Letters to the Editor
Hurricane Weather
Montauk
July 23, 2010
Dear Editor,
Old-timers in Montauk say that when you get a summer like this — day after day of relentless heat, escalating sea water temperatures, and light-to-variable clouds, it’s hurricane weather. Our last major hurricane, Hurricane Bob, was 18 years ago, and we are long overdue for another one.
When I was a boy home from school during Hurricane Carol in the mid-1950s, I saw a wave come through the dunes and break where the Montauk I.G.A. sits today. Shortly thereafter, our neighbors’ flat garage roof lifted up and went spinning off into the trees like a piece of flying tile.
In my office at the lobster house I keep two lists, one for steps to take when a hurricane is tracking toward us, and a second list for procedures to follow when it appears we are going to get hit. Town residents would be well advised to think about measures to follow when and if the next hurricane comes. It’s only a matter of time.
Sincerely,
PERRY DURYEA III
Care I Received
Wainscott
July 23, 2010
To the Editor:
I’ve read in your newspaper many cards of thanks for the East Hampton ambulance squad, but it was not until I found myself lying in Newtown Lane, having been hit by a truck, that I understood just how deeply those expressions of gratitude were felt.
Within moments of the accident, I was surrounded by people who had abandoned whatever else they were doing on that beautiful Saturday, no matter how important it was to them, to attend to me, a perfect stranger. It was as if a host of angels had descended, and my fear and pain seemed to dissolve as they quickly went to work on me, demonstrating a combination of competence, kindness, warmth, and compassion that I have never before experienced.
I wish I could acknowledge all of them individually, but I am happy to have been able to learn the names of the following people: Lenny, Paul, Al, and Vallone. In addition, a passer-by whose Irish lilt made her kind words even more soothing, remained by my side and then accompanied me in the ambulance to the airport. From there a helicopter pilot and medic transported me to Stony Brook, keeping me calm and safe despite a heavy downpour. I am convinced that my injuries were substantially lessened by the care I received in East Hampton.
Although I can’t say that I am thankful to have been hit by a truck, without that accident, I would never have known just how very fortunate I am to live in a town with such dedicated and selfless people, and for that I am grateful beyond measure.
Sincerely,
AMY B. TURNER
Have Their Say
East Hampton
July 26, 2010
Dear David,
The East Hampton Library has scheduled a public referendum on the new children’s wing for Saturday, Aug. 14, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the library. All registered voters of Springs, Wainscott, and East Hampton School Districts (including Northwest and Three Mile Harbor) may vote.
The library is required by state law to provide proper library services to the residents in the library district that includes these areas.
Our 25 board members have concluded that the best way to provide this service is through the new wing. The addition will be paid for by private donations, much of which has already been raised. All costs of the approval process, including any appeal, will also be paid by private donations at no cost to the taxpayer.
Our plan will preserve 84 percent of the open space you see around the library after the new addition and parking are built.
We have over the last seven years attempted in 35 public hearings and in every possible way to address the issues raised by the village, to no avail. Therefore, before we appeal the recent denial by the village to the next level, the library board wants the voters in our library district to have their say. The library will abide by the outcome.
Please vote on Aug. 14. See you at the library,.
Sincerely,
DOREEN NIGGLES
President
Board of Trustees
East Hampton Library
Feel Bad for Rori
Springs
July 20, 2010
Dear Editor:
I am incredibly saddened to have read this past week how someone like Rori Finazzo could have been treated so badly by the administration at the East Hampton High School. In fact, I am quite shocked. Utterly disappointed. Not only do I feel bad for Rori, but more than anything, I feel bad for any upcoming English students who are going to miss out on one of the best teachers that East Hampton High School had to offer.
As a fellow alumnus, I say with complete certainty that she was truly unique because she had such passion for what she did. Not only was she one of the few teachers who took interest in her students, but she genuinely wanted you to do the best that you could and would therefore help you in any way possible to accomplish just that. She always knew you could do better, even if you couldn’t see that yourself. She believed in you. You certainly can’t say that about many of the other teachers in that school. For many teachers, it was simply their job, and at the end of the day, they did what they had to do to get through each day before they could go home.
Rori never fit into that category. She always went above and beyond. But most of all, she was someone you could always turn to. She was a real person who treated each student with respect. For that reason alone, one never wanted to let her down, academically or otherwise. Therefore, I, like many of her students, strived to show her exactly how much we respected her in the work that we did. I would say that alone makes her overqualified for the East Hampton High School.
I could go on about the various attributes that Rori exhibited as a teacher. But in all honesty, I don’t have to because every student who walked through those doors and had her as a teacher knows exactly how great she was. So for the administration to sit there and say she wasn’t qualified for the job she held for so many years — you need to listen to your community. Listen to your alumni. Listen to those whose lives she has impacted so greatly. Rori was one of those teachers that I will never forget. Are you really going to let someone like this get away? That’s just foolish, in my opinion.
To Rori and her family, I am proud of you. You did the right thing and unfortunately you’re being penalized because of it. I am truly sorry for that. Unfortunately the good guys don’t always win, as proven by the administration. It’s a sad day when one has to learn that lesson.
Sincerely,
ALLISON BRADY
Took the Table
East Hampton
July 1, 2010
Dear Editor,
Each and every year my friends and I set up a lemonade stand in front of my neighbor’s house on Wooded Oak Lane, in their driveway. This year we were delayed in starting because somebody mistakenly took the table while we were not there.
That day was my father’s birthday, and we were planning on using the money that we earned to pay for his birthday cake. Instead, we had to use the money on the table that we unfortunately lost. We were all very disappointed that we couldn’t pay for the cake. So, if anybody took it or knows where it is, please give it back. Thank you for reading this letter.
Sincerely,
MOLLY MITCHELL
Successful Outcome
Sag Harbor
July 24, 2010
Dear David,
On behalf of the vendors, their families, our hosts at Nick and Toni’s, and the customers of the East Hampton Farmers Market, I want to write and thank the East Hampton Town Board for burning the midnight oil Thursday evening and allowing the market to proceed as normal yesterday. We are all extremely grateful for the last-minute reprieve, which allowed and will allow us to remain where we are this season.
This is a successful outcome after of a week of struggle and has brought with it a new partnership with Project MOST. We are thrilled to be able to help the Springs after-school program which helps children learn how to raise their own crops. Who knows how many new farmers we can sprout, who will be able to sell what they have grown at the East Hampton farmers market in the years ahead.
Thank you again, Theresa Quigley, Bill Wilkinson, Dominick Stanzione, John Jilnicki, and all in the town office for understanding what a valuable community service the market is and for putting the extra time and effort in to make it a reality.
