Hamptons Op-Ed Cheers Pandemic Tourism Decline as ‘Rare Treat to Savor,’ Competing Paper Sets Fire to It
Matthew Peyton/Getty Images
The East Hampton Star cheered the tourism decline amid the coronavirus as a “rare treat to savor” in a recent op-ed, prompting competing paper The Independent to call out their “preposterous and offensive” response to a pandemic.
The Star published an op-ed titled “The Summer We Wanted” on Thursday, claiming that this year’s quieter Memorial Day weekend was a “rare treat” for East Hampton locals.
“It was, it seems to us, the summer we had long wanted, busy, but not too much so, and quiet enough to hear the birdsong,” it read. “For those of us old enough to remember, it was like decades ago, before East Hampton became synonymous with excess.”
The article questioned why the residents would have to go back to busy summers after getting a taste of peace and quiet due to halted tourism amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“Their claim that this is the summer that anyone would have wanted is preposterous and offensive to all of those who have suffered during this terrible pandemic,” The Independent, another East Hampton local paper, shot back.
They pointed out that close to 40,000 people in Suffolk County were infected by the coronavirus, while 2,000 died, adding that none of their family members wanted this summer.
“We do not think our frontline heroes – doctors, nurses, EMTs, firefighters, police officers, and cleaning professionals – who worked endless days and nights away from their own families caring for the 40,000 people who got sick would say “Why can’t we have more like this?” they added.
Suffolk County has also seen an unemployment rate of 16.4 percent, both due to government-ordered shutdowns and to the absence of tourism in its summer towns.
“We are disappointed that The Star – or anyone else – would seek to take advantage of this terrible moment in our history,” read the article. “This is not a time for pettiness or partisanship, ideology or score settling. The divisions in our community can, at times, be raw but now we need to put them aside.”
