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Port Jeff Station community celebrates Earth Day with Greenway cleanup

by Raymond Janis - April 28, 2023

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At the eastern trailhead of the Setauket-Port Jefferson Station Greenway trail, a group of volunteers and community members met on Earth Day, April 22, kicking off the first cleanup of the season.

The Friends of the Greenway, a subsidiary of the Three Village Community Trust, hosted the event, which featured volunteers from various community groups, including the Stony Brook-based Avalon Nature Preserve. The cleanup coincided with Earth Day, a global holiday that recognizes the achievements of the environmental movement and the need for sustainable planning.

Greenway: an environmental triumph

“We schedule this [cleanup] in April for Earth Day to celebrate the Earth,” Herb Mones, TVCT president, said during the event.

Mones first became involved with the trail in 1999, when former New York State Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) asked him to head a task force for its planning. The task force included educational programming and active community collaboration, followed by a planning phase, which took 10 years.

The concept of a multipurpose trail was revolutionary for its time, Mones suggested.

“In Suffolk County in particular, there are very, very few greenways that are multimodality paths — paved paths for residents, pedestrians and bicyclists,” he said. “It was a process of getting people to understand what a bike path would look like.”

The task force’s vision was soon enacted, and the Greenway has been servicing locals since 2009. Mones described the trail as in “pretty good condition,” though regular pockets of litter have tended to stick around. The Friends of the Greenway organization targets those areas once per month, keeping its community trail tidy and clean.

Celebrating Mother Earth

Volunteer cleanup initiatives are putting the themes of Earth Day into practice at the community level.

Englebright, for whom the trail was renamed in 2022, was present during the cleanup. For him, the convergence of local cleanup efforts with Earth Day reflect the environmental movement’s local and global momentum.

“The volunteerism was very heartening and very rewarding to me,” he said. “When people are volunteering their time and focusing their energies on Earth Day, it’s just a positive vibration and it speaks well for the role of the trail in the maturation of our communities.”

Throughout his time in public life, Englebright has been a vocal advocate for the environment, one of the earliest voices to ring the alarm on overdevelopment and sprawl, open space preservation and water quality protection in Suffolk County.

Over time, however, the former assemblyman said he had observed even greater attention for sustainability and environmental consciousness.

“I’m greatly encouraged to see people of all ages — there were people with white hair and people at various grade levels of our public schools — all working together with their enthusiasm reinforcing one another, reinforcing the premise that Earth Day should be special,” he said.

In Port Jefferson Station, there are several new development proposals, most notably at Jefferson Plaza, just a block from the trailhead. [See story, “Developers pitch plans for Jefferson Plaza,” June 24, TBR News Media website.]

While Mones accepts new development projects as “inevitable,” he said those projects should be grounded by sound community plans, considering the interests of all concerned parties.

“Development and the environment can work together, but it takes kind of a synergy between town planners, the developer and the community to work together to do a plan that works for everybody,” he said.

Englebright said the redevelopment plans for Jefferson Plaza and other projects have been, up to this point, guided by such concepts. He expressed optimism that the Port Jeff Station/Terryville community could hash out a workable compromise.

“When you say redevelopment, it’s also reinvestment into a community,” he said. “I hope that we can bring those projects forward that are being planned for the redevelopment of Port Jefferson Station in a way that lifts all of the boats in the harbor at the same time.”

The North Shore Rail Trail, which connects Mount Sinai to Wading River, was formally opened last summer. The two trailheads at Port Jefferson Station and Mount Sinai are about a mile apart. Englebright remains optimistic that the two may soon intersect, enabling a continuous bike ride from Setauket to Wading River.

“They should be linked up,” he said. “Look, if the Appalachian Trail can go the length of the Appalachians from Maine to Georgia, and they can link that together, then we can link our trails together here on Long Island.”

Letters to the Editor — April 27

by - April 27, 2023

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letters_page-scaled — File photo by Raymond Janis

Support Healthy School Meals for All bill

Every child deserves to be fed, and in a nation as wealthy as ours, no child should go hungry. The April 20 editorial [“Food before football: Long Island’s uphill battle against childhood hunger”] correctly identifies the crisis of child hunger, and how our government is failing to adequately address the issue. There is a legislative answer to this crisis in New York, and it is the Healthy School Meals for All bill. Our state Legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul [D] must pass it this year.

The bill ends the policy of means testing, and establishes permanent funding for every child to receive breakfast and lunch at school at no cost. This saves struggling families money on their grocery bills, and eliminates the stigma that may prevent children from utilizing the current program. The cost in New York would be less than 0.01% of the state budget, with $200 million of state dollars supplementing the federal assistance provided to New York. It is estimated that this will provide an additional 726,000 students in New York state access to two meals a day. Currently, one in seven of New York’s children are food insecure, and this disproportionately impacts students of color.

