Last month, local resident and nonprofit owner Melissa Paulson announced she would be running against incumbent Margot Garant.
Village clerk Barbara Sakovich confirmed that as of Wednesday, May 12, Paulson officially dropped out of the race.
However, Barbara Ransome, director of operations with the Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce, announced this week she would be running on the mayor ticket, with fellow chamber president, Suzanne Velazquez.
For the village’s election on June 15, the candidates are now as follows:
Margot Garant and Barbara Ransome for mayor; incumbents Kathianne Snaden, Stanley Loucks and newcomer Suzanne Velazquez are running for two trustee positions.
A local mom, nonprofit founder and small business owner is looking to run for Village of Port Jefferson’s mayor seat.
Melissa Paulson, a Port Jefferson village resident since 2014, and owner of the online-only antique store, Melissa’s Cottage and Consignments, said she decided to go against incumbent Mayor Margot Garant because she believes the village needs a change.
A graduate of Hauppauge High School, she moved on to study special education and early education at Dowling College. While there, she worked for the America Reads program providing tutoring services to local children.
Paulson said after getting married and starting her family, she chose to move to the village because she had fond memories of it growing up.
“Coming here as a child and seeing how beautiful it is, but then now, I see the decline,” she said. “It’s very disheartening to see what has transpired. I specifically came here to raise my family, because the ambiance and historical history, and now we’re faced with vacancy, homelessness, acts of violence and safety concerns. So, it’s really time for leadership to really implement changes positively and effectively.”
Prior to her settling down in the village, Paulson’s daughter was diagnosed with cancer at just 18 months. It was then that the mayoral candidate decided to start up a nonprofit, Give Kids Hope Inc., in 2011 where she claims she has helped over 14,000 underprivileged families throughout the last year.
Give Kids Hope is now located in Port Jefferson Station, after finding a permanent home at 4390 Nesconset Highway last year.
Paulson said her charity work led her to consider a run for mayor over the last couple of years, when she believed the current administration wasn’t fixing the problems she saw.
“The proposed changes that were set to happen years ago unfortunately haven’t and after being here for so long, I realized it’s time for change,” she said. “I’m not a politician. I’m not a lawyer. I’m Melissa Paulson — I run a charity, but I want to be the voice for people and that’s what people need.”
She said she believes the village needs someone who’s “going to fight for them.”
“I will fight for what’s right,” she added. “I will listen to the voices of our residents, businesses and owners, even schools.We all need to work together to really make positive changes.”
Some of those changes she is looking to work toward are making the village a safer place, and stopping its commercialization.
“It was a historical village, and now it’s being commercialized by big apartment buildings, and people want that to stop,” she said.
Paulson said she wants to hold business owners in Upper Port more accountable for graffiti by issuing fines, and to bring businesses back to Down Port. She plans to address homelessness and raise police presence throughout the village.
Although the village has created a task force to keep an eye on troublesome bicyclists, while also increasing its constable presence on the streets, Paulson said she would like to see more.
“We need police watching our residents. We need more jurisdiction of constables,” she said. “We need to begin finding ways to allow them to have more duties to protect our village more.”
Despite a random and unfortunate incident where a man was killed on Main Street in March, a recent report at the village board of trustees meeting stated that Port Jefferson’s crime rate has been on the decline.
Paulson acknowledged that, but she still sees concerns over the teenage bicyclists who have harassed visitors and residents in the past.
“I’ll feel safer if I see police officers walking around the village,” she said.
One concern that village residents noted when Paulson announced her candidacy was the fact that her two children are part of the Three Village school district.
“I don’t have a choice to attend Port Jefferson schools,” she said.
The village vote is scheduled for June 15.
“Every day I’m working hard to become your mayor,” she said. “This is more than an election, it’s my passion and mission to be the voice of the residents.”
Keep checking back with TBR News Media for more updates on the upcoming village election.
The Village Boutique saw an opportunity a few storefronts away and decided to move in.
The former Thomas Kinkade art gallery located at 128 Main Street in the village has stayed vacant for more than 13 months, said Abby Buller, The Village Boutique’s owner.
