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Welcome to Sag Harbor to air on Oprah Network (OWN) on January 25th 2015….
Sag Harbor is one of my favorite places in the Country and I am blessed to live here year-round. I was introduced to Sag Harbor 25 years ago and 13 years ago my family moved here full-time. My husband and I have raised our 2 girls here, one is graduating from college in May 2015 and the other will be graduating from high school in 2017. We have amazing friends from all ethnic groups and we are well-respected in the community. I am active in the school district and many people who live here both full-time and part-time are loyal followers of Hamptons Mouthpiece. I can recall when I first came to the Hamptons, I could not believe how many black people had second homes in the Hamptons. I was a girl raised in Harlem and I knew very few people who had a home, let alone 2, it was mind-blowing and motivating for me. My husband’s mother lived in Sag Harbor and we would visit with her often but we only saw an influx of African Americans in the summer months. Many of these families retreat to Sag Harbor for the summer months only in the areas called Azurest, Sag Harbor Hills and Ninevah Beach.DSC_1442

Welcome to Sag Harbor…takes an unprecedented look inside one of America’s most exclusive and historically significant African-American beach communities, featuring its current homeowners, including popular restaurateur and lifestyle pioneer, B. Smith. Located in the heart of New York’s The Hamptons, this tight knit enclave was established as a refuge from racism in the early 20th century.

DSC_1203With the recent housing boom, this once all African-American neighborhood is now fighting to hold on to its identity. Real estate prices throughout the three bay front areas of Azurest, Ninevah Beach and Sag Harbor Hills have recently skyrocketed. This seemingly positive economic reality is forcing the younger generations, now inheriting these cottages from their parents and grandparents, to face a vexing dilemma: To sell or not to sell? Sag Harbor profiles a community at a crossroads, but also one that truly values celebrating life, family and tradition.

Tune in for the hour-long special on Sunday, January 25 at 10/9c.
Read more: www.oprah.com

Hamptons :DEC Temporarily Closes Shellfishing Areas in Nassau and Suffolk Counties
Press Release 12/11/2014: NNew York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)
Temporarily Closes Shellfishing Areas in Nassau and Suffolk Counties until the DEC deems it safe for the public to eat.
Closures Follow Widespread Heavy Rainfall
Shellfish harvesting areas in several Towns in Nassau and Suffolk Counties have been designated as uncertified (closed) for shellfish harvesting, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced today. These temporary closures were implemented following the extraordinarily heavy rainfall and stormwater runoff that affected Long Island. More than three inches of precipitation fell within 12 hours in all the affected areas; a daily record was set at Long Island MacArthur airport.
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This action was taken to protect the public health. Excessive stormwater runoff caused by heavy rainfall carries bacteria and other pathogens into adjacent surface waters, adversely affecting water quality in the enclosed creeks, coves, harbors and bays and causing shellfish in those areas to have an increased potential to be hazardous for use as food.

The closures in Nassau County and the Town of Huntington went into effect at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, December 9. The closures in Southampton and East Hampton are effective Wednesday, December 10. All the closures will continue until a determination is made that conditions no longer exist that may make shellfish hazardous for use as food.

The following areas are designated as uncertified and the harvest of shellfish is temporarily prohibited:

Towns of Hempstead and Oyster Bay (south shore): All that area of Hempstead Bay, East Bay and South Oyster Bay and their tributaries in the Towns of Hempstead and Oyster Bay.
Town of North Hempstead: All of Hempstead Harbor lying south of a line extending from Prospect Point to Matinecock Point.
Town of Oyster Bay (north shore): All of Oyster Bay Harbor and all of Cold Spring Harbor lying southerly of a line extending easterly from the stone house on Plum Point (Centre Island) to the northerly side of the beach pavilion at West Neck Beach (Town of Huntington) on the eastern shore of Cold Spring Harbor; and all of Hempstead Harbor lying south of a line extending from Prospect Point to Matinecock Point.
Towns of Babylon and Islip: All that area of Great South Bay and its tributaries lying westerly of the northbound span of the Robert Moses Causeway bridges.
Town of Huntington: All of Northport Bay, Duck Island Harbor, Centerport Harbor, Lloyd Harbor and Huntington Bay lying southerly of a line extending easterly from the southernmost point of East Beach to the southernmost point of West Beach (also known as Sand City Beach), and, Cold Spring Harbor.
Town of Southampton: All of Sag Harbor and its tributaries and a portion of outer Sag Harbor.
Town of East Hampton: All of Northwest Harbor lying easterly of a line extending northeasterly from the westernmost point of land at the entrance to Northwest Creek, to the foot of Mile Hill Road; all of Northwest Creek; and a portion of outer Sag Harbor.
DEC will re-open areas as soon as possible based on the results of water quality testing to be conducted on samples that will be collected from the affected areas over the next several days.