Sincerely,
KATE PLUMB
Organizer
East Hampton Farmers Market
President
East End chapter Slow Food USA
Shouldn’t Be Shocked
East Hampton
July 25, 2010
Dear David:
The July 22 issue of The Star quotes Councilwoman Theresa Quigley as saying “I don’t care that everybody wants it, it’s illegal.” What in fact is illegal is that the mass-gathering permit for the East Hampton Farmers Market never came up as a resolution for the entire board to vote on! And, according to Bill Wilkinson, “there are a lot of things that never make it to resolution.” Really? So how are decisions made?
According to Kate Plumb, the manager of the market, two board members, Mr. Wilkinson and Ms. Quigley, offered the use of the Town Hall property. How was that decision made? Should not a decision of that magnitude be presented as a resolution to be voted upon by the entire board? This too appears to be less than legal.
Ms. Quigley’s lack of concern about what the people of this town want and need speaks volumes about her insensitivity. The farmers market is a win-win for East Hampton. People love buying farm fresh produce, and according to one farmer, sales at the market represent a third of his income. The entire process of issuing a citation with no warning or communication to those most affected by this ill-advised decision is nothing less than shocking. Silly me. After threatening to sell the Fort Pond property, as well as the town docks, which would put fishermen out of business, I shouldn’t be shocked.
And what about the claim that the market is an illegal extension of the restaurant? A restaurant cooks, sells, and serves food. The last time I looked, I didn’t see any waiters at the farmers market. Nick and Toni’s does not charge for the use of the space. These are two different types of enterprises, so how can one be considered an extension of the other?
The suggested compromise, having Project MOST sponsor the market, makes little logical sense since it will continue to have the same use on the same property. The only good news here is that Councilman Dominick Stanzione departed from his colleagues and stepped up to the plate to help make this happen.
But here’s the question: Why are Mr. Wilkinson and Ms. Quigley spending taxpayer money digging through codes to come up with an excuse to close the market? Do they want to point a finger at the last administration for allowing this usage? If they think the contrast makes them look good, they are sadly mistaken.
SUE AVEDON
Pure Doublespeak
Springs
July 23, 2010
Dear David,
Congratulations on your excellent article exposing the idiotic behavior of the Town of East Hampton government (yet again) and its two principal participants as it pertains to the farmers market debacle. When I first started reading the article in this week’s paper I had to put it down since it was too painful to read. That our very own town leaders should attempt to ban a farmers market from operating based on a “lack of process” being followed goes against the very core that is (or was) the basis of the East End lifestyle of farmers and fishermen.
Both Mr. Wilkinson and Ms. Quigley should be ousted from power immediately, guilty of moronic behavior and degenerative diatribe.
Mr. Wilkinson’s quote: “This was an application of a process.” What does that mean exactly?
Followed by, “It’s fine to appeal to the audience but the process in the past was wrong.” Another non sequitur that is pure doublespeak.
Quigley’s thoughts show even more retardation. “I don’t care that everybody wants it. It’s illegal.”
Who are these people? What planet do they come from? Certainly not planet Earth.
Small town politics can be a fetid cesspool of festering idiots, but these two bubbleheads top the charts. It’s as though they’re accusing Nick and Toni’s with dastardly malfeasance; their generosity should be applauded, not derided. Perhaps Quigley and Wilkinson couldn’t get a reservation at the restaurant. There’s no other explanation for their behavior except, perhaps, bad behavior.
Interestingly, there are virtually no farmers markets on the North Fork because that area doesn’t need them. They still have real farms. Instead, the South Fork towns’ main streets are littered with luxury retailers and invidious parking patrols. And in a world where the farm-to-table movement is monumental, the wisdom of East Hampton has proclaimed otherwise over an errant “application of process.”
Quigley and Wilkinson, I say, take to the streets.
JOHN GOLDEN
Reason to Hope
Amagansett
July 26, 2010
Dear David,
The sudden unexplained shutdown of the farmers market on North Main Street is another example of the new town board’s callous disregard of the community it is mandated to serve. Only the discovery of a legal obstacle (surprise!) was able to block the attempt to deny workplaces to local fishermen. The board locked the people teaching children to respect the environment out of their school site at Fort Pond House. Now, without warning, they have told local farmers to move from a location that brings them together in one place for their mutual benefit and the delight of consumers.
There’s reason to hope that the reported attempts to find a solution for this problem will succeed. The board that leaped to make a zoning code change at the behest of two property owners on the ocean in Montauk can surely find the smarts to keep local farmers at work on a donated site. If arguments be needed to support this effort, the board may want to keep in mind that farming on the South Fork is a historic industry publicly encouraged to preserve our heritage and protect the environment.
The market in Nick and Toni’s parking lot, near the center of town, draws tourists with its exotic fare and encourages shopping throughout the business center. One Friday morning a week, in a commercial neighborhood, it brings rewards to many and hurts none.
Sincerely,
GRETA KAHN
Tweaking Around
Amagansett
July 25, 2010
To the Editor:
In the July 22 article on the dispute concerning the location of the East Hampton farmers market, Councilwoman Theresa Quigley is quoted as saying, regarding the market’s current location, “I don’t care that everybody wants it. It’s illegal.”
So Ms. Quigley is unequivocal when it comes to dealing with a matter she deems illegal — principle above all else. However, later in the article, when another location she presumably favors is also legally problematic, her quoted response is “to see if there’s any way to tweak around that law.” Apparently, for this preferred location, things aren’t so black and white — not quite principle above all else. If Ms. Quigley is open to tweaking around the law in one instance, why is she not open to tweaking around the law in another?
Sincerely,
WILLIAM McALLISTER
Community Market
East Hampton
July 23, 2010
Dear David,
Bill Wilkinson and Theresa Quigley show arrogance and disregard for common sense in their action to attempt to uproot the weekly farmers market at Nick and Toni’s parking lot. One would think they would consider the needs of the community first: our local farmers, bakers, cheesemongers, fishmongers, and others who have precious few weeks to sell their fresh produce and products to an enthusiastic community hungry for local foods.
Ms. Quigley’s quote, “I don’t care if everyone wants it. It’s illegal,” suggests that she believes her own opinion supersedes the needs and desires of the community she was elected to represent. She and Mr. Wilkinson don’t seem to grasp that disrupting this wonderful community market at the height of the season plays havoc on everyone involved, except for the two of them. Perhaps they do not understand the connection between the local economy and a farmers market that the community supports. Chain stores are convenient, but other than corn and the occasional strawberry, they make the decision not to support our local growers.
Speaking of legality, is it legal that decisions of this type are made without the participation of the full board? It is not the first time with Ms. Quigley and Mr. Wilkinson.
