Too Many Important Topics To Single Any One Out! | |
I believe this is the longest newsletter I have sent in the past three years. There are so many positive things happening in the Pines and much to share. | |
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Fall Membership Meeting and FIPPOA Elections
On Saturday, September 23rd, FIPPOA and the Pines Foundation will hold our community meeting which includes the election of four directors. There are six individuals running: Bill Hildebrandt, Scott Kolb, Chris Mai, Jay Pagano, Anthony Pietrangolare, and Ed Schulhafer. Executive officers, who serve two-year years, will not be up for election again until next year. Here are the candidates’ bios.
Matt Tague, who has served as FIPPOA’s Membership Co-chair and has been a member of the Trailblazers Park Task Force since its formation, has decided not to seek re-election. While Matt will continue to be involved in these volunteer activities, he will now have even more time to devote to his ever-growing family.
Special appreciation to Justin Blake for being an awesome Nominations Chair.
If you are a voting FIPPOA member, you will soon receive your ballot at the address in your membership profile. If you are not a FIPPOA member, you can join by clicking here and will have the option of voting at the meeting. If you are already a member and do not vote by mail, you also have the option to cast your ballot in person at the meeting.
After the election, we will conduct community business including updates on many exciting projects. All members of the community are welcome to attend – property owners, renters, boaters, workers, anyone with an interest in and love for the Pines.
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FIPPOA Political Action Committee (PAC) Event
On Saturday, September 9th, we will welcome three Brookhaven elected officials to the Pines:
- Neil Foley, our current Councilman
- Ed Romaine, our current Supervisor and running to be the next Suffolk County Executive
- Dan Panico, running to succeed Ed as our next Town Supervisor
Neil and Ed have been long-time friends and supporters of the Pines, and we have welcomed them to the community many times before. Dan, who represents a district outside of Fire Island, is running to replace Ed, who in turn is stepping down to seek the head position of Suffolk County.
These men are integral in addressing many of the most important opportunities and challenges that we face in the Pines. For example, Suffolk County is currently the local sponsor of our (damaged) Army Corp of Engineers beach and will eventually turn that vital role over to Brookhaven. Brookhaven is integral to delivering and maintaining public resources in the Pines including the walkways, garbage collection, and the Boulevard.
In prior years, we have held fundraisers when our elected officials visit. While we still encourage your contributions through the FIPPOA PAC, this year we are prioritizing participation, so a contribution is voluntary. I work with these officials on a close and continuous basis. Please amplify our community’s voice by showing up to meet and greet them. And bring your questions and concerns with you. This is your chance, our chance as a collective community, to have our voices heard.
The event will be held at my house, 395 Ocean Walk (between Nautilus & Neptune) beginning at 4PM sharp. And please consider a contribution to our PAC, the proceeds of which will be directed to the candidates.
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Beach Update
Speaking of the importance of our elected officials, let me give you a brief update on our efforts to have the Army Corp (ACE) repair our damaged beach. While ACE rejected our initial request to include the Pines in their (Fall '23) scheduled emergency repairs on the Western end of Fire Island, through our advocacy work with Suffolk County, the ACE is re-considering their initial decision. Suffolk County and the New York State DEC have sent additional information regarding the condition of the beach and the impact of Christmas Storm Elliot for further review.
For those of you who may have missed it, I am hopeful that this article which recently ran in the New York Times will help elevate the dire need for repairs in the Pines. I have also been in touch with both of our US Senators offices to encourage their support as well.
The new snow fencing installation will begin very soon after the Labor Day weekend.
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No Parking Signage on Fire Island Boulevard
One of the most common and consistent complaints FIPPOA receives, not just in recent years, but going back decades, is the presence of commercial vehicles and equipment in plain sight on Fire Island Boulevard. While I believe we have seen significant improvements in the last several years, I believe we still can do better.
So too did a joint Task Force formed approximately two years ago between the Pines Chamber of Commerce and FIPPOA. The Task Force consisted of six members, three from each organization, thereby providing direct representation from our contractors and business owners.
That Task Force drafted a set of written rules and regulations regarding the governance of the Boulevard. One of those new rules is a prohibition against commercial vehicles and equipment being parked on the Boulevard during non-commercial hours. The Task Force did not address residential vehicles, only commercial.
To implement the new parking guidelines, two important milestones needed to be achieved. First, we needed to provide contractors with a reasonable, viable alternative to parking on the Boulevard. Approximately three months ago, FIPPOA inaugurated a community parking facility located just south of the Boulevard (from Widgeon to Pine Walks) in the area of the roadway that is sub-licensed from Brookhaven to FIPPOA for our local management. Much work (and expense) went into preparing the parking areas, and to date 13 contractors have leased 26 spots with 8 additional spots being built to accommodate current demand.
