Frances and Bill Amagansett March 16, 2015 Dear David, For many years our small town was fortunate to have been home to two exceptional citizens, Frances O’Brien and William King. Social activist and artist, they directed their special talents to champion important civic needs and to protest social injustice. At the microphone before the town board and in letters and cartoons in The Star, Frances and Bill spoke out for affordable housing and the needs of seniors, for the protection of the environment of the East End, and for rational national policies. They were passionate in their beliefs and acted on them. I am saddened by their passing but glad and proud that I was able to know and work with them — with Frances on her housing campaigns and with Bill in his many years as a member of the East Hampton Democratic Committee. Most sincerely, BETTY MAZUR New Senior Center East Hampton March 16, 2015 To the Editor, We watched the Phyllis Italiano show on local TV today. The show featured Mary Ella Moeller and Paul Fiondella, who were supposedly representing the senior citizens of East Hampton. Ms. Moeller and Mr. Fiondella were at one time representatives to the town boards for the senior citizens. They no longer are. Kathee Burke-Gonzalez is the liaison between the town board and the East Hampton Town Senior Citizens Center. The town board is considering building a new senior citizens center, which is very much needed. Councilwoman Burke-Gonzalez has been to the senior center and asked the seniors for their input on what is needed in a new center. This is being handled very nicely between the town board, the seniors, and the excellent leadership of our director, Michelle Posillico. Ms. Moeller and Mr. Fiondella seem to be promoting their own agenda for seniors. In the five years we have been attending the center, we have seen Ms. Moeller approximately five times and Mr. Fiondella twice. They attended only when they were promoting another agenda (school board, bike path). The projects they are now promoting — medical center, community gym, etc. — would certainly not be appropriate on the small parcel of land as the proposed senior center. Parking alone would be a major problem. Ms. Moeller and Mr. Fiondella, please in the future do not say you are representing all senior citizens when it is your own agenda you are promoting. Join us for lunch more often and find out what we really want and need. Sincerely, Happily involved senior citizens, EVELYN and BILL BATES What Seniors Need East Hampton March 13, 2015 Dear Mr. Rattray, Today Mary Ella Moeller and Paul Fiondella appeared on local LTV advising the senior citizens what they need. These two people never have been involved in any senior programs. They are advising the Town of East Hampton what we need as seniors. They have plans for the coming years and display charts to show the growth of the senior community. They are asking seniors to push their agenda for a large community center with senior, medical, and many other services. I am a member of the senior center and find its service excellent. Thank you. JULIA KAYSER We Need Volunteers East Hampton March 11, 2015 Dear Mr. Rattray, East Hampton Meals on Wheels needs volunteers. Can you spare an hour and a half one day a week to provide an invaluable service to your homebound neighbors and feel good, all at the same time? As East Hampton’s homebound population continues to grow, our East Hampton Meals on Wheels program continues to expand. As a result, we always need new people to deliver meals to our homebound neighbors Monday through Friday. Helping requires only about an hour and a half one day a week from 10:15 until noon. Our volunteer drivers get enormous satisfaction from helping their neighbors. We also need volunteers to pack the meals from 9 to 10:45 a.m. Monday through Friday mornings. East Hampton Meals on Wheels is a nonprofit organization that receives no federal, state, county, or local funding and, although we employ two people to help in the office, volunteers make up the bulk of our program. If you are interested in joining this wonderful group of people who are taking meals to our homebound neighbors, please call Meals on Wheels in East Hampton at 329-1669 today for further details. We look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, EDWARD D. McLAUGHLIN President What a Mistake! East Hampton March 12, 2015 Dear Dave, Following our recent heavy snowfalls and the unbelievable flooding due to snow melting therefrom, I found myself barred from driving to my home because the cascade of water downhill was so strong that it had quickly formed a three-foot-deep lake in the middle of the street. I decided to park my car in an unused, dry driveway, and walk home through the unshoveled piles of snow bordering the street and the newly formed lake. What a mistake! I got three-quarters of the way home and almost to the end of this ominous lake, all the while stepping into two-foot-deep snow (in my running shoes) when I lost my balance and fell backward into an icy, wet, very deep snowdrift. I was locked in and immediately unable to move my legs, which got caught under the heavy wet snow, and my rear end was deeper than my feet. I couldn’t move my rather large, octogenerian body in any direction, and there were no handholds