Questions have been raised previously about their attempts to marginalize other board members and residents of the community who are not in step with their agenda. This reeks of the worst kind of back-room dealings that one associates more with Albany, not East Hampton. And if not illegal, isn’t it at least unreasonable and unethical that Mr. Wilkinson made a decision in May and then neglected to tell anyone about it until July 4? Oops, Bill. Isn’t the Republican philosophy supposed to be less government regulation, not more?
If Mr. Wilkinson and Ms. Quigley don’t have the ability to work with their elected colleagues to make the most sensible decisions for our community, they should step down — or the rest of us should remember their arrogance on the next Election Day.
SCOTT STEBBINS
Legality?
East Hampton
July 23, 2010
To the Editor,
It is shameful that Bill Wilkinson and Theresa Quigley threatened to shut down the East Hampton Farmers Market in the name of illegality. Where was the legality when they made the decision regarding the permit without the rest of the board? Where was the legality when they kept the decision to themselves for several weeks, only to make it known on July 4?
After four years of successful operations of the market, it is myopic of them to try to stop a farmers’ activity that best represents the traditions and wealth of our community.
Shame on you, Mr. Wilkinson and Ms. Quigley. Shame for trying to impose your love for bureaucracy on the people whose work is the pride of East Hampton.
ANDREW VISCONTI
Olde Towne
Amagansett
July 24, 2010
Dear David:
What a nice Fourth of July gift — a code enforcement citation that East Hampton Supervisor Bill Wilkinson presented to our farmers and their customers at the weekly farmers market at the parking lot of Nick and Toni’s. He shut them down.
And who can explain his thinking about disrupting our local farmers’ income by unilaterally denying the mass-gathering permit which they had applied for in April? And whatever happened to orderly process, and, yes, transparency? Apparently there was none. The town board, in order to reject an application for a mass-gathering permit, must propose a resolution and vote it down.
Our supervisor says, “There’s a lot of things that never make it to a resolution.” Hmmm. Sounds like royal edicts are back in style in our “olde towne.”
But fear not, citizens (or is it subjects?), Supervisor Wilkinson assures us that he is fully supportive. “I have nothing against the farming community.”
Hmmm. Just like he was fully supportive of our town fishermen.
Sincerely,
LARRY MARCUS
Locked Out
Montauk
July 22, 2010
Dear David,
I have just had quite a shock! I asked a friend to pick up some materials of mine from Fort Pond House. But she could not get in because the gate was closed and padlocked. I couldn’t believe it. I thought that this was town-owned property and available to me, a citizen of Montauk as well as a founding officer of this community facility. Locked out! What in the world is going on here?
Astounded,
CAROL MORRISON
Take Business Away
Springs
July 17, 2010
Dear David,
With reference to the 7-Eleven article of July 15 in The Star, please note we do not need another chain in our town to take business away from our local stores. The board should not have to think twice about this and should do everything possible to stop this from happening.
7-Eleven is a national chain. Please note that large chains get all type of discounts when they purchase products on a national basis for multiple locations. Chains do not have the same margins as local stores thus their pricing will be much lower than our local shops for the same products. Our local shops do not get discounts from vendors and we do not need any more vacant shops.
Let’s keep chains out of our town. It’s bad enough Starbucks is here.
J.A. LOMBARDI
Sinking Feeling
Amagansett
July 26, 2010
Dear Editor,
Did you ever take a sailboat out and forget to put the rudder in? Even once? Without it, the boat is almost impossible to get to the destination because every current and wake pushes it aimlessly in the wrong direction. This is the same sinking feeling we get while watching our town board pick and choose which direction we, as a productive and scenic town, should be going. It seems that the focus has been lost and replaced with total obsession to undo even the good things that were in place prior to their taking office.
Let’s take the most recent debacle as one example: a good ol’ farmers market on North Main Street where local farmers could sell just-picked produce and help maintain their farming livelihoods. Add to that a sense of community where a local restaurant donated the use of their parking lot during non-business hours for the market. Not only should the town be happy about a good thing happening for the public on someone else’s property but guess what, folks? We didn’t even have the insurance liability with this arrangement either!
So after four years of success without any problems, suddenly there is one. Every previous year the mass-gathering permit, as required by town code, was approved. Who knows the reason why this year the permit application they submitted never made it to the town work session, which is when the whole board discusses whether they should approve or deny it. Now we hear that the town supervisor took it upon himself to deny the application in a back room and prevented it from being presented to the board.
So quiet was it that even the applicant was not notified of its denial. Usually, after four years of use with no changes being made to the zoning (central business) or the services, this can be taken as an implied contract, therefore the farmers market continued to operate without a clue that this could happen. The icing on the cake is that code enforcement was called to the market to issue a citation for operating without a mass-gathering permit.
May I ask how this is such a priority for the board to focus in on while there are so many other important things to address? Wouldn’t it serve us better to focus on keeping our town unique by maintaining its character and environment?
Our ship continues to founder as changes are made to other good things, like code that protects our shorelines and code that protects our groundwater.
Instead of standing for those things where the damage will be irreversible, we as a town are about to do the opposite by reducing setbacks to allow the building of second houses on the fragile bluffs in Montauk.
Another lost ship at sea is the action of the East Hampton Town Board enabling a New York-owned nightclub, which is stacked with code violations, to continue and increase the problems with our help. We just leased them additional parking on town-owned property! If a restaurant has an outdated septic system that is not properly filtering waste from our drinking water, why then are we as a town offering them additional parking so they can put more buttocks on every toilet seat? What kind of focus is that? With every flush, it is another ship(t) lost at sea.
Lastly I hope we are watching just how much money we need to borrow all at once to balance a budget and get our ship back on course. If we are borrowing excessive amounts just to honor the “no new taxes” platform of the current board, we will be paying those new taxes anyway in a few years but with interest to boot!
Cutting services and employees gets them that no-new-taxes illusion for the first year and perhaps borrowing excessive amounts for a supplemental fund will get them through the second year, but then what? We do not want to duplicate the domino effect of the last administration, borrowing from one source to pay another, but it looks like the lack of focus of the current board is drifting in the same direction.
Aimlessly selling off town-owned properties and merging unrelated town departments and personnel is not offering a clear destination, nor is it a long-term solution. Our ship is slowly sinking and we need some major help now to get it back on a safer course. Can somebody please S.O.S?
Did I forget to mention the attempt to keep our local fishermen from going to sea by putting our town-owned docks on the auction block? Again, S.O.S.
Sincerely,
JAMES MacMILLAN
Excellent Work
Springs
July, 23, 2010
Dear David,
When Dan Adams was forced to resign as the East Hampton Town attorney, we lost a person who brought a thoughtful and ethical view to the community preservation law. I had the pleasure of participating in several long discussions with him about how to resolve outstanding accounting and legal issues.