So she talked to her landlord — who owns her former spot at 216A Main as well as the Kinkade space — and decided to move down the street.
“I think the location is a little bit better and because of the way this store is configured, it allowed me to expand more into shoes and accessories the other store didn’t allow me to do,” Buller said.
And the new store is a better fit.
Since originally opening up in May 2019, Buller said her store carries a variety of women’s apparel for ages 16 and up. The new, much larger, space allowed her to begin selling footwear and more accessories.
“I’ve always wanted to have shoes in my store, but the back storage area was just too small,” she said. “This gave me two storage areas, and the space to display shoes of the other store didn’t have — so the configuration is what’s different.”
Buller said after things opened back up, she wanted to use the opportunity and start fresh. In January, she and her landlord came to an agreement, closing down her former location on Feb. 23.
It took her and her business partner about two weeks to move everything over, steam it all, barcode it and of course do some construction and cleaning up. The new Village Boutique opened on March 15.
“I’m getting people into the store who said, ‘Are you new?’ and when I said no, they would say they never saw me up the block,” she said. “So, I think the new location will pay itself off in the end.”
Owner Abby Buller inside her new space. Photo by Julianne Mosher
The Village Boutique, Buller said, is the type of place where a shopper won’t have to step foot inside a big-box store, or shop online, ever again. She personally shops for her inventory in the city and brings in designers from all over the world.
“If I can’t touch the clothes, I can’t buy them,” she said. “Because we first look for style, then when we look with touch. If you don’t like the way it feels, you’re not going to buy something.”
She also said she has a price point for everyone’s budget.
“We have a little bit of Manhattan in Suffolk County,” she said.
Buller said the last couple of years she has grown her shop in the village has even led her to now make the jump to move out here, herself.
Born and raised in Queens, since 2019 she has been commuting the almost two-hour drive to Port Jeff every day.
She said she just sold her place in Bayside, and is looking to find a new place in the Port Jefferson, Rocky Point or Mount Sinai areas to call home.
“I remember being a child and a day trip for us would be coming out to Port Jeff,” she said. “So, when I decided to own a business, my concept was that I didn’t want to be in a strip mall. I wanted to be in a town. And I had such fond memories of this village so I took the jump.”
The Village Boutique is open Monday through Thursday 11 a.m. until 5 p.m., 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. Sunday’s.
Members from the Port Jefferson Community Garden Committee at the Beach Street location.
Photo by Julianne Mosher
Just in time for spring, Port Jefferson’s community garden is planned and ready to get started.
On March 15, the Village Board of Trustees voted an overwhelming “yes” to the new pilot community garden program.
The idea behind it, Trustee Rebecca Kassay — who “planted the seed” on the project — said it would be able to give residents an opportunity to grow local, organic food and enjoy outdoor recreation together, while creating learning opportunities for its villagers. The garden would be dedicated to maintaining parkland and be a staple to the community.
And she felt that this quaint area could benefit from its own garden.
“I’ve been around vegetable gardens since I was born,” she said. “My father kept — and still keeps — an impressive half-acre in St. James.”
After completing a degree in Environmental Studies, she moved to Harlem where she found a tense neighborhood being gentrified had one common ground — Jenny Benitez’s community garden in Riverside Park.
“It was in my time volunteering there that I most clearly saw how this simple human tradition humbles, delights and invites unity between people from all ages and backgrounds,” she said.
Since November 2020, a group of 11 residents volunteered their time to become part of the Community Garden Committee, hoping to launch the garden on an abandoned, vacant plot of land on Beach Street.
Village gardener Caran Markson said that a long time ago, the land was once a playground with broken-down equipment. Since it was removed, it has been bare, looking for a new purpose.
“The property has been empty for as long as I can remember,” she said. “It was very underutilized.”
For months, the group researched, planned and eventually implemented a design for the village’s first community garden.
A rendering of the potential community garden located on Beach Street in the Village of Port Jefferson. Photo from Rebecca Kassay
According to Kassay, the garden will initially consist of 16 raised beds, with some being double-high beds for residents with different abilities. The garden will be accessible to all.
