Lost a Treasure
East Hampton
April 17, 2025
Dear David,
I met Helen Rattray in her living room on Edwards Lane, in 1999. I was sent over to her house to meet her, by her son David.
I was a young architect who had proposed a new column, called Foundations, about architecture, construction, design, and zoning. David wanted me to explain my concept and share a few sample columns with his mother. I handed Helen my columns and was invited to sit with her and talk. We wound up talking about local historical architecture for over an hour. Helen was well versed in history. She had a quick mind, a witty demeanor and was friendly and authentic in a sort of direct way. I thoroughly appreciated her candor.
For many years following, I submitted my ideas and columns to Helen. Any idea I came up with about historical houses of East Hampton was met with a resounding “Yes, write it!” We followed up with phone chats, and my column would quickly be emailed back to me with flourishes, literary nuances, and flipping of sentence structure that left me astonished. Helen taught me what “syntax” meant. Patient and enthusiastic, Helen created a simple and joyful writer out of a young, idealistic architect.
A few years ago, I wrote a book about spiritual healing and couldn’t reach Helen. I wanted her to read my draft. I had hoped that she would be able to edit my book and weave her literary magic once again. I didn’t hear back and reached out to David. Helen would not be able to help me this time, as she was retired and elderly. I felt like I had lost a treasure, without whom I could not write. So, I did what I knew Helen would have done — I sat down. I focused. I wrote and rewrote. I did what any smart and driven woman like Helen did: I did my very best with gratitude and joy.
Thank you to my mentor, Helen, for such inspiration and support.
ERICA BROBERG
A True Hero
East Hampton
April 21, 2025
Dear David,
My condolences to you and your family on the loss of your mother, a true hero. She helped keep the community informed, and people in power in check. May her memory not only be a blessing but live on — in ink and paper.
Sincerely,
SPENCER SCHNEIDER
Your New Postmaster
Wainscott
April 14, 2025
To the Editor:
I’m honored to introduce myself to the community as your new postmaster. My name is Katie Schmich, and I’m excited to begin this journey serving the residents and businesses of Wainscott.
The U.S. Postal Service has a longstanding tradition of connecting people — through letters, packages, and reliable service. Under our ambitious Delivering for America plan, I’m committed to upholding that tradition while working to enhance the customer experience in every way possible. Whether it’s ensuring timely deliveries, improving our retail services, or listening to your feedback, my goal is to make our post office a place of trust and support for everyone. To this role, I bring over two decades of customer service experience, four of which have been with U.S.P.S.
I encourage you to stop by the post office, say hello, and share any questions or ideas you may have. Thank you for the opportunity to serve. I’m proud to be here and look forward to working together to keep our community connected.
Sincerely,
KATHLEEN SCHMICH
Dangerous Change
Amagansett
April 16, 2025
Dear David,
I was alarmed to read your article “Smoother Path for Town Projects?” In my opinion, good government should ask of itself the same that it asks of its citizens. To exempt the town from its own zoning code is an authoritarian abandonment of their elected responsibilities to protect our environment.
The town’s claim that other communities have enacted such codes minimizes East Hampton’s unique and special character. Under the town board’s proposal some projects could be considered “community resources,” an overly broad definition creating a very slippery slope. Projects could include over-clearing in our most environmentally sensitive areas, exemption from the dimensional table for building size, and development of commercial projects outside commercial zones.
Transparency is superior when town planning and zoning boards conduct reviews, informing neighbors and the community of town projects. Receiving permits from New York State, the Army Corps of Engineers, or Suffolk County informs only the town board, bypassing local citizen input.
This is a rush job discussed during the Passover and Easter holidays, and schools’ spring break. From my perspective, this code change is autocratic and dangerous.
Sincerely,
SYLVIA OVERBY
—
Ms. Overby is a former East Hampton Town councilwoman. Ed.
Nightmare Scenario
Wainscott
April 20, 2025
Dear David:
Your editorial, “Zoning Code Cheats” (April 17), rightly points out the danger that “a future, different town board could misuse the relaxation of” the zoning code. But another potentially significant danger is that the loosely defined “community resources” could soon come to include projects on privately held land, and not merely town-owned property. Chipping away at the zoning code, as the amendments propose, will encourage private developers to seek to enjoy special dispensation for themselves.
It’s not hard to imagine that a developer of a project on privately owned land, whether affordable housing or a health care facility or a child care center or some other worthy endeavor, will seek to persuade a future, different town board to expand the definition of community resources to include that project. Nor is it hard to imagine that a private developer might paint a nightmare scenario in which a valuable project with public benefits might slip away because the developer fears the time or expense or inconvenience required to comply with the zoning code.
