Ex-New York Times columnist throws hat in the ring for Bellport mayor
A summer mayoral race is heating up in Bellport.
Former New York Times Sunday Styles columnist Bob Morris has thrown his hat into the ring to run for mayor of the Long Island burg that has habitués, including Isabella Rossellini, Charlie Rose and former Calvin Klein designer Francisco Costa.
He’s up against incumbent Ray Fell, who’s served as mayor since 2013, and ran unopposed in 2017.
Morris, who long penned the Sunday Times’ “The Age of Dissonance” column, announced his candidacy a month before the June 18 election.
In a May 18 letter to Bellport’s online Village News, he unveiled a platform that includes reducing the greenhead fly population at local Ho-Hum Beach, as well as bringing back burgers to its snack stand.
He also wants to lower leaf-blower noise and overly bright streetlights, institute glass recycling and explore opening an inn or a community pool in a residential area where a driving range is planned.
Various Long Island villages vote next month for mayors and trustees.
Morris’ husband, former Grove Press Editor-in-Chief Ira Silverberg, posted online that Morris is “looking toward maintaining small town tradition while embracing 21st century values and change.”
He also added of Bellport in a Facebook post: “Its issues are relatively small but passions are not.” Fell received support from the head of Bellport’s Community Relations Committee in a letter to the Village News.