As part of the Bridgehampton National Bank’s 100th Birthday celebration, Kevin O’Connor, president and CEO of the bank along with members of the board of directors and staff rang the NASDAQ closing bell on Friday, March 5, at the NASDAQ Studios in Times Square. Bridge Bancorp became a NASDAQ listed stock, last year (BDGE).

Ross School

Green Grant
Last week The Ross School in East Hampton received a grant for over $200,000 from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) for solar panels on the Lower School campus. The panels will be installed on the Barn Building. It costs roughly $12,000 per year to power this structure. These expenses will be reduced by 90 percent by using the panels.
Sag Harbor Whaling Museum ?

Orphans in the Attic ??

The Sag Harbor Whaling Museum announced their summer exhibition, “Orphans in the Attic,” this week. According to a press release penned by museum director Zach Studenroth, the exhibition will satisfy the curiosity of many visitors who inquire about the objects left in storage, while providing an opportunity to showcase the conservation challenges the museum faces. Visitors will be asked to “adopt” an “orphan” by pledging contributions that will be matched by the museum, thus making it possible to complete conservation work. Funding for the exhibit has been secured by the Town of Southampton. ?

The majority of the Whaling Museum’s collection was assembled over many decades from local sources, testifying to the community support that the museum has enjoyed since its founding in 1936. Many objects were acquired in “as found” condition. Some are still in need of major repair. After a preliminary search conducted by museum staff, guest curator Judy Estes will select the objects for exhibition and personalize their display by creating individual “biographies” that explain their origins, history of ownership and use, and suggested techniques for repair or treatment.?

Estes is a part-time curator for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities (Cold Spring Harbor) and has consulted for numerous museums across Long Island. She is familiar with the museum’s collection, having initiated a collections management program for us with funding from the New York State Council on the Arts (2006). ?For more information please visit the website at www.sagharborwhalingmuseum.org.

Suffolk County ?

Plum Island Help ??

The Suffolk County Police Homicide Squad Cold Case detective are asking for the public’s help in identifying a body that wash up on the shores of Plum Island on January 14. The deceased is described as a “black male, 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighing between 160 to 190 pounds, [and] between 50 to 70 years old.” The man was found wearing a light green three-button shirt with dark green horizontal stripes, green cargo pants with buttons inscribed with “God Body Collection,” brown loafers in size 10, blue plaid boxer shorts and a belt buckle inscribed “Stacy Adams.”

?During a post-mortem examination, it was discovered that the man had a well-healed head injury and indications of prior neurosurgery. He was also taking medications Dilantin and Phenobarbital, both of which are anti-epileptic drugs commonly used to control seizures.

Detectives are looking into the possibility that the man may be from Connecticut, Rhode Island or Massachusetts. ?Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Homicide Squad at (631) 852-6392 or Crime Stoppers at (800) 220-TIPS. ??

Peconic Land Trust

Close Pike Farm Stand ?

?On March 2, The Peconic Land Trust, Suffolk County and Southampton Town closed on the purchase of the Hopping family’s 7.8 acres of farmland on Sagg Main Street in Sagaponack. The farmland is home to the Pike Farm Stand, operated by Jim and Jennifer Pike for more than 20 years. Under the terms of the contract, the Trust purchased the property for $6 million; and then sold the development rights on the property to Suffolk County and Southampton Town for around $4.3 million, under a 70/30 percent split of the cost. The Trust, with donations from over 300 contributors and the Pew Charitable Trust’s Northeast Land Trust Consortium, brought an additional $1 million to the closing.

The Hopping family agreed to a second and final installment payment post-closing from the Trust of $700,000 by March 5, 2011. In the meantime the Pikes will lease the land from the Trust. ?When the final installment is paid to the Hoppings, the Trust intends to sell the restricted farmland to the Pikes with additional safeguards to ensure that this land will always remain available to farmers for agricultural production. To this end, the Trust will sell the land subject to an overlay conservation easement with preemptive right. These additional restrictions will enable the Trust to sell the restricted farmland to the Pikes at a price that they can afford. ??

Southampton Village ?

Hike for Haiti ??

The Grace Presbyterian Church of the Hamptons, based in Water Mill, recently hosted a “Hike for Haiti” event in Southampton Village. Almost 75 people, plus a few dogs, walked in the event. The walk raised around $3,500 for victims of the earthquake which hit Haiti in January. The proceeds will be distributed through the American Red Cross Mission to the World and World Vision.
New York City

Concert Series

Classical musicians connected with the Hamptons-based Vladimir Nielsen Piano Festival recently performed at Carnegie Hall and Juilliard, and will be appearing at the festival in Sag Harbor this summer. Teenage piano prodigy David Aladashvili was the main attraction at a concert at Carnegie Hall on February 19, featuring musical pieces composed by Johann Sebastian Bach, Robert Schumann and Frederic Chopin. A group of students with the Julliard Pre-College program performed at the school on Saturday, February 20. The youngest performer Evan Lee, 10, played five pieces by Beethoven. Some of these students will in the Vladimir Nielsen Piano Festival Concert series from the last week of July through the end of August. For more information call (631) 899-4074.