A recorded message that advises harvesters of the status of these shellfish areas may be heard at (631) 444-0480. The message will be updated during the course of the temporary closures. For a more detailed description of the closed areas please call DEC’s Marine Resources office during normal business hours at (631) 444-0492. Additionally, information about temporary shellfish closures will be available on DEC’s website.

5 Very Easy Landscaping Tips For Homeowners…If you are a small or medium sized home owner when the time comes to sell your home one of the things that plays a big role in the price you get is a good looking curb. A good curb will in fact help to invite buyers that said landscaping efforts do not pay as much as interior upgrades. But because many home owners have already spent thousands of dollars on their interior already, they may want to aim to improve the exterior of their home and make it a lot more appealing, after all the first impression is always had from the outside by potential buyers. The good news is if you have already had some landscaping done by a really good professional a few months or a year back you don’t need to spend a whole lot. However, if your home’s exterior has not had any edits made to it recently, it may be time to get yourself some professional landscaping Greensboro so that your property is always looking as sparkling as possible. If it is a large scale project, it would be a risky move to try and do it yourself. However, if you do feel that you would have what it takes to play a role in the project then you should ensure that you have the required tools. You might even need Kato excavators. Once it is complete you can focus on taking care of your yard! Below are a few very easy tips that any homeowner can follow through to ensure a great looking curb or yard.

Make it a point to remove debris daily

You never want your yard to look as if it takes a lot of work to maintain or clear up. So, one of the easiest things you can do to maintain the look and feel of your previous landscaping efforts is to rake the grass, clear all the pine needles and broken branches and leaves. When you have a yard which is full of leaves it just shows that the new owners will need to work a lot to clean it up and can for some be a huge deal breaker.

Everything should be trimmed to give the so called just planted look

All your bushes and trees should be trimmed neatly. This just has to be done once in two months but will help to give everything a fresh look or groomed appearance. Trim the shrubs and make sure to wash the branches and leaves of your trees if it hasn’t rained for a while to make everything look clean. Plus trimming branches and shrubs is important because it allows for much natural light to enter into the window which may be blocked by extended branches. If you don’t want to trim them yourself in case you do it wrong, you can visit websites like https://www.lawncare.net/ to see how they can help you with keeping that maintenance going.

Add a bit of color each year

Most people overlook the effect that a bit of color can have on the surroundings of their home i.e. their landscape. Even though the landscapers may have planted a number of plants when you hired them a while back your landscape needs fresh colors every year, and this means adding a few new pots. Around 15 to 20 of these pots is all you will need and are fairly inexpensive, just buy any easy growing blooming plants. Just keep simple and steer clear from buying plants that look overly complicated to handle. Plants like pansies and impatiens is all you will need depending on what season you’re buying. The person at the nursery should be able to point out a few seasonal plants which are blooming. You can also try alternating colors. You can choose the long blooming types too so that your efforts will last the whole season.

Top off your flower beds

Part of your landscaping effort should be to refresh all of your flower beds with clean mulch and then re-edge them for a very clean look. This is the classic way to enhance the appeal of your curb not to mention the fact that it will make it difficult for weeds to grow. So, you don’t have to worry about weeds at the very least. If you are living in an area which is known to be invaded by termites then you will want to push the wood mulch away from your home. Some other choices of mulch include pine needles, bark, pea gravel and torn hardwood mulch. It may also be worth considering getting a termite control Los Angeles firm, or one similar, to examine your termite problem so you no longer have to worry about them invading your mulch.

Make your grass green

One of the things that will really boost your landscaping efforts is to have green grass according to Posh Services which is one of the leading landscaping experts in Australia. If your grass looks dull and dry or you see brown patches you need to act right away. The best and quickest fix is to use turf paint. The results are immediate and they last extremely long not to mention affordable. These are commonly used on golf courses in order to maintain a perfect green throughout the year. You can add luster and color without damaging your grass.

Featured images:
  • License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Microsoft_RedWest_Landscaping.JPG
  • License: Creative Commons image source

Mark is one of the leading DIY gardening experts in Australia. A botanist by profession he found that landscaping was his calling. However, after mastering the art of landscaping and using his creative skills around the company he decided to also help regular home owners. He does this via a series of blog posts and books.

