This week in Oyster Bay newsletter: It cost the town $2.8M to fight fair-housing lawsuits
The Seasons at Massapequa, where an Oyster Bay program has spurred development for first-time homebuyers. Credit: Neil Miller
Happy Friday, folks. It's Joe Ostapiuk here with this week's edition of This Week in Oyster Bay, the new newsletter where we'll wrap up the latest happenings in the town.
In case you missed it, Oyster Bay settled longstanding federal and state housing discrimination cases earlier this year. The skinny: The lawsuits alleged the town's Next Generation housing program for first-time homebuyers and its Golden Age program for seniors were discriminatory because of a local resident preference, where the population is overwhelmingly white.
In exchange for the federal and state governments dropping their cases, the town agreed to drop the residency preference for the Next Generation program but not the Golden Age program. That angered some fair-housing advocates.
The new info: I requested legal bills from the town and found it spent nearly $2.8 million on two firms over the course of more than a decade defending itself against the suits. The firms billed the towns $525 per hour and $225 per hour for the legal work.
Elsewhere in town
Rob Bartlett. Credit: Getty Images for New York Botanical Garden/Bryan Bedder
Farmingdale resident Rob Bartlett will perform Agatha Christie's "Murder on the Orient Express" at Manes Studio Theatre in Lindenhurst. In this interview, he reminisced about his career and the role Long Island played in it.
What do Nassau County school superintendents think about AI? Read their responses here.
Oyster Bay extended beach weekends at TOBAY Beach through September. Access is free with a 2026 Oyster Bay town sticker.
End of summer
The Sand Box in Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park in Oyster Bay hamlet. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
We're closing in on the end of summer (I know, we're not there quite yet). We've had some rainy weekends wipe out summer plans.
What are some summer activities on Long Island you think fly under the radar? I'm not looking for beach days and walks on the boardwalk. For next week, I'll compile some responses and put together a guide for others. Let me know about those underrated ideas at oysterbay@newsday.com.
Check out these fun and interesting things to do around town in the coming week, and more at newsday.com/lifestyle.
Find more things to do in this Newsday calendar of events.
Keeping the summer vibes alive after Labor Day From Long Beach to the North Fork, NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano and Newsday Deputy Lifestyle Editor Meghan Giannotta have ideas on how to hold onto the summer vibes after Labor Day.
Keeping the summer vibes alive after Labor Day From Long Beach to the North Fork, NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano and Newsday Deputy Lifestyle Editor Meghan Giannotta have ideas on how to hold onto the summer vibes after Labor Day.