Southampton Hospital

Spanish Lessons

Southampton Hospital received a Suffolk County Community College Workforce Development Training Hospital Consortium Award to provide Spanish language training for its clinical staff in order to more effectively communicate with Spanish-speaking patients.

“While the hospital has a language line service and a number of its employees are bilingual, we felt that an employee with the ability to communicate directly with a patient provides for greater patient satisfaction,” said Patricia A. Darcey, chief nursing officer and vice president of patient Care Services at the hospital.

A main element of the course is sensitivity training to heighten the awareness of health practitioners to potential language and cultural barriers. Adds Darcey, “Southampton Hospital is supportive of continuing education and training and encourages our staff to take advantage of programs that enhance patient care.”

by Marianna Levine

James Dwoskin, a commercial real estate developer and Sag Harbor resident, has just come back from another eight-day trip to Nicaragua. This voyage, like the ones before, weren’t motivated by sea and sun, but rather by a desire to make a difference in the Western Hemisphere’s second poorest country. Of the nation’s 5.6 million people, approximately four million live in poverty, according to Dwoskin, with a per capita GDP of only $1,123 annually in 2008 (NY State’s was $48,076 that year or over 42 times higher).

This time Dwoskin went specifically to find a village in great need that Sag Harbor might be able to adopt and support as a community. He is calling this project SHINE, short for Sag Harbor in Nicaragua Enterprise, and is hoping to get local residents and already established groups such as churches, synagogues, and schools interested in assisting this village. How Dwoskin came to be interested in Nicaragua is an interesting story.

“My college roommate and business partner Mark Sullivan comes from a philanthropic family, and he really studies these types of organizations, looking for the most bang for the buck. We didn’t want to just give money, we also wanted to make sure things got done,” Dwoskin explains.

Through this process Sullivan discovered an NGO called El Porvenir, that assists villages in Nicaragua to get practical things taken for granted in the U.S. such as clean water and working latrines. It works together with the local people to build wells, efficient wood burning stoves, latrines, and wash stations. A few years ago, Dwoskin and Sullivan started to travel down to select impoverished villages with El Porvenir, off-setting the organization’s travel costs by paying for the trips themselves.

Dwoskin explains, “El Porvenir only goes to towns that have actively solicited them. All the labor comes from the town, and they even get people to participate in re-forestation, something they also do.”

For Dwoskin, actually going down there and seeing the people and their living conditions has been a life changing experience. “The people really pulled at my heart strings. I made up my mind to make a difference.”

It was his personal interaction with the people and their communities, which really got Dwoskin interested in having other people from Sag Harbor not only donate money, but also donate their time, to go down and help the villagers of Monteverde, the village he selected to adopt. He feels a personal connection between the two communities would give a lot to both places.

As for the choice of Monteverde, it was an obvious one for Dwoskin who had visited other villages in the area.

“We were looking for a village of about the same size who had needs but ones that wouldn’t be too daunting for our community,” he said. “We got to Monteverde toward the end of our trip and realized the need was great there.”

Dwoskin explains, “For approximately six months of the year there is a total absence of water in Monteverde. The village has no functioning well. During the dry season, which lasts roughly six months, the residents must travel approximately 2-3 kilometers down and up the mountain to fetch water from a well or a tainted creek in one of the neighboring villages. The round trip journey for water takes about two hours.”

Dwoskin hopes that Sag Harbor may come together to raise money for a well and perhaps latrines for the village’s school which serves about 100 children. These seem like humble requests but ones that Dwoskin confirms will mean a lot to the village.

“Growing up in New York City, I had Hispanic friends, and felt a natural affinity for Latin America,” said Dwoskin. “I also thought the issues down there affect us here in Sag Harbor. People come here because of the poverty there. I thought through partnering up with Monteverde we could show some solidarity with our community’s silent (Hispanic) minority.”

For now, Dwoskin is putting together a presentation he’d like to show to various community organizations. He is hoping that the Sag Harbor school district may want to make Monteverde a service learning opportunity for high school students in the future, or that local organizations both religious and secular may want to join in and help Monteverde in some way. He has also come up with a few fun fundraising ideas such as T-shirts, a salsa night, or a Latin meets local jam session.