Call it what you will — “mission creep,” “slippery slope,” “the camel’s nose in the tent” — but the creation of an entire class of projects that is permanently exempted from the zoning code will inevitably lead to efforts to expand the definition of community resources from merely those on townowned property.
Future town boards may be called on to make judgement calls and choose among proposals on privately held property, or those that might involve joint ventures between the town and private developers, that may or may not be entitled to expedited treatment.
The proposed amendments are fraught with danger. Worse yet, the law already provides a mechanism for the town to exempt itself from its own zoning laws without endangering the zoning code: The Monroe balancing test, established by New York State’s highest Court, requires that the town determine whether to exempt itself from its own laws on a case-by-case basis. In those rare cases in which the town really has a need to avoid the strictures of setback requirements or code provisions designed to protect the natural environment, all the town needs to do is comply with existing law, rather than create a wholesale exemption from a zoning code which has benefited this town for over 40 years.
Sincerely,
SAMUEL KRAMER
Failing Miserably
East Hampton
April 21, 2025
To the Editor:
I am a 30-year resident of the Town of East Hampton. The current board is failing miserably in every major area of concern for the residents of this town. In descending order of direness:
1. Traffic and congestion. Unfortunately, this area is the most intractable and least likely to have a town board-centered solution. Nevertheless, the board has shown no progress in 10 years.
2. The airport. This is a noxious, vile assault on the peace and enjoyment of the people of the town. The board, in particular Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, are proving to be quislings in taking the matter in hand aggressively, even in light of the adverse rulings.
The airport needs to be severely curtailed or closed. there is no negotiating with the terrorists who are the plaintiffs. This is the paragon of the entitled .01 percent trampling on the people with the passive consent of the board. There is no good reason for any airport here other than emergency service. Nevertheless, severe restrictions on access through fees and other limited access passes should be put in place. As I understand it, the restrictions imposed on the town by the court apply only to the operators. The people traveling to the airport can be required to have one-way limited passes per month.
3. The gun club, another noxious source of noise and pollution, besides being an appalling wasting of town resources. All activities should be moved indoors only. Why the board would allow any outdoor shooting in light of the risk and noise is incomprehensible to the ordinary town resident. It points to incompetence and contempt by the board toward the people. 4. Excessive cost for senior center and exemption from review of town codes for this and other projects. This is hubris gone wild. The board ignores the voice of the people about the excessiveness of this project and compounds its arrogance by exempting itself from review by appropriate offices of the town.
It is clear to this resident that this is the most arrogant, incompetent board ever to hold office. Time to vote them out.
M. MICHETTI
Our Groundwater
Springs
April 21, 2024
To the Editor:
For quite some time now, I’ve been
advocating with the town board to take a crucial step of testing the groundwater in and around the town’s largest industrial zone and the town landfill — both are situated along Springs-Fireplace Road. Despite my repeated efforts, these requests have unfortunately gone unheeded. Through my own inquiries, I’ve learned information about our groundwater and drinking water that I believe is deeply concerning and poses a potential risk to public health. Having reached the conclusion that the town board does not intend to pursue groundwater testing, I feel compelled to share the basic facts I have learned about our drinking water and what all residents should know.
The everyday act of turning on a home faucet leads to two distinct drinking water realities: regulated public water or unregulated private well water. Public water, before being delivered through a network of pipes, undergoes monitoring and treatment to meet federal and state standards. In contrast, private well water is extracted directly from beneath the homeowner’s property. It is a free natural resource that calls for individual responsibility.
The Suffolk County Water Authority manages our public water supply. The installation and operational costs associated with public water can be high, making connection prohibitively expensive for some. Furthermore, public water access is not universally available within East Hampton, leaving well water as the only option in certain areas and on certain roads.
With private well water, the homeowner bears full responsibility for contaminant monitoring and remediation. The Suffolk County Department of Health Services and the Town of East Hampton justifiably recommend annual testing for a wide range of contaminants, including PFAS, sometimes referred to as “forever chemicals” since they do not break down easily in the environment and in the human body, leading to long-term persistence of health risks. Fortunately, the Suffolk Department of Health Services offers testing at a very low cost, $100, for a wide range of contaminants, including PFAS.
If a contaminant is found in private well water the resident has a choice either to mitigate or not to mitigate the problem. A carbonated whole-house filter costing around $3,000 will treat PFAS and some other contaminants. Depending on water usage, the purifying medium will need to be replenished every three to five years. A carbonated filter does a good job of reducing PFAS and some other contaminants, but it is not effective against all contaminants.
