Built to Serve?
Montauk
November 30, 2025
To the Editor,
Montauk locals would love to know what on earth is going on with the Montauk Playhouse pools. For years now, we’ve been serenaded with promises of “vibrant aquatic programming” — a soothing, little word salad courtesy of the P.R. elves. Then in mid-August, a small parade of politicians triumphantly declared the pool open.
And since then, we’ve been splashing, swimming, and savoring all that vibrant aquatic programming.
Needle scratch. Oh, wait. No, we haven’t. Because here we are, 3.5 months later, and the pools are still locked up tighter than a summer rental in February.
To make it even richer, a New York City swim company — listed as a “top donor” not once, not twice, but three times — somehow landed a no-bid contract to run this vibrant aquatic utopia.
There’s been zero public information about pricing or when the public (remember us?) can actually get in. But, according to the company’s own website, access to other pools they manage runs a $50 enrollment fee, $124 per month for basic pool use, and $60 to $110 for private or semi-private lessons.
So yes, it’s looking an awful lot like yet again, deep-pocketed private operators get the golden key to what’s supposed to be a public facility, while locals get — press releases.
Maybe — and I know this is radical — we hire a local swim company? One that might actually get the pool open sometime before the next solar eclipse? One that might even communicate with us? You know, the people who live here? The ones the Playhouse was supposedly built to serve as a community center?
LAURA EULER
Come Out and Vote
Montauk
December 1, 2025
To the Editor,
I just want to start off by saying that I do think that updates need to be made to the school. I don’t believe we should build an entire new gym for a declining population.
I want people to find out their assessed value on their houses. They are saying it is only going to cost an extra $30 a month but that is based on a $5,000 assessment. Not one person I know has an assessment that low.
After all is said and done, we will only have one extra classroom. Montauk is not Springs. We have a declining population that has decreased about 25 percent in the last five years.
The other thing you should be aware of is that in this bond they are asking for $1.8 million to rebuild the donated house. My question is: Where is all the rent money from that house? It was rented for many years, and no one seems to have an answer to that.
I personally really have an issue with us taxpayers paying the principal’s rent while he owns a house in Southampton. I would love to know who decided that he should get housing on top of his $200,000 salary. I guarantee you he is renting his house in Southampton as well.
To reiterate, I understand there are major issues with the school due to its age but I think it could be brought up to where it should be without putting up a new building and without spending $34 million.
We need everybody to come out and vote on Tuesday, as it was very close last time. If you cannot physically vote there is an absentee ballot for this as well.
Thank you,
CYNTHIA IBRAHIM
Do the Math
Amagansett
December 1, 2025
Dear Mr. Rattray,
In a recent issue of The Star, I noticed the section called “The Next Chapter” — news and information for seniors. Like me? It makes sense. Do we seniors really have an interest in how the high school wrestling team is doing? No. Or the summer camp insert for the kiddies? No. Sure, I wrestled in high school, though I wasn’t very good. Had no problem making the 105-pound weight class at that point. And I could again — if I keep shrinking. But that was 65 years ago. So, thumbs up for the senior section. And the added benefit? Advertising from hospitals, health clinics, nursing services, senior living communities —yay!
Still, do I resent the fact that you have deliberately ignored my birthday every year since I became a senior? How could I not? I’ve reminded you repeatedly, year after year. Nothing. And I’ve never asked for anything more than a Star T-shirt. Bitter pill, Mr. Rattray. Will I invite you to my birthday party in 20 months when I will turn 960 months old (do the math)? Maybe. It depends.
So now, let’s all do a little “senior” exercise together. Readers, too. Everybody go to a mirror and get your face up close. Definitely okay to use a magnifying cosmetics mirror. Ready? All right, now with either hand, pull your upper lip away and up toward your nose. What do you see? Anybody? Correct, Mr. Rattray! Receding gums! Why are they receding? Duh. For the exact same reason that we’re shrinking. We’re seniors! So what can be done? Well I for one have been experimenting with a new test gum from Sensodyne called Power Gum. In just two weeks I’ve added over one ounce of muscle to my upper and lower gums. I can even flex them, which is pretty sexy. I’ve done it at the CVS and the looks of respect are definitely gratifying.
