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Charlie Fox Southampton cannabis dispensary opens without approvals
With the vision of a fully public Long Island Power Authority long vanquished, there are new worries an evolving LIPA could fall prey to some of the same political practices that characterized its patronage-saddled past. With a new leader, Carrie Meek Gallagher steeped in Suffolk County and state politics, and a board of mostly political appointees, some say LIPA is in danger of becoming a bastion of patronage for Democrats in Long Island’s swelling sea of Republican red.
Mark Harrington reports in NEWSDAY that the prospect of a politically driven LIPA was visible earlier this summer when PSEG returned to the negotiating table with LIPA officials over a contract extension for PSEG to manage the electric grid. Among the PSEG negotiating team were Hahn, a former aide to Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, and Tom Garry, a partner at the law firm Harris Beach, according to people briefed on the negotiations. Garry is also a first vice chair of the Nassau Democratic Party and counsel and law chair of the state Democratic Party. He is also a Long Island adviser to Gov. Kathy Hochul.
On the LIPA team, in addition to four LIPA officials, were LIPA trustees Anthony LaPinta, former vice chair and counsel to the Suffolk Democratic Committee, LIPA chairwoman Tracey Edwards, a former Democratic Huntington Town councilwoman and now senior vice president of Sands Las Vegas, and Valerie Anderson Campbell, an appointee of the Democratic-controlled Assembly.
One longtime LIPA watcher said the signals of change at LIPA are apparent.
"This is a shift to the political," said former NYS Assemblyman Fred Thiele Jr. (D-Sag Harbor), who championed the fully public LIPA bill specifically to inject utility expertise after Tropical Storm Isaias. "The people on the board and the staff changes are people who are talented and well-meaning, but their skill set is more in politics and government than it is in the world of utilities."
Thiele said he’s convinced the shift is deliberate, and that the strategy will ultimately cede more control formerly wielded by LIPA to the contractor PSEG.
"I don’t think there will be people at LIPA who can perform the needed oversight of the utility," he said. "What I worry about is that there are people who are steeped in politics who can be extremely good managers, but the focus is different."
***
As more electric bikes zoom around Riverhead roads, town officials are considering cracking down on where they can operate.
The Riverhead Town board is weighing new restrictions on e-bikes to improve safety for riders and pedestrians townwide.
Electric bikes would be prohibited in the heart of downtown Riverhead — on Main Street between Court Street and Route 58 — under the proposal.
The measure also bans e-bikes on sidewalks, sets a maximum speed limit of 15 mph and prohibits use between a half-hour after sunset and a half-hour before sunrise.
Tara Smith reports in NEWSDAY that a public hearing on the proposal drew no public comment this past Tuesday night, though town officials said the changes are aimed at improving safety and closing a gap in the town code. Under Riverhead's current code, these restrictions only apply to electric scooters.
“Bikes shouldn’t be operated on any sidewalks,” Town Attorney Erik Howard said during this week’s meeting. “This was a gap in the code that came to us from the police department, so we put in the amendment.” Riverhead Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard said the code changes are important and that he often sees electric bikes and scooters “flying down” sidewalks and streets. Keeping them off sidewalks, particularly on the congested Route 58, is a key safety improvement, Hubbard said.
Most electric bikes would be banned from the town’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial Recreational Trail that loops 9 miles around the Enterprise Park at Calverton and is popular with cyclists, joggers and dog walkers.
The legislation would only allow Class 1 e-bikes, which only provide assistance while the user is pedaling and stops at 20 mph, on the trail.
The Riverhead Town board is accepting public input on the proposal until Sept. 26 and could vote on the measure at its next meeting on Oct. 7.
***
The Shelter Island Friends of Music presents The Rhythm Future Quartet in a free concert this coming Saturday, September 20th at 6 p.m. in the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church, 32 North Ferry Road Rte. 114 on Shelter Island.
Rhythm Future Quartet performs a mix of swing era music classics along with original compositions, with hints of classical music, and inspired by Brazilian music and rhythmic grooves from around the world.
The concert is free.
The performance will begin promptly at 6 pm and last for 75-90 minutes.
You are invited to join a reception with the musicians immediately following Saturday evening’s concert at the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church.
***
The rogue cannabis dispensary Charlie Fox opened for business this week despite having no approvals from Southampton Town to occupy the building they are operating out of on the north side of County Road 39 in Southampton next to the Tuckahoe School playground. Its owners were promptly served with a cease-and-desist order by town code enforcement officers.
Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that Charlie Fox’s Instagram page broadcast that it was “open for business” this past Tuesday afternoon, offering cannabis products for order via the website charliefoxhamptons.com for delivery — which, indeed, had a large selection of edibles, joints and various accessories for sale.
