stops and ensuring boats are operating safely to prevent unnecessary tragedies,” Lupinacci said.

Dom Spada, Acting Director of Maritime Services cautioned boaters planning to enter Huntington’s waterways for the 4th of July fireworks displays about tidal conditions.

“Later in the evening, around 10:30 p.m. on July 4, we will be experiencing mid-tide,” he said. “Rocks and jetties are barely covered by the water during mid-tide, so they may not be visible to boaters, but please stay in the channels and don’t cut your turns short.”

Senior Harbormaster Fred Uvena added that boaters can call the Harbormaster’s office on Channel 9 when their boats’ waste tanks are getting full.

“Please don’t dump your waste water into the harbor; these waterways are a precious natural resource‑we’ll send a pump out boat to you, just call us on Channel 9.”

The town’s map also lists eight boating emergency pickup locations: Powles Dock; Lloyd Neck Bath Club; Huntington Town Dock; Huntington Bay Club; Huntington Beach Community Association Dock; Northport Yacht Club; Soundview Boat Ramp; and Eaton’s Neck Coast Guard Station.

Uvena also advised boaters of the potential destruction a wake can create – even outside of the 5 mph zone – when hundreds of boats are in the water in close proximity. He gave additional safety tips and warned against BWI, boating while intoxicated.

“We will stop you, we will check you, we will bring you to shore, where we’ll do a field sobriety test, and you will be arrested.”

Supervisor Lupinacci also announced the launch of new advanced boating safety training courses offered at Town Hall to help boaters and passengers avoid tragedies on the water: “Under the banner of the Town’s Victoria Gaines Boating Safety Program, I am pleased to announce that the Town is now offering advanced boating safety courses presented by Neptune Sail and Power Squadron, which address planning for and troubleshooting boating emergencies – information that can save lives.”

Philip Quarles, Education Commander for Neptune Sail and Power Squadron, stated: “The Neptune Sail and Power Squadron was founded in 1938 and has been serving Town of Huntington for 83 years teaching boating safety and advanced boating courses. We are honored to be partnering with the Town of Huntington offering classes to residents. “Emergencies on Board” will be offered on August 12. You can learn more by visiting www.neptuneboatingclub.com.”

Gaines said she hopes boaters of all ages and levels of experience continue to educate themselves about boat safety.  She believes the new laws on the horizon will ultimately save lives.

“One never thinks this could happen to them and it absolutely can,” she said. “Have a fun and very safe holiday and summer to all.”

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Four Seasons spa in Huntington. Photo by Donna Deedy

Suffolk County Police arrested two Flushing women June 20 during a raid at a massage parlor in Huntington.

In response to community complaints, Suffolk County Police 2nd Precinct Crime Section officers, assisted by the Town of Huntington Public Safety’s criminal intelligence detectives and 2nd Squad detectives, conducted an investigation into illegal activity at the Four Seasons Spa, located at 367 West Jericho Turnpike at around 5:35 p.m.

Jing Mei Zou, 50, of Flushing, and Qiong Zhou, 55, of Flushing, were arrested and charged with two counts of prostitution and two counts of unauthorized practice of a profession. There were no customers in the business at the time the search warrant was executed, according to police. No other arrests were made. Business records and massage tables were seized as part of the search and the policy say that the investigation is ongoing.

The Town of Huntington does not have the authority to shut down the spa, but issued five summonses for building violations that include illegal signs, public nuisance, interior alterations without a certificate of occupancy and plumbing without necessary permits. 

The doors were locked, but the business still posts its telephone number on the door. A business using the same phone number and address still advertises massage services on a website longisland.bedpage.com, posted on May 8. 

Zou and Zhou pleaded guilty to one count of attempted unauthorized practice of a profession a misdemeanor, and were sentenced to one year probation.

Suffolk County police have previously conducted similar raids and investigations, particularly in 2017, for prostitution at massage parlors. 

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After an extensive search for technology, the Town of Huntington now offers closed captions for town meetings. The screen shot above is from the May 29 town board meeting, where the benefits of organ and tissue donation were discussed. Image provided by Councilwoman Cergol’s office.