In the end Dwoskin states “when we give, be it time or money, without expectation of getting anything in return, we receive ten times the benefit. The community will be enhanced in ways we cannot predict.”

Having already been cited by the Village of Sag Harbor, in a court case yet to be determined, on Monday night attorney Edward Burke, Jr. and his wife Patricia approached the Sag Harbor Village Planning Board to change the use of a historic building they recently converted into office spaces, in an effort to legalize the use of five separate businesses already operating at the Division Street building.

According to attorney Timothy S. McCulley, representing the Burke family, the building’s current certificate of occupancy is for a residence, and has yet to be changed to allow for office uses. The building currently houses Morrissey Advisory Services, Dr. Stephen Petruccelli’s East End Sports Chiropractic, G & L Building Corporation and the law offices of Rayano & Garabedian.

The five office spaces, said McCulley range in size from 206 square feet to 414 square feet, whereas the new code requires a minimum of 800 square-feet for each office in the district, meaning the Burkes may need at least one variance from the village zoning board of appeals (ZBA) to make the change.

The Burkes may also need a variance to address parking, according to a memo drafted by village planning consultant Rich Warren of Inter- Science Research Associates. Under the new code, office spaces require one space per 200 square feet of gross floor area, which would translate into 11 parking spaces, with the Burkes entitled to four parking space credits. McCulley said they have come up with plans for five or seven additional spaces, although village attorney Anthony Tohill will review the parking issue before next month’s meeting to determine whether the Burkes’ credits stand or if they need relief from the ZBA.

Warren also noted that adjacent property owners specifically sought to not be included in the village’s office district when it was drafted last year and while the code would require the Burkes to erect a 15-foot landscape buffer between their building and a neighboring home, their current plan only shows a plan within three to six feet of the adjacent property. He suggested the Burkes reach out to the neighbor and noted they may need another variance to allow the smaller buffer.

“They would be the first ones to come to me and say, I don’t have a spot or I need more parking,” said Patricia Burke of her tenants. “And I haven’t gotten any of that.”

“As far as the neighbors, when we were redoing it everyone said, thank

God you bought this, and it is an eyesore,” she continued, noting not one neighbor has yet to complain about the addition of offices in the neighborhood.

The application will be heard again at the board’s March 23 meeting.

After two years of business in Amagansett Square, BoBookHampton may have closed its Amagansett location, but its Sag Harbor store, pictured here with manager Sarah Doherty and Barry Lisee, is still going strong.okHampton owner Charline Spektor this week announced the independent bookstore would close the location, citing economics and “the surprising lack of foot-traffic in Amagansett.”

“East Hampton is a thriving store and they were too close together,” Spektor said on Tuesday. She added in addition to the East Hampton branch of BookHampton, both the Sag Harbor and Southampton locations continue to operate successfully.

BookHampton at Amagansett Square was originally conceived as a store to focus on children, keeping in character with Amagansett’s family-centric community, although the location maintained a collection of other genres of literature as well as DVDs, merchandise and CDs. Spektor said on Tuesday all three remaining BookHampton locations, in particular Sag Harbor, continue to operate with full children’s sections.

While Spektor dismissed the current impact of electronic publishing on independent bookstores, she acknowledged online retailers like Amazon have affected the industry. Big-box, bargain book retailers like Barnes and Noble have yet to find a home on the East End, despite attempts to open a Bridgehampton location in recent years.

But rather than focus on those challenges, Spektor chooses to shine a light on the benefits of independent bookstores, which are often tailored specifically to serve the communities and Main Streets they inhabit.

“The value of an independent bookstore is that you can see in our stores that we are making literary choices based on the community,” she said. BookHampton is able to reach beyond the standard chain-store inventory, with a collection that boasts literary classics, popular fiction and non-fiction titles as well as lesser known authors.

Having a dedicated staff of booksellers who “are really well read, well rounded and all live in the community,” makes carrying out such a high level of knowledge and service possible, and also helps prop up the local economy, Spektor added.

“An important part of this is that independent book stores that are neighborhood bookstores, on the commerce side, the dollars earned stay in the community,” she said. “It doesn’t leave town.”

Spektor, who owns BookHampton with her husband Jeremy Nussbaum, said the store has also developed programming aimed at engaging the community in literary and intellectual pursuits. Its four-month, free winter lecture series, which kicked off in January at the East Hampton branch, brings an array of educators into the community to discuss topics ranging from “The Rise and Fall of the Aztec Empire,” to climate change, poetry and the economics of education – a lecture given last week by Dr. Pedro Noguera. This Saturday, at 5 p.m., the store will host Stony Brook University Professor Stephanie Wade, who will take a look at writers who have explored the human condition in a lecture titled “True Stories: Finding Freedom at the Crossroads of Cultural and Persona Myths.”