A spokesperson said the doors to the Charlie Fox dispensary store at 471 County Road 39 would open at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, but an employee told Southampton Press staff who visited the store at the time that it was only “a soft opening.”
The Charlie Fox website says the store will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily going forward for “walk-in, pickup and delivery.”
The owners of Charlie Fox — Julia Levi, the company CEO, and James Mallios, who also owns the Water Mill restaurant Calissa — have a retail dispensary license from the NYS Office of Cannabis Management and have maintained that is all they need to open for business, despite not having formally applied to Southampton Town for the site plan approvals that all commercial businesses are required to secure before opening in the town.
Levi said in an email that the OCM gave the company “clearance to commence operations” on August 22 and had previously rejected an objection by Southampton Town to the issuance of a retail license to the company at the Tuckahoe location.
Town Attorney James Burke said that more citations will be issued in short order and that the Town of Southampton will seek a court injunction ordering the store to close if the business does not comply with the town’s code on its own.
***
This year, Long Island will once again celebrate the 13th Annual Car Free Day on Monday, September 22, 2025. Last year, Car Free Day was recognized in more than 3,100 cities in 50 countries around the world. It's celebrated in different ways but with the common goal of taking cars off the road. Peter Gill reports in NEWSDAY that officials, students and environmental advocates highlighted progress but also shortcomings in Long Island's alternatives to car travel at Farmingdale State College yesterday.
Outside the event at the Campus Center, held in preparation for next week's World Car Free Day, volunteers collected pledges from students to walk, bicycle or use public transportation this coming Monday.
Elisa Picca, Suffolk County's deputy planning commissioner, said Suffolk County has experienced some small improvement in its public transportation.
She said Suffolk County Transit bus ridership increased 30% in 2024 over the previous year — an additional 600,000 rides — and is on track to increase another 10% this year.
Picca credited the growth to a redesign of Suffolk's bus system in late 2023. That's when the county eliminated 14 of 41 bus routes, while increasing frequency on the busiest lines and expanded evening and weekend hours. Suffolk also added app features for GPS bus tracking and is preparing to add 40 new hybrid buses to the system in 2026, she said.
"When you provide frequent, reliable, interconnected service ... customers respond," Picca said.
However, speakers also said Long Island still has a long way to go to provide a robust alternative transportation network.
A recent Newsday-Siena College poll found most Long Islanders think public transportation is worse in Nassau and Suffolk than other places.
***
An East Hampton mechanics shop was condemned yesterday after a car caught fire and caused the building to go ablaze, the East Hampton Fire Department said. Maureen Mullarkey reports in NEWSDAY that around 9:54 a.m. on Wednesday the department received a 911 call about a car on fire inside a structure on Springs Fireplace Rd., the site of CMG Auto Repairs Inc.
East Hampton Fire Chief Duane Forrester said by the time firefighters arrived, the structure also had caught fire and flames were bursting from the sides and top of the building.
About 50 firefighters, including mutual aid from Amagansett Fire Department and a Rapid Intervention Team from the Sag Harbor Fire Department, worked to put out the bulk of the fire within 10 minutes.
Firefighters then worked to extinguish the car fire.
The car was on top of a lift when it caught fire and fell into the mechanical pit due to its hydraulic system, creating difficulty in putting it out, Chief Forrester said.
No one was injured.
The East Hampton Fire Marshal condemned the building as the roof appeared to sag.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
***
This coming Saturday, Sept. 20, is International Coastal Cleanup Day, and throughout the East End, environmental groups are pitching in to protect the shorelines of the place we call home. Beth Young reports in EAST END BEACON that since 1986, the international non-profit group now known as The Ocean Conservancy has helped organize 18 million volunteers and partner agencies worldwide to collect more than 380 million pounds of trash from the world’s beaches, not only making them more beautiful but protecting wildlife from becoming entangled in trash, both on the shoreline and out at sea.
Here are some local cleanups scheduled for this Saturday:
The Town of East Hampton and the East Hampton Litter Action Committee have designated Saturday as East Hampton CleanUp Day, inviting all residents, businesses, civic organizations, and environmental groups to take part by organizing their own local cleanup, which doesn’t have to be a beach — it can be a trail, park or roadway as well.
The Peconic Baykeeper, the Peconic Estuary Partnership, the Friends of Havens Beach and the New York Marine Rescue Center are scheduled to host a cleanup on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Havens Beach in Sag Harbor.
The North Fork Environmental Council is leading International Coastal Cleanup Day cleanups on Saturday from 9 to 11 a.m. at Reeves Park Beach on the Long Island Sound in Riverhead (at the end of Park Road) and at Breakwater Beach (at the end of Breakwater Road) in Mattituck from 1 to 3 p.m.
The Surfrider Foundation’s Eastern Long Island Chapter will also be holding a cleanup from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Iron Pier Beach on the Long Island Sound in Jamesport.