But that’s not why I’m writing, Mr. Rattray. I’m writing to give an update on another writing project I’m passionately engaged in at the moment: A story called, “My Meeting With Putin,” which I’m posting, chapter by chapter, on Substack. Depending on what actually happens in Ukraine over the coming days and weeks, perhaps the story will become a book. Today (Monday) I posted Chapter 22, “Local News Leak.” If you haven’t been following along, the basic premise involves my suggestion that the war could end peacefully if all parties agreed to a radical idea: turning the embattled territories of Ukraine, including Crimea, into a new, neutral state, much like Switzerland, where both Russian culture and language would coexist with Ukrainian culture and language, both taught and required in the new school system. This country would provide a neutral, friendly buffer between East and West. All military forces from both sides withdrawn. Borders reopened. Sanctions lifted. The chaos, dying, and destruction finished. In my story, President Putin supports the plan in principle, if first the others agree to pursue it. Meaning NATO and, of course, Ukraine.
Can it work? Will all parties agree to something that hasn’t even been a part of the discussion at this point? In my universe, it will work and they will agree. Let’s find out, shall we?
Your loving senior,
LYLE GREENFIELD
My Appreciation
East Hampton
December 1, 2025
Dear David,
I would like to extend my appreciation to all who attended my campaign kickoff event for East Hampton Town supervisor, held Saturday night at the Clubhouse. The strong turnout and the conversations shared throughout the evening demonstrated the deep commitment our residents have to the future of our community.
The residents who attended represented a wide cross-section of East Hampton, including residents, families, business owners, first responders, and community advocates. Their engagement reaffirmed my belief that our town is ready for constructive change and renewed focus on responsible, effective governance.
For those who may not know me personally, I encourage you to learn more about my background and approach to public service by viewing my introductory video: youtu.be/-Y67ZAcpkdU.
My campaign is grounded in several clear objectives: restoring efficiency and professionalism within Town Hall. Supporting the dedicated employees who serve our residents each day, advancing practical, timely solutions to address the town’s affordable housing needs, and ensuring that taxpayer dollars are managed with full transparency and accountability.
These priorities reflect concerns raised by residents across every hamlet, and they demand steady, experienced leadership.
I am grateful to everyone who attended the event, shared their views, and expressed their support. These conversations will help guide the work ahead as this campaign continues and as I meet with residents throughout the coming months.
Thank you again for your commitment to the well-being of our community.
MAYOR JERRY LARSEN
Hostile Takeover
Amagansett
November 11, 2025
To the Editor:
Christopher Gangemi’s article “Old Wounds New as Town-Village Rift Widens,” inspires me to ask, Why is this happening?
The answer seems fairly evident, that this is a byproduct of Jerry Larsen’s personality. The original controversy, a couple years back, about the emergency dispatching contract between the town and village, followed immediately after the First Citizen’s hostile takeover of the village’s volunteer ambulance, which I surmised at the time was intended to turn it into a profit center. But his desire to monetize everything provides only part of the explanation: Mr. Larsen also thrives on division and controversy, like his role model, the president.
There is no traditional, practical-tactical-political explanation for the First Citizen’s method of simultaneously bullying the town and campaigning for election to lead it. Which doesn’t mean it can’t succeed, as it did at the national level. As we are already witnessing, this will in no way be an exercise in democracy, of compassionate pragmatism and of truth-speaking, but of the success, on very primitive levels, of aggression causing — and exploiting — fear.
I would eagerly read a (short) scholarly work explaining the redundant evolution in New York of contiguous and even interleaved towns and villages, but I am certain that the success of the scheme depends on their peaceful coexistence. I am not aware of a modern precedent for this kind of drama, and I attribute it entirely to the First Citizen.
Every hour, every thought cycle, every volt, dollar, sheet of paper, and byte of computer memory devoted to the two entities battling each other is stolen from any effort to control growth, make housing affordable, protect the environment, and otherwise guard the rights and foster the citizenship of the folk who inhabit the town and the village.
Let’s avoid an own goal this one time.