Children are more than just a test score. If a child is hungry, it is difficult for them to learn, to play and to grow. The Healthy School Meals for All legislation addresses the needs of the whole child, and is economic justice for New York’s children and families.

This bill is supported by many organizations across the state. Suffolk Progressives, the group I founded, is a proud supporter of the bill, and I encourage others to join the call to reduce child hunger by asking their lawmakers to sign on. I urge constituents to reach out to state Sens. Anthony Palumbo [R-New Suffolk], Dean Murray [R-East Patchogue] and Mario Mattera [R-St. James], and Assemblywoman Jodi Giglio [R-Riverhead], who are not currently listed as co-sponsors of the bill.

Childhood hunger is not a partisan issue, and all of Long Island’s lawmakers should get behind this legislation. The Legislature must pass Healthy School Meals for All, and Hochul must sign it into law in the 2023 legislative session. New York’s children are depending on it.

Shoshana Hershkowitz

South Setauket

Let’s patronize our local restaurants

Why not patronize your neighborhood restaurants during Long Island Restaurant Week April 23-30 with a wide variety of both two-course lunch and three-course dinner specials all year long.

My wife and I don’t mind occasionally paying a little more to help our favorite restaurants survive. Don’t forget your cook and server. We try to tip 20 to 25 percent against the total bill including taxes. If it is an odd amount, we round up to the next dollar. If we can afford to eat out, we can afford an extra dollar tip. When ordering take out, we always leave a dollar or two for the waiter or cook. It is appreciated.

The restaurant industry employees include hosts, bartenders, waiters, bus boys, cooks, cashiers, parking valets, wholesale food sellers, distributors and linen suppliers. There are also construction contractors who renovate or build new restaurants.

Our local entrepreneurs work long hours, pay taxes and provide local employment especially to students during the summer. If we don’t patronize our local restaurants, they don’t eat either. Why travel into Manhattan when there are so many great neighborhood restaurants in Centereach, Cold Spring Harbor, Commack, Huntington, Mount Sinai, Northport, Port Jefferson, Selden, Smithtown and Stony Brook?

Larry Penner

Great Neck

Maria’s No Mow May campaign

Sadly, Maria Hoffman passed away in 2022. She was someone who was involved in everything and anything that touched our community — historical preservation, open space protection and environmental issues.

There was no issue too large, or too small, that Maria wasn’t part of — and always achieved with a smile on her face.

Her involvement was done with a quiet style and grace, and while her voice was soft and light, her influence was great.

Anyone who enjoys West Meadow Beach, the Setauket to Port Jefferson Station Greenway, the cultural, historical and art institutions in the area — they all need to give special thanks to Maria’s legacy.

Maria was an avid beekeeper.

She loved her bees and maintained a number of hives.

Her eyes sparkled whenever she spoke about bees — she marveled at their unique abilities and intelligence.

And she was deeply concerned about the declining bee populations across the country.

To honor the legacy of Maria and to protect the bee, butterfly and bird populations, the Three Village Community Trust is kicking off its 1st annual Maria’s No Mow May campaign.

No Mow May is an international movement that first was popularized by Plantlife, an organization based in Salisbury, England. The simple goal of No Mow May is to allow grass to grow during the month of May, creating an important spring habitat for early season pollinators. No Mow May is really easy — do nothing!

Don’t apply any fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides or pesticides.

While community residents might not want to leave their entire lawn unmown for the month of May, just allowing a small area to be part of No Mow May will make a difference to the environment.

You’re likely to see yard signs saying “ join Maria’s No Mow May campaign throughout the community.

Join the Three Village Community Trust, your friends and neighbors in Maria’s No Mow May. Just like Maria — bee special!

Herb Mones

President, Three Village Community Trust

Eliminating bail reduces recidivism

A recent letter by Jim Soviero [“Dem Albany County DA Soares criticizes bail reform,” April 6] essentially reprints a New York Post op-ed piece by Albany County DA David Soares deriding bail reform. Soviero takes great pains to emphasize Soares’ political affiliation (Democratic) and race (Black).

As I’m sure Soviero would agree, even Democrats can be wrong sometimes. And regardless of Soares’ race, neither he, nor Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post, nor even Soviero himself are better equipped to decide what’s best for New York’s African-American community than that community itself. Polling shows that the overwhelming majority of Blacks support policies reducing incarceration. If bail reform is as terrible for the African-American community as Soviero’s crocodile tears seem to suggest, there’s a simple remedy — they can vote out of office their representatives who voted for it. That’s not about to happen. Instead, the voices most stridently denouncing reform are those exploiting the politics of fear and division.