“Beach Street is a great little spot for Port Jefferson Village’s first community garden,” she said. “It is a flat piece of underutilized village parkland with plenty of sun for residents to grow some organic veggies.”
But the best part is, the Beach Street plantings are set to begin this summer, and if the pilot garden project is successful, the committee expects to expand at the Beach Street site in 2022, and in subsequent years, create a second garden site at the Highlands parkland uptown.
Kassay added the group is also looking to pilot Port Jefferson’s first composting program at Beach Street, after some research of area-appropriate methods, pending community response.
“This large effort is anticipated between 2023 and 2024,” she said.
Markson said the 16 beds will be planted with vegetables.
“Outside of the raised beds, we’re going to hopefully a whole bunch of berries, maybe grapes, and we can plant native flowers just to beautify this village,” she added. “It’s going to pull the community together.”
On March 15, Mayor Margot Garant and the village board contributed $4,000 of village beautification funds toward the project, specifically to irrigation and raised bed materials.
Committee members have already begun collecting in-kind and monetary donations from community members to meet the project’s $8,600 2021 budget and will be circulating donation material mid-April.
“No contribution is too small,” she said. “You can find a committee member for more information and/or to give a donation at the weekly Village Farmer’s Market starting May 2.”
Once established, the garden committee will raise money throughout the year with suggested-donation programming and fundraisers.
Kassay said they are looking to break ground on the project May 1, with a ribbon cutting July 10.
“I’m really looking forward to giving fellow residents the ability to grow their own produce,” Kassay said. “Whether it’s a fun family project, a way to cut down on grocery bills, a way to meet new people, part of a journey to better health … I’ve been fortunate to have access to gardens throughout my life, and now I’m grateful for the opportunity to share this with my community.”
On Sunday, April 18 at 9 a.m.,local nonprofit Hometown Hope —in conjunction with Seatow, Sheep Pasture Landscaping and Maggio Environmental — will be hosting a beach cleanup event at all Port Jefferson-area beaches.
Volunteers will be dispersed across Centennial Beach, Belle Terre Beach, McCallister Park, West and East Beach.
Grab a mask and some gloves and come help keep the local beaches beautiful.
Hometown Hope Port Jefferson provides and connects resources and support in times of need to all Port Jefferson village residents by promoting a movement of spreading kindness.
Hometown Hope strives to uplift through wellness, resilience and compassionate understanding within the community.
To find out more about Hometown Hope, or to sign up for the upcoming beach cleanup, visit their website at hometownhopepj.org.
The crime scene outside Dunkin' Donuts in the village. Photo from Margot Garant
Suffolk County Police have made an arrest for the shooting death of a man in Port Jefferson on March 24.
Homicide Squad detectives charged Joseph Garcia, 19, of 11 Market St. in Port Jefferson Station, with Murder 2nd Degree.
Garcia was held overnight at the 6th Precinct and is scheduled for arraignment at First District Court in Central Islip on March 28. The investigation is continuing.
On March 24, David Bliss Jr., of Shirley, was killed from a gunshot wound in front of 122 Main St. at approximately 3:35 p.m.
Bliss was transported to St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson where he was pronounced dead.
The investigation is ongoing. Detectives are asking anyone with information on this incident to call the Homicide Squad at 631-852-6392 or anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS.
Over the last month, elected officials on both the county and village levels have been trying to tackle reckless bicyclists on the road.
Suffolk County
Last week, Suffolk County voted on a new bill aimed to give bicyclists distance with a new 3-foot passage rule — the first county in New York State to implement the law.
According to the new legislation, “The operator of a vehicle which is overtaking, from behind, a bicycle proceeding on the same side of the road shall pass to the left of such bicycle at a distance of at least 3-feet until safely clear thereof.”
Violators can face fines not to exceed $225 for a first offense, $325 for a second offense and $425 for any subsequent offense. The minimum distance requirement, however, will not apply on roads that have clearly marked bicycle lanes.
Authored by Legislator Kara Hahn (D-Setauket), it was originally in response to a bill sponsored by Legislator Rudy Sunderman (R-Mastic) which aimed to ticket and condemn bike riders who popped wheelies, swerved into traffic or biked while intoxicated across Long Island.
