Vol. XXIII, No. 3 Summer 2009
2009 Summer Membership Meeting
This issue of the Newsletter is devoted to the FIA Summer Meeting. Whyte Hall, at Fire Island Pines, provided an impressive venue and several members of the press attended.
FIA’s Summer Meeting, held at the Ocean Beach Community House for more than 20 years, convened at Fire Island Pines’ Whyte Hall on July 18. The Ocean Beach Association has been a gracious host for the meeting (and a generous supporter of FIA activities) for many years: the reason for the change in venue was the hope that new members might be attracted from the easterly communities. Many supporters from Davis Park, the Pines and the Grove did attend; we’ll see about the new members. The meeting will return to Ocean beach in 2010 and possibly rotate to other Fire Island communities in odd-numbered years in the future.
FIA arranged with Fire Island Ferries to have those who wanted to attend do so via water taxi from the west and east end communities, as in recent meetings. About 80 were in the audience, most from within walking distance, it appeared. We appreciate the cooperation of the ferry company’s president, Tim Mooney.
Extensive notes on the meeting proceedings are posted on the FIA website and made available to the media. Our comments on how the press handled the meeting follow.
Newsday, Suffolk County News (Long Island Advance and Islip Bulletin), Fire Island Tide, Fire Island News and the Fire Island Sun e-newsletter all were present or ran stories.
Much of the news coverage focused on islander concern that police patrols may not be adequate. Controversy, if that is not too strong a term in this case, allows newspaper people to seize on the “let’s you and him fight” story, a journalistic staple. In this case, however, the fight is between the County Executive and his police department managers and the Police Benevolent Association, which had two or three representatives in the audience. It is a debate for FIA to stay out of, while trying to avoid offending both sides.
Newsday’s Christina Hernandez was one of the reporter’s who focused on the police coverage story. Here is an excerpt:
“Several locals said they are worried there are not enough officers from the Suffolk County [Police Department’s] Marine Bureau to handle the many day-trippers, some of them unruly, who flock to Fire Island. ‘They have two men at night taking care of 17 miles of beach,’ said Steve Placilla of Ocean Bay Park, who later said he had been told that by police on the island…”.
The Newsday reporter also included quotes from a separate interview with Pete Conte, a 20-year veteran of the beach patrol and PBA representative, who said the force was at “a bare minimum.” That is perhaps not unexpected given present economic constraints on county government spending.
Newsday also focused on beach protection: “On the meeting’s other major topic, Joseph Vietri, director of policy and planning for the North Atlantic Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said that although a plan to deal with erosion is not yet in place, it is moving forward. ‘It’s another year, another [association] meeting and ► the only sand I bring you is in my shoes,’ he said. But, ‘there is no more data being collected. . . . It’s done.’ The next step is public meetings so residents can help decide how the mitigation plan will be put in place, Vietri said. Ultimately, the federal government will decide how to fund the project, he said, so local support is important. ‘We really could effect some major change in the next six months,’ Vietri said.”
Sounds good to us.
Newsday accurately summed up what is important to most Fire Islanders. The primary issue is adoption by local, state and national government of a rational program for protecting and enhancing the barrier island. Second in importance is working with the Seashore to maintain and improve the quality of life on Fire Island. The latter certainly includes the ability of police to serve and protect the residents and to keep the peace, but neither of these objectives is so far from being attained as to warrant elevating them in importance over maintaining the island’s very existence. First things first.
Jeffrey Besson, editor of the Islip Bulletin filed a story that also ran in its sister paper , the Long island Advance. Both are part of Suffolk County News. The Advance focuses on Patchogue and, fittingly, the accompanying photo was of Ron Martin, president of Fire island Pines Property Owners Association, at the Whyte Hall podium, welcoming the audience. In the Bulletin, the picture was of keynoter Phil Nolan, Islip Town Supervisor.
Mr. Besson put his finger on it when he wrote, “The survival of this 32-mile long barrier beach was at the forefront of the presentations” at the meeting. He noted in particular the remarks of Joe Vietri stressing the latter’s reference to the $30 million expended over two decades of research into how best to preserve and enhance Long Island’s south shore. “[Policy] decisions have been made elsewhere with a lot less information,” he observed.
Mr. Vietri added that, “‘The state (New York) finally signed on with what the Corp would recommend.’” Mr. Besson wrote, “Calling it the ‘last, biggest opportunity for adaptive management,’ Vietri said the issue is now a philosophical difference in missions between the National Park Service, Fish & Wildlife Service and the Corp and reconciling the differences, along with what the federal, state, county and town governments want to do, will be the challenge and tipping point for these plans.”
Mr. Vietri noted that issues of the economy, health care and climate change are preoccupying the Obama administration and that part of his job is “to explain how preserving Fire island and the remaining south shore estuary from Rockaway to Montauk fits into that climate change conversation.” He said the costs of the plans are off the charts but “the cost of not doing anything is even more off the charts.” He was referring to the immense losses in property, infrastructure and, possibly, human lives, of “allowing nature to take its course” on the south shore of Long Island.