If just jailing people made our streets and communities safer, the United States should be the safest country in the world. After all, we lead the world in incarceration, both absolutely and per capita.

As far as the cherry-picked statistics Soares relies on and Soviero repeats to denounce reform, they’re all wet. A study released this March by John Jay College, the preeminent criminal justice school in the state, shows that the 2020 bail reform law has actually reduced the likelihood of someone getting rearrested. “Fundamentally, we found that eliminating bail for most misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies reduced recidivism in New York City, while there was no clear effect in either direction for cases remaining bail eligible,” said Michael Rempel, director of John Jay College’s Data Collaborative for Justice.

All of this obscures the fact that the purpose of bail is for one thing only — to restrain those judged to be a flight risk. It is not to lock up people, sometimes for weeks or months in horrible conditions, who are legally innocent. Unless we are willing to drop the presumption of innocence from our legal system entirely.

I’m sure that Soviero would agree with me that the recently indicted former president is legally entitled to the presumption of innocence. So why is it that he, who is rich and powerful, is entitled to this, but someone who is poor and powerless is not? I don’t know what to call that, but I certainly wouldn’t call it justice.

David Friedman

St. James

Editor’s note: We are publishing this letter because it responds to an earlier letter. In the future, we ask that letters mainly speak to local issues.

Local residents toast George Washington’s visit

This past Saturday local residents gathered on the corner of Bayview Avenue, East Setauket, and Route 25A to commemorate the 233rd year of our first president George Washington’s visit to Setauket on April 22, 1790. Several in attendance read excerpts about Washington and his life, including a poem written by ChatGPT on Washington’s trip to the Roe Tavern in Setauket.

As many know, Washington came to Setauket during the first year of his presidency to meet with Capt. Austin Roe who ran a small tavern on what is now Route 25A near East Setauket Pond Park. Though the president’s diary was sparse about the true intentions for his five-day trip to Long Island, many believe it was to thank those who had been part of the Culper Spy Ring that was founded in Setauket and critical to Washington’s success against the British troops and mercenaries encamped in New York City.

This is the second year that local resident Rick McDowell and his brother Ken organized the gathering. They are already planning next year’s commemoration for another rousing cheer to our first president and to the Setauket spies who helped him win the War of Independence from Britain.

George Hoffman

Setauket

May 1 public hearing on Maryhaven is urgent

It’s concerning that a Village of Port Jefferson public hearing on changes to zoning for the Maryhaven Center of Hope property is still scheduled for May 1.

Especially since the follow-up work session on April 25 raised more questions than answers — even for some of the trustees. Further, from what we understand, the Board of Trustees has not even received a formal request from the developers, and the Building Department has no record of any application. So why the rush?

The village attorney argues that having the zoning hearing now allows the village to be proactive when the developers are ready to apply. But this remedy seems more preemptive than proactive because the residents don’t yet have enough information to make an informed decision.

Not only were we not included in any of the prior discussions, but it does not appear that a full due diligence was conducted.

It might be too late to call for the hearing to be postponed. But it’s not too late to request that no binding decisions on Maryhaven be made until residents have a chance to review the facts and, perhaps, propose other options for the property.

In order to get answers, we urge you to come to the public hearing at Village Hall on Monday, May 1, at 6 p.m.

Ana Hozyainova, President

Kathleen McLane, Outreach Officer

Port Jefferson Civic Association

No interest in changing Port Jeff Country Club to a public course

This is an open letter to the editor, to the members of the Port Jefferson Country Club and to the residents of the Village of Port Jefferson.

It has been brought to my attention by several members of the country club that inaccurate messaging is being shared around the course — that as part of my Port Jefferson mayoral campaign platform, I intend to convert the country club to a public municipal golf course, and make golf at the country club free for all residents. At first, I thought it was a joke. Because nothing could be further from the truth. Then when more people started asking me if it were true, I knew I had to address this publicly.

I have no interest or intent in changing the country club to a public course. I hope those who consider voting for me see through this political ruse and know I would never be so reckless or fiscally irresponsible. It will remain a private municipal course, as it always has been from the day Mayor Harold Sheprow acquired it, and as it was established when the decision to buy it was voted upon favorably in 1978 by the residents of Port Jefferson.

I will always support making the club and its restaurant facilities a welcoming and inclusive environment for all residents. Giving memberships away for free does not enter into that equation.