to help nearby, either. Luckily my hands were free, and I reached my cellphone and called 911, but in my excitement and angst I was not too clear in stating my need for help, and the police did not arrive until after the event, some 40 minutes later. I would have been a frozen turkey by then. However, I got lucky. A young local workman saw my predicament, waded through this deep lake, losing his boots in the process, through the two-plus-foot snow, and pulled me upright and out. I was then able to get to my house with his aid. But before I could get his identity to thank him properly, he was walking, barefooted, through the snow and into the lake to retrieve his boots. I never saw him again. If he reads this, I would love him to contact me. The moral of this story is don’t walk alone through deep snow and ice when you are over a certain age, or keep a local gardener or worker nearby when doing so. RICHARD P. HIGER Neighborly Support Springs March 11, 2015 To the Editor: Neighborly acts of kindness should not go unnoticed, especially in this Ice Age winter of our discontent. Last week our car got stuck in our unplowed driveway. My wife and I tried mightily to get it out of the ice to no avail. Then a young Hispanic man who spoke no English pulled up in his white van, got a shovel, and started helping us dig out. A few minutes later a big African-American fellow pulled up and asked if we needed help. He joined us, and in no time the car was out of the driveway and on the road. I didn’t get the name of the young Hispanic, but the African-American fellow turned out to be a new neighbor, Glenn Vickers II, who was profiled as the new director of the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter in last week’s Star. If that wasn’t enough show of neighborly support, when we returned, our next-door neighbor, Sebastian, had shoveled enough snow and ice out of the end of our driveway so our car had enough room to fit safely. So thank you, neighbors, and thank you to those Highway Department workers who kept our roads clear during the worst February in memory. JACK DEACY Nature’s Speed Bumps Stamford, Conn. March 9, 2015 To the Editor: The only thing that took a bigger hit this winter, other than the amount of fuel we used to stay warm in our homes, was the infrastructure we used to get there, particularly our roads. After speaking to police on patrol, firefighters flying to calls, and taxi drivers turning a fare, it’s getting to be a nightmare out there. With heavy rains projected, it’s going to get worse before it gets better. Start with the new cracks in your own driveway, then look off to the sides and you will see the reason why. The melting snow will reveal, although compact and compressed, the layers of snow from each winter storm. They are all there, because none of them had time or temperature to melt. They are like rings on a tree that’s been cut down, revealing each year’s growth. Usually there is a warm-up sometime during a winter, when these vivid layers will dissolve into one another, but not this time. February gave us the single coldest month ever, for any month, and the results can be seen in our snowcap. They look like layers of sediment you would find on an archeological dig or on an exposed side of a mountain. As you back out of the driveway and head down your own street, it’s not only revealing but becomes bone-jarring as you navigate the minefields of potholes that are somewhere between you and your destination. Remember last winter? We actually had snow on the ground much longer than this year, as it started snowing that December. Now think back to January of this winter. It seems like a long time ago, but we were all saying, will it ever snow? Then look what happened! It’s called February, and every Monday was a snow day for the kids and many of the adults as well. The temperatures the past two winters have flat-lined, with an unheard-of lack of fluctuation. Last winter the temperatures hovered just below the freezing mark and we got buried the whole winter. For all of the snow we had this year, it was the cold that was the true story. The difference maker was the polar vortex, which kept pumping cold front after cold front our way, dragging snow with each passing wave. It made us all feel like we were living on Ice Station Zebra and Santa’s home was just a snowball’s throw away. One of the fallouts from all of this is something we are not used to seeing in these parts, frost heaves. Usually reserved for points farther north, like Vermont and New Hampshire, frost heaves are like nature’s own speed bumps. Or, they can reveal themselves as a crack across the road, where one side is higher than the other and they look like the aftermath of a small earthquake or tremor. It takes extremely cold temperatures over a prolonged period of time for these to appear, which is why they are uncommon here. They are created when freezing temperatures penetrate deeper into the ground than normal, causing the water below the frost line to freeze up and expand upward. So if enough moisture has already penetrated the ground in that spot, a wave of earth rises. It doesn’t care what’s in its way, so it’s surf’s up! So it’s pot luck avoiding potholes, and it’s going to be a very up-and-down ride until our weary work crews, who