If you use private well water, make having your well water tested annually a priority, your family’s health may depend on it. After reviewing the results, make an informed decision. A great resource for a better understanding of water test results is the Suffolk Health Department at 631-852-5810.
Test results for drinking water contaminants fall into three test categories: “not detected,” “detected,” or “M.C.L.” (maximum contaminant level). Not detected is the best testing result one can expect and the M.C.L. is the worst, since it represents the highest permissible level. Detected presents a gray area. For example, prior to 2020 the Environmental Protection Agency established a public health advisory for PFOA and PFOS, a subset of PFAS, of 70 parts per trillion. Then, after 2020, the M.C.L. was reduced to 10partspertrillion.By2029,theE.P.A. plans to establish regulations requiring public water companies to have an M.C.L. of 4 parts per trillion for PFOA and PFOS. This highlights the evolving nature of water safety standards.
So, what is the safe level for PFOA and PFOS, 70 parts per trillion, 10, 4? Probably it’s zero. PFOA and PFOS are frequently found in private well tests throughout Long Island, including in our town. The maximum contaminant level is a moving target and it can be misleading as they are subject to review and reduction as the science evolves.
There is also the synergistic effect of “detected” contaminants. When associated with drinking water it describes the combined effect of two or more contaminants being greater than the individual effects when each is considered separately. Also, detected contaminants need to be considered in light of our personal differences: age, gender, pre-existing conditions, and pregnancy; water quality contaminants do not carry the same risk for everyone.
Protection of Suffolk’s groundwater resources is a major concern since groundwater ultimately impacts all potable water supply, regardless of whether a resident uses public water or has a private well. The quality of our groundwater is significantly impacted by our surface activities. What we do above ground percolates down into groundwater.
In 1992, nine areas in Nassau and Suffolk Counties were designated as special groundwater protection areas. These areas are deep recharge areas that replenish our water resources. Regrettably, the S.G.P.A.s are also the locations of many industries. Industrial activity is an innate threat to groundwater quality because of its surface impact. Responsible land management of industrially zoned areas is essential for safeguarding our water supply and it warrants groundwater monitoring in and around industries. Prevention is always cheaper than remediation.
Don’t be lulled into complacence by our scenic beauty and think that our groundwater and drinking water must be safe. Nassau and Suffolk have 34 federally designated and 449 state-designated Superfund sites. Each has the potential of exposing communities to toxic releases. Locally, the Town of East Hampton has two Superfund sites, the town landfill and the East Hampton Airport. Groundwater is not stagnant; it flows with the potential of carrying these toxins beyond their origin and endangering public health in surrounding communities.
Protecting our groundwater is our legacy and safe drinking water in our home is our responsibility!
FRANK RIINA
Sent Letters
Amagansett
April 19, 2025
To the Editor,
I have previously sent in multiple letters for public comment to the Amagansett School Board during the summer. This is when those of us, as Garth Brooks once sang, “whose paychecks depend on the weather and the clock.” Since July 1, my letters have not been read.
The school board took its sweet time reading the Kate Ciullo letter that appeared here this past week, well beyond the now-allowed three minutes for public comment. Different rules for those who are in favor of the pseudo-crown. Again, my letters weren’t read.
Speaking of the two comment sections at the Amagansett School Board meetings, the school will combine those now into one three-minute portion. I suppose I have asked too many questions, which have gone unanswered. The board also reads no changes aloud, shows no supporting documents, and just overhauled many policies by way of being abolished. These policies were just passed in 2022. Anything for those, as Wayne Gauger stated to me March 25 aren’t “uncomfortable” and speaking for the entire board. None of us are, yet the board has now combined the portions.
Yes, those who are left in power unchecked often become arrogant, totalitarian, and unmindful.
Still here,
JOE KARPINSKI
Day of Protest
Springs
April 21, 2025
To the Editor,
We, the people, did it again. Saturday was another national day of protest, this one initiated by the organization 50501. By popular demand, and in spite of Passover and Easter occurring the same weekend, the Suffolk County Democrats hosted a honk-and-wave demonstration in front of East Hampton Town Hall. People demonstrated for democracy, for the rule of law, for due process, free speech, free press. We stood up against tyranny, bullying, and oppression.
We participants are grateful to our town government and to the East Hampton Town Police for their presence and help.