If PJCC members or village residents have questions and would like to personally discuss this or any information that has the appearance of being contrary to what I stand for — see my website www.sheprowformayor.com under the “platform” tab — I can be reached by email at [email protected].

Lauren Sheprow, Trustee

Village of Port Jefferson

Editor’s note: The writer is the daughter of former Port Jefferson Mayor Harold Sheprow.

Community comes together to beautify Stony Brook train station

by Rita J. Egan - April 26, 2023

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In celebration of Earth Day, community groups throughout the Three Village joined forces to clean up Stony Brook train station. Volunteers were armed with rakes, leaf blowers, pruning scissors and more on Saturday, April 22.

The North Suffolk Garden Club, along with Three Village Community Trust, Three Village Civic Association, Three Village Chamber of Commerce, The Stony Brook School, Brookhaven Town Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich (D-Stony Brook), Long Island Rail Road and Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn (D-Setauket) have been working on cleaning up the station since last summer.

Three Village’s Kinney is full of charitable endeavor

by Rita J. Egan - January 4, 2023

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Hope Kinney is a familiar face in the Three Village area.

Hope Kinney collecting donations for The Salvation Army. File photo

Whether at an event organized by the Rotary Club of Stony Brook, Three Village Community Trust, local chamber of commerce or working with students and businesses with the Three Village Industry Advisory Board, residents will see Kinney there with a smile on her face, scurrying around to help out.

For her dedication to her community, Kinney is one of TBR News Media’s People of the Year.

The admiration is mutual. Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn (D-Setauket) nominated Kinney for Suffolk County Woman of Distinction in the 5th Legislative District in 2020.

“Hope Kinney’s impact is ingrained within many of the layers that comprise our community,” the legislator wrote in an email. “From her highly visible leadership role with, and on behalf of, local business to her continual support of organizations committed to societal improvement, Hope is dedicated to serving neighbors and community with purpose. There is so much to honor Hope Kinney for, and I believe, this recognition translates our thankful community’s gratitude into celebration of her uplifting and selfless spirit.”

For years, Kinney has been involved with the now-defunct Three Village Kiwanis Club and Rotary Club of Stony Brook. She became the president of the latter in the summer of 2020 and took on the challenge of organizing club events while navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. She scheduled Zoom meetings, and as more businesses were able to open up planned socially distanced lunches. She also put together a virtual online fundraiser for the Port Jefferson-based nonprofit Give Kids Hope, which provides food and clothing for local residents in need.

For the last three years, the rotary club has organized the Three Village Holiday Electric Parade. During the pandemic, due to COVID-19 restrictions, a drive-thru version of the event was held at Ward Melville High School.

Judi Wallace, treasurer of the rotary club, credits Kinney for keeping the organization going during the pandemic. She described Kinney as “a wonderful person” and “super community oriented.”

“Three Village means everything to her,” Wallace said.

Kinney is always looking for ways the rotary can assist individuals or groups who have a need in the area, Wallace said.

She added, “Hope is always thinking and always coming up with great ideas in order to do things in the community.”

Wallace said it was Kinney who brought back the 5K race organized by rotary and The Bench in Stony Brook.

“She just comes up with an idea and follows through, and that’s the most important thing in the world,” Wallace said.

The same year Kinney became president of the rotary club, she joined the Three Village Community Trust board and is currently its treasurer.

Herb Mones, president of TVCT, said it’s refreshing and a big help to a volunteer-based organization such as TVCT to have someone such as Kinney who is always ready to chip in when asked.

“She is always the first to say, ‘I can do that,’ and helps and takes on different responsibilities when the need is there,” he said. “She does it in an upbeat, happy way of feeling that she is contributing and helping the community.”

Hope Kinney standing in front of the Rotary Club truck in Hicksville about to receive 4,000 masks in 2020. Photo from Hope Kinney

She was recently able to secure a $4,000 grant through her employer, Investors Bank, which will go toward the restoration of the immigrant factory houses in Setauket. Kinney has also spearheaded the trust’s gala in November, which Mones said is the most successful fundraiser for TVCT.

“She’s always got an ear to the community and understands things that are going on and that becomes very helpful in so many different ways,” Mones said.

Kinney juggles all her volunteer roles while working full-time as the branch manager at Investors Bank, formerly Gold Coast Bank, at its Setauket location on Route 25A.

Kinney started her banking career at Capital One in 2004. When the bank had layoffs in 2018, she was recruited by John Tsunis, Gold Coast’s founder, as branch manager.