have been plowing through mountains of overtime, get a chance to raise or lower our roadbeds. Until then, as we bounce our way toward spring, take the best advice of our busy body shops and back off the bumper of the car in front of you, so you can watch the roadbed as well. RICHARD C. ILSE The Birds Are Gone East Hampton March 13, 2015 Dear David, I did not realize just how rare ground-nesting birds had become on the East End until reading “Nature Notes.” I do know that when I stopped seeing grouse hurry through the grass, and stopped hearing the call of the resident whippoorwills in the open land behind my house, it did not coincide with an increase in deer or development nearby, and it was too long ago to be affected by helicopters. It coincided with the arrival of illegal off-road vehicles, tearing up the land from Bistrian’s to Morris Park Lane. Decades later, the illegal off-road vehicles are still around, still disturbing the peace. The birds are gone. Sincerely, KRIS LIEM Indian Wells Beach Springs March 14, 2015 Dear David, Once again government by and for the people is being held hostage to a small-minded argument over who’s in charge. The neighbors and primary users of Indian Wells Beach in Amagansett want a child-appropriate beach during lifeguarded summer hours. The East Hampton Town Trustees claim their prerogatives have been slighted. Supporters remember their own drunken youths with nostalgia. So a town board that has gone out of its way to heal the longstanding breach between the two institutions is faced either with denying the community’s important concern or overriding the trustees summarily, with the possible consequence that crucial work on the environmental issues that should be the trustees’ priority will once again be sacrificed. Grow up, guys. Allowing drinking on Indian Wells Beach makes it a destination for young out-of-towners eager to let off steam in the chic Hamptons. We don’t need that on a longtime family beach. There are plenty of places in town for boozing, and the town, both indoors and out, is wide open for drinking at night. Town trustees, entrusted by tradition with responsibility for the beaches, have more important things to do than standing pat “on principle” for a perk that’s no thinking person’s real priority. Sincerely yours, CILE DOWNS Self-Induced Hardships Springs March 10, 2015 Dear David, It is with dismay and frustration that I continually observe weak decisions by our planning and zoning boards as applicants are presenting over-the-top reasons as to why they are deserving of significant variances and approvals. The boards’ failures to look at the big picture when considering proposals that will set harmful precedents to our hard-fought and hard-won zoning standards are causing neighbors who have followed our standards to be concerned about their health and quality of life. The responsibility of these appointed board members is to balance the needs of our neighborhoods with the applicants’ requests not to be held to our zoning standards. It is very clearly stated in our regulations that applicants have to demonstrate a legitimate hardship in order to be granted an approval for any variances from our standards. Let’s take a look. One recent applicant wants a 90-percent setback variance from a primary dune for a deck that would be 11 feet from the ocean dune, because he “has kids that are growing up.” Self-imposed hardship, wouldn’t you say? Another applicant is applying for a sprawling complex on Cranberry Hole Road “because the barnlike structures are supposed to be ‘nestled’ into the dunes.” Hardship, anyone? A third application defies rationality. The applicant wants to subdivide an acre of property (the current zoning) in half, creating two half-acre lots. His hardship? He has already conditionally sold the two nonexisting lots! For 35 years, appointed and elected officials have fought and won in court to set high standards for any development in our scenic and historic community. As a member of the planning board for 15 years (eight years as chairwoman), I recognize that all appointed board members are dealing with a difficult balancing act. However, our planning and zoning standards are only as good as the people appointed by town boards to uphold those standards. I have heard for the last four years that these important boards are weak, and you can get anything past them. Just witness the oversized building 10 feet from Montauk Highway at the gateway to our town in Wainscott. If you care about your emotional and financial investment in East Hampton, I suggest you keep a vigilant eye on the zoning, planning, and architecture review boards’ decision-making. Of course, property owners have a right to develop their land or ask for a variance due to a realistic hardship, but these examples are clearly self-induced hardships and are making a mockery of this process. If approved, these board members could set precedents where East Hampton’s lovely ambience is lost, not with a big bang but a series of a thousand cuts. DEBRA FOSTER Subpar Septic Systems Amagansett March 16, 2015 Dear David, I was excited to read your report last week that our town is designing an incentive program to help homeowners upgrade subpar septic systems. When funded — and the town is working on that, too — this