Hahn said she filed her bill, and abstained from Sunderman’s, to focus more on education for drivers and bike riders, as well as keeping veteran bicyclists safe.
“I filed a bill that looks to fix the problems that existed,” she said. “I felt there were problems in the one that passed a few weeks ago.”
Sunderman’s bill was originally passed by the Legislature in February but was vetoed by Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D) earlier this month.
“We believe this legislation is overly broad and that current law provides the necessary tools to address this issue,” Derek Poppe, a representative with Bellone’s office said in a statement. “We remain committed to working with the Legislature address safety concerns around bicycling practices.”
On March 16, the Legislature approved Hahn’s bill, and Sunderman’s veto override failed the same day.
Hahn said that the county was named by Bicycling Magazine as the most dangerous county in the country for bike riders and has since continuously been in the top 10.
“There are approximately 350 accidents a year in Suffolk County,” she added.
The vote brings Suffolk County closer to becoming the first county in the state to adopt a 3-foot-rule requirement.
“I think it’s just really important that people know they have to give bicyclists room when they pass them,” Hahn said. “They might not hear you and the tires of a bike cannot handle roadway obstacles the same way a car can.”
Hahn noted that things such as sand, sticks, leaves, trash, a storm drain or pothole can be life-threatening to bikers.
“A car can handle those, no problem, but a bike tire makes those obstacles potentially deadly,” she said. “Sometimes the cyclist needs to swerve a little bit and this 3-foot buffer gives them space.”
The bill will now go to the county executive for a separate public hearing and his signature within the next 30 days.
“I am thrilled,” she said. “This is a real concrete step to improve safety, and at the same time it makes a statement that we care about our residents on the road.”
The Village of Port Jefferson
Village officials have been tirelessly enforcing their own rules when it comes to reckless bicylists.
Signs like this will be posted throughout the village encouraging visitors to call code when they see disorderly behavior. Photo from Kathianne Snaden
Last year, when outdoor dining began, there were concerns over individuals harassing diners and drivers while they popped wheelies and swerved into traffic on Main Street.
They began enforcing a code created in 2019, with new training, to keep residents and visitors safe.
Mayor Margot Garant said a new bicycle task force has been unveiled, encouraging business owners and residents to call code enforcement when something doesn’t look right.
“Our code specifically looks toward curbing the behavior of the individual riding a bike down the middle of the street or sidewalk in a dangerous and reckless manner,” she said.
With rules penned by trustee Kathianne Snaden, the bicycle task force is comprised of Snaden along with a representative of the Suffolk County Police Department, the chief of code enforcement, Deputy Village Attorney Richard Harris, the Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce and members of the business community. They simply ask, “If you see something, say something.”
The “see something, say something” campaign encourages business owners to keep their eyes peeled on issues throughout the village, and to call code immediately before the problem accelerates. That way the code officer can talk with the individual and give a warning before someone gets hurt.
“This time of year, we don’t see the issue,” Snaden said. “But the minute warm weather hits, it becomes an issue.”
And the last few weekends have shown how popular Port Jefferson is when the sun is out, and a light jacket is needed.
Signs are posted up throughout the village, like this one seen here. Photo from Kathianne Snaden
“I want everyone to be aware if bicyclists are doing the right thing, obeying the traffic laws, we welcome them with open arms,” the trustee said. “We want to be ready to intervene before it becomes a problem — we’re not going to intervene if there is no problem.”
Along with the campaign, the village has begun using officers on bikes and has instituted a designated officer to patrol on foot throughout Main Street. Snaden said there will always be someone on duty, with no absence in shift changes.
“I’m confident to date we have bridged that gap,” she added. “The communication is now there. We work as team to dissuade any potential issues.”
If dangerous behavior is happening within the village, readers are encouraged to call code at 631-774-0066.
The original article did not mention the chamber and business owners who are part of the task force. They have been added to the online copy.
Jefferson’s Townsend House, shown in 1908, was located on the corner of Main and East Main streets. Under the Parking District Plan, the historic building would have been demolished and replaced with Woodard Square. Photo by Arthur S. Greene. Kenneth C. Brady Digital Archive
By Kenneth Brady
Visiting the beautiful downtown Port Jefferson of today, it seems inconceivable that the village’s commercial center of the 1950s was thought to be dead, stagnant and depressing.