For democracy in East Hampton,
JONATHAN WALLACE
One Room
Montauk
November 30, 2025
Dear David,
I had a big giggle last week when a read Jerry Larsen’s letter lambasting Kathee Burke-Gonzalez for the lack of affordable housing in East Hampton Township.
According to The Real Deal newsletter of August 2024, 77 percent of the houses in East Hampton Village are second residences for folks primarily from New York City and New Jersey.
Most of the McMansions on Further Lane, Georgica Pond, David’s Lane, Egypt Close, and other “exclusive” areas are unoccupied during the fall, winter, and spring.
How about granting a tax abatement to these McMansion owners if they would rent out one room (with shared bathroom, fireplace, theater room, and basketball court) for $1,000 a month?
I think this would do a wonderful job of easing the housing problem for three seasons. The problem for summer housing could easily be solved by erecting tents on the manicured McMansion lawns (and saving huge watering bills!) for the summer renters.
Cheers,
BRIAN POPE
No One Listening
Montauk
December 1, 2025
Dear Editor,
I read with great interest the recent articles you printed: “A Building Department Revamp,” dated Oct. 23, and “Old Wounds New as Town-Village Rift Widens” in last Thursday’s edition of The East Hampton Star.
In the first article, Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez says, “We want folks to know we’re listening” I have to disagree. On multiple occasions we tried to contact the supervisor’s office to discuss a situation concerning the Building Department and Natural Resources and got no response — phone calls, emails, a written letter delivered by the United States Postal Service and two personal visits to the supervisor’s office. On both occasions the secretary said the supervisor was not in and took my contact information. With each attempt, we requested to be contacted and got no reply. Then followed up with an email to Brittany Toledano, a town attorney, and again there was no reply. I honestly feel that no one is listening.
The second article says that the Town of East Hampton has been occupying and operating from a building that has no certificate of occupancy. The hypocrisy and irony of this situation that the town is facing is unbelievable after what they are enforcing on their taxpaying residents. “We don’t have plans, inspection records, no building permits,” according to Mr Palermo regarding the Town Hall building. Imagine if a resident owned a home that had no plans, inspection records, or building permits.
The Town of East Hampton placed the burden on a young family when they were told the property they purchased was overcleared and the plantings that were in place at the time of the purchase were not native to the area and unacceptable. The Town Building Department and Natural Resources issued a certificate of occupancy for this property based on a survey that they received from the previous owner.
In the Oct. 23 article, Councilwoman Cate Rogers acknowledges that the town was unable to fulfill its duties when she states, “At the time it was very difficult to go to properties and find out what was in the C. of O. when they changed hands.” If the town doesn’t know, how should a buyer know?
Residents are paying taxes, permit fees, and inspection fees and the town doesn’t know what is in the C. of O., and they place the responsibility on the new owner?
The legal transfer of this property went forward, and, after the transfer, the town held the new owners responsible for removing what was in place and planting new native plants, incurring a huge expense. It was obvious that the mistakes made were by the previous owner (overclearing and planting unacceptable plants), the surveyor (incorrect and/or incomplete information on the survey), and the town (issuing a certificate of occupancy based on inaccurate survey and not doing an inspection). The new owners did everything correct when purchasing the property and, like the town, they did not know the property was not in compliance with the town. The town flagged the certificate of occupancy until the revegetation was complete and approved. Along with the expenses of the revegetation and an updated survey, the town charged an inspection fee and wanted to fine the owners!
If the town were “listening,” documentation would have been presented to show that the new owners of this property had no part in overclearing or planting the unacceptable plants that were put in place by the previous owner. But, instead, the supervisor’s office refused to acknowledge multiple requests to discuss this matter.
I’m pleased to hear that the town is working at fixing these issues, but find it unacceptable that the town is not taking any responsibility for its own actions or lack of. I would like to know how many other Town of East Hampton residents have found themselves in a similar situation.
Just a note: This young family are not wealthy second-home owners who can afford to correct the town’s mistakes. The dad was raised in Montauk, attended East Hampton High School, worked as an East Hampton lifeguard, is now a New York City firefighter, and the mom works as a local real estate agent and a waitress in one of our fine restaurants.