will help many people like me whose old systems overflow or seep into groundwater unless pumped out frequently. It also exemplifies our Democratic government’s promised commitment to deal more effectively with nitrogen overflow that pollutes our drinking water and poisons our fish. You report that this program will probably be similar to a successful town initiative of 2007 through which my husband and I, and many others, received rebates on the cost of removing oil tanks from underground. In this icy winter I’ve been relieved that my oil tank is safe in the cellar. That, too, by the way, was in a Democratic administration. JEANNE FRANKL Chairwoman East Hampton Town Democratic Committee Not One Private Plane Hudson, Mass. March 14, 2015 Dear David, A great deal of my Springs childhood was spent at East Hampton Airport, where my dad, Donald A. Miller, owned a plane as part of a flying club. Dad learned to fly in the Navy and loved being a pilot. He spent many happy hours flying and maintaining the plane and introducing us to the thrill of taking to the air. Although the club owned several different planes over the years, I mostly remember a Cessna and a low-wing Piper Comanche, which seemed very sleek and sexy to my younger self. On days when Dad didn’t fly, he often took us to the airport to watch planes take off and land; very exciting stuff! The airport was a pretty quiet place in those days, with a strong feeling of camaraderie among the pilots. It was a wonderful part of my childhood, and made such an impression on me that to this day I love to sit at an outside table at a restaurant in Boston and watch the jets come and go from Logan Airport. It also led me to take flying lessons myself and to experience the joy of flying first-hand. I have been following the airport debate in The Star and, frankly, was siding with the pilots. I was not sympathetic to the folks who complained about the noise for several reasons. First, they knew the airport was there when they built their houses, and in legal parlance, that’s called moving to the nuisance. Second, small-plane ownership is a wonderful and useful occupation and hobby, with a community of caring people. Finally, the sound of a small plane buzzing overhead on a lovely summer’s day is a soothing, familiar sound, part of the landscape. My feeling was, they’re Cessnas, not the Concorde — get over it. Well, I’m not too proud to say that I was wrong and that I’ve changed my mind entirely on this issue. This past September, my husband and I spent a week visiting family in Springs and had to go the airport to exchange a rental car. While there, we decided to plane-watch. I had shared my childhood memories with my husband, and he was anxious to see this small-town airport that featured so prominently in many of my stories. Upon arrival at the airport, we discovered a nice little area just on the edge of the tarmac with tables and chairs, the perfect place to observe takeoffs and landings. Cold drinks in hand, we stepped outside to claim a table and were stunned by the wall of noise that met us. We stayed for the better part of an afternoon and found it was still exciting to watch the planes come in, except the excitement was tinged with fear, since the planes coming in looked like they belonged at Logan Airport and it didn’t seem possible they could actually stop on these shorter runways. In fact, it was terrifying. There was so much noise and turbulence, I was amazed the tables and chairs didn’t blow over. Far worse than the large pseudo-commercial jets were the turbo helicopters that came and went constantly. Many of them landed and stayed on the tarmac but were never turned off. They idled for well over an hour, but their version of idling was a high-pitched whine that nearly made my head explode. Conversation was impossible and we were horrified by the experience. During the time we were there, not one small private plane landed at the airport; in fact, they were scarcer than hen’s teeth, no doubt overshadowed by the behemoths barreling down the runway. And what was the purpose of these incredibly expensive machines, the large jets with their uniformed pilots, the turbo helicopters that screamed their way downward and then hung around belching out terrible fumes and mind-numbing noise? One could excuse the noise if they were engaged in missions of mercy — transporting human organs, for instance, or rushing someone UpIsland for a medical emergency. But apparently this was nothing more than a blatant display of wealth and entitlement. The flights were boarded by small groups of people, mostly middle-aged men with much younger women, all of them posturing away because they had a private jet waiting for them in the Hamptons. It was the saddest, most pathetic thing I’d ever seen, a classic case of the nouveau riche attempting to hide their baser roots by overindulging in the glittering trappings of wealth, regardless of how it affected other people. Everything about East Hampton Airport screamed out “Look at me! Look at me!” For the rest of that week, I paid more attention to the sounds around me. Even in Springs, the airport created a constant background noise, like living too close to a highway. The soothing sounds I grew up with were still there — the cry of the gulls, the sound of