A look back: This week in Shelter Island history
10 YEARS AGO
Deer advice for drivers
Ten years ago, the New York Insurance Association was proactive in advising motorists to be cautious about a growing incidence of deer on roadways that was resulting in increased motor vehicle accidents. Claims resulting from encounters with deer were averaging about $2,000 each and the association warned then that as the deer population continued to grow and new developments encroached on their habitats, more accidents would result.
POSTSCRIPT: Fast forward to 2013 and Shelter Island continues to experience a concrn about accidents involving deer as town, county and state officials work to counter the problem.
20 YEARS AGO
Shared decision budget action committee created
The Shelter Island Board of Education, following the advice of then superintendent Dr. Lydia Axelrod, established a Shared Decision Budget Action Committee of board members, parents, other community members and teachers to provide input to the development of the district’s annual budget. The new committee was to replace the Budget Review Committee that similarly reviewed and offered input to budgeting in the past. That unit had eight community volunteers and a single board member while the newly constituted committee was to be balanced between school and community members.
POSTSCRIPT: Today’s Board of Education provides ample opportunities for teachers and staff and community members to weigh in on the budget process at a series of public meetings, but the initial draft budget created by the administration is shaped by elected school board members with what has been in recent years little community input. At the same time, discussions of choices to be made are well publicized, both through newspaper stories and the district’s website where budget presentations can be viewed.
30 YEARS AGO
LILCO resumes hookups after utility law snafu
The Long Island Lighting Company, predecessor to today’s Long Island Power Authority, was stopped in its tracks as it was installing lines to new houses on Shelter Island in late 1983 because of a local law that was at first interpreted to ban overhead wires, requiring that lines be buried. But Town Board members then rescinded the law, saying its intent wasn’t meant to stop house hookups, but to apply to high tension transmission lines.
POSTSCRIPT: With much of the South Fork having underground lines, there have been rumblings from time to time in other parts of the East End to get similar treatment from LIPA, but the company has maintained the expense would be prohibited and overhead lines are the norm on Shelter Island and the North Fork.
50 YEARS AGO
To aid Planning Board
John Sengstaken, a retired engineer living on Ram Island, accepted the unpaid post of consultant to the Shelter Island Planning Board 50 years ago.
POSTSCRIPT: Since October 2012, John Cronin has served as a part-time engineering consultant for Shelter Island. His maximum annual salary was set at $29,000.