Thank you,
THOMAS G. STAUBITSER
Racial Profiling
Amagansett
November 24, 2025
To the Editor,
As events have unfolded, there have been numerous instances of immigration officers behaving in ways that can only be construed as racial profiling, even as proclamations are made to the contrary.
To define terms properly, racial profiling refers to the discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of a crime based on the individual’s race, ethnicity, religion, or national origin. Racial profiling is discriminatory, but more than that, it creates an atmosphere in which hate crimes become more permissible and acceptable.
We are witnessing the federal government leading by an unacceptable example. It is necessary that authorities apprehend criminals, but racial profiling should not be part of that process.
From my perspective as a senior American — having lived through the last 84 years and seen so much unfold in our nation — I feel as though I am now living in a frightening, Alice-in-Wonderland, upside-down world.
Addressing how unacceptable it is to stereotype people has been part of national efforts for years. Instilling this understanding through local and national initiatives has been an ongoing effort. And now, after all these years of anti-bias education, federal agents are engaging in what so many have worked so long to undo as a cultural norm: discrimination based on racial profiling.
Racial profiling diminishes Americans’ ability to be accepting of others. One of my favorite lines from the song “The House I Live In (That’s America to Me)” ends with: “But especially the people, that’s America to me.” People means all of the people — not just some. The goal is acceptance and understanding of one another.
As a member of the Anti-Bias Task Force of East Hampton and as a compassionate person, racial profiling is antithetical to everything I believe could and should make me proud to say that I am an American.
This is America, where so many have chosen to come over the last 250 years for the promise of what life can be in a society committed to ensuring that racial profiling has no place.
This is America, where those who were enslaved — who did not choose to come here — are now part of the community that is America, and where the goal must be to ensure that racial profiling is not part of our society. America is not always perfect, but it has been working toward a more just society. Racial profiling has no place in America, and it certainly has no place being used by federal agents.
This is not acceptable. This is un-American.
LOUISE BERGERSON
Stand Together
Noyac
November 30, 2025
Dear David:
I’ve been a member of East End for Peace and Justice since early spring 2025. I come with friends and neighbors who have the same deep concerns that I do about the ongoing genocide in Palestine and the West Bank. Every Sunday at 3 p.m., we stand together for one hour at the windmill in Sag Harbor.
My reason for writing is this: The cease-fire of the Oct. 10 United States-brokered peace plan is simply not real.
In addition, humanitarian aid and food deliveries have continued to be restricted by Israel, leading to widespread suffering, especially among children, who are struggling to survive in an area that has been reduced to rubble. I realize that many people don’t know about this, mainly because the media in the U.S. have overlooked it. The whitewash is ongoing.
The U.S. is complicit. The weapons and money to fund this horror are coming from our tax dollars. (Yet most people in the U.S. want out of the Middle East completely.) What is wrong with this picture? Our politics is broken, for one. The media is hogtied too.
As of Nov. 20, Unicef reported 67 children were killed in the Gaza Strip since the “cease-fire.” Ricardo Pires, a Unicef spokesperson, said the death toll included a baby girl who was killed in an Israeli air strike on her home. On Nov. 20, the Israeli Defense Forces attacked the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza.
Ricardo Pires of Unicef went on, “The reality imposed on Gaza’s children remains brutally simple: There is no safe place for them and the world cannot continue to normalize their suffering. For hundreds of thousands of children living in tents over the rubble of their former homes, the new winter season is a threat multiplier. Children are sleeping in the open, and trembling in fear while living in flooded makeshift shelters.”
The numbers continue to rise. Amnesty International reports that 347 people have been killed by the Israelis since the Oct. 10 “cease-fire,” 137 of them children. One day ago (Nov. 29, as I write this), the B.B.C. reported that two young brothers were killed in an Israeli drone strike, while out gathering firewood. The reason? They crossed the “yellow line.”
Al Jazeera (Nov. 21) reported, “Palestinians across Gaza continue to struggle amid Israel’s continued restriction on deliveries of humanitarian aid, including tents needed to shield displaced families during the cold winter months.”