the waves lapping the bay beaches, the gentle susurration of the wind in the leaves — but competing with that was the ugliness of the airport. Contrary to what I believed before, the noise is not limited to the area immediately surrounding the airport, but extends out for many miles. And so I have come to support the people who want the airport noise stopped. I am still on the side of the pilots of small planes and would love to see the airport returned to its former function. Anything larger than a twin-engine craft should be diverted elsewhere, preferably to MacArthur Airport. I’m sure the wealthy folks can endure a two-hour ride in their well-appointed limos to reach their ultimate destination, where they can resume their meaningless posturing without destroying the ambience of that place for everyone else. It’s time to stop pandering to the rich and do the right thing. Sincerely, LUCIA E. MILLER Our Own Airport East Hampton March 14, 2015 Dear Editor, We have been told by the so-called Friends of the East Hampton Airport (based in Colonia, N.J.) that if we try to regulate our own airport’s noise levels, usage, or operation of certain types of aircraft, the impact on our town’s economy will be overwhelmingly negative. Prior to these arguments, the same people told us that we must accept F.A.A. funding or we would not be able to sustain said airport, regardless of the fact that we have done so for generations. Now, we’re being told, we will be sued by the largest aviation firms in the country if we pass the aforementioned regulations. The Friends of the East Hampton Airport wanted and still want us to take federal funding because it would eliminate local control over the airport, and place it firmly in Uncle Sam’s hands. The proponents of this position don’t seem to care about the impracticality of having big government dictating the daily ins and outs of our small town. That’s because the plan they support is one where East Hampton’s airport is commercialized and advertised to the wealthy elite. I’m not mincing words when I tell you their plan has no curfew and no limit on aircraft noise — a model that is unheard of even for major commercial airports. La Guardia has a curfew and noise limitations. These people aren’t really the friends of East Hampton Airport, they are the Washington aviation lobby — they see an opportunity, and they’re looking out for their profits. And if the town board sides with them, it would sell out East Hampton, effectively establishing a commercial airport fit for a city in our small town, but with even fewer restrictions. Can you imagine 747s flying in over the Northwest Woods? How about hundreds of helicopters overhead every day? That is what could happen if we do not act. Now it is true that by taking action we could be inviting a lawsuit from the powerful Washington aviation lobby. The Friends of the East Hampton Airport have support from the Airline Owners and Pilots Association, the National Business Aviation Association, and the National Air Transportation Association. They have all threatened us if they don’t get their way. But they don’t have the authority to tell us what to do. We don’t want Washington insiders and lobbyists dictating our policies, and we are perfectly within our legal authority to act. So let’s send a message to these Washington bureaucrats that we cannot be bought, and we will not be intimidated. As a member of this community, I’d like to remind everyone of something: This is, in fact, East Hampton. We have history, we have the beaches, we have the quiet, and we have that special small-town feel that people from the city just can’t get enough of. And perhaps most important, we have the reputation. That is why every year, people come in droves, via buses, the trains, and their cars to experience the Hamptons. A small percentage even fly out. What I am getting at is this: People will always come to the Hamptons, and anyone saying otherwise is selling something detrimental to the community. Indeed, it seems that every time a group tells us we have to do X or the economy will suffer, and we capitulate, the town ends up suffering. That suffering takes the form of a Newtown Lane that isn’t recognizable from five years ago. It takes the form of what I call chameleon Main Street. The people who come in planes and helicopters aren’t looking to shop in our stores; they’re looking to buy our stores and build mansions. And we all know what happens when the McMansions go up: so do taxes. The inevitable end result is people move — staples of the community gone because they can no longer afford to live here. I don’t know about the rest of you, fellow locals, but I remember a time when you could do more in East Hampton than shop at a chain clothing store. I remember the town I grew up in where there was a community — not just summer homes. But that community shrinks every year, as we can’t seem to be protectionist. According to the Friends of the East Hampton Airport, 56 percent of homes in the Hamptons are now second homes. Their plans would see that percentage grow. Personally, I don’t. So please, this time, let’s not fall victim to the same nonsensical logic that has been selling out our town to the highest bidder. We have the ability to take a historic step toward protecting the character