In a 2020 interview with The Village Times Herald, Kinney talked about balancing her career and volunteerism with spending time with her husband, Joseph, and three children Justin, Michael and Rachel. To handle all her responsibilities, she said she tries to stay organized and not get overwhelmed.

“I take it day by day,” Kinney said. “I put it on the calendar, and I’m able to look at the calendar and then I go day by day … I guess that’s the secret — work with each day.”

A special honor for Steve Englebright, the consummate politician

by Raymond Janis - December 29, 2022

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New York State Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) has held elective office continuously since 1983. Englebright’s long tenure now comes to a close.

In a tight state election for District 4 last month, Englebright narrowly lost to his Republican Party challenger Ed Flood (R-Port Jefferson). In an exit interview, the outgoing assemblyman reflected upon his pathway into government, the legislative victories throughout that time and the meaning of public service.

The road to politics

Growing up, the young Englebright spent much of his time in libraries. He found refuge in books, which satiated his curiosity and “compelling interest in how things worked.” He also nourished a lifelong fascination with history through those hours devoted to learning.

Leading up to his first run for office, Englebright said he was deeply disturbed by the environmental degradation characteristic of those times. The “almost daily reports” of overdevelopment and sprawl, oil spills and drinking water contamination, each had left a deep and abiding impression on him.

‘The proper role of government is to protect the people who sent you.’ — Steve Englebright

He was teaching geology at Stony Brook University when he began considering public life. “I realized that drinking water was the first limiting factor for the continued well-being of this Island, and I was not really seeing any meaningful public policy growing out of the reports of chaos,” he said.

The late professor Hugh Cleland, from the SBU Department of History, would prove to be the catalyst behind Englebright’s ascent to politics. Cleland sat down with him at the campus student union. For several hours, the two discussed a possible bid for a Suffolk County legislative seat.

“This was a really serious and credible and well thought-out request that he was making,” Englebright said. “So I didn’t just wave it off. I gave it some thought and, sure enough, I found myself saying, ‘What’s next?’”

After that meeting, Englebright decided to run and was elected to the county Legislature in 1983. He won election after election for the next four decades.

County Legislature

Upon entering the county Legislature, Englebright simultaneously confronted an array of environmental dilemmas. He described the defunct Long Island Lighting Company, the precursor to today’s Long Island Power Authority, as “at that time wanting to build a small galaxy of nuclear power plants on Long Island.” He stressed that the utility company was favoring its shareholder interests at the residents’ expense.

Englebright successfully championed, along with a grassroots movement of LILCO ratepayers, against the construction of the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant and other nuclear plants to follow. Their resistance efforts were grounded primarily in the risks associated with evacuation.

Another major policy issue during his early political career was the protection of groundwater and surface waters in Suffolk County. “I pushed successfully for the largest county-level open space program in the nation,” he said. He was one of the earliest critics against sprawl.

As a county legislator, he initiated the first plastics ban in the nation. Though ahead of his time on the issue, he admitted that not enough has been done elsewhere to counteract the problem, which he said “has exploded into a worldwide catastrophe.”

He sponsored legislation excising a small fee on hotel and motel rooms, considering the measure as a fee on tourists allowing for their continued enjoyment of the area through reinvestment into the county’s most attractive destinations.

“If you wonder why county Legislator [Kara] Hahn [D-Setauket] is able to have some discretion to provide funding to Gallery North or the Reboli Center, that funding is coming from the hotel/motel room fee,” he said.

State Assembly

As a state assemblyman, Englebright quickly picked up where he left off, building upon and expanding his county policies at the state level. Among his earliest actions was the Long Island Pine Barrens Protection Act, a state law ensuring the preservation of the Pine Barrens as open space.

He sponsored some of the original laws in New York state related to solar power and other renewables. “In my first year in the state Legislature, I was successfully pushing for legislation that had paved the way for the electronic age,” he said.

Englebright added that the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act was the most crucial legislation he ever sponsored. This ambitious law aims to reduce statewide greenhouse gas emissions by 85% from 1990 levels by 2050.

Englebright also successfully led a statewide ban on purse seining, a highly efficient fishing technique responsible for the depletion of menhaden, or bunker, in New York’s surrounding waters.

“The marine world all depends on having this abundant fish at the base of the food chain,” the assemblyman said. Purse seining allowed large-scale fishing operations to collect “whole schools of menhaden, millions and millions of fish.”

One of the fondest moments throughout his tenure happened just last summer. On a boat trip off the coast of Montauk Point during early morning hours, the sun rising off the horizon line, he witnessed entire schools of menhaden beneath the water.