Civic engagement just became easier for hearing-impaired Huntington residents. The town announced the debut of real-time closed captioning of town board, planning board and zoning board appeals meetings for viewing on the town’s website and government access television channel.

“This is an important expansion of both the town’s transparency of government actions and its ability to better serve the disabled community,” said Councilwoman Joan Cergol, who initiated in early 2018 live-streaming of the meetings. 

“As a member of Huntington’s Citizens Advisory Committee for Persons with Disabilities, I want to thank Councilwoman Cergol and her staff for meeting with us and quickly acting on the committee’s suggestion to add closed captioning to town meeting videos,” said committee member Len Urban. “People like myself with a hearing loss depend on closed captioning to enjoy television, movies and also to keep informed.  We can now follow the comments, conversations and debates at Town Hall easily at home without the frustrations of not hearing clearly.”   

When Cergol met with the committee, committee members cited two actions they wanted the town to pursue: expanding HART bus paratransit service to take residents to doctor’s appointments at two medical facilities on the east side of Commack Road, and adding closed captioning to the town meeting broadcasts.

Cergol contacted the town’s Department of Transportation, which agreed to a pilot program expanding the HART paratransit service to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center at 650 Commack Road, Commack and to both the St. Catherine and St. Charles Health and Wellness Center and Stony Brook Advanced Specialty Care at 500 Commack Road. 

The process that led to closed captioning was more involved. A search of other municipalities that provided closed captioning found that some used a paid service in which people listened to the meetings and added the captions, not necessarily in real time.

The town’s Information Technology Department, however, said it preferred to seek a piece of speech-to-text equipment that would be more cost-effective and allow instantaneous translations. The issues centered on both cost and accuracy. Cergol’s staff began contacting governments throughout the United States, which led to conversations with officials in Austin, Texas, whose captions appeared to meet the accuracy test. They identified the equipment they used and the manufacturer — a company, as it turned out, headquartered in Farmingdale.

“I’m proud to say our nationwide search led us right back to Long Island,” Cergol said.

Cergol’s staff passed that information on to the Information Technology Department, which arranged to borrow the device for a test. When that test met the town’s standards and was then favorably reviewed by a hearing-impaired member of the Citizen’s Advisory Committee, the decision was made to purchase the equipment, at no cost to taxpayers. Cergol tapped the franchise fees paid to the town by Altice and Verizon to fund the equipment purchase and associated monthly usage fees.

“I want to thank Citizens Advisory Committee for Persons with Disabilities member Len Urban for beta-testing the closed captioning technology on behalf of the town’s hearing-impaired community, and committee chair Marianne Iannaccone and her committee members for their very important role in sensitizing us to the barriers they confront so we can do all we can to remove them,” concluded Cergol.

The meetings can be viewed on the town’s government access channels, Optimum Channel 18 and FiOS Channel 38, or on the town’s website at www.huntingtonny.gov/meetings.

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Huntington Harbor

It was baymen versus baymen at the podium during Huntington’s town meeting last month, with two sides arguing whether or not the shellfish harvesting technique known as sail dredging should be banned.

Water quality concerns prompt discussions about harvesting shellfish using mechanical and sail dredging techniques. The state prohibits harvesting shellfish in Huntington Harbor. Rendering from New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

Charles Murphy, the president of the North Shore Baymen’s Association, said that the practice of raking with mechanical means through the bay floor is barbaric, destroys underwater lands and results in overharvesting. He recommends only hand-harvesting shellfish.

“Over the last six years, the operators of four diesel powered boats have stolen millions of dollars’ worth of clams and oysters from the Town of Huntington’s waters,” Murphy said in  a letter circulated in the community. “These diesel boats, as well as some of the smaller boats, have put a big time hurting on the bay.”

Other baymen said a ban or regulation over the practice of sail dredging, which differs from mechanical dredging, is unwanted and likely even unnecessary, pointing out that the last 10 years’ oyster harvests have been particularly good.

“We’re getting squeezed,” Bob Cannon, a fisherman who spoke at the meeting, said to the town council. “I prefer if you don’t make our lives any more difficult.” 

