Hamptons gears up for another summer of vacation and regulation
But it's not all sunshine and revelry. Prompted by a vocal group of year-round residents, several towns on Long Island's East End are imposing ever stricter laws and regulations, casting a shadow over the region's vibrant summer scene.
Perhaps the most visible example to residents and tourists alike is Duryea's, which was only allowed to open this summer because the New York state supreme court stepped in, sources told me.
As I've previously reported, the beloved Montauk restaurant, which is owned by Marc Rowan, has faced years of legal action. First the Town of East Hampton demanded it upgrade the septic system and then prohibited it from getting the permits needed to do so. Earlier this month, it looked like Duryea's might be closed for the whole summer.
3 The New York State Supreme Court had to step in to ensure Duryea's in Montauk could open.
But, I'm told, the State Supreme Court has intervened and allowed the installation of a state-of-the art septic system, enabling the restaurant to open for the upcoming holiday weekend, though litigation with the town is still pending.
The Duryea's drama is just the latest in a string of sagas. Town boards in the Hamptons are infamous for trying to micromanage everything from leaf blower usage and landscape lighting wattage to whether people can spontaneously dance at a tavern.
3 Pickleball has become another sore spot for residents as towns clamp down on new and existing courts.
Tamara Beckwith
Over the past year, pickleball courts, house size and who can fly into the public airport have been primary targets. The regulations have frustrated businesses and restaurants, pushing some to flee to summer locales with less red tape.
Last fall, East Hampton and Southampton cracked down on residential pickleball courts and their noise. A new law demands that 'Pickleball courts must be surrounded on three sides by an eight-foot sound-attenuation wall, placed no further than 10 feet from the edge of the court, constructed of a minimum of ¾-inch planking.' Such soundproofing can cost homeowners upwards of $100,000.
This story is part of NYNext, an indispensable insider insight into the innovations, moonshots and political chess moves that matter most to NYC's power players (and those who aspire to be).
This comes after towns like North Haven enacted a six-month moratorium on any residential pickleball courts being built — or tennis courts being transformed to pickleball courts.
In December, the town of East Hampton passed a law that will not only prevent anyone from building a home larger than 10,000-square-foot, in an effort to preserve the town's 'rural character,' but also limit any new homes (or expansion) to just 10% of a lot's square footage. For instance, a quarter-acre lot would now only allow a 2,000-square-foot home, while a half-acre would only permit a 3,600 square foot home, making it impossible for residents to work towards building a sun room or remodel a smaller home. The new law goes into effect July 1.
3 East Hampton has been embroiled with the local airport about noise complaints and the number of flights.
Dennis A. Clark
The Town of East Hampton is also still embroiled in a legal dispute over its airport — the Hampton's primary airport. Over the past three years, the town has spent more than $5 million on lawyers as it tries to limit flights and noise. It is just the latest move in the decade-old legal battle.
Of course, the town putting the squeeze on business owners is not new. Business owners tell me they still keep the flame alive for iconic advertising executive Jerry Delefemaina. In 1997, he was arrested and handcuffed for placing Thanksgiving decorations — hay bales, corn stalks and pumpkins — outside his Redhorse Food Market in East Hampton. The town said it violated a rule that prohibits stores from advertising on the property outside their storefront.
While it's still a rallying cry, it's also a sign that over the decades not much seems to have changed.
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Politico
5 days ago
- Politico
Massachusetts court crisis
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Newsweek
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- Newsweek
Democratic Governors: What's the GOP Budget Bill? A Big Betrayal of the Middle Class
The GOP is calling it a big, beautiful bill. We're calling it what it really is—a big betrayal. That's why we don't like what we're seeing coming out of Washington, D.C., right now. When President Donald Trump said this bill would be "big," he was right in one sense: this bill will be a big problem for Americans across the country. The whole point of the legislation is to give massive tax handouts to the very wealthy. To do this, the GOP is willing to cut necessities like Medicaid and food assistance that their own constituents rely on. And because those handouts to billionaires are so big, this bill will also explode the national deficit. People in every corner of America will feel the effects of Trump and congressional Republicans' disastrous budget now that it is law. You deserve to know exactly what's in it. President Donald Trump talks to members of the media outside the court room at the New York State Supreme Court on the first day of his civil fraud trial, in New York City, on October... President Donald Trump talks to members of the media outside the court room at the New York State Supreme Court on the first day of his civil fraud trial, in New York City, on October 2, 2023. More KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images Let's start with health care. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, this bill would hurt working families most. It will terminate health care coverage for an estimated 16 million Americans, including 8 million children on Medicaid. This will be a disaster for our most vulnerable citizens: those fighting cancer and other life-threatening conditions, along with seniors, pregnant women, and people with disabilities. It will jack up health care premiums and out-of-pocket costs for everybody else. Americans already pay more for health care than they should. Why make working families pay more just so billionaires can get a massive tax break? The Republican budget bill also jeopardizes food assistance for millions of Americans and will make it harder for working moms and dads to feed themselves and their kids. No one should be forced to go to bed hungry—42 million people in our country rely on SNAP assistance to get by. It's an essential program that saves people money so they can pay their rent and keep the lights on. This bill will force families to choose between feeding their children, making sure they have reliable child care to go to work, and paying their other bills. That's a choice no American should have to make. Not only does this bill greenlight massive health care and food assistance cuts, but it will pose massive threats to rural communities. Rural hospitals in red and blue states, already struggling to keep their doors open and provide care, will be at a greater risk of shutting down. Farmers who provide the food that SNAP helps people buy will have fewer buyers for their products. The GOP is claiming states will be able to backfill the huge funding gaps we've just listed out. As governors who have to balance budgets every single year, we'll give it to you straight: that's ridiculous. There's just no way state budgets can make up the difference. Each of us goes to bed each night and wakes up each morning thinking about how to best serve the people of our states—fixing the roads, bringing in more good-paying jobs to make life more affordable, and funding our public schools. In other words, we put the people we serve first. If politicians in D.C. did the same, they wouldn't have let this big betrayal of American families become law. Gretchen Whitmer is the governor of Michigan. Laura Kelly is the governor of Kansas. Michelle Lujan Grisham is the governor of New Mexico. The views expressed in this article are the writers' own.