“The sea was boiling with fish,” he said. “Menhaden, they were back by the billions.”

Reminiscent of his earliest years in libraries, historic preservation would be a significant point of emphasis for Englebright. “I’m very proud of the many properties that are preserved, the historic sites.” Such sites either preserved or to be preserved include Patriots Rock and Roe Tavern in Setauket and William Tooker House in Port Jefferson, among many others.

Even in his final days in office, Englebright made historic breakthroughs. Though his reelection bid was unsuccessful, Englebright rejoiced in yet another major victory for environmental sustainability. Last month, New Yorkers overwhelmingly approved a recent $4.2 billion environmental bond act, a multiyear investment in clean water, air, wildlife and the environment.

Reflections from his community

During his extended time in political service, Englebright has worked alongside countless public representatives at all levels of government. He maintained “they’re not all scoundrels,” adding that many were “superb public servants.”

In a series of written statements and phone interviews, several public representatives and close Englebright associates and friends had an opportunity to weigh in on his legacy of service and commitment to his community.

Englebright “proved himself to be an environmental pioneer, a champion for the causes and concerns of his constituents and an unflinching fighter for the communities he served,” Hahn said. “For those of us who served in elected office with him during his tenure, irrespective of political persuasion or level of government, Steve proved himself to be a friend and mentor who embodied the role of effective leadership in the lives of those we represent.”

As recently as Dec. 6, the Three Village Community Trust honored the assemblyman by renaming the Greenway trail as The Steve Englebright Setauket to Port Jefferson Station Greenway.

Port Jefferson Mayor Margot Garant commented on the characteristics that set Englebright apart from other politicians. She said his scientific background and wide-ranging interests added depth to his political persona.

“He’s a unique legislator in that he’s so well rounded in those other areas and that he’s not just focused on the hard line of the law,” she said. “He’s involved with his community, he’s approachable, he’s caring, he’s kind. He’s a very unique representative, and we’re going to miss him sorely.”

Like Englebright, Port Jefferson village trustee Rebecca Kassay worked in environmental advocacy before entering government. She discussed Englebright’s ongoing extended producer responsibility legislation, which would require producers of packaging materials, rather than taxpayers, to be responsible for managing post-consumer packaging material waste.

“This can be a step toward addressing a multitude of waste management, environmental and financial issues facing municipalities and individuals,” Kassay said. “I hope to see the assemblyman’s colleagues and successor continue advocating for policies with long-term solutions,” adding, “Englebright is the type of commonsense representative we’d like to see more of in government.”

In a joint statement, George Hoffman and Laurie Vetere of the Setauket Harbor Task Force reflected upon Englebright’s importance to local harbors.

“In his time as our state representative, Steve Englebright never forgot the importance of the harbor,” they said. “Assemblyman Englebright found ways to secure needed dollars from Albany to help the task force in its mission of protecting water quality and the sustainability of Setauket and Port Jefferson harbors.”

Joan Nickeson, community liaison of the Port Jefferson Station/Terryville Chamber of Commerce, credited Englebright for the continued flourishment of her area. She said the hotel/motel tax he sponsored had enabled the chamber to conduct its annual summer concert series at the Train Car Park.

“Assemblyman Englebright has continued to be a friend of the chamber by supporting our local businesses and attending our ribbon-cutting ceremonies,” she said.

Within those 40 years, countless other acts and initiatives have come to fruition with Englebright’s assistance. Reflecting on his time in public service, he outlined his political doctrine.

“The proper role of government is to protect the people who sent you,” he said. “If you keep your eye on the prize, you can achieve things for the people who invested their trust in you.”

On the role of the public representative, he added, “Use the office as a bully pulpit, speak truth to power, identify things that are wrong and right them, and treat the office as an opportunity to do good.”

For wielding his office as a force of good for four decades, TBR News Media dedicates Steve Englebright as honorary 2022 Person of the Year.

Three Village Community Trust to honor John Turner at Fall Gala

by Press Release - November 2, 2022

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The Three Village Community Trust’s 18th annual Fall Gala will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. at the Old Field Club.

The Fall Gala is the Trust’s most important source of funding to “Protect the Places You Love” and encourages everyone in the community to attend. As an all-volunteer and a not for profit organization, the Trust depends on the Gala to support its many projects throughout 2023.

“Study of Sky over the Three Village Inn” by Christian White

This year’s special honoree for the evening will be noted author and lecturer John Turner, widely recognized as one of the most respected and influential voices for the protection of our natural environment. Turner is co-founder of the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, the Conservation Chair of the Four Harbors Audubon Society, and an active member of numerous environmental advocacy organizations.