of East Hampton for generations to come. Let’s say enough to the culture of giving it up for whoever has the largest pocketbook, and say yes to the proposals before the town board to regulate airport noise and nighttime use, as well as the operation of helicopters. Specifically, vote yes for Resolutions 15006, 15007, 15008, and 15009 to amend Chapter 25 of the East Hampton Town Code. After all, how much is our community really worth? WALKER McGRAW BRAGMAN Member East Hampton Democratic Committee To the Town Board Geneva, Switzerland March 8, 2015 To the Editor, A thank-you note to the East Hampton Town Board: We have been residents of the Town of East Hampton for over 25 years. We recognize the many difficulties the town board faces in deciding what is the right thing to do about excessive noise generated by East Hampton Airport. At this critical juncture in time, we want to thank them. Thank them for their courage. Thank them for their respect for the law. Thank them for their willingness to listen. First, we thank them for their courage. It is a sad truth that East Hampton is becoming the poster child for inequality in our country. Through their proposed actions on noise, they have chosen to take on the combined power, resources, and might of the aviation industry and some of the wealthiest people in the world. The aviation industry and its patrons have threatened them with an unending series of costly lawsuits. It has accused them of recklessness and lack of due diligence. It has paid for and published bogus economic studies. It has flooded the media with false advertising. It has created obstacles in their search for facts. Through all of this, the board has resisted pressure and continued to focus on the truth. Second, we thank the board members for their respect for the law. They have proceeded slowly and deliberately on the basis of fact. They have conducted their deliberations on the high plane of dignity and discipline. Corporations such as Heliflite Shares of New Jersey, Analar Corporation of New Jersey, the Helicopter Association International of Virginia, Liberty Helicopters of New Jersey, and other well-funded out-of-town aviation industry groups have already filed lawsuits to prevent change at the airport. They have responded to these and other lawsuits without breaking stride, knowing that the law is on the side of those who own the airport (i.e., the citizens of East Hampton), not those who want to exploit the airport and the town for their own economic gain. Third, we thank them for their willingness to listen. They listened to those who purchased property near the airport with an understanding that the airport was primarily there for hobbyist pilots. They listened to those who said that the incessant din of helicopters and seaplanes had radically changed the nature of their neighborhoods and affected their quality of life. They listened to those who live in our historically black neighborhoods who said that the re-routing of helicopter traffic over their homes last summer was nothing less than racial discrimination and environmental injustice. They listened to those who are losing their retirement incomes because of loss of property values caused by aircraft noise. They listened to those fearing an airplane crash in an already overcrowded airspace. They listened to those who documented the environmental harm caused by noisy aircraft. They listened to those who observed that noisy seaplane operators are waiting to rush in and pounce on anything left over should noisy helicopters leave. They listened to those who have implored them not to pit one neighborhood against another and force them to debate who will have to suffer the most from noisy aircraft. They listened to those who asked them to reject the fraudulent claim that abusive aircraft noise is good for small business because it is the “sound of money.” They listened to those who said helicopter noise is not just unwanted sound, not just an annoyance, that helicopter noise can make normal speech impossible, that it can make concentration difficult, that it can interfere with important mental tasks such as learning, that it can lead to stress-related mental health illness, and that it can damage the environment. They listened to those many residents who told them they could no longer experience a peaceful life or a quiet summer evening. Again, we thank them for their courage, their respect for the law, and their willingness to listen. They have our full support for their efforts to do the right and honorable thing. East Hampton will be forever in their debt. VINCENT COVELLO CAROL A. MANDEL The Biggest Dots Shelter Island March 13, 2015 To the Editor: This letter concerns the meeting held on March 12 by the East Hampton Town Board inviting public comment on the adoption of four resolutions to govern the operation of East Hampton Airport. At the outset of the meeting, Supervisor Larry Cantwell voiced the expressed desire of the town board that all the speakers be respected and respectful and that the meeting was not a forum for personal attack. Sadly, this guideline was not adhered to. Many individuals, businesses, and corporate entities opposing the adoption of the four resolutions that would govern the operation of the airport levied inappropriate personal