On very short notice, over 200 people came to the demonstration. It was, as usual, peaceful and joyful. The ratio of thumbs-up gestures from people driving by was satisfyingly high. There were some one-finger salutes, too, but free speech is for everybody. So is democracy.
BARBARA BURNSIDE
A Duty to Resist
Amagansett
April 19, 2025
To the Editor:
Apropos of your editorial “An Assault on Greatness” (April 17), I received my bachelor’s from Columbia in 1976. My full-time, pro bono law practice today involves representing students and faculty being threatened with suspension, expulsion, and termination for pure speech supporting the Palestinian people and criticizing Israel. (I am also Jewish, by the way, and stand with a very large segment of American Jews devastated, and motivated to advocacy, by the genocide in Gaza.)
In my law practice, I have represented about 50 Columbia students and faculty under investigation in student conduct and Title VI proceedings, and I am listed, alone or with co-counsel, on four lawsuits against the university so far.
Columbia has heartbreakingly proven to be completely spineless in acceding to the wishes, first of the McCarthyist House Committee on Education and Workforce starting in early 2024, and now of the resurgent Trump administration. I am working at numerous other universities at the same time, including Harvard, Brown, Yale, City University of New York, University of Pennsylvania, University of Georgia, Vanderbilt, and the University of Chicago, and Columbia actually leads the pack in weakness and malice.
The administration’s program couldn’t be clearer: When the smoke clears, there will be no Palestinian, Arab, or Muslim students left in our universities; nobody of any background, including Jewish, willing to say that they are distressed by, for example, Israel’s bombing a few days ago of Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza; no faculty member or student bold enough to say words such as “Palestine” and “genocide”; no professor teaching about colonialism or racism. Note also how neatly this syncs up with the related goal of eliminating “D.E.I.” — diversity— on campus. There is no shortage of right-wing voices claiming that D.E.I. promotes antisemitism. Run through the English-to-English translator, this emerges: “Stop admitting people of color to universities, because they might dislike Israel.”
If Columbia even wished to continue calling itself a university, it had a duty to resist. The vast majority of government initiatives so far have called for voluntary cooperation: Please throw hundreds of your students under the bus to keep our good will and receive your funding (which everyone knows will be withheld anyway). Not one university, receiving a letter from the House committee demanding voluntary production of documents about students refused compliance and invoked academic freedom. Harvard is at least momentarily showing a tiny spark of resistance, but I am skeptical how long it will continue.
I am deeply ashamed of my alma mater.
For democracy in America,
JONATHAN WALLACE
Lives in a Bubble
Montauk
April 21, 2025
Dear David,
Deborah Goodman is having a very hard time comprehending my letters. Her I hate Trump syndrome is not allowing her to think or read clearly. I have written many times, “I do not watch Fox News nor am I a Republican.” I do admit to now and then turning on “The Faulkner Focus” over the progressive, liberal-garbage show called “The View.”
Her letter is a truly Democratic verse of a left-wing agenda. I wonder who sat with her to write it, as she personally doesn’t have the intelligence to put that many words together.
I worked many years for a stock exchange company. It always has its ups and downs. It always has crashes. The crashes produce gains and losses. One thing I learned, you don’t lose your money unless you sell. She won’t understand that statement. She only heard billionaires made millions after Trump posted on social media, “Now is a great time to buy.” If you have any idea about the market, it is: When it is volatile buy, buy, buy. Ask Nancy Pelosi and her husband. With their inside information they became multimillionaires.
Quite a few congress people are rich due to inside information. Was she alive during the Biden-Harris administration? Did she see the inflation rise through the roof? She lives in a bubble and only has time to read letters to the editor. Pathetic. She has nothing else to do. I stand by what I typed and don’t feel the need to write every week, as I have a life.
Keep in mind the Biden administration lied to everyone. His illness didn’t happen overnight. He has lied his entire career. His truly good friends Obama and Pelosi threw him under the bus, then claimed they loved him. Bull.
In God and country,
BEA DERRICO
In Full Bloom
Wainscott
April 21, 2025
Dear David,
In recent editions the negative letters printed are somewhat head-scratching. It seems the Trump derangement syndrome is in full bloom. It’s no secret that government waste is prevalent and affects every one of us who pays taxes.
Here are some real “critical” programs that were approved:
$101 billion in Medicare and Medicaid fraud and improper payments.
$3.6 billion for food aid programs that never reached intended recipients. $1.2 billion lost to improper tax refunds sent to fraudulent filers.
$5 billion allocated to maintain high-end office furniture and equipment across federal agencies.