Every Trust site benefits by this event: Patriots Rock Historic Site, The Immigrant Factory Worker Houses, The Hawkins Homestead, the Smith/deZafra House, the Tyler House, the Setauket to Port Jefferson Station Greenway, the Steven D. Matthews Preserve and the Bruce House. Additionally, this event helps fund the Dr. Robert deZafra Acquisition Fund — helping the Trust to purchase additional historical properties in the future. By attending you will be helping to preserve and protect some of our area’s most treasured sites.

There will be live music by Carl Safina and Moment’s Notice, a light buffet, an art raffle for a Christian White painting titled “Study of Sky over the Three Village Inn,” spectacular raffle baskets, and much more.

Tickets to the event, which are $75 per person, can be purchased on the Trust’s website, www.threevillagecommunitytrust.org. For more information, call 631-942-4558, or email [email protected].

Three Village Community Trust announces fundraiser dedicated to beloved, late resident

by Rita J. Egan - September 29, 2022

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Herb Mones, right, announced the Three Village Community Trust’s new challenge grant in honor of Maria Hoffman. Her husband, George, above left, was on hand for the announcement on Sept. 27. Photo above by Rita J. Egan

Three Village Community Trust members gathered in Setauket for a special announcement Sept. 27.

Standing in front of the Bruce House headquarters on Main Street, TVCT president Herb Mones announced the kickoff of the Maria Hoffman $50,000 Challenge Grant campaign. Hoffman was a land trust member and an aide to state Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket).

Mones said nearly $10,000 had already been raised toward the goal. A $50,000 matching grant was acquired from the state by Englebright earlier this year, and Mones said the funds raised would go toward the restoration of historical properties in the Three Village community and the land trust’s operational costs.

Mones said Hoffman “impacted so much of what we have inside of this community on a continual basis, and provided the services that often we needed through a legislative office. She did it with grace, she did it with dignity and she always did it quietly.”

Englebright described Hoffman as “the right-hand side of my brain.”

“I think it’s appropriate that we recognize her and remember her to continue her legacy,” the assemblyman said, adding she was the “brains behind the whole operation” at his office.

He also talked about Hoffman’s sense of place that she memorialized through her work and with her photography and artwork, too.

Hoffman’s husband, George, was also in attendance. He said his wife loved the Three Village area and Setauket Harbor. The Bruce House was a spot Maria Hoffman always cherished. When the home was up for sale before they met in 2009, she was looking for a house but knew it would be too small if she were to marry one day. He added she was also excited when the immigrant worker homes were moved to the location from their former site near the Setauket firehouse down the street.

In addition to the state matching grant, Investors Bank recently gave TVCT a separate $4,000 grant. These funds will go toward restoring the immigrant worker houses which need work, such as replacing deteriorated exterior siding and damaged interior wallboard.

Home•Land•Nature exhibit opens at Gallery North

by Press Release - September 28, 2022

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Up next for Gallery North in Setauket is Home · Land · Nature, a selection of recent works by artist Han Qin, on view from Sept. 29 to Nov. 13. An opening reception will be held on Thursday, Sept. 29, from 6 to 8 p.m.

The solo exhibition features small, medium, and large cyanotypes, woodblock prints, and drawings that explore concepts of home and the process of relocation.

Drawing from her own experience of migration, Qin renders moments of passing through, of conflict, of getting together, and of migrating into form and image. Her artwork incorporates poignant, structural elements of Confucian philosophy, conveying the fluidity of identity and its evolution.

There is a sense of displacement, chaos, triumph, and eventual replanting in Home · Land · Nature. Qin translates social phenomena and movement — among groups and individuals — into works which incorporate traditional cyanotype, woodblock printing, 3D scanning, and digital printing methods.

“One of the elements that excites me about the exhibition is that while Han’s work draws on the emotions of her own lived experience of migration, they are universal in their ability to connect with viewers. … The works silently call viewers to explore them and ask where they themselves are or have been among these images,” said curator Kate Schwarting.

In collaboration with the Three Village Community Trust (TVCT), Gallery North will also present an outdoor projection event featuring Han Qin’s multimedia work at the TVCT’s Immigrant Worker Houses, located behind the Bruce House at 148 Main Street in Setauket, on Saturday, Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. This projection event will highlight the important experiences of all immigrant groups throughout the history of the Three Village community.

Gallery North will also host an ArTalk with Han Qin on Saturday, Nov. 5 at 6 pm.

Generously sponsored by Jefferson’s Ferry, bld Architecture, and Suffolk County’s Department of Economic Development and Planning, the exhibition, reception and affiliated events are free and open to the public.

