Posted on September 29th, 2025 by The Long Island Daily

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Many voters in Long Island’s minority neighborhoods have left the Democratic Party in the last decade to become independent voters, a data analysis by Newsday found.

Ten years ago, nearly 60% of Long Island voters in “majority-minority” districts were registered Democrats. Last year, that number dropped to about 50%, with a growing number of voters declaring themselves “unaffiliated” with any party.

“This has been a yearslong crisis in the making,” said Ahmad Perez, founder and executive director of Islip Forward, a group working to grow voter registration in Brentwood. “These are pockets that have historically been the bedrock of Democratic turnout … but Democrats are struggling to maintain relevance in working class and minority communities.”

Meanwhile, voters in majority-white districts were loyal to their political parties. A decade ago, about a third of that population was Democrat, a third Republican and a quarter “unaffiliated.” Those percentages are almost exactly the same today.

Nationally, Democrats are hemorrhaging enrollment. The party lost about 2.1 million registrants across 30 states between 2020 and 2024, while Republicans gained about 2.4 million, according to a New York Times analysis.

Though Democrats are losing enrollment among minority neighborhoods, they still make up almost half of active voters across New York state. Independent voters are second, making up a quarter of active voters, followed by Republicans at 23%.

Bahar Ostadan reports in NEWSDAY that on Long Island, about 36% of voters are registered Democrats, 31% are registered Republicans and 29% independent. There are differences by county: Nassau is home to more Democrats and Suffolk leans slightly more Republican.

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With the start of the school year, the Southampton School District has launched its five-year “Set, Sail, Soar” strategic plan, to serve as a blueprint for improving student performance, student wellness and teacher efficacy.

Michelle Trauring reports on 27east.com that developed by district stakeholders, including administrators, teachers, parents and students, the plan comprises four main pillars of focus: student academic achievement, social-emotional learning and mental health supports, STEAM education — which stands for science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics — and culturally responsive practices, explained Superintendent of Southampton Schools Dr. Fatima Morrell at a recent Board of Education meeting.

“It is essentially going to be the engine that drives the work of our district for this entire year,” she said, “and the next four.”

The strategic plan was largely informed by an analysis of performance data, community surveys, two dozen stakeholder meetings, and administrative presentations during Board of Education meetings, Morrell explained.

“With a five-year plan, we had to decide, as an administrative team and as a collaborative, what will we focus on?” she said. “It’s a 15-page plan…So we chose strategically what areas will give us the biggest bang for our buck in our budget this year.” Dr. Morrell added, “We know that our students will achieve and soar beyond their wildest dreams…We just have to get on the same page with them, because they believe in themselves. We need to believe in them, as well, and this plan will help us to do that.”

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Southold Town Planning Director Heather Lanza told the Southold Town Board at its work session last Thursday that a draft code will not be ready in time for the town to discuss it at the Sept. 30 code committee meeting. Thus, tomorrow’s meeting was postponed. A new date has not yet been set.

Beth Young reports in EAST END BEACON that the Town of Southold currently sets a minimum stay at 14 days but that code has proven to be difficult to enforce. A task force last year recommended a permitting process to allow individual people to provide short-term rentals of any length in their homes.

The task force had proposed that Southold Town issue permits for homeowners wishing to rent their primary residence for less than 30 days, and instate a lottery for people wishing to rent out a property they own that is not their primary residence, capping the total number of short-term rentals in non-primary residences at 1 percent of the houses in each hamlet.

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Few costs on Long Island are as hefty as the price of child care, with some parents paying as much as $24,000 a year to ensure their child is safe while they are at work.

Victor Ocasio reports in NEWSDAY that parents on Long Island, regardless of income levels, often find covering the cost of child care difficult, and few options to help with the costs, local experts said. Even as the income thresholds that determine which families can receive financial assistance have increased, demand for child care aid, particularly for children 5 or under, remains high.

Although Long Island residents report higher incomes than the rest of the state and nation, according to U.S. Census Bureau data — the median household income for Nassau was $143,144 in 2024, and $126, 863 in Suffolk, compared with $83,730 for nation and $85,820 statewide — the cost of care represents a significant financial barrier for local families, experts said.

“The cost of living on Long Island has just increased exponentially and child care just adds to that cost,” said Vanessa Baird-Streeter, president and CEO of the Health and Welfare Council of Long Island. The nonprofit connects struggling Long Islanders and their families to local social services.

“In certain instances, child care costs more than our state colleges,” she said. “That’s difficult for parents to be able to navigate without some assistance from government.”

