Just in time for us to head off to our cottages on Fishers Island and make sure all the "No Trespassing" signs and barbed wire survived the winter storms

fore! fishers island club awaits you and your selected guests

Biden’s Signature Bills Send Taxpayer Cash To East Coast’s Fanciest Locales For Airport Upgrades, Ferries And More

When the bipartisan infrastructure package became law in 2021, the White House stated that the bill would “invest in communities that have too often been left behind” and “grow the economy sustainably and equitably so that everyone gets ahead for decades to come,” among other things. Similarly, the White House describes the IRA as “delivering for underserved communities and those that have been too often left behind.”

The administration is spending more than $180,000 to build ferry boats and terminal facilities on Fishers Island, New York, according to Invest.gov. Fishers Island is “an exclusive enclave where generations of old-money families gather to sail and golf,” according to the Wall Street Journal, and dynastic families like the Roosevelts and Rockefellers have frequented the island, per the New York Post.

The administration is also routing $113,000 to upgrade the island’s airport, according to Invest.gov.

Elsewhere on the East Coast, the administration’s domestic agenda is directing nearly $300,000 to pay for improvements for the East Hampton Airport, according to Invest.gov. East Hampton is a favored escape of the New York City metropolitan area’s well-to-do, and some of the wealthiest of its vacationers are known to fly there via private jet or chartered helicopter.

Meanwhile, the administration is also spending $460,000 to deliver “safe streets and roads for all” on Nantucket, Massachusetts, another island getaway frequented by New England’s upper crust, according to Invest.gov. The Nantucket airport is also receiving $1.3 million to cover infrastructure upgrades.

…. Just a few miles away, the airport on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, is receiving $1 million from the Biden administration’s landmark bills to pay for improvements, according to Invest.gov. The island is another choice destination for elite New Englanders, and also hosts a massive $11 million estate owned by former President Barack Obama.

Block Island, a popular summer destination off the Rhode Island coast, is also benefiting from the Biden administration’s domestic agenda, with more than $750,000 in public funds going to build ferry boats and ferry terminal facilities servicing the island, according to Invest.gov. In 2023, the average price of the 29 homes sold on the island was just under $2 million, making it the most expensive area in Rhode Island, according to Lamacchia Realty.

The Westchester County Airport, a small facility located right on the border of New York state and Greenwich, Connecticut, is receiving $4.5 million for various upgrades, according to Invest.gov. The airport is frequently utilized by residents of Greenwich — one of the wealthiest towns in the entire country — looking to catch flights without having to go through the trouble of departing from New York City or Newark, New Jersey.

Further down the East Coast, the administration is spending $7.7 million on flood control and coastal emergencies between Rehoboth Beach and Dewey Beach, Delaware, according to Invest.gov. Biden himself owns a $2.7 million home in Rehoboth Beach, which he has enjoyed frequently throughout his first term as president.

In South Carolina, the administration is directing a whopping $8.3 million to the Hilton Head airport, according to Invest.gov. Hilton Head is “one of South Carolina’s most luxurious beach destinations” that offers “world-class golf courses, renowned restaurants, superb shopping and white-sand beaches as far as the eye can see,” according to Discover South Carolina.

Here’s how a local Fishers Island real estate agency describes this refuge from the hoi polloi, now even more affordable after Joe ordered the great unwashed to pay off your and your children’s Ivy League tuition bills.

About Fishers Island: An unspoiled gem – even during the summer months, the island is no more crowded than a small rural New England town.

How does Fishers Island manage to avoid the development and tourism that plague Long Island, Block Island, Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, the Hamptons, Cape Cod and coastal Connecticut and Rhode Island? It’s simple. There are no hotels. Everyone here either owns or rents a home (or is their guest) on the island.

Without the overnight crowds to support tourism, the only tourists you’ll find are the guests you bring.

Fishers Island is the ultimate gated community – only the gate is a ferry.

And, from April through October, every ferry is greeted by a New York State Trooper. Couple this with the lowest population density of any ferry-served island in New England, and you have the perfect recipe for safety.

Pal Nancy and I and kids once vacationed on the island with friends who owned a house there. It was beautiful, quiet and, all in all, an idyllic spot; I didn’t, however, notice any particular signs of poverty that would have suggested federal dollars were needed.