Shelter Island Reporter Letters to the Editor: July 13, 2026
ROCKING FOR THE ROCK
To the Editor:
Why Rocking for the Rock is so important to me:
Last year I became aware of just how tough it is for quite a number of our Shelter Island residents; you might say in hindsight I was pretty blind to the needs of our community. I have been coming to Shelter Island for 45 years, yet I have never really focused sufficiently on giving back to the Island. Like many people, I come to Shelter for its amazing beauty, and of course golf, boating, and to enjoy the relaxed nature of this unique and special island.
I learned last year of the food pantry at the Presbyterian Church, and that CAST sets up their Mobile Pantry van at the Cobbetts Lane Firehouse every other week. The fact that many of my neighbors take advantage of their generosity was both moving and inspirational to me. I was also struck at the end of the fall that we lost our pharmacy which can’t be easy on our elderly residents.
Once I became aware just how much the Island needs help, I decided it was long overdue for me to get involved. By way of background, I am the current Chairman of Robin Hood Foundation and for 38 years our mission has been fighting poverty in NYC. It’s been my honor and privilege to look after New Yorkers in need for all those years. I also have spent the last three decades fighting poverty in Connecticut where I have lived and raised my family.
Accordingly, as I learned just how much the community on Shelter Island needs our support, I decided to sponsor Rocking for the Rock and I look forward to doing so over the years to come. From my perspective, successful people have a responsibility to share with those who need our help.
I encourage everyone to come to Rocking for the Rock, have a blast, and show that we care deeply the incredible community of Shelter Island.
KENNETH G. TROPIN, Shelter Island
SAME RULES FOR ALL
To the Editor:
Protecting the environment and preventing over-development is not, as Michael Shatken suggested in recent letter, “just an excuse for not being proactive to create laws that promote housing affordable to our community.”
The AA-zone (2-acre minimum parcel) and the Near Shore Overlay District (NSO), both prohibiting accessory apartments (ADUs), were created many years ago not to control runoff, as the letter suggests, but to limit density to reduce drawdown of water and generation of nitrate-rich wastewater in the most fragile part of the aquifer — in coastal areas.
The TB and ZBA unfortunately still allow oversized houses. The TB should both impose greater limits on house size and continue to prohibit ADUs in the NSO. A house on a non-conforming quarter-acre parcel already has eight-times the density of water use and sewage generation of a house on a conforming 2-acre parcel. Adding a year-round used ADU to such a parcel increases that density to 16 times. Adding an ADU to a seasonally used house quadruples parcel’s use of water and sewage generation.
Before setting a precedent that would potentially allow adding of ADUs to hundreds of small, non-conforming lots and converting hundreds of existing accessory sleeping quarters to ADUs, the TB should commission a comprehensive study of the impact. Such a study should be conducted by recognized environmental consultants, supervised by the most prominent independent expert on groundwater and coastal ecosystems on East End, Dr. Christopher Gobler of Stony Brook.
It would be irresponsible to make zoning changes, especially piecemeal ones, without serious objective scientific analysis of their likely impact on the environment. The unprecedented application to arbitrarily remove a single house from NSO, without credible independent environmental analysis, should be rejected. The rules should not be changed to benefit a single person without considering the consequences for others.
JAN SUDOL, Shelter Island
THANKS TO JULY 4, 5 ORGANIZERS
To the Editor:
Thank you Linda Springer and Donna Emma for all your over the top work in celebrating our Country’s 250th Anniversary.
Linda, your organization of the parade, 250 Years of Freedom — In Honor of All Who Served, with Shelter Island individuals and organizations and businesses taking part on July 4 and Donna Emma for your Voices of Valor, a theatrical musical reenactment of the Island’s participation in the Revolution with singing and readings on July 5. Both were remarkable and made the weekend memorable and fun.
I hope you are considered as volunteers of the year. Maybe an invitation to the White House!
Also, thank you to the 23+ floats and groups who marched in the 90+degree heat. You were great. BTW the North Ferry had the cutest float possible of, guess what, a North Ferry. How cool is that.
CAROL S. TIERNAN, Shelter Island