The same issue of the Bulletin featured an editorial that focused on the role of island residents in preserving the barrier. Superintendent Chris Soller had mentioned his disappointment that some of his neighbors in the Pines have shown little awareness of their responsibility, as property owners, in preserving the island. He referred to visiting a home where the owner had removed part of the dune constructed at considerable cost by Pines taxpayers over the winter to restore the “view” that had been lost. The editorial said property owners are among the group of “vital stakeholders [who] need to be responsible for the property they own and use, and also be accountable to each other for its protection.”
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The Bulletin had the police presence story at the end of its coverage, noting that both elected officials present, Supervisor Nolan and Assemblywoman Ginny Fields, favored putting more pressure on the County Executive in order to get more police. Mr. Nolan’s observation that “the squeaky wheel gets the grease” appeared in several of the stories. Ms. Fields said she had taken the matter up with the county government and the involved police precincts, but had not received “definitive answers.”
Assemblywoman Fields also addressed the issue of allowing firefighters to volunteer in more than one fire department, which is important in vacation communities throughout New York State.
The Fire Island News coverage also led with police staffing, headlining their story “Safety First!” and quoting PBA spokesman Pete Conte’s statement about “bare minimum” staffing levels.
The News reporter, Michael K. Lavers, quoted Assemblywoman Fields’ observation that sending Marine Bureau vehicles off the island for fueling meant that they are unavailable for emergencies. “I don’t want to be in Davis Park having a heart attack while a car is off the beach gassing up,” she said. Her point is valid, even if heart attack victims are more likely to be removed by helicopter than by police ambulance.”
The News story noted the conflict with the Ocean Beach Association summer meeting, saying that “Ocean Beach officials were largely absent from the FIA meeting” because of the conflict. We hope the addition of the “Calendar” page on the FIA website will help minimize this problem in the future.
The Fire Island Tide provided the fullest account of the meeting. The story, written by Editor Elaine Kiesling Whitehouse, featured a reproduction of a letter from police Lieutenant Thomas Martorano on the subject of police coverage, to which the Tide added a note about additional security provided by village and Seashore law enforcement.
The Tide story made a point of Supervisor Nolan’s comments about Fire Island providing a considerable economic contribution to south shore towns as well as to their physical protection from the Atlantic Ocean. He also spoke of his personal and family connection to the island in warm terms.
Ms. Whitehouse’s story also touched on the important relationship that exists between the towns and the National Seashore. In discussing the controversy over weekday driving on the days leading up to the Memorial Day beginning of the summer season, the Supervisor was pragmatic. His approach: “Find a solution in which each side gets half a loaf.” Chris Soller had joined the park as Superintendent midway in the controversy. He noted later in the meeting that the incident pointed up the importance of working closely with those in the municipalities who share regulatory responsibilities affecting the park.
The Tide also provided detail on the police coverage issue. In an exchange with Assemblywoman Fields, Chief Ranger Jay Lippert noted that cooperation with Suffolk Police on an on-island fuel depot might reduce the time needed for refueling. Ms. Fields said she is a big supporter of the Fire Island Law Enforcement/Security Council, which Chief Lippert chairs. She called it a model for inter-agency cooperation in the area of public safety.
The Tide gave extended coverage to Joe Vietri’s remarks, stressing his reference to the promise by cooperating agencies to comment on the Corps’ recommendations by mid-August.
Special attention was given to Superintendent Soller’s comments on erosion from the park’s standpoint. In addition to the individual who altered a dune to restore his view, Mr. Soller ► referred to an ocean front owner who wants to build a swimming pool in the dune area between his house and the beach. “People want variances to build pools. This will compromise the dune system. It is all about ‘I need to have my pool,’ not the community. This is a fragile place. Barrier islands are not forever. They migrate – it is tough to accept, but it is the reality.” He added, “The implications for the south shore of Long Island are huge. The shore is flooding regularly, and [this] involves all the houses on the estuary on Long Island. I understand both sides of the issue. I am an advocate for the community.”
No one can doubt the last observation and all of us need to work with the Seashore to accomplish our common goals. But, as these pages have frequently pointed out, Fire Island is not a migrating barrier. Steven (Dr. Beach) Leatherman and NPS’ own (the late) James Allen, wrote in 1985 that, especially west of Watch Hill, the island is axially stable. It has been essentially in one place
For 500 years. The question before us – and the Fire Island National Seashore – is whether it shall be allowed to erode even as it stays where it is. FIA’s position has always been that the island – and the mainland –can be protected by a rational and affordable program of periodic beach nourishment and the economic, protective and recreational benefits the island provides can be retained.
Finally, the Tide was the only paper to pay attention to one of the most important talks of the day, that by Chuck Bowman, president of Land Use Ecological Services. In tandem with Coastal Planning and Engineering, Land Use guided last winter’s beach building effort. Mr. Bowman answered questions about the project (a full report from CP&E is available on the FIA website) and made the point that “it is not too early to start exploring new sources of sand for future projects, in the event the project discussed by Mr. Vietri is deferred.” The FIA board will discuss this at its September meeting in New York. ▄
