After years of planning, eminent domain battles and public debate, what officials say will transform downtown into a destination is at last becoming reality.

We hope they’re right.

There’s reason for optimism. Joseph Petrocelli has a proven record — the Long Island Aquarium and Hyatt Place East End speak for themselves.

An 80-room Hilton Tapestry Collection hotel with condos and ground-floor retail could bring the kind of steady activity downtown Riverhead needs. Add in a public plaza, playground and amphitheater, and you’ve got real potential to undo decades of downtown decline.

But concerns remain, and Supervisor Tim Hubbard’s decision to dismiss critics as politically motivated obstructionists at an August Town Board meeting was unfair and unhelpful. Taxpayers have every right to question major development decisions without being accused of partisan obstruction.

Just three months after Mr. Hubbard praised Mr. Petrocelli’s track record at that same meeting, voters narrowly elected Pastor Jerry Halpin, a political unknown who campaigned on listening to residents, fiscal restraint and greater transparency in town government. Mr. Halpin won by just 37 votes in November. Friday’s groundbreaking may be one of the last times the public sees Mr. Hubbard in an official capacity before Mr. Halpin takes over Jan. 1.

Despite strong objections at public hearings, the Town Board voted unanimously to sign off on the deal. The town sold three properties for $2.65 million without competitive bidding. Whether that was legally permissible under urban renewal law isn’t the question — the question is whether it was wise. Did taxpayers get the best deal? We’ll never know, because no other proposals were sought.

The eminent domain proceeding that forced out Craft’D bar for a $120,000 settlement adds another uncomfortable layer. Using government power to seize private property for private development always deserves scrutiny.

Beyond the initial construction — slated to run through 2026 — taxpayers are on the hook for ongoing costs. Mr. Petrocelli’s firm will receive 7% of construction costs to manage the public spaces, plus $150,000 annually for 10 years to maintain the park. That’s $1.5 million in management fees alone, not counting the construction management percentage. 

Those aren’t abstract figures. They’re real taxpayer dollars flowing to a private developer for work the town’s parks department might otherwise perform.

The parking concerns are also worth taking seriously. Downtown already struggles during peak times. The development includes only 12 underground parking spaces for condo owners. The 80 hotel rooms and restaurant will rely on the planned First Street parking garage. That might work fine — or it might create a new problem.

None of this means the project is doomed. Many downtown business owners enthusiastically support the development. Letters of support flooded in from the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary and East End Arts. They see what Mr. Petrocelli’s previous projects have done for downtown. That track record counts for something.

Friday’s groundbreaking is a milestone, but it can’t be treated as a victory lap. The real test begins now.

The post Editorial: The real test begins after the groundbreaking appeared first on Riverhead News Review.

Climate Trace says the super emitters on Long Island are power plants in Holtsville, Shoreham/Wading River, Northport, and two harbors, Port Jefferson and Greenport. According to Newsday, “The figures for the two harbors are calculated by adding emissions from ferries and other boats that come and go from that port, Climate Trace explained: ‘Frequent domestic vessel traffic can also contribute significantly.’” Cause for alarm? Steps to be taken? No way, says the Environmental Protection Agency, led by former East End congressman Lee Zeldin. In fact, all this stuff is, according to President Trump, Mr. Zeldin’s boss, “a scam.”

Last March, Mr. Zeldin laid plans to reverse multiple regulations protecting us from air and water pollution. Mr. Zeldin has been quoted saying, “We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion.” Religion? Or a scam? Or the truth Big Oil and Big Coal don’t want you to hear?

As we’ve said before in this space, it’s baffling that there are still people who deny that climate change and severe weather patterns are caused chiefly by the burning of fossil fuels, something documented by an overwhelming consensus of scientists and scientific organizations. Disbelieving the evidence is on par with the belief that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

Mr. Zeldin, when he represented the East End, was in the main a moderate. But now he’s had a road to Damascus conversion, completely on board with the administration. As The New York Times reported: “Mr. Zeldin has withheld billions of dollars in climate funds approved by Congress, tried to fire hundreds of employees, recommended the elimination of thousands more EPA . scientists and started trying to repeal dozens of environmental regulations that limit toxic pollution. He has filled the leadership ranks at the agency with lobbyists and lawyers from industries that have fought environmental regulations.”