Businesses were leaving Port Jefferson and relocating along major highways and at malls, where in contrast to the village, there was adequate parking for customers.
Abandoned by some merchants, Port Jefferson’s shopping section was characterized in local newspapers as ramshackle and dilapidated.
pictures five of the proposed parking lots within the Port Jefferson Parking District. The construction of the squares would have entailed the demolition of historic buildings in the village’s commercial center. Kenneth C. Brady Digital Archive
Absentee landlords were lambasted for not razing structures that had been gutted by fire, particularly burnt-out properties along the village’s East Main Street and East Broadway, while indifferent businessmen were faulted for running drab, seedy stores with dirty, unimaginative window displays and dated, limited stock.
Making matters worse, heavy trucks rumbled through downtown Port Jefferson day and night hauling oil, sand, stone, gravel and fly ash from the various industries along the village’s waterfront. According to critics, the lumbering vehicles created noise, dust, spillageand traffic problems on the streets in Port Jefferson’s business district, driving potential customers away.
In 1957, the Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce conducted a study to determine what could be done to revive the village’s ailing retail center and found that 87% of the shoppers surveyed were dissatisfied with parking conditions in Port Jefferson. The report called for enlarging public lots, routing trucks off Main Street, relocating store entrances and other suggestions.
In response to these recommendations, Brookhaven Town appropriated $20,000 in 1960 for a Parking District Committee to study the creation of a Port Jefferson Parking District. In 1961, the committee proposed the establishment of seven parking areas in the village including “Crystal Lake Square” and “Round the Block Square.”
The construction of these lots would have entailed the demolition of historic buildings in Port Jefferson’s downtown business district such as the Townsend House and Aldrich House both of which would have been razed and replaced with the asphalt of “Woodard Square.”
A public meeting was held at Port Jefferson High School on August 22, 1961 to present the plan and allow villagers to voice their reactions. Over 600 indignant residents attended and expressed their overwhelming opposition to the scheme that they believed would destroy the historic character of the community.
Many villagers were bothered by what they saw as the patronizing attitude of an “elite” that had decided that urban renewal, condemnation and eminent domain were best for Port Jefferson.
Residents were also insulted by the contents of a 132-page report that had been prepared for Parking District Committee members only, but had been leaked to the public, and had concluded that 30% of the homes in Port Jefferson were deteriorating, there were slum-like pockets within the village and Port Jefferson’s citizens were poor and aged.
While conceding that improvements were warranted and long overdue, many villagers were miffed that control over parking would have been placed in the hands of a distant Brookhaven Town Board in Patchogue, not the people who actually lived in Port Jefferson.
Brookhaven Town’s unwavering support of the parking plan, even as most villagers emphatically rejected the proposal, sparked the creation of the Port Jefferson Property Owners Association. Organized in September 1961, the civic group soon formed a committee to study incorporation.
Jefferson’s Townsend House, shown in 1908, was located on the corner of Main and East Main streets. Under the Parking District Plan, the historic building would have been demolished and replaced with Woodard Square. Photo by Arthur S. Greene. Kenneth C. Brady Digital Archive
The idea of home rule was not new to Port Jefferson. As early as 1895, the Ladies Village Improvement Society of Port Jefferson had called for incorporation, but the parking plan and an indifferent Brookhaven Town Board had prodded villagers into action and awakened a sleeping lion.
On Dec. 7, 1962, by a 2-1 margin, Port Jefferson’s residents voted to incorporate, deciding in favor of local control and the right to govern independent of Brookhaven Town.
The Parking District Plan was dead.
Kenneth Brady has served as the Port Jefferson Village Historian and president of the Port Jefferson Conservancy, as well as on the boards of the Suffolk County Historical Society, Greater Port Jefferson Arts Council and Port Jefferson Historical Society. He is a longtime resident of Port Jefferson.
The long-awaited Barnum Avenue parking lot has officially opened, and it is something the village has never seen before.