$1.7 billion maintaining and leasing unused properties.
$33 million allocated to maintain a federally funded monkey colony.
$1.5 million spent on conferences to determine why people dislike paying taxes.
$400 million to study the mating habits of flatworms.
$800 million spent to study the well-being of dolphins.
$420,000 to study if rats are more likely to seek cocaine.
$12 million on deluxe pickleball courts.
$700,000 to study why adults like Lego sets.
It is evident that President Biden’s diminished mental capacity was well known. Yet Chuck Schumer, in an interview, remarked that “he was sharp as a tack.” Biden stepped back from running. What about the White House-examining physician’s report? What kind of a wife would allow her husband to be humiliated in front of the world? Exposing and putting a stop to the fleecing of the taxpayer requires accountability. That is what the focus should be.
ARTHUR FRENCH
Not Even
East Hampton
April 21, 2025
To the Editor,
Ah, Premier Trump, not even a show trial for Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia? Always cutting corners!
TOM MACKEY
Power, Once Granted
Springs
April 16, 2024
To the Editor:
Barron’s, in its article “Trump Is Taking a Wrecking Ball to the Offshore Wind Industry” (April 13), reports that the Trump administration, through regulatory and legal maneuvers, is slowing or halting major offshore wind projects. The tone of the article, unsurprisingly, is one of concern, even alarm, over this reversal of environmental progress. But while many readers may reflexively condemn the administration’s actions as anti-environmental vandalism, I hope some will consider a deeper and more enduring lesson.
This moment is not an aberration. It is the natural consequence of a system we have built over decades that grants vast powers to the federal government to direct, manage, subsidize, or obstruct private enterprise in the name of environmental policy. As long as the political winds blew toward the “green agenda,” many applauded this arrangement. But now that the winds have shifted, we confront the other side of the bargain we struck, one we never fully acknowledged.
We are reaping what we sowed when we invited politics into the boardroom, the laboratory, and the marketplace, when we insisted that environmental progress could only come from government mandates, subsidies, and enforcement.
For years, proponents of renewable energy, conservation, and environmentalism looked to Washington not just for leadership but for control. They embraced regulatory czars, vast permitting regimes, tax credits, and green industrial policy — all in service of “the planet.” They sought legislation that would constrain, fine, or destroy disfavored industries while favoring others. Oil and gas were bad; wind and solar were good. Markets and voluntary exchange could not be trusted to reflect true values or protect public goods; government had to act.
That power, once granted, is not held in perpetuity by one side. Today’s climate champion can be tomorrow’s climate arsonist — using the very same machinery of government, but to opposite ends. That is the lesson of the Trump administration’s current moves against offshore wind. Whether through zoning restrictions, national security reviews, lawsuits filed by the Justice Department, or the withdrawal of subsidies, the instruments of control are the same ones that yesterday served the environmental agenda. Only the ideology has changed.
This is not to defend the administration’s policy preferences; it is a plea for principle. The same people who cheered government activism under Obama now denounce it under Trump. But if government power is legitimate only when it supports your agenda, then it is not legitimate at all.
Our founders understood. In matters of conscience, of religion, of speech, and of private judgement, the Constitution forbids government action not because all ideas are equal, but because the only way to protect freedom is to prevent the state from favoring any one idea. Thomas Jefferson did not ask government to support his religious beliefs over others; he demanded the separation of church and state. James Madison did not seek “good” censorship; he insisted on no censorship at all. Why should we expect the outcome to be different when it comes to business decisions and environmental policy?
If we are serious about preserving environmental innovation and integrity, then we must build institutions and systems independent of political ideology. Let businesses pursue sustainability because it is efficient, competitive, and valued by customers, not because it is mandated from Washington. Let innovators invent clean technologies because they solve problems, not because they win grants. And let environmental advocates make their case in the public square, not in the offices of federal regulators.
The environment is too important to be left to politics. Politics changes, often violently. Its motivations are mixed, its incentives short term, its judgements fickle. It is not a trustworthy steward of long-term values.
To those dismayed by the Trump administration’s position, I say welcome to the world you built. You armed Leviathan and now recoil when it swings its club in the other direction. The answer is not to plead for a better master or to hope the next election will restore the “right” use of power. The answer is to disarm government — to remove from politics the power to dictate business and environmental outcomes at all.
Only then will we have a truly durable environmental ethic, one based on persuasion, science, innovation, and the free choices of citizens and companies. Anything else is a gamble with freedom — a gamble we are, once again, losing.
Sincerely,
WALTER DONWAY