What is to be done? One place to start is to listen to the environmentalist and clean-energy advocate Robert Swan, who said, “The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.”

The post Editorial: The air we breathe appeared first on Riverhead News Review.

Of course, there’s nothing more true than the truth, but the myth is also true, if you take the old and, well, true meaning of the word. Myth in contemporary parlance means something false, whereas the original meaning is a story told to reveal a universal truth.

This parsing of language is appropriate as we celebrate one of the national holidays that has nothing to do with war or soldiers. It’s also not about individuals, like the birthdays of Lincoln and Washington, or remembering Martin Luther King Jr.; nor is it a day associated with religion, like Christmas.

This is where the power of myth surfaces. The stories handed down through generations — whether facts have been lost, obscured or tempered by time — reinforce what families and nations believe about the best part of themselves. And that best part of America is being grateful for what we have and sharing. Thanksgiving is the story every school child learns, passed down long ago, about the Native Americans, who besides teaching the Pilgrims to catch eels, also taught them to grow corn, and both communities sat down in peace and broke bread together.

We’re taught that we’re free, and we’re all equal, and so have a duty to give thanks.

The myth did grow out of actual facts, but it’s fairly certain the Pilgrims of Massachusetts didn’t just up and decide to hold the first Thanksgiving in 1621 and invite the Native Americans to dinner to thank them for their help in keeping their ’ community alive.

Early winter feasts giving thanks for a harvest that guaranteed survival and even comfort through the coldest months were common in Europe and America long before the Plymouth colony.

There might have been a roasted wild turkey or two at the Pilgrims’ dinner, but it wouldn’t have been the centerpiece. Venison and those eels would have taken that mouthwatering place, and pumpkin pie was likely not served. Cranberries would have been on the menu, but not as a relish.

What is certainly true about Thanksgiving is it’s a day every American knows is set aside to count blessings and remember an important element in the founding of our country.

People take what they will from the day. Arlo Guthrie hitched the holiday to the anti-war movement of the 1960s with “Alice’s Restaurant,” and Rush Limbaugh had his own tradition of retelling a story he dubbed, “The Real Story of Thanksgiving,” something about the battle between communism and the free enterprise system.

But, some facts: In 1863, Abraham Lincoln declared that our national day of Thanksgiving would be celebrated annually on the final Thursday of November. About a month after that proclamation, Lincoln spoke at the cemetery at Gettysburg, beginning his address by saying that we were a new nation “conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

More than enough to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families from all of us at Times Review Media Group.

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Wait a minute — isn’t it a bit soon for all that? It’s not even Thanksgiving, and we’re supposed to be singing carols?

Yes, it’s also that other time of year: the Season of Complaints. An old friend of ours once said he was beating the Christmas rush: “I’m getting depressed early.”

We won’t descend that deep into cynicism, but at times it’s hard not to be laid low by advertisers mobilizing into assault mode, running guilt-trips or begging us to buy! Buy! Buy!

A new buzzword in big-time retailing is “Christmas Creep,” describing the early (getting earlier every year) blitz rolled out to remind us that time is wasting for us to hurry on down to be separated from our money. And it all can take a serious toll.

The American Psychological Association has found seven out of 10 people are stressed by a feeling of not having enough money, and more than half are often distraught about giving and getting gifts.

The commercialization of Christmas is in some ways very old news. Even the sight of shoppers knocking each other down to get into a store to buy electronics is now an American holiday ritual, with many people showing up just for the spectacle.

But something that’s being lost amid the tinsel is going out to shop at a big box instead of making the time to go to a local store. Also, more of us are not physically visiting any store at all, but choosing to shop while staring at a screen. According to Forbes, sales during last year’s “Cyber week, including the five days from Thanksgiving, were up 7.8% compared to last year … Cyber Monday e-commerce spending in the U.S. totaled $12.4 billion, up 9.6% year over year.”

If some of these figures remind us to get up and out to visit our local merchants, then all the pre-Christmas hoopla doesn’t offend us at all. Shopping locally helps everyone. Economic studies show that for every $100 spent at a locally owned business, close to $70 stays in the community. Local stores, shops, and restaurants pay the salaries of their employees, who in turn spend money on the North Fork.