The second item we needed to put in place was parking regulations from the Town of Brookhaven consistent with the requirements agreed upon by the joint FIPPOA/Chamber Task Force. Over the summer, Brookhaven adopted new parking restrictions and recently installed signage on the Boulevard encompassing the entire roughly one-mile stretch of the community from Sandy to Sail.
With both of those milestones now achieved, we are in the position to begin enforcing the parking restrictions, which apply to commercial vehicles and equipment and prohibit parking from 6PM to 6AM Monday through Saturday and all day on Sundays and holidays.
All commercial equipment owners now have the option to (i) lease space in the community parking lot; (ii) park in their contractor enclosures (if they were designed for this purpose); and/or (iii) arrange parking on private property. These rules were first circulated and discussed with the affected contractors over a year ago. We will wait until soon after Labor Day to implement the new restrictions thereby giving contractors, who are the lifeblood of our community’s infrastructure, the opportunity to consider how they plan to comply, if not already.
Once the parking facility is being fully utilized, we will consider ways to further conceal it from sight, for example with additional landscaping and/or fencing. A special thank you to all the business owners in our community for their cooperation and compliance.
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It’s Party Time
Pines Party "Toon Island" included five spectacular sold out events, with 3,000 partygoers dancing until sunrise amid balloon festoons and videos featuring our favorite childhood cartoon characters. We are particularly proud of our partnership with the National Park Service this year, our initiatives to preserve our fragile beach (including the use of water filled K-rails and water cubes to avoid scraping and construction of a berm) and the pristine condition of the beach post-event. While numbers are still being finalized, we expect Pines Party 2023 to be one of the most financially successful in the 24-year history of the event.
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750 tickets were sold for the Pines 70th, and by our estimates over 1,000 attended the celebration. Many have remarked that the event brought together a uniquely broad cross-section of the Pines community, of all generations, identities, and experiences.
I would like to congratulate the FIPPOA board members and many Pines volunteers who successfully put on these two amazing parties. While they are each different in purpose and content, they both contain many of the same key ingredients: commitment to what is loved and cherished about the Pines, long hours and hard work, and unbounding pride for what the Pines community has become over the past 70 years.
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Urinetown: “It’s a Privilege to Pee”
FIPAP presents its annual Labor Day Musical – Urinetown! A sidesplitting sendup of greed, love, revolution (and musicals!), in a time when water is worth its weight in gold. Winner of a plethora of theatrical awards, including three Tony’s, Urinetown is a hilarious musical satire of the legal system, capitalism, social irresponsibility, populism, environmental collapse, privatization of natural resources, bureaucracy, municipal politics, and musical theatre itself!
Performances began at Whyte Hall at 6PM on Saturday/Sunday September 2nd/3rd. All tickets are $85 and may be purchased here.
While I may be biased (full disclosure: I am in it!), the cast and crew are incredibly talented, and I guarantee you will love the creativity and professionalism with which the ensemble will put on the show.
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Community Clean-Up
While FIPPOA pays 3rd party vendors to conduct clean ups of the community, for example, on certain busy summer weekends, we cannot provide 24/7/365 pick-up service to the entire community. We need community attention and support to keep our homes and public surroundings clear of trash and debris.
In that spirit, I am thrilled to announce a clean-up effort being jointly organized by FIPPOA and our Pines Party Platinum Sponsor Northwell Health (Expressions BERG) to be held on Saturday, September 9th. Volunteers will meet at 10:15AM at Whyte Hall for an organized clean-up of public boardwalks throughout the Pines. For more information and to register as a volunteer, please click here. Special thanks to Northwell Health and FIPPOA for organizing this joint effort.
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Pines Conservation Society Annual Brunch & Silent Auction
PCS will hold its annual Labor Day Sunday event by honoring the Fire Island Fire Department.
The event will be held on Sunday, September 3rd, from 11:00am to 2:00pm, on the deck at Whyte Hall. Enjoy a delicious brunch catered by Billy Carroll and bid on works of art donated by talented local artists, homeowners, and neighbors.
Tickets are $125 per person and are limited to 125, so get your tickets here before they sell out.
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New Fall Ferry Schedules
Hot off the presses. SFS finalized the schedule just moments ago! Please note that the Early Fall schedule includes a Thursday Sayville departure at 8:30PM (through 9/21). The last boat on Thursdays now runs one hour later than ever before. The hope is that this helps to accommodates a hybrid work week which may require in-office all day Thursday with now the opportunity to get out to the Pines that same evening. The Fall and Late Fall schedules will be available on-line shortly on the Sayville Ferry website.
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Hoping to see you all on many occasions as August ends and we enter Labor Day weekend!
Henry
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Henry Robin, President
Allan Baum, Vice President
Alan Brodherson, Secretary
Eric Sawyer, Treasurer
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Gary Clinton, Greg Henniger, Andrew Kirtzman, Chris Mai, Charles Montorio-Archer, Jay Pagano, Nate Pinsley, Leland Rechis, Russell Saray, Ed Schulhafer, and Matt Tague. |
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