I can only ask, what the hell are we doing? These are our tax dollars funding this! How can we tolerate it? How can we just walk around like it’s just another day when the U.S. is actively supporting atrocities that amount to genocide?
How is it that our politicians vote to fund this again and again? How is it that we have supported these politicians? How has this been whitewashed, shoved away in a corner, forgotten most of the time so we can go about our holiday shopping with a clear conscience?
Is it indeed just another day here — doing things over there that no one has to witness — or are we going to try and do something about it, because, in the age of information, we do have access to sources well beyond legacy media in the U.S.? We can access those sources, even if it’s sad or makes us feel uncomfortable. It’s our duty as responsible citizens to know, to care, and to push back if we don’t like it. Write or call your representatives, make a fuss, write letters, post on social media, donate to Save the Children, Doctors Without Borders, and Unicef, and come and stand with us on Sundays. A multitude of small actions can make a difference!
Thank you for the opportunity to write,
RUE MATTHIESSEN
Missed Opportunity
East Hampton
November 29, 2025
Dear David,
The connection between these anti-cease-fire activists, David Saxe and Mitchell Agoos and Rabbi Josh Franklin of the Jewish Center of the Hamptons, over the five-day sentence in county jail of a 76-year-old man for spray-painting swastikas and antisemitic phrases around Montauk in late 2023, again shows the missed opportunity for learning, moral clarity, intellectual courage, healing, and wisdom that’s lacking among these Jewish leaders in our community.
Mr. Saxe and Mr. Agoos are outraged at the “absurdly lenient” five-day jail sentence, arguing that it “now provided a green light to those who harbor antisemitic intent and proclivities.” Those who might commit such acts will be, “essentially awarded with a walk in the park.”
They take a swipe at Rabbi Franklin, who, they believe, helped fuel the restorative justice inclinations of the court. Rabbi Franklin, for his part, signed on to the sentence, despite the fact that he was unconvinced of the defendant’s remorse.
Restorative justice involves a collective, community process of healing, a taking of responsibility for one’s actions, having remorse and learning from it through discussion and education. It’s not about punishment or threats of punishment as Mr. Saxe and Mr. Agoos advocate. That only leads to never-ending cycles of anger, bitterness, violence, and war.
The 76-year-old man who was convicted had had numerous strokes and, as Rabbi Franklin put it, was someone who had “significant health and cognitive limitations.”
Mr. Agoos and Mr. Saxe are are at least honest and consistent in their opposition to the principles of restorative justice. Rabbi Franklin has a history of not following those principles. He has made it clear that Muslim leaders who were sympathetic to the suffering of Israelis after Oct. 7 should not be included at any of the pro-Israel rallies or at the Jewish Center of the Hamptons.
He’s never mentioned Palestinian suffering nor mentioned them by name at any of these rallies. He’s been rude, personally demeaning, and insulting to leaders of our Muslim community. He’s been oblivious to the growing Islamophobia in the country and in our community and doesn’t address the connection between the rise of antisemitic acts and —simultaneously — the rise of hate crimes directed at Muslims.
He’s misrepresented Israeli speakers at the Jewish Center, not acting in good faith to fully disclose their war backgrounds or past bios. He’s not opened up the synagogue to be the open-minded institution it could be, welcoming a diversity of viewpoints and dissenters for civil discussion — particularly among Israeli, Palestinian, and young American Jewish activists. Justice was not done in the Sag Harbor case, as he claims.
If the restorative justice model were followed, justice would have been what love looks like in public and taken a much different turn.
The 76-year-old man would have paid restitution and be put in a secure therapeutic environment for the five-day sentence, where he would have gotten the necessary educational programs on antisemitism and received the therapeutic help he needed. If he successfully completed these requirements and showed true remorse and transformative change, he would have been forgiven and welcomed back into the community.
Rabbi Franklin missed an opportunity to educate the public on the nature of prejudice and antisemitism and a model that would have made a true difference.
Instead, he chose to became a fellow traveler and strange bedfellow with Messrs. Saxe and Agoos.
Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Steven A. Pilewski came the closest to the compassion and wisdom called for in a very difficult case. Hats off to him.
