DAN’S PAPERS
danshamptons.com
June 7, 2013 Page 37
It Takes a Village? Hampton Bays Hamlet, Like Others Before It, Ponders Incorporation I was going to open this story with a sentence that would begin “The powers that be in Hamptons Bays…” but then thought better of it. There are no powers that be in Hampton Bays. And that’s the problem. Therefore the humble unofficial citizenry of Hampton Bays are now considering breaking away from the larger entity in which they currently reside— Southampton Town—to make themselves an official Incorporated Village. If they decide that incorporation is a good idea, they will announce boundaries, get permission from the state, and then have the people vote on a referendum. If a majority votes Yes, the place will henceforth be known as the Incorporated Village of Hampton Bays, and it will be filled with “powers that be.” There will be Mayors, Sergeants at Arms, Judges, Police Chiefs, Village Clerks, Inspectors, Trustees and all sorts of other posts. They might also consider changing their name. In the 1740s, the place was called Good Ground. It’s a good old name. Indeed, on the four corners in the center of town there is a concrete commercial building that, when built, was carved with the name Good Ground up top under the eaves. You come into the
unincorporated village of Hampton Bays and you look up and you see the original name of the place, carved in stone, but that’s not the name anymore. It’s an eerie feeling. They could incorporate as the Village of Good Ground. There are plusses and minuses to incorporation. The plusses are that you have a new layer of government that is very nearby and will respond quicker to what is going on. The minuses are that you have a new layer of government that is very nearby and will respond quicker to what is going on, but will likely cost more. As the founder of this newspaper, I can report to you that during my half-century tenure, there have been several attempts to create Incorporated Villages. All attempts were different one from the other. But two succeeded and are successful villages today. They are the Village of West Hampton Dunes and the Village of Sagaponack, both of which were carved out of the Township of Southampton. It’s interesting to consider the fates of all these attempts separately. Perhaps Good Ground might learn something from such a consideration. Here they are from east to west. There have been several attempts to incorporate Montauk. A serious attempt was
TOWNE CELLARS $100 Off 460 County Road 111 Suite 13 Manorville, New York 11968
Exit 70 on the LIE, in the King Kullen Shopping Center, Behind the McDonald’s
631-874-0451
www.townecellars.com
$10 purchase Excluding Sale Items•With Coupon Only•Not To Be Combined
•15% off all case purchases of still wine •10% off on purchases of $300 or more • Monday is Senior Day! 10%
made in 1966 but failed. A further attempt, in 1996 led to a straw poll of the residents and that also failed. Nevertheless the Town of East Hampton, out of which it would have been carved, paid attention to these rumblings and offered all sorts of inducements to Montauk, hoping that the rebellion would subside, which it did. Today, there is a police annex in Montauk, a Town Clerk’s office and a Montauk Citizen’s Advisory Board established to advise the East Hampton Town Board on matters relating to Montauk. None would be here today if not for these rebellions. It’s sort of like what happened in Canada where everything spoken or written in public has to appear twice, once in English and once in French. Quebec wanted to break away and form the French speaking Country of Quebec. But the rest of Canada, the Englishspeaking part, created compromises, among which was the dual language law, so Quebec has voted to stay a province. Sacre Bleu! In 1987, a section in the western part of the Town of Southampton incorporated itself into the Village of Pine Valley. There were about 800 people in this village. It included the Riverhead Jail, the Suffolk County Center, Wildwood Lake and the woods around it and the people living in it, and a small part of Flanders, particularly along Peconic Bay.
$200 Off
(Cont’d on next page)
$20 purchase Excluding Sale Items• With Coupon Only•Not To Be Combined
Open 7 Days Complimentary Tasting Every Friday From 3-7pm
Monday - Thursday 9am - 8 pm Friday & Saturday 9am - 9pm Sunday 12pm - 6pm
We have over 30 yearsof experience in providing the perfect bottle for any occasion.
25022
By Dan RattineR