In a world of big retailers and shopping by clicking, our small businesses fight to survive, to continue to stay open while providing us with goods and services along with the invaluable bonus of a welcoming connection to the place we live.

Shop local. Check out the Riverhead News-Review for ads and upcoming shopping special features for some ideas to keep our community prospering.

The post Editorial: Staying close to home appeared first on Riverhead News Review.

Veterans are in the news for many good reasons, including the number who ran this year for public office, a spike in veteran candidates that, along with 2023, hasn’t been seen since the end of World War II.

But other news of those who volunteered to serve our country is not good at all, with suicide and drug overdoses — as well as alcohol abuse — continuing to be some of the most common killers of veterans. Homelessness among veterans and those living in poverty is a national disgrace.

It’s clear the battle for many vets doesn’t end with their service. Veterans experience a unique set of challenges, from deployment and combat to the often difficult process of reintegrating into civilian life after leaving the military — all of which can have significant and long-lasting effects on their mental health and well-being.

Research by National Veterans Homeless Support turned up the fact that mental illness in veterans is higher than the national average — affecting one in four. “In particular, mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder are known to be common among veterans,” the NVHS found. “For veterans suffering from mental illness, the consequences can be dire. Mental illness may cause veterans to feel isolated or lonely or may affect their ability to hold a steady job. Without a support system and stable employment, these individuals are then at a higher risk of homelessness and economic insecurity.”

And the folks at the top are not helping matters. The Guardian newspaper reported in August that “the Department of Veterans Affairs has lost thousands of health care professionals deemed ‘core’ to the system’s ability to function … The number of medical staff on hand to treat veterans has fallen every month since Donald Trump took office. The VA has experienced a net loss of 2,000 registered nurses since the start of this fiscal year, the data show, along with approximately 1,300 medical assistants, 1,100 nursing assistants and licensed practical nurses, 800 doctors, 500 social workers and 150 psychologists.

“The numbers are at odds with claims by the VA secretary, Doug Collins, that veterans’ health care would not be affected by an agency-wide reduction of 30,000 workers to be completed this year through a combination of attrition, a hiring freeze and deferred resignation programs.”

There has been some positive news, however, with the number of veterans experiencing homelessness dropping by 43% since 2011. In our state, according to Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, the number of homeless vets dropped 83% between 2010 and 2022, going from 5,857 to 990. And nationally, the country saw an 11% decline in homelessness among veterans between 2020 and 2022, with the Veterans Administration noting that it’s the largest drop in homelessness among veterans in more than five years.

There are still grim numbers to confront. The National Alliance to End Homelessness has reported that more than 37,000 American vets were without homes to call their own.

Let’s hope that things continue to change for the better. And this week, and every week, remember those everywhere who served and are serving our country.

The post Editorial: For our vets, the battle continues appeared first on Riverhead News Review.

With their heartfelt nominations, our readers have always played perhaps the most important role in the selection process. Last year they helped us choose from a wide array of worthy recipients, including public officials, educators and volunteers who ensure our community remains a caring place.

This town is stocked with residents who work tirelessly to make the community special. We always have a growing list of people who are more than qualified to earn Times Review Media Group’s highest honor. That list can never be too long.

We want to hear about people such as the teacher who went above and beyond to help you become a better student or the business owner who never stops giving back to the community. We realize there are a great many people doing big things in their community who don’t seek the spotlight. As a result, the work they do is hardly noticed.

That’s who we’re talking about. We remind ourselves again of the American author and anthropologist Margaret Mead’s prescription on how to make a positive difference: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Do you know such a person? Let us know. Nominations can be emailed to editor@timesreview.com. Tell us why this person is deserving — and please be sure to give us your phone number so we can follow up. All correspondence will be kept confidential, so the person nominated doesn’t even have to know you are singling them out.

Nominations should be submitted before Dec. 1. We plan to announce our People of the Year in the Jan. 8, 2026, edition.

The post Editorial: Call for 2025 People of the Year Nominations appeared first on Riverhead News Review.

The state and county have had more than a year to build what should be a seemingly easy task. Instead, it stalled like an old Chevy and its off-center design has already led to at least two car crashes as drivers adjust to the circle of doom. The layout forces eastbound drivers to slam the brakes as they go around the circle at Main Street, while westbound traffic blasts straight through the less-curved portion of the roundabout.

