05/18/2026
Proposition 7 would allocate $290,000 tax payer dollars per year to the Southampton History Museum (SHM). There are two great reasons to vote NO… One, they have become enemy #1 in the effort to maintain local working waterfront. If it were up to them, an area of Conscience Point (which they thought they owned until recently), on North Sea Harbor, Southampton would be reverted back to the way it was way back in 1640 when the first non-natives arrived. If this were to come to fruition, Southampton oyster growers, both farmers & non-profit stock enhancement organizations, all of which directly benefit local water quality, wouldn’t be able to continue their work. In the end, as it turns out, they don’t even own the property in question! Due to this recent discovery, they are now involved in a costly and frivolous lawsuit against the Town of Southampton over this piece of land. This issue has been handled so poorly that several SHM board members have resigned over the past few years.
Secondly, each year when the current Executive Director (ED) of the SHM gets up in front of the Southampton School Board to rationalize these funds they proceed to give the board a history lesson that they neither need, nor asked for. Nothing about how the funds will benefit Southampton school children. This is contrary to the approach of every other entity that requests taxpayer dollars via the School Board. After all, it’s public money meant to benefit school children, that connection is not made with this ED.
Vote NO on proposition 7 and send the SHM board a message that they are on the wrong side of history on this one.
