Southold Voters Approved A Local Law To Amend Chapter 17 Of The Southold Town Code

The coping with what happened Thursday upstate — a bus crash that took the lives of two beloved Farmingdale High School educators and left dozens of students injured — took many forms yesterday in the Village of Farmingdale and beyond. As reported on Newsday.com, at St. Kilian Parish in Farmingdale, an audience of close to 400 listened intently during the 9:30 a.m. Mass. A priest recalled laughing with Beatrice Ferrari, 77, a chaperone and retired teacher who died in the crash, just last week after her young grandson had an outburst in the church. Inside the auditorium at Copiague High School, students representing 10 high school marching bands from across Long Island got out of a driving rain and performed in their dress uniforms — many adorned this day with a small ribbon in green, Farmingdale High School's team colors. And last night, nearly 140 students, colleagues and loved ones gathered on a Zoom call to tell their stories of Ms. Ferrari and Gina Pellettiere, 43, Farmingdale High’s director of bands who also died in the bus crash. Taken together, loving but somber previews of what’s to come this week for the Farmingdale High community: funerals, wakes and more reminders of life’s fragility. “It could have happened to anyone,” said Eric Dobmeier, band director at Copiague High, of the Thursday afternoon crash. Dobmeier, who’s been involved in band activities for more than two decades, said he has taken bus trips with students numerous times. “It certainly hits close to home. … On Saturday, Farmingdale schools Superintendent Paul Defendini said all of those injured in Thursday’s bus crash are expected to recover. ***Monthly Long Island Rail Road train delays have skyrocketed since the opening of Grand Central Madison, averaging 1,781 late trains a month between March and August of this year, as compared with a monthly average of 776 in the prior 12 months — an increase of 130%. MTA officials point to a number of factors for the increased delays, including that the LIRR is running significantly more trains than before the addition of Grand Central Madison, as well as a rise in ridership. The LIRR’s overall on-time percentage remains close to its goal of 94%. Some critics blame the increase in delays on the LIRR adding too many stops to some trains, an aging fleet, and on ineffective methods of examining on-time performance. Alfonso A. Castillo reports on Newsday.com that the LIRR considers a train late if it arrives at its final destination more than five minutes and 59 seconds after its scheduled time. LIRR ridership since has rebounded to nearly 70% of pre-pandemic levels on weekdays, and close to 100% on weekends. On Wednesday, the LIRR carried 242,202 riders — the most of any weekday since the COVID-19 outbreak. ***On November 8, 2022 Southold voters approved a local law to amend Chapter 17 of the Southold Town Code, establishing a half-percent tax to fund the Southold Town Community Housing Fund. The enabling legislation for this action came from the Peconic Bay Region Community Housing Fund Act. The Southold Town Board has scheduled a public hearing on the Community Housing Plan for tomorrow at 4:30pm. The meeting will take place in Southold Town Hall on Main Road in Southold, NY. For details on how to view Tuesday afternoon’s meeting via Zoom, please monitor the Southold Meetings Calendar on the Town of Southold homepage. The Peconic Bay Region Community Housing Act requires towns to establish an advisory board to review and make recommendations regarding the town’s community housing plan. The board acts in an advisory capacity to the Town Board. The Board includes representatives from the following industries: construction, real estate, banking, local housing advocacy and human services organizations. Due to the unique nature of Southold Town, the advisory board also includes a rep