Complicating matters is that the county is in charge of Route 48 west of the circle, while Route 25 east of the rotary is a state road. Southold Town and highway boss Dan Goodwin are out of the jurisdictional loop, leaving Greenport residents coming north on Main Street in a jam.

Work began Sept. 22 and officials initially said it would be done in a matter of weeks. That deadline has come and gone. Now, the state DOT says the traffic circle won’t be completely done until next spring — depending on the weather.

This is government incompetence at its worst. Communities across America build these projects without breaking a sweat. Yet on the North Fork, we’ve managed to create a hazard that’s more dangerous than the intersection it was meant to fix.

The numbers don’t lie. There were 15 accidents in four years before construction started. Now, we’ve had two accidents — and who knows how many near-misses — in less than a month. Thankfully, there have not been any serious injuries but at this rate, the “safety improvement” may set a new record for mayhem.

And here’s the kicker: This isn’t some backroad patch job. It’s the main thoroughfare on the North Fork. The roundabout is part of a $10.9 million state infrastructure project announced with great fanfare by Gov. Kathy Hochul in April 2024.

Meanwhile, locals — and tourists racing from or to the Cross Sound Ferry in Orient — are left to navigate this puzzle on their own. Police Chief Steve Grattan is right that people need time to adjust to new traffic patterns. But they shouldn’t have to adjust to bad engineering.

The fix isn’t complicated. Cut through the bureaucratic traffic and finish the job.

If that means working nights and weekends to get it done, so be it. If it means bringing in additional crews or paying overtime, that’s the cost of doing business right the first time.

In the meantime, more clear signage needs to be added to slow down traffic.

This isn’t just about engineering — it’s about accountability. When public officials promise safety improvements and deliver the opposite, that’s a breach of trust with the communities they serve.

For $10.9 million, we deserve more than a demolition derby. We deserve results.

Until then, slow down — or become a possible casualty of the circle of doom.

The post Editorial: Finish the Greenport rotary before someone gets hurt appeared first on Riverhead News Review.

Most people were holed up at home, hoping the power held. But for the first responders, there was no choice but to race to the San Simeon nursing home in Greenport after smoke was reported billowing through the facility. If you’re a volunteer firefighter in Greenport, East Marion, Mattituck, Southold or Cutchogue, you don’t check the weather app. You grab your gear. You go.

And they did. Fire and ambulance crews from more than a dozen departments, some from as far away as Flanders and Wading River, converged on County Road 48. Emergency lights cut through the pitch-black night.

The firefighters entered to find serious smoke conditions and the smell of burning electrical from what turned out to be a malfunctioning HVAC system. By the time gray light broke through the storm around 6 a.m., they had evacuated 27 residents from the facility’s smoke-filled west wing. Seven residents on oxygen were rushed to hospitals. Nine more were moved to Peconic Landing.

Then things got worse. Inspectors discovered that the nursing home’s fire suppression system wasn’t working. Neither were the alarms. The state Health Department ordered the entire facility be evacuated — including all 111 residents. So first responders went back and did it again.

That evening, as the storm finally began to peter out, emergency crews loaded residents — many in wheelchairs — onto buses and ambulances bound for safe locations across the East End.

Deanna Horton waited for her mother-in-law to board one of the buses. She didn’t know where they were taking her, just that she’d be safe.

That’s trust. The kind you don’t think about until it’s tested. There are hard questions ahead about San Simeon. A failed fire suppression system and silent alarms aren’t small details. Families trust these facilities with their loved ones. That trust has to mean something.

Those answers will come. They have to. But Monday wasn’t about blame. It was about catching people before they fell.

That’s the thing about small communities: When something goes wrong, there’s nowhere to hide, but you’re also never alone. The same fire chiefs, EMTs and hospital staff you see at the grocery store or Little League are the ones who show up when everything falls apart. The heroic response reminds us what this place is made of.

When 111 vulnerable people needed help in the middle of a nor’easter, the North Fork didn’t just talk about community. It proved it.

The post Editorial: When it mattered most, the North Fork showed up appeared first on Riverhead News Review.

I’ve been asked that question nearly every day since taking this job.

There’s no easy answer. I live in Nassau County. My commute is an hour and 15 minutes each way — that’s two and a half hours a day in my car, flipping between radio stations that play both kinds of music: country and western (hat tip to “The Blues Brothers”).

