A Postcard for Hochul

Governor Kathy Hochul recently spent some quality time on the South Fork. She was in Montauk on August 16 to celebrate the completion of a three-year renovation of the historic Montauk Point Lighthouse, built in 1797, and an extensive effort to bolster the threatened bluff on which it stands. Ultimately, more than $40 million was invested to give the landmark a new lease on life, even as rising seas and intense weather patterns ramp up the threat level.

New York State played an essential role in funding the project via grant, but Hochul was generous in giving the Montauk Historical Society some well-deserved credit for spearheading the ambitious project and raising private funds as well: “It really was the people who resisted the temptation of saying we can’t do it, it’s too expensive, it’s too daunting.”

The State Department of Parks and the Department of Environmental Conservation, as well as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, teamed up to expand the stone revetment around the base of Turtle Hill. The 60,000 tons of granite should buy another 50 years, which is a demonstration of just how powerful the natural forces working against the outcropping are. The project’s completion is something to celebrate, and an example of exemplary stewardship by the Montauk Historical Society.

Two days later, the governor helped with another celebration, this one at the Bridgehampton Child Care & Recreational Center, which was cutting the ribbon on a $3.3 million building that will allow the 70-year-old center, a shining example of a community-based nonprofit improving the lives of the families it serves. Hochul celebrated the state’s role in that project as well, and she dialed up the celebration by announcing a new $300,000 grant to the center from Empire State Development. The money is to bolster economic development in underserved communities of the state.

The center has long been a resource for working parents, and an oasis for kids in the Bridgehampton community. But it could enter a “next chapter” of service as it works toward a new goal discussed by Executive Director Bonnie Michelle Cannon: offering 24-hour child care.

Parents in the region can testify to the challenges of finding supportive care for children that working families can count on, but it’s rarely been emphasized that the need continues around the clock in a community with moms and dads working all kinds of shifts. It makes sense that Cannon’s facility will lead the effort to meet these needs, considering the wide array of educational, recreational and cultural services the center offers to families, including Black and Latino children who make up a large part of the Bridgehampton community.

Hochul’s presence at the ribbon-cutting was an important message from Albany, that the needs of this community are a priority for the state as well.

While we have the governor’s attention, there are a few points worth making. First, the investment in working families is essential, and it shouldn’t be up to places like the Bridgehampton Child Care & Recreational Center to try to do it on their own. Albany does have an important role to play, in communities all over the state, and Hochul should strive to seek out and support similar groups, who are doing essential work.

With the Shinnecock Powwow taking place this coming weekend, it’s a moment to point out that the governor has another chance this year to do the right thing and deliver long-delayed state recognition to the Montaukett Nation. The state’s legislators have done their part, approving a measure in June again this year, but Hochul has been reticent to add her signature in the past. This is a historic wrong that can be righted with the stroke of a pen — the time is now.

And Hochul must take action on the way commercial fishing permits are allotted in New York State. The Department of Environmental Conservation has hired an independent consultant, who issued a report — which was effectively shelved. Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. has lobbied hard on this issue, dating back to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s term in office. Any local fisherman can tell you that state regulations make transferring permits too difficult, and young fishermen struggle to get a start in the industry.

Her recent visit to the South Fork undoubtedly included a succulent meal or two that featured the product of local waters — it’s time for the governor to take a deeper interest in the needs of the men and women who set that table.