The Changing Course of 2013 on the East End

Jan. 1, 2013, East End of Long Island

It’s a new year on the calendar but in many ways we all remain the same person we were just yesterday, or in this case last year. I ran to buy a bottle of Champagne at the local spirits shop and while waiting on line I overheard the elderly gentleman in front of me tell the owner, “Well I am not going to die by falling off any fiscal cliff,” then he laughed and said, “ I am 89 years old, and I am not changing my short-term goals, just my long-term goals.” They both laughed, I then instantly came up with the idea for this blog: The Change Coming in 2013.

OK, forget the fact that your accountant will need an accountant to figure out your taxes due to the “unknown” ramifications of the new tax laws no one still understands is a wild card. And the new “Affordable Health Care Bill” needs to prove that it’s not unaffordable to the nation. Not to mention, is the economy going to “double dip” or recover?

Yet I believe this coming year will be the year of rebuilding. The whole of Long Island has been blasted with five huge storms in the last 18 months and everyone has been affected. Roofs, basements, trees, garages, fences, windows, gutters, and so forth are now being re-evaluated on the "2013 To Do” list of all homeowners and business owners.

The question is as always, “How will I get the money to do what need to be done?" This is something everyone is saying from the president of the United States and Congress right down to the unemployed scrambling to pay rent. But here’s what I say: All this misfortune of the last 18 months is going to create a new dynamic this spring, a renewal of energy that will somehow make things become better. Perhaps some federal aid will pay for beach cleanups, and rebuilding of parking lots, concession stands and restrooms. I am predicting right here right now in about five weeks, the East End summer rentals are going to get active and stay active because places like Fire Island won’t be ready for 2013. I have seen Fire Island, and there is no way its capacity will be anywhere near 2012's. This is a very sad fact.

Now as someone not born in Southampton Hospital,thus a transplant, I look at the residents of the East End as hard working, creative, enterprising and very skillful at maximizing the extraction of the discretionary funds of the summer season visitor. So much so the summer visitor sees a real value in it.

So I predict the following for 2013 on the East End:

1- Lots of small contracting work on homes

2- Lots of rental activity

3- Restaurants creeping back to the better numbers of 5 years ago.

4- More traffic,

5- More day visitors to the beaches (due to damage to up-Island beaches)

6- A turn around in the spirits of the struggling small business owners and more prosperity for the large already successful businesses.

Now I wish all Patch readers a Happy 2013 New Year!