Dear Quogue Residents,
Having now been your Mayor for three weeks and experienced first-hand the range of “stuff” that crosses my desk, I now appreciate fully how lucky we have been for these past many years to have benefited from Peter’s hard work and wise leadership. Hats off to Peter!
It has been a busy month, with a special surprise visit last Wednesday of a juvenile great white shark on our beaches. The press frenzy this garnered brought back images from the release of the movie Jaws in the summer of 1975. I certainly did not anticipate any comparison to Mayor Vaughn of Amity Island. On a positive note, our Village Beach life guards are in regular contact with all of the local beaches and have received heightened training for shark surveillance. The Town of Southampton is also activating a centralized notification system in coordination with all of the South Fork communities.
In another positive development for beach safety, I am pleased to report that the Westhampton War Memorial Volunteer Ambulance Corp, which provides EMS response to the Villages of Quogue, Westhampton Beach, Westhampton Dunes, along with five additional hamlets, is adding a water rescue team to their life saving services. This new service will be activated in the coming weeks and is intended to provide coverage for unprotected waters. The Westhampton Ambulance Volunteer Water Rescue Squad will consist of experienced certified ocean rescue lifeguards, who will be dispatched to swimmers in distress along the ocean front and other bodies of water within the Westhampton Ambulance District. Two of our own Police Officers, Ronan Seltenreich, and Scott Hickerson, are members of the Water Rescue Squad.
Staying focused on the beach front, as Peter noted in his “Final Words” letter, the Fire Island to Montauk Point (“FIMP”) beach nourishment project is moving forward, although the work that will directly affect our beaches is not slated to begin until the Fall of 2023. We are coordinating with the Town of Southampton on the next steps involving obtaining the required easements. An informational meeting will be held in the coming weeks for all interested residents to provide further details of the FIMP project. Stay tuned.
One more beach related item – the Village has been coordinating with Relic Sustainability relic-sustainability.org to arrange for the installation of “Beach Cleanup Stations” at the Village Beach and the other beach clubs in Quogue. Relic is the group that has sponsored the “Flupsy” (Floating Upwelling System) at the Village Dock in coordination with the Moriches Bay Project morichesbayproject.org. The Flupsy is a system to nurture hundreds of thousands of oysters, which are then seeded throughout the bay to help clean our waters.
And a few reminders of some of the multitude of upcoming events in the month to come:
On Sunday, July 31st, from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm, the Quogue Library will be hosting the next program in its Summer Author Series with Anna Pitoniak. Please consult the Quogue Library’s website for their rich offering of fun and educational events: www.quoguelibrary.org
The Quogue Junior Theater Troupe’s production of Chicago is coming to the stage in the Village Community Hall on August 2nd– 5th. One of the fun benefits of having an office in the Village Hall is listening to the QJTT rehearsals. The annual QJTT Summer Benefit is being held this coming Friday, July 29th in the Village Community Hall at 7:00 pm. You can purchase your tickets on line at qjtt.org
Our Village Police will be participating in a “Coffee with a Cop” event which will be held at Beth’s Café on Saturday, August 6th, from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm. Please stop by for an opportunity to meet members of our police force in an informal setting.
And then on Sunday, August 7th, from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm is the annual Fire Department’s Open House – a must attend event for one and all. www.quoguefiredepartment.org
The Quogue Historical Society’s annual art show will be held on the Village Green on Saturday, August 13th, from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. On Friday evening, August 12th, from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm, QHS is hosting an Art Talk Benefit (and cocktails) also on the Village Green. Tickets can be purchased through the QHS website: https://quoguehistory.org
The Hampton Theatre Company is hosting their annual benefit on August 20th from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Tickets can be purchased at: www.hamptontheatre.org
The Quogue Association’s annual Beach Party will be held at the Village Beach on August 20th beginning at 6:00 pm. https://quogueassociation.org
Apologies if I have overlooked any other events in our busy season.
Have fun and stay safe!
Robert Treuhold
Mayor, Village of Quogue
631-653-4498 (office)