BookHampton also hosts book and reading groups at all locations, including an ongoing Rowdy Readers Book Group, held at Rowdy Hall in East Hampton on Tuesday afternoons through March 16 and a reading group at the Southampton store on Wednesday afternoons through May 12. In Sag Harbor, manager Sarah Doherty hosts a Saturday reading group, which will discuss John Banville’s “The Infinities” on March 14 and Robert Goolrick’s “The Reliable Wife” on March 21. For the younger set, the Sag Harbor branch also holds story time for children ages two to five years old on Monday and Friday mornings at 10:30 a.m.

“And then, of course, we have our annual Mystery and Mayhem weekend in May,” said Spektor. “We bring in 30 terrific mystery writers, both established and some emerging, who fill our communities with mysteries and enigma.”

That event will take place May 14 through May 16.

“We are a very active part of all three neighborhoods,” said Spektor.

As for future BookHampton locations in the wake of the Amagansett store’s closing, Spektor said she remains optimistic.

“You have to be permanently optimistic, intrepidly optimistic as an independent bookstore,” she said. “We are committed to the communities we live in and committed to making great recommendations for our customers. Reading is the future for all of our children and when people see that, they appreciate the value of keeping independent book stores in our communities.”

BookHampton is located at 41 Main Street in East Hampton (324-4939); 91 Main Street in Southampton (283-0270) and at 20 Main Street in Sag Harbor (725-8425).

Dorothy Field, Peter Iwanyckyj, Tara Hagerman celebrate Bridgehampton National Bank’s Centennial on Friday, February 19 at the Sag Harbor branch of the bank.

Bridgehampton National Bank was founded when farmers and small business owners alike banded together to create a community-based financial institution in Bridgehampton that could address the needs of a growing agricultural economy.

Henry Chatfield, G. Clarence Topping and Elmer Thomson opened the bank on the east side of the E.C. Loper store on Montauk Highway in Bridgehampton on February 19, 1910. Their focus was to serve local businesses in the area, loaning farmers the money to purchase seeds during difficult times and aiding local merchants in expansion.

And according to Bridgehampton National Bank (BNB) CEO Kevin O’Connor, very little has changed over the last 100 years when it comes to BNB’s core philosophy – it is a community bank where personal relationships are forged, whether between lenders and small business owners, or tellers and the working mom who deposits her check each Friday.

“Last night, Southampton Town presented us with a proclamation, and it was very personal, not just some standard proclamation,” said O’Connor on Wednesday morning. “It was very special to our organization to accept that kind of honor, in Southampton, where we began, where so many of our shareholders live. I looked around, and I felt like I knew everyone in the room. It was a very personal experience.”

Providing a personal experience for business owners and clients, said O’Connor, is the secret to BNB’s success and one of the reasons he said the bank has flourished, particularly in the last two decades where 16 branches and counting were founded by BNB from Montauk to Mattituck and now as far west as Shirley.

“We like to think our employees, in a sense, become business advisors for these local companies,” said O’Connor. “We hope to be able to work with customers on a one-on-one basis, and will make introductions to accountants if they are looking to take their business to the next level, or attorneys if a business is considering purchasing a property. It really is a partnership. You want to be a trusted advisor.”

That extends, said O’Connor, to BNB’s branches, all which celebrated the centennial with their customers this past Friday with cake and balloons.

“I value tremendously the branch employees and network,” said O’Connor. “For a long time, I think people perceived the lenders as the superstars, but what the branch managers and tellers do is so important. They are the people our clients generally have the most contact with.”

Bridgehampton National Bank was federally chartered in 1910, joining the Federal Reserve System in 1914. The 1920s began the first period of expansion for BNB, with its board of directors purchasing the Loper Building in Bridgehampton in 1920 for $8,000, agreeing to lease the west side of the building to the post office.

Coming through the Depression intact, by 1935, BNB managed 2,000 accounts. By the 1960s, the company had formed a partnership with AInterBank, which would become VISA, and through this alliance were able to offer small business owners the ability to accept credit card purchases. BNB’s growth continued in the 1970s when it opened its first branch office in the Bridgehampton Plaza on Snake Hollow Road, but it was in the 1990s that the company truly branched out, developing its website and opening a number of branches across the North and South forks. BNB currently serves clients in Bridgehampton, Mattituck, East Hampton, Southampton, Southold, Montauk, Greenport, Sag Harbor, Hampton Bays, Westhampton Beach, Wading River, Cutchogue and Shirley.

According to O’Connor, with a number of small businesses flourishing in Patchogue, BNB is looking to open a branch there next.