Very best,
JIM VRETTOS
A Big Hunk
East Hampton
November 29, 2025
To the Editor,
I understand our president is feeling a little tired these days. Not surprising really, as he’s older than Bill Clinton.
I recommend he cut out a big hunk of almond panettone from Citarella with strong coffee, and soon enough he’ll be back on his feet, ready to pounce on the poorest of our people.
TOM MACKEY
Rightly Furious
Montauk
November 24, 2025
Dear David,
Public backlash was immediate, and suddenly tough talkers have become babies wailing about threats. It seems Elissa Slotkin receiving thousands of calls, emails, texts, all from Americans who are quite rightly furious.
They unleashed radical, destabilizing rhetoric that could get people killed, but the moment citizens respond with outrage, they retreat and demand protection. They have the gall to suggest our soldiers commit treason but lack the backbone to face a few angry phone calls.
They claim to appear as guardians of the republic. Instead they’ve only exposed themselves as craven agitators who are terrified of the very people they claim to serve.
In God and country,
BEA DERRICO
Told Over and Over
Springs
November 28, 2025
Dear David,
I am a veteran of the United States Coast Guard and served back in 1950 to December 1953. At about that time, the Uniform Code of Military Justice became the bible of jurisprudence for all the armed forces. That became not just a job for me but an obsession with what the armed forces could do within the framework of bringing fairness and justice to a basically undemocratic but necessary force for the protection of our democracy.
No matter how dire the circumstances, we were told over and over again that we were not only encouraged to not obey unlawful orders but that we were obligated to not obey such unlawful commands no matter how high in command the originator of said orders were.
Just knowing that this prohibition was part of our code of justice gave me a sense that no matter the authority, or originator, of such an order, we personally were not to be compromised and had laws that allowed us the dignity and power to say respectfully, “No, sir. That is not legal, as per the U.C.M.J.”
Our laws, both military and civilian, do not allow anyone to command me to obey an unlawful order.
What power, what pride, to realize that, even in an armed force, respect for a code of laws was paramount in realizing a society worth protecting. Even now, at almost 96 yers old, I can still salute my flag in good conscience. This realization gives me hope that this current bizarre episode in the history of this country will too pass, before irreparable damage is done to the souls of us all.
To Commander Kelly: Thank you and your wife for all that you have done and continue to do. I would be proud to continue in what time I have left with you as my president. How may I help?
LAWRENCE S. SMITH
Millions of Lives
East Hampton
November 26, 2025
Dear Mr. Rattray,
In July of this year, the Trump administration shut down the United States Agency for International Development, which had been in continuous operation since 1961. U.S.A.I.D. was an independent government agency and the principal U.S. organization responsible for administering tens of billions of dollars in humanitarian aid overseas each year. With so much chaos that has erupted since Trump shut down the agency, little to no notice has been given to the impact of closing U.S.A.I.D.
U.S.A.I.D. helped global efforts to eradicate smallpox, to fight polio, and to provide care, treatment, and prevention services for H.I.V./AIDS. Most recently, the agency helped distribute vaccines, offer humanitarian aid, and support health workers amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to a recent report in the British scientific journal The Lancet, “USAID-funded programmes have helped prevent more than 91 million deaths globally” over its 20 years of operation. This November the Harvard School of Public Health reported, “The Trump administration’s decision to shut down the USAID has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths from infectious diseases and malnutrition.” Another recent study in The Lancet estimates that shutting down U.S.A.I.D. could result in more than 14 million deaths by 2030. Nearly a third of those estimated deaths — more than 4.5 million — are children younger than five.
How much, or more accurately, how little, does the U.S. spend in foreign aid to save all these lives?
As the largest provider of foreign aid, the U.S. spent $64.6 billion in 2023, according to a February report by the Council on Foreign Affairs. Germany was second, spending $41.3 billion, or 0.9 percent of its gross domestic product. The average for all wealthy nations is around 0.4 percent of their G.D.P.s. The U.S. ranks near the bottom, at below 0.2 percent of its G.D.P. Obviously, Trump believes that this is still too much for the U.S. to pay to save millions of lives worldwide.
SALVATORE TOCCI