George Doll has been a Northport fisherman since 1958 and formerly served as Northport’s mayor for the last 12 years. Sail dredging, he explained in an interview, is mainly used during the winter months when fishermen struggle to make ends meet. It relies on wind in a sail to drive a rake through the bay floor to harvest shellfish. 

Dom Spada, the deputy mayor and police commissioner of the Village of Huntington Bay, said in a phone interview that mechanical dredging, using motorized engines to harvest shellfish, has always been prohibited.

The town, he said, has issued in recent years summons to people harvesting shellfish using mechanical equipment. He was unable to provide statistics on the problem.

As for sail dredging, he said it’s status quo. The seasonal and locational restrictions that apply for hand-harvesting also apply to sail dredging. 

The board has 90 days from May 29 to vote on the issue. However, the topic is currently not on the next town meeting agenda.

Core issue: Water quality 

The dredging debate is surfacing just as New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is advancing a major $10.4 million Long Island Shellfish Restoration Project. Huntington Harbor was selected as one of five bodies of water where hundreds of millions of clams and oysters are being sowed to improve water quality.

Christopher Gobler, the chair of Coastal Ecology and Conservation at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, is a co-chair for the project. He said he knows of no good information about the shellfish population trends for Huntington Harbor over time that might indicate whether or not shellfish are overharvested. One trend is clear: Huntington Harbor’s water quality needs improving. Gobler said his team identified five ecosystems that would most benefit from additional filtration, and Huntington ranks among the chosen few.  

Suffolk County Health Department has documented 139 beach closures over the last decade in Huntington Harbor caused by high levels of Enterococcus bacteria, a fecal bacterium. 

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, together with the Town of Huntington, Stony Brook University and the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County, will plant up to 650,000 adult clams, 5.1 million seed clams and 1 million oysters spat-on-shells this summer and fall, based on availability.

The project hopes to improve water quality, mitigate harmful algal blooms, restore shellfish populations and increase biodiversity in coastal waters.  

“Let’s hope the dredge boats don’t steal these clams,” Murphy stated in the document that he circulated in the community. 

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Huntington Harbormaster Fred Uvena gives a tour of accident-prone sites. File Photo by Kyle Barr

Huntington Supervisor Chad Lupinacci (R) decided to postpone voting on the town’s new mooring policy after the May 29 public hearing on the issue at Town Hall. 

“The supervisor felt the board needed additional time to contemplate the code changes and accompanying rate increases,” said Lauren Lembo, public information officer for Lupinacci, in response to an email inquiry.

The Wednesday afternoon meeting attracted a large number of speakers opposed to the changes.  Many complaints centered on the additional fees and insurance requirements.  Residents who spoke thought that visiting yachts should be responsible for absorbing additional costs, rather than taxpaying residents. 

The proposed mooring resolution as currently drafted aims to accomplish the following:

• Prevent irresponsible boat ownership and irresponsible boating.

 • Place liability for all costs incurred by the town in removing, storing and disposing of unseaworthy and wrecked vessels on the owner or person responsible for the vessel. 

 • Increase required insurance limits for vessel wreck removal and pollution mitigation; assure those who have concerns that this will, in fact, not require the Town to be named as an additional insured.

 • Lower the cost of transient commercial mooring permits from $200 to $40 to help the local maritime economy.

• Allow the 40 or so commercial baymen who operate in Huntington’s waterways to have their mooring permit included with the issuance or renewal of their commercial license, making it easier to do business in the Town of Huntington.

• Establish a nominal $40 season permit fee to be deposited into the board of trustees account. Non-residents already pay $200 for the same season permit to help cover the costs of vessel wreck removal, pollution mitigation, and remediation of navigational safety hazards.  The fees would also be used to help fund building a database to help the town identify who owns the boats on town moorings in the harbor, so the town can hold violators responsible for hazardous boating safety conditions.

“Our maritime and harbormaster staff often remove debris from the water—dislodged docks from Connecticut, wrecked and abandoned vessels in our own waterways and other hazards that can cause harm to life and property near our shorelines,” Lupinacci said at the meeting. “The town spent over $50,000 last year removing derelict and abandoned boats in an effort to keep the harbor safe to navigate and protect our water quality. Taxpayers should not be on the hook for the consequences of irresponsible boat ownership.”

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