“We will never put a branch next to Wal-Mart, because that is frankly not our marketplace,” said O’Connor. “We went to Shirley because there were a lot of people with small businesses and we will go to Patchogue for the same reason.”

O’Connor sees BNB continuing to expand, using this now 100-year-old model of conservative, community-based banking.

“A company has to have a culture and I think we have a very strong culture,” said O’Connor. “We have all the products, all the technology the big banks have, but we can also deliver and serve our customers at locally based branches where many of our customers are our shareholders and we look them in the eye, every day.”

3400

by Marissa Maier

On the corner of New Light Lane and West Pond Drive in Bridgehampton lies almost 18 acres of open space, owned by Southampton resident Robert Campbell. According to town planning documents, Campbell hopes to turn this site into a private horse farm called “Campbell Ranch.”

The project, noted town planner David Wilcox, entails an 18-stall stable, a 15,000 square foot indoor riding area with an observation room, a two-story storage building with a second floor apartment, an equipment barn, a two-story office building, access driveways and parking lots, while still retaining a portion of open farmland. Although the total property encompasses 17.77 acres, or around 774,000 square feet, the proposed buildings will take take up only 30,600 square feet.

Instead of using the facility for a commercial equine venture, Campbell plans to house and maintain his collection of 18 horses at the site, said local liaison on the project and East Hampton-based architect Eva Growney. With exteriors of weathered brown-shingles, the structures will be aesthetically congruent with the local architecture of the South Fork, added Growney.

“The client and the design architect [John Winberry of D.H. Murray Architects] wanted to do a project the community would like,” remarked Growney. “The owner has lived in the area for over 10 years. He has a feeling for the area and he wants these buildings to fit in. He doesn’t want them to stick out like a sore thumb.”

Campbell is chairman and CEO of BBC International, LLC., a firm that designs and markets footwear for many well known companies including Guess, Ralph Lauren and Quicksilver. According to the BBC International website, one of Campbell’s crowning achievements was introducing lights to children’s footwear, which later became a phenomena in the industry. He founded the company nearly 33 years ago, but is planning to retire in the near future, noted Growney.

At the planning board meeting on Thursday, the board expressed some confusion over why the design called for four office spaces in one building if the ranch is for Campbell’s personal use. Growney explained these rooms were labeled as offices but fall under different categories. The ground floor will be divided into a horse salon and a trophy room, noted Growney. While the upstairs will house an office for the manager, an office for the veterinarian and their supplies, and a room designated for legal documentation on the horses.

Growney added that Campbell isn’t seeking variances for the project. Based on town set-back regulations, Winberry altered the original lay out for the structures and moved them further in the property to meet these requirements. Growney said there has been talk of adding green elements to the site including solar panels, wind turbines and a geothermal system. She tempered these comments by adding that the project is still in a preliminary stage. In addition to a manager and veterinarian, the ranch will employ several workers and groundskeepers to maintain the stables and property.

Growney plans to send out a letter to neighbors of the property in the near future with details on the project. “Campbell Ranch” will also be on the agenda at the March 11 planning board meeting for a pre-submission conference, in which members are the public are invited to weigh in on the plan.

Traffic and transportation were the themes once more at a sparsely attended Bridgehampton Citizens Advisory Committee meeting last Monday night. Besides the CAC chair Fred Cammann’s disappointment with the turn out (which several members attributed to the Winter Olympics), the committee had a quick presentation on code enforcement by Southampton Ordinance Inspector Alfred Tumbarello, a longer discussion on the Volpe transportation study presented by CAC member Ian MacPherson, and a follow up by CMEE director Steve Long on a proposed toddler’s playground in the hamlet.

However, perhaps the evening’s most interesting information came from Cammann himself who enthused about Southampton Town Supervisor Anna Thorne-Holst’s new initiative to bring together area CAC chairs once a month for a meeting in order to follow up on their concerns and complaints.

 “I have to tell you, it’s remarkable,” Cammann commented. “It is great to be able to talk to the other CAC chairs. I get news and even emails now about our concerns and if progress has been made. This is a real endeavor to make communication better.”

Cammann also mentioned that Tumbarello’s visit came as a direct result of one of these communal CAC meetings. During the last meeting several chairs had asked for specifics concerning the town’s code enforcement.

Tumbarello started the conversation by informing CAC members “if you feel there is a pressing issue in your area give me a call.” He handed out his card, and then outlined his duties such as assessing whether a home is over crowded, if a person is illegally dumping garbage, or even things such as unattended lawns, too many vehicles per residence, and overnight street parking.

“For example, if you feel a neighbor in your area is renting a house out and there are 20 people living in it, we would come around, interview people, and see if we could get into the house and count how many beds there are,” he said.