View all episodes
By WLIW-FMWith the vision of a fully public Long Island Power Authority long vanquished, there are new worries an evolving LIPA could fall prey to some of the same political practices that characterized its patronage-saddled past. With a new leader, Carrie Meek Gallagher steeped in Suffolk County and state politics, and a board of mostly political appointees, some say LIPA is in danger of becoming a bastion of patronage for Democrats in Long Island’s swelling sea of Republican red.
Mark Harrington reports in NEWSDAY that the prospect of a politically driven LIPA was visible earlier this summer when PSEG returned to the negotiating table with LIPA officials over a contract extension for PSEG to manage the electric grid. Among the PSEG negotiating team were Hahn, a former aide to Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, and Tom Garry, a partner at the law firm Harris Beach, according to people briefed on the negotiations. Garry is also a first vice chair of the Nassau Democratic Party and counsel and law chair of the state Democratic Party. He is also a Long Island adviser to Gov. Kathy Hochul.
On the LIPA team, in addition to four LIPA officials, were LIPA trustees Anthony LaPinta, former vice chair and counsel to the Suffolk Democratic Committee, LIPA chairwoman Tracey Edwards, a former Democratic Huntington Town councilwoman and now senior vice president of Sands Las Vegas, and Valerie Anderson Campbell, an appointee of the Democratic-controlled Assembly.
One longtime LIPA watcher said the signals of change at LIPA are apparent.
"This is a shift to the political," said former NYS Assemblyman Fred Thiele Jr. (D-Sag Harbor), who championed the fully public LIPA bill specifically to inject utility expertise after Tropical Storm Isaias. "The people on the board and the staff changes are people who are talented and well-meaning, but their skill set is more in politics and government than it is in the world of utilities."
Thiele said he’s convinced the shift is deliberate, and that the strategy will ultimately cede more control formerly wielded by LIPA to the contractor PSEG.
"I don’t think there will be people at LIPA who can perform the needed oversight of the utility," he said. "What I worry about is that there are people who are steeped in politics who can be extremely good managers, but the focus is different."
***
As more electric bikes zoom around Riverhead roads, town officials are considering cracking down on where they can operate.
The Riverhead Town board is weighing new restrictions on e-bikes to improve safety for riders and pedestrians townwide.
Electric bikes would be prohibited in the heart of downtown Riverhead — on Main Street between Court Street and Route 58 — under the proposal.
The measure also bans e-bikes on sidewalks, sets a maximum speed limit of 15 mph and prohibits use between a half-hour after sunset and a half-hour before sunrise.
Tara Smith reports in NEWSDAY that a public hearing on the proposal drew no public comment this past Tuesday night, though town officials said the changes are aimed at improving safety and closing a gap in the town code. Under Riverhead's current code, these restrictions only apply to electric scooters.
“Bikes shouldn’t be operated on any sidewalks,” Town Attorney Erik Howard said during this week’s meeting. “This was a gap in the code that came to us from the police department, so we put in the amendment.” Riverhead Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard said the code changes are important and that he often sees electric bikes and scooters “flying down” sidewalks and streets. Keeping them off sidewalks, particularly on the congested Route 58, is a key safety improvement, Hubbard said.
Most electric bikes would be banned from the town’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial Recreational Trail that loops 9 miles around the Enterprise Park at Calverton and is popular with cyclists, joggers and dog walkers.
The legislation would only allow Class 1 e-bikes, which only provide assistance while the user is pedaling and stops at 20 mph, on the trail.
The Riverhead Town board is accepting public input on the proposal until Sept. 26 and could vote on the measure at its next meeting on Oct. 7.
***
The Shelter Island Friends of Music presents The Rhythm Future Quartet in a free concert this coming Saturday, September 20th at 6 p.m. in the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church, 32 North Ferry Road Rte. 114 on Shelter Island.
Rhythm Future Quartet performs a mix of swing era music classics along with original compositions, with hints of classical music, and inspired by Brazilian music and rhythmic grooves from around the world.
The concert is free.
The performance will begin promptly at 6 pm and last for 75-90 minutes.
You are invited to join a reception with the musicians immediately following Saturday evening’s concert at the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church.
***
The rogue cannabis dispensary Charlie Fox opened for business this week despite having no approvals from Southampton Town to occupy the building they are operating out of on the north side of County Road 39 in Southampton next to the Tuckahoe School playground. Its owners were promptly served with a cease-and-desist order by town code enforcement officers.
Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that Charlie Fox’s Instagram page broadcast that it was “open for business” this past Tuesday afternoon, offering cannabis products for order via the website charliefoxhamptons.com for delivery — which, indeed, had a large selection of edibles, joints and various accessories for sale.
