Summer Membership Meeting of the Eastern Long Island Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation
Meeting Minutes
July 9, 2007 Meeting
Over 35 activists spent a warm summer evening at Tugboat’s North Sea House, attending the July 9, meeting of the Surfrider Foundation Eastern Long Island Chapter. Sarah Newkirk, The Nature Conservancy’s Conservation Project Director, provided a lively & animated presentation entitled “Sea Level Rise & Coastal Development on Long Island”.
Sarah’s passion for the topic was evident & infectious. The theme of her presentation was that sea level rise is a critical issue for all coastal habitat. She indicated that during the last century, sea level rose about 1 inch per decade. However, over the next 50 years, she projected the sea level rise on Long Island could range from 7 inches to 2 feet. This represents a rate of increase over the last century of 40% to 380%. In response to this accelerated increase in sea level rise, Sarah called for innovative land use and coastal erosion legislation that is coordinated among local, regional, state, & federal jurisdictions.
On June 20, 2007, the NY State Legislature took an important step to address sea level rise by creating a State Task Force to evaluate strategies to address sea level rise and coastal development. Although the bill was passed by the legislature, it has not yet been signed by the Governor. Sarah asked the Chapter to co-sign a letter addressed to the Governor, imploring him to sign the bill. Chapter members voted unanimously to co-sign the letter. Sarah concluded her presentation by answering several well-thought-out questions from Chapter members.
Tom Naro, Chapter Chair, continued the meeting by providing a quick outline of the many chapter activities conducted over the past 3 months:
- Post Earth Day beach clean-up, organized by Bruce Lieberman and the East Hampton High School Surf Club.
- Interscholastic Surf Games comprising over 60 students from 8 Long Island schools, organized by Jay Fruin & Bruce Lieberman & including a series of “Respect the Beach” programs presented by Joe Warren.
- Respect the Beach program presented to over 100 Center Moriches 4th graders by Bob Casper, Mara Hogan Dias, & Tom Naro.
- Local International Surfing Day event, organized by Mara.
- Surfrider table at the Parrish Art Museum’s Eco Vision event, staffed by Claire Pertalion
Selected up-coming events include:
- Surf Movie Night on August 8th in Bridgehampton.
- Great Cesar’s Ghost fund raiser for the Chapter at Stephen Talkhouse, also on August 8.
- Rell Sun Surf contest on August 4.
- Surfer’s Healing Event to be held during September.
Check out the web site www.surfriderli.org for info regarding these and other up-coming events!
Tom indicated that traditionally (that means once before) election for the Chapter Executive Committee & Chapter leadership occurred during the summer meeting. He suggest that since there is so much Chapter activity during the summer, that we hold this election during the autumn meeting. Meeting attendees fully endorsed Tom’s suggestion because that means that Tom will serve as Chapter Chair for 3 or 4 more months.
Thomas Muse & Chris Manthey provided an up-date on our effort to convince the Army Corps of Engineers to consider moving the Lighthouse, as an alternative to constructing a sea wall around the tip of Montauk Point. Thomas & Chris journeyed to Albany recently to meet with several of Governor Spitzer’s environmental advisors & others to present the Chapter’s position. Chris reported that we did not make significant progress in getting our message across. Although the meetings were somewhat disappointing, he urged participants to re-double efforts to win local, regional, & State level support for re-locating the Lighthouse. Chris suggested a Walk the Beach campaign to “talk-up” the issue among beach-goers. And, Jay Fruin suggested a series of meetings with local Key Opinion Leaders to present ours case. Jay & Chris will follow-up with these ideas.
Eugene Alper & Joe Giannini summarized the status of discussions regarding surfing access at Montauk Point. Chapter members participated in a meeting with several NY State Parks officials in May to make our case. At the meeting, participants agreed to a 3-point plan:
- Two to three month “cooling off period”.
- Meeting of Parks officials with Surfrider representatives & selected fishermen during the last 2 weeks of July.