CAC member Cathie Gandel asked if code enforcement deals with commercial as well as residential concerns, to which Tumbarello replied in the affirmative.

Tumbarello also explained how the enforcement process works.

 “It is state law to give notice of a violation first. The state likes to see us educate people before taking them to court.”

He said the CAC shouldn’t get discouraged by the length of time it may take for the violator to be prosecuted. Although “it can get caught up in court and planning,” eventually a case will go through.

Immediately after this, CAC member Ian MacPherson made a presentation on his thoughts concerning “The Volpe Study which is an outgrowth of the Sustainable East End Development Strategies (SEEDS) recommendation for a coordinated rail and bus network.”

MacPherson explained that the Volpe study recommended a bus service for the North Fork and a coordinated bus and rail system for the South Fork. The estimated cost for this system would be around $117.3 to $147.8 million, of which around $100 million would be spent on rail.

 “This recommendation has been accepted by the five towns of the East End according to Assemblyman Fred Thiele,” Mac Pherson added.

MacPherson ended by saying “I could not see the justification of the expenditure of this money which would basically do nothing to reduce congestion in the South Fork.” He pointed out the study said rail use would only reduce congestion by 2.2%.

MacPherson thought that money would be better spent on improving the South Fork’s bus system, which was not as costly, and by further improving the roads. He suggested “It would be helpful to our transportation situation if the town could do a further study on how the roads in the South Fork can be improved.” He also asked for the CAC’s thoughts on this subject.

Long wondered whether it was better to “stop paying into the MTA and put the money into a Peconic Transportation Service, as Assemblyman Thiele suggested, in order to off-set the costs.”

Some CAC members thought taking buses would be slower than the train and also the bus tended to cost more than the train. Several thought the Jitney could do a good job running a bus service out here.

In the end Cammann and CAC Secretary Dick Bruce suggested the CAC host a discussion, perhaps at the newly re-opened Hampton Library, concerning South Fork transportation.

“We should have the Jitney guy come to the discussion, and Tom Neely, as well as the McCoys, the school bus people. It would be instructive, and we need to know what we’re talking about here.”

Lastly, Long mentioned he had been talking with Councilwoman Nancy Graboski about the creation of a toddler’s park in Bridgehampton.

“I want the playground for all of Bridgehampton, but there are so many benefits for Bridgehampton if we have the playground at CMEE,” he said.

However several people noted they’d like to have a playground on Main Street or the beach instead.

The Sag Harbor Village real estate market started the year off with a record bang. In January, Tara Newman of Saunders Real Estate and a broker from Brown, Harris, Stevens brokered a deal on an 8,000-square-foot waterfront home on Shaw Road for $13.75 million, the most a village house has ever fetched. But over the last few years, the village market hasn’t fared quite as well.

According to a five-year report of the East End property market, home sales in Sag Harbor Village dropped by 67 percent from 2005 through 2009. The report, compiled and published by Town & Country Real Estate, revealed that total home sales in the village shrank from $66.8 million in 2005 to $28.5 million last year. Out of the 11 markets studied for the report, Sag Harbor Village and the Southampton area, including North Sea, showed the highest decline in percentage of home sales.

Before the report was completed, CEO of Town & Country Judi Desiderio wanted to confirm her belief that the market peaked in 2005 and hit bottom in 2009. She pointed out one broker might have had a busy 2009 while another real estate agent might have been in a selling slump. The report shows the whole picture of the real estate market on the South Fork, noted Desiderio.

“The numbers don’t lie,” she remarked. “We noticed 2009 was saved by the fourth quarter. It shows me that the buyers are ready to pull the trigger. Everything is cyclical. [And] sometimes you have to swallow a correction [of the market].”

“We’ve seen the median price go up,” pointed out Charles Manger, vice president and executive director of eastern Long Island for Brown, Harris, Stevens Real Estate, and added “It is still higher than it was in 2005.”

He agreed, however, the rate of transfers had indeed decreased since 2005, and that “Sag Harbor definitely did drop off.”

Manger said his observation of the past three quarters showed a definite uptick in Sag Harbor.

“But I’m definitely a conservative, and I want to wait and see how we do the first quarter of 2010 before I believe there is a clear trend,” said Manger.

After gathering the data for the report, Desiderio noted she was surprised by the precipitous decline in Sag Harbor Village home sales. She explained real estate prices in Sag Harbor, and Montauk, skyrocketed in the last five years.

Sag Harbor was transformed from a “sleepy village to one of the hottest locales,” added Cee Scott Brown of Corcoran Real Estate, and thus the market had a long way to slide.

Whereas property owners in other markets might be desperate to sell today, Desiderio believes village owners are holding onto their digs until the market picks up. Montauk is experiencing a similar phenomenon, she added.