attacks against both the town board members and the public, myself included. Together with six other residents, my complaint activity was the focus of a presentation by a Mr. Irving Taylor of Wainscott. The presentation, illustrated with a graphic of the region, showed clusters of red dots in various sizes and intensity to reflect the volume of received complaints to the airport website and hotline. Mr. Taylor nominated in ascending order the households responsible for lodging the complaints, amongst which mine distinguished itself for the largest, reddest dots. How Mr. Taylor obtained his data deserves some inquiry, as the town does not disclose this information. In his reference to the complaining public, Mr. Taylor employed the rhetoric of “who are these people who cannot have a life,” implying that we seven, having nothing else going on other than to register complaints, have greatly exaggerated the incidence of air traffic noise. I will not countenance this absurd notion, nor will I allow for Mr. Taylor to call my character into question by making a thinly veiled accusation that I have lied my way to warrant the biggest and reddest of his dots. I have appealed to Supervisor Cantwell requesting that Mr. Taylor’s presentation be stricken from the record, on the grounds that it constitutes a personal attack and incorporates questionably resourced information. Moreover, it is my very strong feeling that Mr. Taylor should publicly apologize for the misguided approach he took to make whatever point he was making. No civic exchange should ever allow for a public breach of privacy or permit slanderous innuendo to go unchecked. TOM CUGLIANI What to Not Do Montauk March 11, 2015 Dear Editor, We just returned from a meeting at Provisions in Sag Harbor, where we learned in great detail about the Army Corps of Engineers’ proposed alterations to the town beach in Montauk. Mike Bottini of Surfrider presented photos and schematics illustrating the plan. There was discussion about the probable environmental damage to already eroding beaches resulting from this installation of geotextile bags filled with quarry sand. Despite concern about this $10 million project, it is still in danger of being implemented. Surely enough of us beach lovers out here and everywhere can prevent Montauk from becoming a lesson for the future in what to not do in order to preserve our beaches. Let’s take a wider view of things and look to the legacy we’re leaving our grandchildren. Let’s make sure they too get to know the joys of the beach in Montauk. Please check out and sign the petition found on easternli.surfrider.org. Thank you, HEIDI and TOM OLESZCZUK Montauk Beach Lovers The Webb Property East Hampton March 12, 2015 Dear David, We, the Freetown Neighborhood Advisory Committee, formed by local middle-class workers and townspeople, north of the highway, in the woods, have been trying for six years to get a parcel of sensitive land preserved. The parcel on Oakview and Middle Highways. The Webb property. Yes, we are still here! The community preservation fund committee is well aware of us, as is the East Hampton Town Board and the planning board, the latter being the board that mistakenly downzoned this Special Groundwater Protection Area. A huge mistake. Our group got two of Mr. Webb’s plans with Land Planning Services shot down, with our 200-plus members’ protests, petitions, and precise and heartfelt presentations before the town board and many letters to the planning board, town board, and C.P.F. committee. Webb’s previous plan was to build 50 condos and a sewage treatment plant on Suffolk County Water Authority drinking-water wells, which supply the drinking water to — get this — the whole town. I kid you not. It is for all the world like that movie “A Civil Action,” bar the dumping of toxic leather factory chemicals into a river. But equally diabolical in our eyes. I mean, who builds a subdivision on top of drinking-water wells and acres of nature trails with deer, foxes, turtles, birds nesting in oak and pine trees, lady slipper flowers, and a forest? No one, I think, who cares about much. The second plan of Webb’s was for 18 houses; that plan was sunk too. Both plans were denied because they were insufficient in their planning, not up to par with regulations and studies, and mostly because of consistent, passionate neighborhood protest. The State Environmental Quality Review and a traffic study were not done either. The Planning Department basically rubber-stamped his plan, checking off “no impact” to anything — people who live here, quality of life, traffic, safety, wildlife, trees, flowers, and, of course, environmental impact. Why no proper review, you ask? We have been asking that question for six years. And then the travesty of downzoning, which is unprecedented. Never should have happened. Webb had nothing to bargain with. The affordable housing overlay distinction he “traded” the town for downzoning the parcel had been previously removed. This was blatantly ignored, or perhaps, maybe, possibly, overlooked. We were ignored, either way, on that. Webb has been offered so far, according to Scott Wilson, director of the C.P.F., three very attractive and generous offers to buy the land and preserve. Webb refused. He wants bigger $. We see this as