Shelter Island Reporter Letters to the Editor: May 28, 2026
IN PLAIN SIGHT
To the Editor:
Shelter Island just voted on a $13.6 million school budget that pierces the property tax cap — after cuts like social worker staff and the Pre-K3 program last year. Health insurance costs for school employees and retirees have been rising 12% a year, a completely unsustainable trajectory.
There is a solution hiding in plain sight, and it has nothing to do with cutting more programs.
The New York Health Act, currently before the State Legislature, would guarantee comprehensive health coverage for every New Yorker — no premiums, deductibles, co-payments, or network restrictions — while saving nearly $17 billion statewide annually by eliminating private insurer overhead and profits. My co-author Judith Esterquest and I released a white paper analyzing what it would mean for local governments across New York. The Shelter Island School District alone could save more than $2 million in a single year — 18.8% of local property tax revenue — more than enough to restore every cut and still reduce the burden on taxpayers.
This is not unique to Shelter Island. Across 13 counties and NYC, 17 municipalities, and 22 school districts statewide, local governments would reduce health insurance costs by more than 80% by replacing expensive private insurance with a progressive payroll tax, while providing everyone, including teachers, with better coverage than any current public or private plan.
Our school is the heart of this community. We should not have to choose between the Pre-K3 program and the property tax cap. The NY Health Act is how we stop making that choice. I urge Shelter Island residents to contact Assemblyman Tommy John Schiavoni and Senator Anthony Palumbo and demand they pass it — because the next school budget and the next health insurance premium increase will be harder than the last one unless something changes. Learn more here: nyhcampaign.org/
CHERYL CASHIN, Shelter Island
UNDERMINING IMPORTANT WORK
To the Editor:
Over Memorial Day weekend flyers were posted claiming that Sylvester Manor will be hosting a Kiss concert on July 4. This is not true. We’re dismayed that someone took time to blatantly spread disinformation and impersonate the organization. Unfortunately it’s only the latest example of a longstanding effort to undermine our important work as a community-based organization as well as our reputation.
This latest round of harassment claims we will be hosting massive concerts. To the contrary, we plan to host two creekside concerts this year, one in the summer and one in the fall. These concerts align closely with our history, property and mission. They are all permitted by the Town and open to the public.
The nonprofit Sylvester Manor was founded nearly 20 years ago as a resource for the community as well as a Nationally Significant Historic Site that needs to be preserved and protected. Our programming reflects the property’s important history and natural resources. As our programming has grown so too has our economic impact. With an annual budget of nearly $2.5 million we employ 80 people a year in a town that has recently seen businesses decline.
Starting in 2010, over 125 acres of our 236 acres have been preserved in perpetuity. In February of 2024 we submitted a Building Permit and today we’re working with the Town on our Site Plan Review Application. We have dedicated considerable time to this project, and remain committed to working closely with the Town. We look forward to rehabilitating the Manor House once we receive Site Plan approval and a Building Permit.
Sylvester Manor is a unique, multifaceted, community-based project with a complicated and layered history. We appreciate everyone’s support as we continue to elevate our work and fulfill our mission.
STEPHEN A.W. SEARL, Executive Director, Sylvester Manor
PRESS LAWMAKERS ON PLASTICS
To the Editor:
As plastic pollution continues to threaten public health and our environment, fossil fuel and chemical industry lobbyists are fighting common sense legislation in Albany. These groups are flooding lawmakers with misleading claims about plastic recycling and false warnings that reducing plastic packaging would raise costs — even though Consumer Reports has found otherwise.
Every day, New Yorkers consume food and drinks packaged in plastics containing harmful chemicals, while mounting scientific evidence shows toxic microplastics contaminating our waterways, ecosystems, and even our bodies.
Since 2022, volunteers with the Surfrider Foundation’s Eastern Long Island Chapter have collected more than 6,000 plastic food wrappers from local beaches, making them the fifth most common item found during our cleanups. We urgently need action to stop this pollution at its source.
The Plastic Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act (PRRIA) would reduce plastic packaging, ban the most dangerous chemicals used in it, and shift waste disposal costs from taxpayers to manufacturers. The bill has already passed the New York State Senate twice but still awaits a vote in the Assembly.
On behalf of Surfrider Foundation’s Eastern Long Island Chapter and our 200-plus East End members, we thank Assemblyman Tommy John Schiavoni (D-Sag Harbor) for co-sponsoring PRRIA and urge him to advocate for the bill in conference and press Speaker Carl Heastie to bring it to a vote. We also urge Senator Anthony Palumbo (R-New Suffolk) to support PRRIA and help address Long Island’s growing waste crisis.
Please call these representatives to show your support for PRRIA before the legislative session ends on June 4:
Assemblyman Schiavoni: 631-537-2583
Senator Palumbo: 518-455-3121
Speaker Carl Heastie: 518-455-3791
BRODY EGGER, Eastern Long Island Chapter Manager, Surfrider Foundation