Sellers in the village may have to ride the waves a little while longer. In the new market, Brown believes buyers are looking for value over the cachet of a village home steeped in local history and old world charm.

“If a buyer is going to spend X amount of dollars, they now want to have land. The value connotation doesn’t translate in a buyer’s eyes to a small lot and house size [which is typical of the village],” said Brown. “New constructions have been selling. A lot of developers were able to take a sharp pencil to their bottom lines. Most new constructions are on at least half an acre.”

The buyers on the hunt for the historical qualities of village homes are few and far between in this market, said Brown. He added this type of buying “plays into the emotional side of purchasing.”

“In this market we have so few emotional purchases,” noted Brown. “I don’t think we will see the same kind of feeding frenzy for a long time or ever again.”

Newman, however, points out that “people have very short term memories.” Although she admitted she cannot predict the future of the village real estate market, Newman did have this bit of advice for the village homeowner seriously looking to unload their property: “Marketing is going to be more important than ever.” Though it is only February, Newman pointed out the 2010 market is looking up.

Gioia diPaolo of Prudential Douglas Elliman agreed that Sag Harbor had “really been hit hard” in the past year or so, but added she had been tracking the past six months here and had noted a change.

“One property was recently bought on Bay Street by a real estate agent. That tells you something,” said diPaolo, and she pointed to at least seven or eight properties in the village that are currently in contract, ranging from a $400,000 condo to a $3.25 million colonial.

Commenting on the $28.5 million in transfers for 2009, she observed, for a recession, that still amounted to a lot of money changing hands.

“I don’t find that disconcerting,” she said.

By Marissa Maier

As a child, Gini Booth effortlessly tread between two disparate worlds. By day, Booth could be found on the streets of New York City and its environs protesting racial prejudices and socioeconomic injustices with her father, Judge William Henry Booth, an African-American New York City Criminal Court Judge and Chairman of the city’s Commission on Human Rights. In the evening, Booth’s mother, Harriet Walker Booth, whisked her young daughter to debutante balls in the gilded halls of the Waldorf Astoria.

Above: Booth’s father, Judge William Henry Booth, to the right of Martin Luther King, Jr. during a rally.

Booth’s early balance between social justice and social graces served her well later in life as an actress, news producer, literacy advocate and breast cancer survivor. Her early life, and the lessons Booth’s parents taught her at a tender age, will be the subject of a talk at the Bridgehampton Child Care and Recreational Center on Thursday, February 25, as part of “Straight Talk: A series of community conversations.”

During her talk, Booth will highlight the convictions of her parents and how these beliefs influenced her upbringing and affected her as an adult. With a father who represented Malcolm X at one point and marched with Martin Luther King, Jr., Booth has one or two stories to tell about fighting for civil rights in New York City at a young age. During one rally, in support of a hospital union in Riverdale, Booth saw a police officer attempt to push her father along to move with the crowd. To the 13-year-old Booth, the cop seemed more like a six-foot giant dressed in blue than an officer of the law keeping order.

“I went up to him and I tried to beat him up. I said, ‘Don’t you dare hit my father,’” recalled Booth. “No one had told me it was supposed to be a peaceful protest.”

After spending many childhood afternoons in her father’s office, Booth would later follow in his footsteps. As a teenager, William Booth served as President of the NAACP Youth Council in Jamaica, Queens. Years later, Booth was appointed Secretary of the Treasury of the same council.

After years of practicing law and setting up strong roots in the Episcopal faith, William Booth’s calm and forgiving approach to life helped his daughter in her struggles with issues of race and ethnicity. Though Booth’s parents are of African-American descent, she was born with blue eyes and blond hair — characteristics typical of Caucasians. As Booth was maturing into a young woman, she recalls several instances when she would be walking down the street with her father and a passerby would yell some racially derogatory comment.

“Someone started screaming at my father, ‘Who is that little white girl with you?’ The man said, ‘Was she dipped in Clorox?’ It was very hurtful. But my father said to just ignore him and that he doesn’t know any better,” remembered Booth. “And then I thought of something my father’s mother had taught me. She said ‘A garden is beautiful and in the garden are all different types of flowers of all shapes and sizes. But it is all one garden.’ At least I had the strength and the substance every day when I left that house with my parents.”

After growing up in Queens, Booth flew the coop to study acting at the University of California at Los Angeles. She returned to New York and joined the Negro Ensemble Company Actors Workshop, Frank Silvera’s Actors Studio and New Heritage Theater. Later, Booth relocated to Providence, Rhode Island for a career change in news broadcasting and producing. She created a talk show, named SHADES, on the local PBS channel and “Black News,” which was on the CBS radio affiliate for the state. Because Booth was a member of the National Black Programming Consortium, her television work was broadcast throughout the US, in Africa and the Caribbean.