To help parents make ends meet, the state, through federal funding, provides billions of dollars in assistance programs for families that qualify, according to the state comptroller’s office.

The average price to care for an infant in a day care center is $24,000 per year on Long Island and around $20,000 for a licensed in-home provider to offer 30 hours of care or more a week, according to a 2024 market rate survey conducted by the NYS Office of Children and Family Services.

“Child care costs more than a year of public college,” said Jennifer Rojas, executive director of the Child Care Council of Suffolk, an advocacy group for children and families based in Commack. “With our housing costs on Long Island and everything else, it’s just unsustainable.”

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After receiving a smattering of comment last Thursday, the Greenport Village Board has closed a public hearing on a proposed new code requiring permits for short-term rentals.

Beth Young reports in EAST END BEACON that board members said they expect to discuss the comments from the public hearings of September 18 and September 25 at their next work session Oct. 16 before holding a vote.

Greenport’s public hearing was opened at the Village Board’s Sept. 18 meeting, and about a half dozen people spoke both in favor and opposed. The new code would require people who rent their homes for less than 30 days to obtain short-term rental permits and prove the home is primarily used by long-term residents, either by a property owner or a long-term tenant.

At the first meeting several people spoke to short-term rentals’ making them feel like their quiet neighborhoods had turned into revolving door hotels, while two people who rent their property short-term raised concerns — one had a three unit home and was renting out two units (the new code would only allow him to rent one unit), and the other raised concerns about the code requiring off-street parking for the rentals.

At the continuation of the hearing last Thursday, Greenport Village Zoning Board Chairman John Saladino, who worked on the new code over the past two years as a member of the village’s Code Committee said a survey by the committee found that the “overwhelming majority [of residents who responded] would rather have full-time housing than short-term rentals.”

He added that the Code Committee studied the impact of short-term rental laws on long-term housing in more than three dozen different municipalities, both large and small, and found that they overwhelmingly did lead to more year-round housing in those areas.

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At the first Sag Harbor Board of Education meeting of the new school year, members shared some of the work they’ve been doing to try to organize and make better use of the various committees that exist to focus on a wide range of needs and initiatives. Cailin Riley reports on 27east.com that School Board President Sandi Kruel and Vice President Jordana Sobey, along with Veronika Rodriguez-Moya, the district’s director of pupil personnel services and English as a New Language coordinator, recommended putting the district’s diversity and inclusion committee together with the shared decision-making committee.

Rodriguez-Moya said there are more benefits to combining the committees. “A diversity and inclusion lens should be applied to the shared decision-making process,” she said. “So it seems like pairing the two would make sense.”

The shared decision-making committee is one of a few state-mandated committees and, as such, coordinates closely with the school administration. That’s another benefit to the diversity and inclusion committee being part of that larger group, Rodriguez-Moya said.

Superintendent of Schools Jeff Nichols agreed that pairing them “makes more sense.”

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The manager of the historic Canoe Place Inn in Hampton Bays claims his bosses demoted him for being gay, discriminated against him and his partner and retaliated against him for complaining about it, according to a new $6 million lawsuit. Janon Fisher reports in NEWSDAY that Adrian Albino, 48, who started working for celebrity restaurateur Danny Meyer’s Tacocina restaurant in April 2022, said his career was on an upward trajectory at Union Square Events, once a subsidiary of Union Square Hospitality Group, which was founded by Meyer, according to the suit filed Sept. 16 in Manhattan Supreme Civil Court. Adrian Albino claims he was demoted and retaliated against after his new boss found out he is gay. The Union Square Events employee said he was told that it wasn’t a “good look” for him to be seen at the inn with his partner.

The owners of the property in Hampton Bays said that they were unaware of Albino’s allegations, but vowed to look into it.

“The ownership of Canoe Place Inn has just learned of allegations made against Union Square Events, the food and beverage service provider to the property by their employee,” according to an email statement sent to NEWSDAY by spokesman David Chauvin.

“To be clear, the ownership of Canoe Place Inn has zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind and will look into these allegations immediately. We intend to take all steps possible to ensure that discrimination does not occur at its property. Canoe Place Inn will continue to be a destination of inclusion, respect, and dignity for all,” the email said.

Albino said the company claimed to have launched an investigation into the matter, but he was never informed of its outcome.

Contradicting claims by Albino, the President of Union Square Events Anthony Mastellone has denied that Albino’s male partner, Jason Feldman had ever been banned from the inn.

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