Mr. Adams deserves credit for an excellent analysis of the management and stewardship expenses of the fund from 2004 through 2008. I was most impressed by his Solomon-like parsing of the expenses of running the Montauk tennis courts, which had been purchased in 2003 by the preservation fund.
A management and stewardship report was started last year by Tiffany Scarlato, deputy town attorney, but it was unfinished at the time she was removed from office. In Ms. Scarlato’s preliminary report, the parks and recreation department had submitted the identical lump sum of $80,821 for each year from 2005 to 2008 as a reimbursable expense of maintaining and running the tennis courts.
Mr. Adams demanded that the Parks and Recreation Department provide a detailed breakdown for each year. Once he had that detail, he separated out the actual costs of maintaining the property from the expenses of day-to-day operations, such as the cost of providing a town employee to manage court use. The physical maintenance costs were declared eligible for reimbursement while the operating expenses were not. Mr. Adams was even careful to disallow all 2008 expenses that came after July 1, 2008, at which date the law became more strict regarding reimbursement of maintenance expenses.
I pointed out that the prior administration had taken an expansive interpretation of what constituted reimbursable expenses because every item that was allowed as a preservation fund expense lowered the town’s deficit. Mr. Adams replied that he could not let pragmatic financial concerns influence his legal determinations.
A legal analysis of the management and stewardship expenses was necessary in order to complete a financial audit of the preservation fund. Originally, the town attorney was to prepare a report that would be discussed and adopted by the town board. The report was to become a readily available public document. A preliminary report titled “CPF Audit Recommendations” was discussed at a town board work session in 2009, and copies were made available to the public.
This administration’s procedure had Nawrocki Smith, the town’s outside accountants and auditors, quietly absorb Mr. Adams’s findings within their scant two-page financial accounting of the preservation fund. There has been no public discussion. I find this secrecy disappointing because Mr. Adams’s excellent work on this topic has gone insufficiently recognized, and because the public deserves to know how these long-controversial management and stewardship issues have been resolved.
ZACHARY COHEN
Why Not Fire Him?
Springs
July 26, 2010
Dear David,
After reading Joanne Pilgrim’s article in last week’s issue (“Attorney Formally Resigns”), I was scratching my head in confusion: A town official resigns, and the board votes to pay him the remainder of his full salary to the end of the year, in addition to covering COBRA payments? This makes no sense at all. When someone resigns, they are not owed anything by their employer. They effectively nullify the agreement. If the supervisor and the board need Mr. Adams to occasionally consult on litigation or other matters, why not pay him an hourly rate, as is done with other independent contractors?
Why not indeed? Because Daniel Adams did not willingly resign. If his job performance were not up to par, the supervisor would have had grounds for firing him. Since there were no grounds, this was clearly a coerced, negotiated severance.
The really worrying part has to do with the reason or reasons for wanting to remove Mr. Adams from the position of town attorney. Presumably, Mr. Adams held legal opinions on matters that differed from what the supervisor wanted to hear. What were they? Please remember the sudden and unexplained resignation of Laura Molinari, and what that action presaged for the town.
It is already clear that the current town board and supervisor think that transparency has no value. Now, it appears that telling the truth to the citizens of the town also has no value. I can only conclude that the people we elected have absolutely zero respect for the people who elected them.
I supported the incoming supervisor and town board members. Now, my regret deepens on a weekly basis, as their self-interested and cavalier governance continues to degrade the community I cherish.
Sincerely,
PAMELA BICKET
Lame Excuse
East Hampton
July 26, 2010
Dear David,
In a time when we expected our town board to keep election promises and show fiscal restraint and professionalism, it was disturbing to read the story “In and Out at Attorney’s Office” in last week’s Star. And puzzling, too, if one remembers that the campaign literature for the supervisor underlined Bill Wilkinson’s expertise as a human resources vice president for the very successful Disney corporation.
For those whose business vocabulary may need updating, human resources has replaced personnel management. It is a term that implies that personnel managers should not only handle recruitment, pay, discharging, but should advise on the most effective uses of personnel within the organization. Some expertise.
Dan Adams, the town attorney until last week, was appointed in January by the supervisor. Six months later, Mr. Adams is in limbo, replaced by a lawyer who has been working in the county district attorney’s major crimes bureau. The story is that Mr. Adams was asked to “take some time off” by the supervisor, who says that he often tells employees to take time off.
Excuse me? During this period of fiscal stress, my tax dollars are paying the salary for an attorney for not working? And now, at the very close of the town board meeting of July 15, a resolution was swiftly passed to say that Mr. Adams is on the payroll as a “consultant?” Is this the most effective use of this employee for East Hampton? Mr. Wilkinson’s lame excuse of saying he told Mr. Adams to take time off just doesn’t wash.
The lack of stability and continuity in East Hampton’s legal department caused by a revolving-door policy of hiring and firing does not boost the confidence of citizens who are concerned by recent signs that compliance with the town’s laws is not a top priority for the administration.
Sincerely,
ELLEN PETERSON
Can Do Better
Montauk
July 24, 2010
Dear David
As far as the effort by some voters to recall the election of the supervisor and the deputy supervisor, may I say that I oppose it on an ethical, good-government principle. Unless there is an egregious violation of law, Bill Wilksinson and Theresa Quigley were duly elected to the jobs that they are administering, whether we agree with their performance or not. Remember that if a re-election of the president were held now, he might not be re-elected; there are some who would like him recalled, but for as long as he governs in good faith he is president to all of us.
No I am afraid that I will oppose any effort at recall, because it is un-American, undemocratic, and in my opinion, illegal. Now if there were proof — convictions — of bribes or similar misconduct that were committed, it’s obviously a different story. But so far, you can count me on the anti-recall side.
I just hope that we Democrats are not so shortsighted as to give this recall group credence, support, or comfort of any kind. Once again, I find myself supporting “the other side” because the principle here is of such paramount importance and this is not a partisan issue.
Again, I implore the Republican members of the town board to be more inclusive, transparent, and welcoming to all the community, regardless of party affiliation. We all have something to contribute to help make our Town of East Hampton all that it can be.
Bill, Theresa — we are all neighbors; you can do better by letting us in, respecting all who care enough to want to help and by listening before you make decisions that make the voters feel alienated and that they no longer count. We don’t have to always agree, but we all do need to feel that we count, will be heard, and can be participants to finding workable solutions to many of the problems plaguing our town. This country is polarized enough, let’s not add to this national partisan tragedy by repeating it on this very local and intimate level.