CNBC
13-07-2025
- CNBC
Coming to a 401(k) near you: Private market assets
Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan told attendees at an investor conference last month that the day will soon come when private assets are accessible in Americans' retirement accounts. "I would expect at some point, in this administration's history or in the future, to be able to sell private markets into the 401(k) system," Rowan said on stage at the Morningstar Investment Conference in Chicago, Illinois, where the convergence of private and public markets was a major theme. Those comments come as no surprise from the billionaire CEO, who has long stressed the growing importance of private markets in investing. However, the idea is reaching a tipping point. Private market exposure in 401(k) plans was considered permissible in 2020, when the Department of Labor under the Trump administration issued an information letter indicating it could be appropriate for defined contribution plans under certain conditions. The guidance was later affirmed by the Biden-directed agency. But its presence is starting to expand. Asset managers and plan sponsors have created products for retirement vehicles in which Americans collectively hold roughly $8.7 trillion in assets, according to data on 401(k)s at the end of the first quarter of 2025 from the Investment Company Institute . In June, BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, said it's launching a 401(k) target date fund in the first half of 2026 that will include a 5% to 20% allocation to private investments. In May, Empower, the country's second-largest retirement plan provider, said it's joining asset managers such as Apollo to start allowing private assets in some accounts later this year. Those developments come amid a broader push under Trump's second term in office to expand the definition of "accredited investors" to allow more people to invest in private markets through their 401(k)s. Within the retirement plan industry itself, the conversation is reaching a fever pitch. Bonnie Treichel, chief solutions officer at Endeavor Retirement, said, "If you're at retirement plan-related conferences right now, this topic is all the rage, so to speak." Similarly, Fred Reish, a partner at law firm Faegre Drinker said: "It's not just out there somewhere on the horizon, I would say that's in the immediate future." How it works The strategies created for 401(k)s thus far will be coming in the form of pooled investments such as collective trusts, or managed accounts overseen by professional investors, instead of standalone investments assessed by individual employees. Adding private assets to target date funds, which automatically adjust allocations based on a retirement date, is one option that's growing in popularity in the industry. The structure of those investments are meant to address some of the regulatory concerns around the assets, which have traditionally been excluded from 401(k)s even as they were embraced by pension funds and university endowments. The treatment stems from the perception that private investments have risks such as a lack of transparency, which raises predatory concerns, as well as higher fees and long lockup periods. The 2020 Labor Department information letter also attempted to address those concerns, outlining that investments into private assets made within 401(k)s must be done with prudence, or held to the standard of a person who is "familiar with such matters," without which a company or an asset manager can open themselves up to legal ramifications. "If fiduciaries make a bad investment, not bad an outcome, but bad both in outcome and bad in that they didn't really vet it properly, they can be sued, and they can be personally liable for damages," said Reish, who specializes in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) that governs employee retirement plans. "So, not just the company, but also each individual member of the plan committee. Each of those officers and managers that serves on the plan committee can be personally liable. That's frightening." Intel, for example, had a lawsuit dismissed earlier this year by a federal appeals court in San Francisco after a yearslong dispute over its use of alternative assets in its retirement plans. Additionally, what that could also mean is that larger plan sponsors, which have the internal capabilities to vet private investments, could move faster to integrate privates into a 401(k) plan, rather than smaller companies. The case for privates Still, there are several reasons for the excitement around private assets in 401(k) plans. Proponents point out that the investable universe has shrunk over the last three decades, roughly halving to about 4,000 companies from more than 8,000 back in the 1990s, according to the Center for Research in Security Prices. At the same time, the dominance of the largest public companies grows increasingly pronounced with each passing year. CRSP found that the market cap of the top 10 companies accounted for 35% of the total market in 2024, more than double what it was before 2020. Meanwhile, more companies are staying private for longer. The decision helps executives build their businesses away from the glare of regulatory scrutiny or responsibilities to shareholders, but also makes it harder for investors to get in on the ground floor of the next Microsoft or Apple. Thus, the argument goes, private assets will give investors exposure to a market that looks markedly different from what it had in the past — even if it requires locking up capital for longer periods of time at greater cost and greater risk. Still, there are many who worry the risks far outweigh any benefits, calling private investments far too opaque for plan sponsors to do appropriate due diligence. "Being private does not make it better. It makes it less liquid," Apollo's Rowan told investors at the Chicago conference. "Our job is to deliver excess return."