Greetings Hamptons MouthPiece Readers Home Invasions are on the Rise. Law enforcement has seen an increase in home invasions since 1995. According to F.B.I. reports every 12 seconds a home is invaded. More often than not the perpetrator enters by going right through the front or back door.

A home invasion is unlike a burglary. Burglaries usually take place during the day when no one is at home. The opposite is true for home invaders who typically strike at night or at a time when residents are home. Gun owners, prepare yourself for unwanted visitors in the night with glock 19 night sights reviewed here.
home-invasionFor home security solutions here are a few tips that may help you prevent a home invasion.
  • Install a solid core door, strong heavy duty locks, and window security devices. The services provided by someone like Locksmith Melbourne can assist you in this matter.
  • Keep all doors, windows, and garage doors locked. It may also be wise to ensure that all of these are strong enough to prevent forced entry from occuring. You might want to consider something like laminated glass if you want to prevent your home’s glass from being susceptible to home invasions. There is often a choice between laminated glass and tempered glass when it comes to security, so it’s worth checkong out the differences between the two before deciding which is best for you.
  • Install a peephole and use it before opening the door. Make sure a porch light is to help you see clearly.
  • Never open the door to strangers or solicitors; never rely on a chain latch on your door.
  • Keep lights on when your home, never make it obvious that you’re home alone.
  • Install motion detection lights around the outside of your home.
  • Keep bushes trimmed around your home.
  • Discuss home security procedures with your family. Hold a family meeting.
  • Always call police if you suspect or feel uneasy with a stranger at your door or in the neighborhood.
Contributor: Robert Profert
R.P. Protection & Investigation is a full service private investigation / security co.
Are you Part of the 99 percent? How will the Trillion dollar Cut affect you? Greetings Hamptons Mouthpiece readers…last week I watched a web program with Kurt on the state of the economy and I was instantly worried for my future, my children’s future , my family, my friends and most importantly for the 99% of Americans…Many people tend to focus on what is happening in the NOW and not care what is happening in the rest of the country or the world. They are only focused on how does this affect me now, I have a job, a place to live, food to eat, enough money to take a vacation and that is pretty much what they care about. Let me tell you, what happens in the rest of the world will eventually involve you and therefore it is important to know these things.  It’s interesting when I post things on Facebook or twitter like: Congress appointing a super committee to tackle the job of coming up with a plan to reduce the deficit and the due date is 11/23/2011 has  no response with any of my friends on Facebook, yet when I post more personal stories they have more traction.  This my friends is very serious, yesterday this super committee announced that they would not make the deadline to produce a plan to reduce the deficit by November 23rdand therefore according to US Law the $1.4 Trillion dollars must be cut from the budget. Two weeks ago 73.4% of the wall street big wigs predicted that the Super Committee would not make deadline and 83% predicted that even if  the Super Committee made deadline it would not pass in Congress…So what now…What does this mean to you?  To me it means a possible Economic Devastation, Social Tragedy and a possible Stock Market collapse…It means $492 Billion CUTS in Health, Education, Drug Enforcement, National Parks and Agriculture programs…It means a further devastation in the Housing market , higher Unemployment numbers, a possible dump of USA risky bonds and US stocks and worst possible scenario would be an Earth Shattering downgrade of the US credit rating. We saw what happened when the US credit rating was downgraded by S&P in August, the stock market went out of control….
I am worried…Could the housing market be worst than it is today? The Hamptons are often exempt from what happens because the 1% that have the disposable income tend to keep the Hampton afloat…but what about the 99% that live here full-time? Will people have the extra income to rent in the summer, many people rely heavily on those summer rentals to survive for the rest of the year.  It was announced  2 weeks ago that many on Wall Street would not be getting bonuses…How will this affect the summer rentals in the Hamptons? In my estimation I believe 1 in 4 people are either Real Estate Brokers, Builders, Plumbers, Electricians, Landscapers, Painters, Roofers, Home Furnishing store owners and Real Estate Lawyers…how will their business survive if Real Estate takes a bigger dive with the fallout of the Deficit not being passed…how will this affect the local Banks, the  people that work for these people and the list is endless…My objective is not to make anyone scared but to make you aware that these are the potential consequences that could occur and why it is important that we pay attention to what is happening in Washington and to put pressure on our Elected politicians…They need to be held accountable for their actions…
If they think Occupy Wall Street is dying down they are in for a rude awakening , it has only just begun….