LARRY SMITH
Be Heard
East Hampton
July 26, 2010
To the Editor:
In response to her letter to The Star last week, it is a shame Gloria Prager is wasting all her valuable energy researching the question of “recall” to use against Supervisor Wilkinson and Councilwoman Quigley. There is no such animal in New York State. Had there been, ex-Supervisor McGintee would not have lasted in office as long as he did.
A better use for that energy would be for Ms. Prager, and anyone else unhappy with the current state of affairs in East Hampton, to investigate those issues they find most troublesome, identify the facts surrounding the issues, and put everything together for presentation to the board during the public comment portion of a meeting or work session. Under the current board, the public now has six opportunities each month — four work sessions, including one on a Saturday, and two evening board meetings — to appear before the council members and make their grievances known.
I go to the meetings and watch the board as it listens attentively and engages the speakers in discussion. The members seem to be actively seeking input from the townspeople — not just from those who are regulars, but from the many who constitute the silent majority. Be silent no longer! Come to the meetings and be heard. Your complaints, suggestions, and solutions are just as important as mine or anyone else’s who takes the time to come in and speak with the board.
Once you do it, you will be back, I guarantee it. Democracy is addictive!
BEVERLY BOND
Has Saved Us
Montauk
July 25, 2010
Dear Mr. Rattray,
I hope that I am just one of the silent majority who will write to you in the next few months to express support of Bill Wilkinson and the other new members of the East Hampton Town Board. In reading reports of the board meetings, it impresses me to learn that many of the things they talked about doing if they were elected have already become works in progress. In recent years we were being run by a group that was “do as I say, not as I do.”
Promises were made and never kept. Not true with the Wilkinson team. The Wilkinson team remains professional even with the criticism from some single-minded members of the town going on.
I read Gloria Prager’s letter last week. This is a woman who has only been a registered voter since 1992. People like Ms. Prager have no history here. She does not seem to share our traditions or our values. She didn’t even know that Montauk is not a village (we have already been through the incorporation thing), but instead a hamlet of the Town of East Hampton. One of five, actually, Ms. Prager. Please get your facts in order before shooting off your mouth (or running your pen dry).
Ms. Prager also obviously was not at the meeting about town properties proposed for sale, and she clearly did not watch the tape of the proceedings. The supervisor asked the town planning director to come up with a list of unencumbered properties that could be sold to offset the massive town deficit. The Town Planning Department came up with 22 potential town-owned properties for sale. The operative word here, Ms. Prager, is “potential.”
Among those presented for consideration by Marguerite Wolffsohn and her staff were the Montauk docks. After further disclosure and discussion the Montauk docks were removed from the list because they could not be sold. Everyone makes mistakes.
As for Fort Pond House, it is my understanding that it has not been sold yet. Who the heck would want a broken-down house anyway with 20-plus code violations attached to it? Who would allow our children, or any resident for that matter, to use such premises in such a deplorable condition? The supervisor has saved us from what could have been a costly lawsuit had someone been hurt there.
As for the 7-Eleven store coming to Montauk, the misinformed are overreacting too. What makes one retail store different from another? Why should it be any different from any other business? If a tenant meets all the guidelines and requirements, why should it be denied? Competition has always been good for business. It keeps everyone on their toes. People deserve the chance to be in business and be good neighbors.
People do have a right to their opinions, but they should be based on fact. Those who object need to present the whole truth, not half-truths, especially if the half-truths are thrown out there to stir up the public. Do your research, Ms. Prager. Ask the planning director, ask the supervisor, or ask the town board members what the facts are, and then check them out with the town attorney if you want. Once you have become correctly informed, then and only then should you spread information around. Get your ducks in a row and then write your letters. Become credible. Right now, I am sorry to say you’re not.,
Why do some people expect so much from our town government? I think it is because outsiders come along and have big ideas about services that they should be provided by the town. The local people have always done for themselves. The word entitlement pops into my head as an explanation.
The word of the street is that times are tough. But I also hear that most people think we are headed in the right direction under the Wilkinson team. These people have taken their oaths very seriously.
Thank you for letting me add my 2 cents and printing my letter.
Sincerely,
BILL CAMPBELL
North Main Street
East Hampton
July 26, 2010
Dear Mr. Rattray:
A few years back, a sprightly, reed-thin grandmother who rather reminded me of Katharine Hepburn bounded through the scrub between our houses to discuss the future of our neighborhood on North Main Street. Her name was Sherrill Foster, and, she spoke in the most endearing, if wobbly-crisp, WASP patter. She described previously having created more than one historic district in Connecticut during her life, though her family has uniquely historic East Hampton roots. Sherrill Farm, her property fronting North Main and Springs-Fireplace Road, dates back to the 1700s. Years later, I was wowed to discover that her ancestor, Samuel Sherrill, was shipwrecked on the shores of East Hampton circa 1639.
Sherrill Foster’s mission was to stop a bank that wanted to build a parking lot — complete with floodlights — between our houses. And not only was she successful in the charge to scuttle that project, she and her son Jonathan, a distinguished architect, later enlisted my help to give input for a town study about North Main Street.
After completing a traffic survey, enlightened planners realized that North Main had become a terrible traffic bottleneck. The zoning of frontage on North Main was then downgraded from commercial to neighborhood business. And, I agreed, by signature, to allow my small property, then half-commercial, to be downgraded to residential, to further the good of the area. (That plan now appears to have been a bit of a shell game.)
With the efforts of Ms. Foster and her son, the town went to extraordinary lengths to preserve this historic Sandy Hook district. Sidewalks were installed with brick inlays, and attractive landscaping was added. Streetlamps suddenly lighted North Main, home to the Dominy brothers’ famous clockworks in the 1700s (now preserved with all of their tools at Winterthur), as well as the location of the Dominy windmill-building operation, now the location of the Selah Lester house and barn.
The town then also purchased the sprawling Selah Lester site across from the fire station and restored it in a most attractive historic manner. Immediately, our neighborhood began to bloom. A top-drawer local artisanal cheese shop opened. Serafina, one of the most popular chichi pasta boites in Manhattan, appeared this summer. I spotted Le Bernardin’s famed Manhattan chef, Eric Ripert, giving a seated dinner there for 18 the night it opened.
Della Femina, Nick and Toni’s, and Philippe, the latter a stone’s throw from the end of North Main on Three Mile Harbor Road, continue to do a thriving business. North Main, East Hampton’s Restaurant Row, has become an attractive destination that has given the town side of East Hampton a boost in pride — élan. The area must be a cash cow for town coffers. It will eventually repay the town’s generous improvements and far more.