I’m not complaining. It’s still less time than it took me taking the LIRR the other way into Manhattan for my previous job. Like the hospital worker commuting from Patchogue or the teacher driving in from Medford, I make it work — and make it to work.

My situation isn’t unique. It’s the same story for so many who labor out here but can’t afford to live here.

The median home price in Southold Town is nearing $1 million, according to Zillow. Even in relatively more affordable Riverhead, it’s around $600,000.

Anyone without a nest egg is up Goose Creek. That’s why housing has dominated every conversation I’ve had with Southold Town Board candidates who’ve stopped by our Mattituck office ahead of next month’s elections — every single one. Democrat or Republican, North Forker or Fishers Islander — they all get it.

They talk about the “missing middle,” that vanishing class of working people. They warn that we’re selling ourselves out to the wealthiest voices, turning the North Fork into Disneyland. They see the pressure coming and know the town has to be ready.

On Fishers Island, the numbers are stark: 550 year-round residents are down to 230. So much year-round housing has shifted to seasonal use.

Even those who emphasize property rights acknowledge the tension between wanting your dream home and preserving what makes this place special.

The proposed fixes vary — cottage-style developments, prohousing designations, stricter short-term rental laws, streamlined zoning processes. They talk about using a “mixed box of tools.”

But for all the ideas, there are few immediate solutions. Zoning changes take time. Infrastructure costs money. Meanwhile, every season that passes, more houses flip from year-round to seasonal — and more workers join me on the LIE parking lot.

Talk is cheap. Houses aren’t. Nearly 75% of workers here are employed by small businesses. When those workers can’t afford to live here, what happens to those businesses? To our schools? To this place?

So when someone asks, “When are you moving here?” I usually bite my tongue and say, “Working on it.”

But what I’m really thinking is: Will there be a North Fork left to move to — or should I buy some Mickey Mouse ears?

The post Editorial: The North Fork housing problem appeared first on Riverhead News Review.

Seated between whimsical, not-quite-sure-of itself September (summer still? Or suddenly fall?) and dour November, October swans in with brisk mornings fading to soft afternoons and chilly nights. In daylight hours, it dresses itself in bronze, scarlet and amber, with just enough green to make sure you know it has made an entrance.

And October moons celebrating harvests shine extra bright for romantics everywhere.

People come from all over the country to the Northeast to see October leaves showing off. According to the Boston Globe, the National Park Service estimates that New England businesses rake in (apologies) over $8 billion each year during the autumn season.

Public relations outfits coined the term “leaf peeping.” If that doesn’t make you gag, some are now referring to the act of appreciating October’s beauty as a “leaf peep show.”

But forget marketing ploys. A trip into the woods on bright days is exhilarating, and even spotting a maple tree from a car window alight in red can give you a sense of wonder.

The 10th month of the year, it was originally the eighth in the Roman calendar, and it took its name from the Latin “octingenti,” or eight, according to Dictionary.com. When Julius Caesar padded the calendar to 12 months, he wisely decided to leave October’s lovely name alone.

The website also reports that the word October came to us though Old English, which took it from Old French, replacing the wonderfully weird Winterfylleð. (Or wonderfully wyrd, as those Old English people would have it.)

It is said to be the month of revolution, since the Russian Revolution is often called the “October Revolution.” October can take credit for it, but the Bolsheviks were working on the old Russian calendar, so for them it was actually November when they seized power and changed the world.

Oktoberfest, which started in Munich as a harvest day celebrating the German people’s sense of community through the touchstones of food, beer and music, has now turned into an opportunity for many young and not-so-young folks to crowd into places cheek by stein, chugging brews and later throwing up on their shoes.

But we must not be cynical. Oktoberfest keeps oom-pah-pah tunes alive, so be grateful.

The month concludes on Halloween, which comes down to us from pagan revelries celebrating the fact that the dead are all around us, and also within us. Nothing is more true, if we think of those we love who have died, but live with us every day. Edna O’Brien has written: “You know that in fact a whole entourage of ghosts resides in you, ghosts with whom the inner rapport is as frequent, as perplexing, as defiant as with any of the living.”

Here’s to a happy, peaceful October 2025.

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