Currently, Booth’s myriad projects include an affiliation with the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, the Suffolk County Executive’s African American Advisory Board, the Vestry of Christ Episcopal Church, ERASE Racism, the Witness Project LI and EVIDENCE Dance Company.

As a 21-year survivor of stage three breast cancer, Booth’s work has spilled over into cancer advocacy. She is affiliated with CancerCare of the Hamptons and the American Cancer Society. Booth’s work and life has been featured in many television shows and publications, including “Good Morning America,” “Good Day NY,” Town and Country Magazine and Family Circle Magazine.

Though Booth is ringing in her 60th year of life in 2010, she shows no signs of slowing down. She currently serves as the executive director of Literacy Suffolk. Literacy, says Booth, is often seen as a non-issue in the 21st century, but she pointed out that close to one in every seven adults in Suffolk County are functionally illiterate.

“I am wondering what I am going to be doing in 20 years,” exclaimed Booth. “I can only imagine. I can’t wait.”

A fifth generation chef, Luigi Tagliasacchi has spent over 30 years cultivating his craft and learning the business of food. At his most recent venture, Noyac’s Cappelletti Italian Restaurant, Tagliasacchi has found a home where family-friendly, yet sophisticated cuisine is paired with family, art and a lot of love.

In the restaurant business since the age of 14, Tagliasacchi was raised in a culinary tradition, under the wing of his father Jack, who owns Sag Harbor’s Il Cappuccino and once owned East Hampton’s Il Monastero with his son. A native of Parma Italy, the elder Tagliasacchi also owned a restaurant at Sag Harbor’s Barons Cove, along with a plethora of locations including Argentine and Miami.

Luigi, following in the footsteps of his father, studied in Parma, created cuisine at the renowned Fontainebleau in Miami Beach, and was often a partner in his father’s businesses locally before branching out on his own. His experience in Parma, he said over coffee on a snowy Tuesday morning at Cappelletti, gave Luigi an appreciation for a slower, more specialized European understanding of dining, and more importantly, cooking.

“It was a slower lifestyle, a different lifestyle,” he said. “And for me to be taught by these amazing chefs was exceptional.”

During the course of Luigi’s culinary education, he honed his craft with Italian chefs, naturally, as well as French, Irish and Japanese chefs – an experience he said has given him both confidence and perspective in his own endeavors.

“I work seven days a week and make sure we have fresh, organic products here,” he said. “The fish comes in daily, and we age our steaks 90 days. I don’t know anyone else locally who does that.”

In 1993, Luigi and his wife Robin, an artist, opened Espressos Market in Sag Harbor, after the chef realized life in the restaurant business was not nearly as important as raising his children.

“It was right up the street from Stella Maris, the elementary school, Pierson,” he said, noting Robin searched out the space and knew this was a business the family could excel in while watching their children grow up.

As with Cappelletti, Luigi’s priority at Espresso revolved around quality ingredients prepared with care. After 12 successful years, Luigi, in an admittedly abrupt fashion, sold Espresso to take care of his ill mother in Florida.

“I figured I am not going to get another walk through this life, and I only get one mom, so that was important to me,” he said.

Just three months later, after the passing of his mother, Luigi realized Florida was not home and began scouting restaurant locations on the East End, eventually settling on his Noyac Road establishment – a former Thai restaurant and bar in need of a full restoration. Luigi and Robin, whose art the chef proudly displays on every wall of Cappelletti, have owned the restaurant for four years now.

Noyac, Luigi said, is just beginning to develop into its own commercial setting boasting restaurants like Cappelletti and Oasis, both of which have developed a popular following on the East End.

Cappelletti’s menu is varied and deep – at lunch and dinner – and ever changing to suit seasonal foods and customer favorites.

“I try to hit every spectrum,” said Luigi. “We do beef, chicken, fish, homemade pastas, in the summer we even do a little sushi, but we just touch on that when the product is right. We are traditionally a Northern Italian restaurant, but we do cater to families.”

Luigi said his goal is to be as inclusive as possible, able to serve the family looking for a hearty bowl of pasta, as well as a high end clientele seeking fine dining. Lunch service and take-out are also popular at Cappelletti.

“Ninety percent of the time I always knew this is what I wanted to do because it is fun and it is creative,” said Luigi. “It is really a passion for life. We all care about what we are doing here. We have fun, but we do take everything to heart.”

Cappelletti Italian Restaurant, located at 3284 Noyac Road, is open for lunch, dinner and take-out service seven days a week, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., additionally offering catering and full bar service. For more information, or reservations, call 725-7800.