Unfortunately, the Empire gas station, one of the least attractive buildings on all of North Main, recently applied to the town planning board to install a convenience store on their tiny lot. Though they are now zoned for neighborhood business only, the planning board strangely soon claimed they would be allowed to upgrade the right side of their postage-stamp lot for full commercial use.
The planning board is currently in the process of giving them permission to tear down the abandoned Pam’s auto rental shop and small, quietly operating barbershop next door to the Empire. Here, instead, they plan to copy the Empire’s own unsightly white-brick-and-glass structure (the original structure includes a dowdy mansard roof). The building they are copying is a poor example of 1960s kitsch architecture. The new copy, a white-brick-and-glass structure, would be visible from the Selah Lester property and would have about as much historic appeal as a fast-food restaurant.
In fact, the architecture plan that the town planning board already very nearly approved on July 14 strangely resembles the body of an archetypal 1960s McDonald’s structure.
The site meets few requirements for such a store. A town building inspector wrote up a strange report allowing this upgrade for the property without referencing the recent town traffic study that flies in the face of the project. The building inspector’s report upgrading the usage of the site was dated August 2009. But, strangely, this letter was time-stamped “May 2010” when it was added to the Planning Department public file on the project. One wonders what could have delayed this letter from becoming public record for so many months. It refers to Pam’s auto rental shop as if it were still open in May. But, by May, Pam’s auto rental hadn’t been in use for far more than six months.
Further notes from the Planning Department in the file about this site indicate that there is no significant difference between the traffic that the previous businesses generated and that of a convenience store.
But isn’t the 7-Eleven in Southampton one of the busiest in the nation? Have the members of the planning board passed a Hess convenience store on Route 27 on a Saturday night in July? Brent’s? These sites couldn’t generate more traffic. The words “teen hangout” and “late night beer run” come to mind.
While locals are under the impression that national chains are not legal on the East End, East Hampton town planners disagree. The very same building inspector who approved upgrading the Empire site for commercial use also “accidentally” gave permission for a 7-Eleven in Montauk recently by way of allowing a simple remodeling. In a stunningly similar scenario, locals were not notified of the plan until it was too late to alter the decision.
If the planning board allows a convenience store on North Main, there may be no legal method to stop a national chain from later renting the site.
A ’60s modern convenience store or chain convenience store, say, a 7-Eleven, would ruin the historic feel of North Main. This district has improved rapidly in the last three years. But traffic and parking on North Main during the summer crush are already daunting.
Certainly no store should be allowed to sell food so close to gas pumps.
While trying to bring attention to this issue, I have had to hire a lawyer to fight the improper rush to approve the site plan. At a recent meeting, John P. Lycke, the planning board chairman and a real estate broker in Montauk (where Empire has yet another run-down station), stated that neighbors had made no significant suggestions to change the site plan. This, after I had written a letter to the file suggesting appropriate setbacks, shrubs, and architecture that would fit with the historic shingled look of the area.
I am hoping that by writing this letter, I am speaking for those who feel a convenience store and, later, possibly a national chain convenience store would be unwelcome on North Main Street. Parking and traffic are already terribly difficult here. The Empire site does not include appropriate setbacks, required parking, any landscaping whatsoever (at the meeting a representative for Empire stated that, unfortunately, landscaping would be impossible because the site is already paved, as if shrubs in boxes had not been invented and pavement cannot be removed). The old Pam’s Auto rental sign stands on town property, on an easement. And since the meeting, a large cloth banner for propane gas sales has been strung up at this lot where an impromptu taxi stand is now also being illegally operated.
The future of North Main will be bright if we protect the history of this extension of the Village of East Hampton’s famously attractive Main Street.
Like-minded residents and those wishing hassle-free passage to Springs and Northwest Woods, please let your feelings be known to Mr. Lycke and the planning board: Subject: Empire Site Plan, Planning Board, 300 Pantigo Place, Suite 103, East Hampton 11937.
Sadly, Sherrill Foster is no longer alive. But we can honor her spirit and foresight by retaining North Main’s unique historic appeal.
JEFFREY J. SLONIM
High Volume
East Hampton
July 26, 2010
Dear David,
What a poorly conceived idea: allow a high-volume commercial establishment near one of the busiest and most confusing intersections of streets in East Hampton.
The old barbershop served one customer at a time; today’s beauty parlor has but a couple of stylists and is lucky to have more than a handful of customers a day. Plus, they close early. The proposed convenience store could expect hundreds. It will be open all hours, lit up and noisy all night.
Southbound cars on Three Mile Harbor Road would move left into a turning lane, cross oncoming traffic going northbound, cross another lane with traffic northbound onto Fireplace Road. Stop sign, yield sign, solid line, dotted line, arrows into Miller Terrace, arrows into Indian Hill Road, all for some milk and a Red Bull.
To get there from Springs means you already passed several other stores selling the same stuff. From the other direction you could walk from the I.G.A. There is no compelling public need. Permitting a high-volume convenience store at one of the busiest and complex intersections of streets shows a callous disregard for public safety.
Very truly yours,
CHRIS EHRING
Far From Finished
East Hampton
July 19, 2010
Dear David:
I attended the forum on the community preservation fund put on by the Group for Good Government at the East Hampton Firehouse on Saturday, July 17. It was a well organized and informative forum with a very good panel, including Assemblyman Fred Thiele, Tim Brenneman, Dominick Stanzione, Scott Wilson, Zach Cohen, and Richard Whalen.
From the perspective of the Nature Conservancy on Long Island, long a supporter of the community preservation fund, the fund over the last 12 years has been instrumental in protecting a critical mass of this place: its working farms, its open spaces and wetlands, its woods and groundwater, its beaches, shorelines, and surface waters. Without the preservation fund, we would not be who and what we are today — one of the most beautiful, enjoyable, productive, well-protected and popular places to live, work in, and visit in the United States.
But the job of protecting this area is far from finished. There are still some 1,000 acres of land on the East Hampton mainland that need to be protected: farmland, woods, wetlands, shoreline, historic buildings, and active parkland, in both the villages and the town, if we are to truly protect our community character and the natural benefits that these lands deliver to us every second of every day.
Also wholly within the Town of East Hampton lies the 3,000-acre Gardiner’s Island, the largest and most ecologically significant privately owned property on Long Island. While the island is protected until 2025 by a temporary conservation easement, the owners may someday desire to sell a conservation easement or some of their development rights. If and when that day comes, the town will want to have the ability to participate. This is the type of preservation project the community preservation fund was created for. And while the town could not take on such a large project on its own, the availability of significant town funding could be critical.
The community preservation fund was set up by public referendum as a dedicated fund only to be used for preservation of the character of our communities — primarily through open-space protection. The recent problems were brought about by illegal raids on and transfers from the fund by former town officials to mask the accumulated town budget deficits, now known to be quite severe. That sad history is behind us.