A spokesperson said the doors to the Charlie Fox dispensary store at 471 County Road 39 would open at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, but an employee told Southampton Press staff who visited the store at the time that it was only “a soft opening.”
The Charlie Fox website says the store will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily going forward for “walk-in, pickup and delivery.”
The owners of Charlie Fox — Julia Levi, the company CEO, and James Mallios, who also owns the Water Mill restaurant Calissa — have a retail dispensary license from the NYS Office of Cannabis Management and have maintained that is all they need to open for business, despite not having formally applied to Southampton Town for the site plan approvals that all commercial businesses are required to secure before opening in the town.
Levi said in an email that the OCM gave the company “clearance to commence operations” on August 22 and had previously rejected an objection by Southampton Town to the issuance of a retail license to the company at the Tuckahoe location.
Town Attorney James Burke said that more citations will be issued in short order and that the Town of Southampton will seek a court injunction ordering the store to close if the business does not comply with the town’s code on its own.
***
This year, Long Island will once again celebrate the 13th Annual Car Free Day on Monday, September 22, 2025. Last year, Car Free Day was recognized in more than 3,100 cities in 50 countries around the world. It's celebrated in different ways but with the common goal of taking cars off the road. Peter Gill reports in NEWSDAY that officials, students and environmental advocates highlighted progress but also shortcomings in Long Island's alternatives to car travel at Farmingdale State College yesterday.
Outside the event at the Campus Center, held in preparation for next week's World Car Free Day, volunteers collected pledges from students to walk, bicycle or use public transportation this coming Monday.
Elisa Picca, Suffolk County's deputy planning commissioner, said Suffolk County has experienced some small improvement in its public transportation.
She said Suffolk County Transit bus ridership increased 30% in 2024 over the previous year — an additional 600,000 rides — and is on track to increase another 10% this year.
Picca credited the growth to a redesign of Suffolk's bus system in late 2023. That's when the county eliminated 14 of 41 bus routes, while increasing frequency on the busiest lines and expanded evening and weekend hours. Suffolk also added app features for GPS bus tracking and is preparing to add 40 new hybrid buses to the system in 2026, she said.
"When you provide frequent, reliable, interconnected service ... customers respond," Picca said.
However, speakers also said Long Island still has a long way to go to provide a robust alternative transportation network.
A recent Newsday-Siena College poll found most Long Islanders think public transportation is worse in Nassau and Suffolk than other places.
***
An East Hampton mechanics shop was condemned yesterday after a car caught fire and caused the building to go ablaze, the East Hampton Fire Department said. Maureen Mullarkey reports in NEWSDAY that around 9:54 a.m. on Wednesday the department received a 911 call about a car on fire inside a structure on Springs Fireplace Rd., the site of CMG Auto Repairs Inc.
East Hampton Fire Chief Duane Forrester said by the time firefighters arrived, the structure also had caught fire and flames were bursting from the sides and top of the building.
About 50 firefighters, including mutual aid from Amagansett Fire Department and a Rapid Intervention Team from the Sag Harbor Fire Department, worked to put out the bulk of the fire within 10 minutes.
Firefighters then worked to extinguish the car fire.
The car was on top of a lift when it caught fire and fell into the mechanical pit due to its hydraulic system, creating difficulty in putting it out, Chief Forrester said.
No one was injured.
The East Hampton Fire Marshal condemned the building as the roof appeared to sag.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
***
This coming Saturday, Sept. 20, is International Coastal Cleanup Day, and throughout the East End, environmental groups are pitching in to protect the shorelines of the place we call home. Beth Young reports in EAST END BEACON that since 1986, the international non-profit group now known as The Ocean Conservancy has helped organize 18 million volunteers and partner agencies worldwide to collect more than 380 million pounds of trash from the world’s beaches, not only making them more beautiful but protecting wildlife from becoming entangled in trash, both on the shoreline and out at sea.
Here are some local cleanups scheduled for this Saturday:
The Town of East Hampton and the East Hampton Litter Action Committee have designated Saturday as East Hampton CleanUp Day, inviting all residents, businesses, civic organizations, and environmental groups to take part by organizing their own local cleanup, which doesn’t have to be a beach — it can be a trail, park or roadway as well.
The Peconic Baykeeper, the Peconic Estuary Partnership, the Friends of Havens Beach and the New York Marine Rescue Center are scheduled to host a cleanup on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Havens Beach in Sag Harbor.
The North Fork Environmental Council is leading International Coastal Cleanup Day cleanups on Saturday from 9 to 11 a.m. at Reeves Park Beach on the Long Island Sound in Riverhead (at the end of Park Road) and at Breakwater Beach (at the end of Breakwater Road) in Mattituck from 1 to 3 p.m.
The Surfrider Foundation’s Eastern Long Island Chapter will also be holding a cleanup from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Iron Pier Beach on the Long Island Sound in Jamesport.