Gallery North, 90 North Country Road, Setauket, is open Wednesdays to Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays from 1 to 5 p.m. For more information, call 631-751-2676 or visit www.gallerynorth.org.

Three Village Community Trust BBQ celebrates local history

by TBR Staff - August 24, 2022

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The Three Village Community Trust hosted its 7th annual Chicken Hill Country Picnic and Barbecue Aug. 20 on the grounds of the Setauket Rubber Factory Workers Houses at the trust’s headquarters on Main Street.

The rubber factory, which produced items such as shoes, boots and rain gear, was once located near the property. The small houses provided homes for the Eastern European and Russian immigrants that worked at the factory. The area surrounding the site soon became known as Chicken Hill.

The nearly 100 attendees at the Aug. 20 event were treated to corn on the cob, hamburgers, chicken dogs and more, while being entertained by musician, author and storyteller Johnny Cuomo. The afternoon also included tours of the factory workers houses that were built in the late 1800s and Three Village history talks.

“We hosted many young newcomers to the Three Villages who are interested in its history and culture,” Herb Mones, TVCT president, said in an email. “It was so good to see that Chicken Hill is no longer ‘a community lost in time.’”

“Today, these small, rustic houses are a visual reminder of the hopes, dreams and struggles of so many of our nation’s immigrants,” Mones said.

Proceeds from the event will go toward restoration of the houses and other TVCT historical properties. The trust will also use funds for the upkeep of the Setauket-Port Jefferson Station Greenway Trail.

Chicken Hill BBQ returns to the Three Villages for 7th year

by Press Release - August 8, 2022

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Chicken Hill BBQ — Photo by Michael Rosengard

Tickets are on now on sale!

The Three Village Community Trust invites the community to its 7th annual Chicken Hill Country Picnic and Barbecue on the lawn of the Bruce House, 148 Main St., Setauket on the grounds of the Setauket Rubber Factory Houses on Saturday, Aug. 20 from 4 to 7 p.m.

A fun, family event to celebrate the history of the Three Villages, participants will enjoy hamburgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob, chicken dogs, drinks, art raffle and raffle baskets.

Headlining the entertainment for the afternoon will be Johnny Cuomo, the popular musician, author, and storyteller. Johnny has established himself as a distinctive voice of America’s tunes, Irish songs, folk music, and minstrels. The Trust is thrilled to host Johnny Cuomo in the heart of the Three Villages – at Chicken Hill. There will also be house tours and talks about the history and importance of a ‘community lost in time’ – Chicken Hill.

All proceeds from the event will go to the ongoing restoration of the Factory Worker Houses, and the other historical properties of the Trust, as well as the upkeep of the Setauket to Port Jefferson Station Greenway.

Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 at the door, $5 kids 5 to 12, under age 5 free. Bring seating. Rain date is Sunday, Aug. 21.

Online sales at: threevillagecommunitytrust.org or mail a check to TVCT, PO Box 2596, Setauket, NY 11733

Need more info? Call H. Mones at 631-942-4558, or write to [email protected], or [email protected]

Background:

The three Factory Worker Houses at 148 Main Street in Setauket were built in the late 1800’s and represent an important part of the American immigrant experience.

Near this site, the Setauket Rubber Factory operated as Long Island’s leading producer of domestic goods. Hundreds of workers helped manufacture such items as shoes, boots and rain gear.

Immigrants arriving in New York City from Eastern Europe and Russia were offered steady work and inexpensive housing at the factory. These new Americans came to this area in the hopes of a better life, although the work was difficult, conditions poor and the pay low.

Housing was provided by the factory in the form of the modest “factory houses.” Each of these “company houses” has essentially two rooms – one room on the first floor and one on the second floor. Several families would crowd into the houses to afford the monthly rent payments. The surrounding area – a half mile in each direction – came to be known as “Chicken Hill.”

Yet, despite the poor working and living conditions, the immigrants helped build a vibrant community. By 1881, by there were enough Irish-Catholics in Setauket to hold a St. Patrick’s Day Parade, and build the community’s first Catholic Church on Main Street. The Jewish population, recruited from Ellis Island, was large enough to support a synagogue – the first on Long Island – called Agudas Achim or “Good Fellowship.

Saved from demolition due to the efforts of NYS Assemblyman Steven Englebright, the Three Village Community Trust and dedicated community volunteers, the “Immigrant Worker Factory Houses” were moved to this site for the purpose of preservation and restoration.

Today, these small, rustic houses are a visual reminder of the hopes, dreams and struggles of so many of our nation’s immigrants.

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