It is now up to the new town board to reorganize and reinvigorate the community preservation fund and carry on with the essential work it was created to do.
Sincerely,
RANDALL PARSONS
Conservation Finance and
Policy Adviser
The Nature Conservancy on
Long Island
Tax on Us All
Sagaponack
July 25, 2010
To the Editor,
A new airport plan being generated by East Hampton, soon to be released and offered for comment, approval and, probably, adoption, proposes improvements, changes, and other things to promote greater efficiency, safety, and, supposedly, noise abatement.
Helicopter noise has taken a prominent position in the discussion. However, a larger issue is that all aircraft make noise. Some make more noise than others. All traffic to and from the airport disturbs the peace and quiet of residents of East Hampton, Southampton, and other townships in the paths of these aircraft.
Most discussion of the airport and the problems associated with it are put in present tense — never addressing future consequences of growth. The improvements contemplated by the new plan will have the unintended potential of increasing airport capacity. Therefore, any improvement via noise abatement achieved will be mocked by increased traffic guaranteed by an improved economy.
The proposals have cost implications and will have to be funded. East Hampton Town is bankrupt from years of fiscal irresponsibility. It is clear that the town cannot pay for whatever proposals are offered, however modest. The sole funding source remains the Federal Aviation Administration. The F.A.A. has funded airport “improvements” in the past and has stripped citizens of local control for years by requiring adherence to their regulations. My understanding is that the restrictions imposed by previous acceptance of F.A.A. funds are soon to expire. It is important that these kinds of restrictions not be renewed.
If any improvements contemplated by this latest plan are adopted, they must be funded locally without the limiting regulations of the F.A.A. (I am guessing that the East Hampton Republican administration would not dare to propose new taxes to fund airport improvements.) If improvements are going to be made, funding should come from airport users. Let the privileged few and commercial entities (some non-local) who profit from their activities pay for the amenities that enable their degradation to our environment. The noise is an external cost for which users pay nothing. It is, in fact, a tax on all.
East Hampton Town has to be warned that any decision that further disenfranchises the citizens of East Hampton and Southampton will be contested. Southampton must enjoy at least equal political and legal responsibility in decision-making about any investment (federal or local) in the airport. Allocating all airport legal and contractual power to East Hampton Town is inherently unjust and undemocratic.
The airport is on the western edge of East Hampton. The prevailing winds come from the west. Winged aircraft take off into the wind. Taking off requires maximum power with the greatest noise generated. Consequently, Southampton suffers the most negative noise impact. Any future plans, if adopted, should include limitations on maximum ultimate size, maximum allowable noise, hours of operation and authority to impose fines, landing fees, and anything else necessary to control negative impact on our environment. And the discussion should be specific with measurable criteria and means of holding people and government accountable. Control has to be returned to the citizens affected.
To date, for many years, talk has promised progress. The result has been smoke and more noise.
Enough taxation without representation.
STEPHEN LEVINE
In Need of Repair
East Hampton
July 26, 2010
Dear Editor,
Why does the problem of joblessness plague us? It’s easy. The producers in this country have found out that their production levels are not hurt by fewer employees. Those who have lost their jobs are no longer needed at that work site and will most likely never be rehired. Meanwhile the infrastructure in this country is crumbling. We can see that on the state roads on the East End and the railroad crossings that are in need of repair. Where is the W.P.A. when we need it?
TOM FRIEDMAN
Great Grucci
East Hampton
July 20, 2010
Dear Editor,
Thanks to the Clamshell Foundation for a great Grucci fireworks display over the harbor on Saturday evening. It was a great show. It was wonderful to see people gathering for a sky filled with amazing colors and the camaraderie of friends and family. The evening was a perfect summer night.
If you haven’t seen the fireworks, come next year. If you would like to see them again, donate. You can check out the Clamshell Foundation Web site, a charity that benefits local causes, and send them a check.
JACKIE FRIEDMAN
Born a Flea
Noyac
July 19, 2010
Dear Editor,
I would like to reply to Helen Rattray’s column, “Flea-Bitten Wreck” in the July 15 issue.
Ms. Rattray, I too am unlucky and sensitive to flea bites. As a fellow exacerbated sufferer, I did find your article funny, laughing at myself through your words. I also seek to avoid poisons and have not had to use them in 25 years. But this year I bought Zodiac Carpet and Upholstery Spray (seven months protection; kills flea eggs, flea larvae, fleas, ticks, roaches, ants, other insects) from PetHampton, which is working so far. And vacuuming.
Something natural that helped my ankles in the interim, before all the fleas stopped biting, was lemon. I had read that lemon is an antiseptic, and one morning after squeezing it in my tea, rubbed the wedge on my ankles, naked as they are in this heat. I actually saw a flea land on the lemoned leg and without biting, hop to a higher place on my calf from where I plucked him, squished him back and forth in my fingers and washed him down the kitchen drain. May he have an auspicious rebirth! for, as a friend remarked, “What did he do to have that karma? To be born a flea?”
Here is a poem inspired by the unlucky experience:
Flea Facts
Do fleas fear death?
Immensely.
That is why they evolved
armor
stealth and patient endurance
sometimes sleeping for years
in a carpet or a meadow — no
probably not a meadow —
sun or prey would awaken them, but
a desolate place is where a flea
can endure like a comatose vampire
reclining until the arrival of rats, voles even
smaller mammals are enough to sustain
a flea
does not die when casually crushed or drowned
can hop from the crest of death to a feast
or to seclusion instantaneously
furrowing deep
for safety.
Its size is little
but its fear is big.
DEIRDRE LAPENNA
Memory Loss
Amagansett
July 25, 2010
Dear Mr. Rattray:
I recently discovered that I am engaged to be married. How did I find out? It was at Montauk Printing in East Hampton, of all places. I was there to pick up copies of my newly proposed sign stating beach fire rules for the Town of East Hampton. The sign looked great — clear, readable, plain English. Perfect for posting at the entrance to all the public beaches. And with the enthusiastic support of the Concerned Citizens of Amagansett, ACAC, Councilperson Dominick Stanzione, the heads of the East Hampton Marine Patrol and Parks Departments, FEMA, and the Department of Homeland Security, the sign would surely be a winner.
But I digress. This isn’t about our burning, smoldering, litter-strewn beaches with bad dog baggies every 75 feet. It’s about what’s happening that could shake the very foundation of my existence. Mary was with me at the printing store that day and remarked, innocently enough, “The sign looks great, Lyle! I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t love it! Hey, while we’re here, we should see if the invitations are ready!”