“This is a unique lot,” said Mayor Margot Garant. “This is the first lot in 50 years that we’ve added to the village.”
The new 32,000-square-foot lot includes 46 new spaces oriented diagonally, including two handicap spots and two EV charging stations. It’s a free municipal lot with a one-way entrance, to help alleviate traffic congestion.
Located east of the Joe Erland baseball field, an old, vacant building was once located on the property. Deemed an eyesore, it was a several-year-long process to remove the building, clean it up and turn it into a free municipal lot that is futuristic in its amenities.
“People think it’s just pavement and drawing lines,” Garant said. “But this is 70% technology — everything is cloud-based with new technology.”
Photo by Julianne Mosher
And that’s part of a pilot program the village board approved, with the goal to improve the ability to find parking. In April, the Parking Logix counting system will be installed at the Barnum lot to assist residents and visitors in giving them a real-time counting and management system.
Kevin Wood, the village’s parking and mobility administrator, said the counter will be able to show drivers how many spots are available in the lot before they even pull in.
“I had always taken notice of parking anxiety,” he said. “It’s a real thing … people get worried thinking, ‘Am I going to find a spot?’ People fighting for spots, this takes a little of the edge off.”
And that’s just part of it. The parking lots within the village will continue using QR reader technology through Honk Mobile to help people pay from their vehicles, not need to search for quarters and reduce touch points on meters in a pandemic world.
“We’re way ahead of the curve on that,” Wood said. “We had instituted it before COVID. You don’t have to visit a meter; you can be in your car and shoot the QR from your window and pay in your car.”
Wood said that the last month visitors were required to pay for parking was in November, and 55% of the transactions were paid for through this new technology.
He added that the QR reader in the Barnum lot will be used to track how long people park in their spots when they check in, and hopes that business owners will encourage staff to utilize the space.
There will be no overnight parking (from 1 a.m. until 6 a.m.) in the Barnum lot, Garant said. “Code is going to enforce that.”
The only things remaining, along with the counter, is the additions of bioswales bordering the foot entrance on Barnum Avenue to aid in flood mitigation. Once constructed, the bioswales will look like two dips in the ground with plantings overlaying them, and a brand-new sign will be installed at the Joe Erland field.
A ribbon cutting is planned in the upcoming weeks.
The sand dredging component of the East Beach renovations was completed earlier this year. Photo from Margot Garant
As part of the ongoing renovations of Port Jefferson’s East Beach, the village recently completed the bidding process to rebuild of the beach’s retaining wall.
During the village’s virtual board of trustees meeting on March 1, Mayor Margot Garant announced the milestone — a project that has essentially been going on since Hurricane Sandy hit Long Island in 2012.
“We’re happy to see this project underway,” she said. “Everything’s in order.”
According to Garant, a construction meeting will be held with village administrator Joe Palumbo in the upcoming week, with plans to start the wall’s renovations before beach season starts.
Along with East Beach, the retaining wall at Highlands Boulevard will also be included.
A view of the current retaining wall at East Beach that will undergo a makeover thanks to the village’s bid approval. Photo from Margot Garant
In a recent newsletter from the village sent to residents, it stated that the project was awarded to Galvin Brothers and Madhue Contracting, both of Great Neck, as a joint venture for a total of $474,830. The expenses for the structural repairs are included in the budget and were part of a bond anticipation note.
Garant said this action will be a “springboard” as the village awaits DEC permits to finalize the East Beach project. After the retaining wall, revegetation of the bluff at the beach will be next on the list. The village is currently waiting for confirmation to see if it is eligible for FEMA reimbursement as a result of bluff loss at the site during Tropical Storm Isaias. The funds could help pay for the bluff’s restoration.
Earlier this year, sand dredging at East Beach, near Mount Sinai Harbor, was finalized — a project that took nearly a decade to complete, cost several million dollars and was a collaborative effort between the village, town, county, state and federal governments. Close to 80,000 cubic yards of sand was brought back to the beach.
This retaining wall will continue to help keep the beach looking the way it does now.
“It’s retention of our assets,” Garant said. “Plus, protecting our environment is critical.”
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