greed, nothing more, and a blatant disregard for the environment, the water, and an entire neighborhood. Webb was born and bred here, as were many of our members. We cannot fathom why he persists, with such resistance from our neighborhood, to build regardless. Yes, it is his right, as is lamented, but is it right? No. And does he care? Apparently not. We continue to fight his building of, now, eight large houses, taking up the whole 8.9 acres, bar a little reserve for the town. Big whoop. He plans to give the town back this “reserve” of an acre surrounding this proposed eyesore. We say, no thanks. We say preserve! Nothing less. This is a sad harbinger of the future of our town. More greed, and money apparently talks if you have enough of it. A perfect example of how builders get to build their McMansions and decimate open space (of which we have none here in the woods north of the highway). Calling his subdivision Oakview Woods does not make it more palatable. He might as well call it I Don’t Give a Shit About the Water or the Neighbors Woods. If you think this is all very harsh, you have not been among us who care about our neighborhood, who have lived here for 30 or more years, who have grown up here, raised our kids here, take our grandchildren into the woods here, and who know when you have disregard for nature and the water we all drink and what is leached into the ground. It is only a matter of time before we all reap the toxic results. What a shame that our elected and volunteer boards and committees have let this happen. What a pity that a fellow townsperson regards his purse more than his own drinking water and neighbors. We do not want Oakview Woods on the corner of Oakview and Middle Highways. We do not want any subdivision at all. NANCI LaGARENNE Temporarily Legal Toms River, N.J. March 11, 2015 Dear Editor, St. Patrick’s Day will likely be one of the wildest in recent Irish history. Why? On the morning of Feb. 10, an Irish appeals court ruled that drug laws covering synthetic substances, such as ecstasy (MDMA), ketamine, and crystal meth were improperly implemented. The Irish government has rushed through a new law to recriminalize these substances, but until it is in effect, these substances are temporarily legal to possess and use in the Republic of Ireland. At the St. Patrick’s Day parade, I’ll be asking if anyone has seen Mallaidh and listening to Lurgan’s hit “Avicii Wake Me Up” cover in Gaeilge (Irish language). ERIC HAFNER Go Vegan East Hampton March 15, 2015 Dear Editor: After a month of persistent and crippling snowstorms, I do look forward to spring weather, green grass, and flowers in bloom. The advent of spring is also a great opportunity to turn over a new leaf on our dietary habits. In fact, hundreds of communities welcome spring on March 20 with an observance of the Great American Meatout. Visitors are asked to go vegan, at least for the day, and to explore a healthy diet of vegetables, fresh fruits, legumes, and grains. This year’s 30th anniversary celebration of Meatout is particularly significant because of the massive shift in America’s eating habits. “Meatless Monday” has been making huge advances in public schools, universities, institutional cafeterias, and restaurants. The 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee is recommending reduced meat consumption. Stock market analysts are warning clients about the potential “death of meat.” Almost 50 percent of the respondents in a special Global Meat News poll said they had actively reduced their meat consumption. Accordingly, per capita U.S. meat consumption has dropped by more than 10 percent since 2005. Each of us can celebrate our own advent of spring tomorrow, March 20, by checking out vegan foods in our local supermarket and vegan recipes on the Internet. Sincerely, EDWIN HORATH Loved Ronald Reagan Southold February 11, 2015 Dear Editor, Ronald Reagan took me on a family trip when I was young. He wanted to show me his homestead and the hundreds of miles it was on. We drove across the whole state out west. His house was the only house on the whole entire state, and the next state it was the same, one house on the entire state! Another memory of Ronald Reagan was later in Spanish Harlem. There was a parade and Ronald Reagan and Katy Jurado were running the first event. They put so much golden brown powder all over my hair, face, arms and legs, and I walked with about 12 girls my size! I remember stepping out of line and attempted to do the baroque dance with three boys beside us to this great Latin beat. Another great time I spent with Ronald Reagan was when we drove to Midland, Tex., home of George and Barbara Bush, New Year’s night. We stood on a white wooden fence overlooking their expansive property. Ahead of us was deep woods. Rabbits would run around the woods. Deer would stand on the snow in the woods, eyes glowing yellow-like. We would time the rabbits. Moon shined on the snow and it was fun to watch. A dog with cans tied to the tail led the rabbits in and out of the woods, making a great noise of banging. I, as a kid, loved Ronald Reagan when he was the host of “Death Valley Days.” These are my true stories. Hope you like them. ANITA FAGAN
Published 4 years ago
Last updated 4 years ago
Letters to the Editor: 03.19.15
March 18, 2015