Week in Review: Seven stories from the week that was
1. Blue Duck Bakery planning fourth shop in downtown Greenport
Blue Duck Bakery is looking to open its fourth location on Front Street in Greenport, co-owner Nancy Kouris confirmed Wednesday.
Ms. Kouris, who owns Blue Duck along with her husband Keith, is scouting a storefront at 130 Front Street in downtown Greenport.
Although still in the planning stages, Ms. Kouris, an Aquebogue resident, hopes the bakery will open in time for the busy summer season.
“We love Greenport,” Ms. Kouris said. “This is something we’ve been wanting to do for awhile, but we wanted to wait for the right opportunity.”
2. Study: North Fork teens drinking more than others
North Fork high school students are not only consuming more alcohol than most teenagers across the country, they’re also doing more binge drinking, a new survey has found.
The North Fork Alliance, a nonprofit community advocacy group in Greenport, conducted the area’s first comprehensive survey of teenage drug and alcohol abuse this fall. More than 1,270 students in grades 7 through 12 from the Mattituck-Cutchogue, Southold and Greenport school districts volunteered to take the survey. That’s a participation rate of 82.5 percent.
Related Story: Administrators, parents react to survey
3. ZBA OK’s Brendan House care facility on Sound Avenue
The vice president of New Beginnings Community Center of Medford had just gotten up to speak at Thursday’s Zoning Board of Appeals continuation of a hearing from two weeks ago, when Riverhead ZBA chairman Fred McLaughlin told him to sit down.
Mr. McLaughlin then asked the audience, “Do we have anyone here in opposition to the Brendan House?”
When no one spoke, the ZBA then proceeded to vote on the resolution unanimously approving the proposed group home for people with traumatic brain injuries.
Related Story: ZBA takes up plans for New Beginnings Brendan House
4. Southold Town: Take the old General Wayne Inn down
After years watching the building slowly decay, the town is taking action against the owners of the once-popular General Wayne Inn in the Bayview area of Southold. Monday, the town building department notified the property owner, Ovlasid Realty LLC of Farmingdale, that it has 60 days to comply with the town’s building code or face the building’s demolition, with the town attaching the cost to the property tax bill.
The fenced-in, 3.1-acre property at 1275 Cedar Beach Road is in an extreme state of disrepair.
“The building is a blight,” Southold Supervisor Scott Russell said. “It needs to be razed, restored and cleaned up.”
5. Greenport H.S. ranked among best in nation
Greenport High School has been ranked as one of the best high schools in the nation, according to a new study released this week.
U.S. News & World’s 2013 Best High Schools report analyzed 21,035 public high schools across the country to find out which ones are successfully educating their student bodies. The rankings were determined by student performances on state proficiency tests and schools were evaluated on how well they prepare students for college-level work.
Greenport’s national rank was number 2,109. No other North Fork high school placed in the report.
6. No more water taxi from Greenport to Sag Harbor
Citing the need to apply for federal grant money, Mattituck businessman Jim Ryan confirmed Tuesday that the Peconic Bay Water Jitney, the water taxi that made daily round trips from Greenport to Sag Harbor last summer, will not run this year.
“This is part of developing the business plan based on the facts we developed during the pilot program,” Mr. Ryan said in an interview. “It’s just part of the process.”
Mr. Ryan, who runs the company with Hampton Jitney president Geoff Lynch, said the Water Jitney is in the process of applying for a federal grant, which may require letters of recommendation from community leaders.
Related Story: Water taxi links North and South forks
7. Trustees suggest installing boulders at Veterans park
Two Mattituck park commissioners appeared before the Town Trustees last week, seeking permission to install bulkheading along superstorm Sandy-ravaged Veterans Memorial Park beach on the bay in Mattituck.
The pair walked out of Town Hall without a yes, but also without a no — and that doesn’t sit well with the commissioners, who say the beach is highly vulnerable to additional storm damage.
“It’s a viable plan and necessary to the residents of Mattituck and Laurel, who have supported this beach since the late 1940s, early ’50s,” said Gerard Goehringer, commissioner board chairman. “This is one of the most beautiful sugar sand beaches in the world and that’s what we’re trying to preserve.”
Related Story: Popular Mattituck beach may not be ready in time post-Sandy
