Flip Over the Ballot

South Fork voters will get to decide the outcome of three propositions this Election Day, November 5, including one that is statewide and one that is countywide. The third opportunity to weigh in will be different for Southampton Town and East Hampton Town voters, as hyperlocal measures are on the ballot in each town.

Proposition 1, also known as the Equal Rights Amendment, is to amend the New York State Constitution to extend the guarantee of equal protection under the law to more groups. Currently, the State Constitution specifies that equal protection is afforded to people regardless of their race, color, creed or religion. This proposition adds ethnicity, national origin, age, disability and sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive health care and autonomy.

In short, Proposition 1 prohibits governmental discrimination and protects the right to abortion in New York State — something that must be done after the U.S. Supreme Court, in its 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling, overturned the national right to abortion formerly guaranteed by 1973’s Roe v. Wade. It’s an easy decision to vote yes on Proposition 1.

Proposition 2 will be pivotal for Suffolk County. If approved, it will create a 1/8th percent sales tax through 2060 to fund water protection initiatives in the county, namely transitioning from cesspools and antiquated septic systems to innovative/alternative nitrogen-reducing septic systems and sewers.

There are 380,000 nitrogen-polluting cesspools and septic systems across Suffolk County, contributing to algal blooms, fish kills and beach closings in surface waters and degrading the quality of groundwater. In Suffolk County, and on the East End in particular, our waters are essential to our way of life but under threat. The declining quality of bays and ponds has made some water bodies off-limits to recreation and has decimated the bounty of the sea. The good news is, this can be reversed. The biggest obstacle is the lack of a sustained funding source.

This minuscule sales tax will pay big dividends by protecting and reestablishing recreational and economic opportunities and benefits, not to mention protecting drinking water. Vote yes on Proposition 2, another no-brainer.

In Southampton Town, Proposition 3 also concerns water quality, specifically Southampton Village’s Lake Agawam, one of the most polluted water bodies in New York State. All town voters — not just village residents — get to vote on the proposition because it concerns the alienation of town-owned parkland.

This proposition creates no new taxes. What it does is allow for the temporary alienation of parkland purchased by the Southampton Town Community Preservation Fund so the site next to Lake Agawam can be used to host an algae harvester. In exchange for the underutilized 69,989 square feet of parkland at 43 South Main Street known as Doscher Park, the town will purchase 209,864 square feet of vacant property at 137 Pond Lane for CPF parkland. Have you ever heard of a better deal?

Doscher Park is not much of a park right now. Its best use, based on its proximity to the lake, will be to host the algae harvester, which is projected to clean 3 million gallons of lake water daily, removing algae and the polluting nitrogen and phosphorus that the algae contains in its biomass. This will be key to restoring Lake Agawam to its rightful place as the jewel of the Village of Southampton, and it is a much better option than dredging, which would cost more than $72 million, take longer than 12 years, and cause disruptions including seasonal road closures and dozens of daily truck trips each spring.

When the algae harvester is no longer necessary because its work is done, Doscher Park can go back to being a green space. Until then, it can be an essential part of the most effective and least impactful way to clean Lake Agawam. It would be a shame, and a devastating setback, if voters don’t support this plan. So vote yes on Southampton Town’s Proposition 3.

The Proposition 3 put before East Hampton Town voters also concerns alienating preserved land. Voters are asked whether a triangle of land at the intersection of Three Mile Harbor Road and Springs-Fireplace Road can be removed from the town’s nature preserve holdings and handed over to Suffolk County to enable the county to build a roundabout.

The land, while a green space, is really a “nature preserve” in name only. Improving traffic flow and public safety in an area of town plagued by backups is a worthy reason to turn over the triangle to the county. And the work may not require the use of all of the triangle — so only a portion may be paved. There are reasonable arguments for and against, but the benefits seem too significant to cast anything but a yes vote.

These opportunities to participate in direct democracy are few and far between. Whether voting on November 5 or participating in early voting, don’t forget to flip over your ballot.