- Development of a compromise strategy.
Eugene is still trying to schedule the July meeting. In the meantime, a surfer received a ticket for surfing at Montauk Point & Joe has agreed to represent her in court. He asked Chapter members to “fill the courtroom & wear your Surfrider shirts”, on the day of the trial. Check our website for the trial date.
Mara Hogan Dias gave a brief up-date on the East Hampton Coastal Legislation, which has been passed by the Town Board. She also outlined the status of the anti-Broadwater campaign.
A date and location for our next meeting will be set shortly. Check www.surfriderli.org for details.
Summer Membership Meeting of the Eastern Long Island Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation Meeting Minutes
July 9, 2007 Meeting Over 35 activists spent a warm summer evening at Tugboat’s North Sea House, attending the July 9, meeting of the Surfrider Foundation Eastern Long Island Chapter. Sarah Newkirk, The Nature Conservancy’s Conservation Project Director, provided a lively & animated presentation entitled “Sea Level Rise & Coastal Development on Long Island”. Sarah’s passion for the topic was evident & infectious. The theme of her presentation was that sea level rise is a critical issue for all coastal habitat. She indicated that during the last century, sea level rose about 1 inch per decade. However, over the next 50 years, she projected the sea level rise on Long Island could range from 7 inches to 2 feet. This represents a rate of increase over the last century of 40% to 380%. In response to this accelerated increase in sea level rise, Sarah called for innovative land use and coastal erosion legislation that is coordinated among local, regional, state, & federal jurisdictions. On June 20, 2007, the NY State Legislature took an important step to address sea level rise by creating a State Task Force to evaluate strategies to address sea level rise and coastal development. Although the bill was passed by the legislature, it has not yet been signed by the Governor. Sarah asked the Chapter to co-sign a letter addressed to the Governor, imploring him to sign the bill. Chapter members voted unanimously to co-sign the letter. Sarah concluded her presentation by answering several well-thought-out questions from Chapter members. Tom Naro, Chapter Chair, continued the meeting by providing a quick outline of the many chapter activities conducted over the past 3 months:
Selected up-coming events include:
Tom indicated that traditionally (that means once before) election for the Chapter Executive Committee & Chapter leadership occurred during the summer meeting. He suggest that since there is so much Chapter activity during the summer, that we hold this election during the autumn meeting. Meeting attendees fully endorsed Tom’s suggestion because that means that Tom will serve as Chapter Chair for 3 or 4 more months. Thomas Muse & Chris Manthey provided an up-date on our effort to convince the Army Corps of Engineers to consider moving the Lighthouse, as an alternative to constructing a sea wall around the tip of Montauk Point. Thomas & Chris journeyed to Albany recently to meet with several of Governor Spitzer’s environmental advisors & others to present the Chapter’s position. Chris reported that we did not make significant progress in getting our message across. Although the meetings were somewhat disappointing, he urged participants to re-double efforts to win local, regional, & State level support for re-locating the Lighthouse. Chris suggested a Walk the Beach campaign to “talk-up” the issue among beach-goers. And, Jay Fruin suggested a series of meetings with local Key Opinion Leaders to present ours case. Jay & Chris will follow-up with these ideas. Eugene Alper & Joe Giannini summarized the status of discussions regarding surfing access at Montauk Point. Chapter members participated in a meeting with several NY State Parks officials in May to make our case. At the meeting, participants agreed to a 3-point plan:
Eugene is still trying to schedule the July meeting. In the meantime, a surfer received a ticket for surfing at Montauk Point & Joe has agreed to represent her in court. He asked Chapter members to “fill the courtroom & wear your Surfrider shirts”, on the day of the trial. Check our website for the trial date. Mara Hogan Dias gave a brief up-date on the East Hampton Coastal Legislation, which has been passed by the Town Board. She also outlined the status of the anti-Broadwater campaign. A date and location for our next meeting will be set shortly. Check www.surfriderli.org for details. |