Shut up, Mr. Rattray. For all I know you already knew what I was about to find out. Mary asked the young woman behind the counter if the invitations had arrived from Montauk. “I think this is for you,” she said, producing a large cardboard box. Mary tore open the box with her bare hands and pulled out packages of cards in two sizes, and packages of envelopes, also in two sizes. “They look fantastic!” she exclaimed. “What do you think?”
I examined the larger card. It had words printed on it. These words were even clearer than the beach fire rules words (though they were not signed by the East Hampton fire marshal). They made specific reference to “the Wedding of Mary and Lyle,” giving an exact time, date, and location this would take place, and inviting the card recipient to attend.
One of my lungs collapsed, so I began breathing rapidly through the other one. “So what do you think?” Mary repeated. And I replied, “We’re getting married?”
“Yes, we’re getting married!”
“That’s incredible news!” I said. And I thought to myself, “Really incredible.”
We often focus on the negative aspects of memory loss — whether it be short, mid, or long-term in nature. “Oh how sad,” people will say, “David’s memory is starting to slip,” blah blah. But if one were to take a truly balanced view one would discover many positives, including extraordinary health benefits. Think of the surprise and exuberance that I experienced, for example, in learning that I was going to be married — four weeks after (apparently) co-writing the invitation! It was a great feeling that I was able to enjoy for the rest of the day and into the beyond.
Mary gave me a big hug and my collapsed lung filled back up. “When did we get engaged?” I asked, still marveling at these impending nuptials. “In February, stupid! You proposed to me on the beach in St. Barth and I fell to my knees in the sand! That’s what this ring is about!” she said, thrusting her hand at my face.
“Wow, yea, that was an amazing moment!” Get it, Mr. Rattray? I call it the Theory of the Double Positive (though it could be a triple or more). Events, impressions, epiphanies, recurring in the brain as if for the first time (this is not a subtle reference to the regrettably unforgettable Foreigner song).
Memory loss is a cleansing process. The human brain contains five (5) shallow rings, each connected by a small pipe or tube. Information — memories for our purposes here — travel from the neocortex into the shallow rings at a different rate in each individual. (Not unlike the way food migrates through the small intestine — some people will urgently need to leave the table before dessert is served, others can overextend their welcomes, so to speak. But I digress.) By the time our memories reach the third ring, they’re like saved e-mail messages. If you need them, they are there. By the time they hit the fourth or fifth ring, however, they’re either backed up or gone. (People pay a fortune to psychiatrists to get these memories back. I say let ’em go!)
Most of the readers of The Star have significant memory loss, and that is a good thing (for The Star). They will not recall that this week’s report on the movement of bluefish off the shore on Napeague is a reprint of the same report from three weeks ago! So this news will be fresh as today’s catch to them, and cost The Star nothing. Other readers wake up and see The Star on their coffee tables, or under their pet’s bowl, and believe it is a daily paper, and start reading it through all over again.
My own readers can’t remember the first sentence in this paragraph, and that is why I love them. Readers, remember to check the expiration date on your cottage cheese containers! Lyle, remember to bring your new suit to the tailor!
Now where was I?
Lyle Greenfield
Welfare Redux
East Hampton
July 25, 2010
To the Editor,
One of the most irksome, for lack of a more politically incorrect vulgarity, debates centers round the extension of unemployment insurance. It is a debate that is pure, unadulterated crap and should serve to identify all the naysayers as unmitigated scum who are simply trying to scam the system and deflect the public from realistically viewing the problem. Rarely does a political problem have such simple resolution yet seem so complicated.
Extending unemployment benefits is like the old debate about welfare cheats. Since most people on welfare had fallen out of the mainstream of society, they were untrustworthy and prone to criminality. Consequently, they were likely to be scamming the system and taking advantage of our government’s largess. And there were people on welfare who cheated and scammed the system. But 99.9 percent of welfare recipients, as multiple studies showed, didn’t scam the system and would have done anything to get off welfare and lead a productive and better life. Furthermore, living on welfare was the pits: hand-to-mouth, barely surviving, demeaning, and degrading (as opposed to welfare in Europe). If one was smart enough to scam the welfare system one wouldn’t be on it in the first place. The meager subsistence that welfare provided was less attractive than playing three-card monte with third graders’ lunch money.
Ultimately we realized that welfare was a bottomless pit for its recipients, not a walk in the park. And that it was way less expensive to provide welfare than to provide jobs that didn’t exist. The welfare cheat argument was insidious, demeaning, and criminal. Instead of dealing with the systemic failures that created the need for welfare, we demonized the recipients.
Unemployment benefits are welfare redux. Knowing that 16 million jobs disappeared in the past 10 years and that the private sector refuses to hire more people and that the banks refuse to finance new projects, how can we be whining about the lassitude and dishonesty of the unemployed? Sure, some of them will scam the system, but they aren’t the problem. Observing how A.I.G. and Goldman scammed us, how we paid $875 for a screw for a plane or $35 million for a bridge in Alaska, who wouldn’t try to scam the government? But, realistically the $316 a week isn’t allowing anyone to live the high life in New York City.
Extending the benefits was always going to happen, so the debate was simply masturbatory. Yet, it deflected attention away from the real problem, which is jobs. It allowed politicians to posture and pretend rather than solve the problem. It covered up the harsh reality of just how clueless our politicians are and how when in trouble they revert to the old axiom of beating on the most defenseless.
The sheer cruelty of the debate is matched only by the absolute cluelessness of the participants. The real debate is between venality and stupidity, and the American people lose either way. Whenever we think that we’ve sunk to the lowest possible level we find that we have the capacity to sink further. One has to wonder if we will ever bottom out and things will start to look up again.
NEIL HAUSIG
Jones Act
East Hampton
July 23, 2010
Dear Dave,
Can you believe it? A letter-writer to this paper who is amongst the Obama haters, makes a federal law, the Jones Act, the central theme of his stubborn, wrongheaded, and redundant opinion that the president handled the Gulf Oil spill improperly. Well that would be fine, and, for once, a factual point in these ad hominem attacks against the president, except that his citation of the purpose, meaning, and coverage of the Jones Act is erroneous.
The Jones Act, reduced to its essential terms, simply requires companies operating in the domestic commerce of the United States to comply with U.S. laws. This requirement includes corporate taxes, the National Labor Relations Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, Coast Guard standards, employing American citizens, etc. American ships are subject to these laws, and foreign ships are not. This same fundamental principle applies to every other company doing business in the United States, from agriculture to retail.
An urban myth grew that the U.S. government declined the offers of foreign help because of the requirements of the Jones Act. This proved untrue, and many foreign assets were, in fact, deployed to aid in cleanup efforts. By the way, since the act favors the maritime workers and their unions, of course Republicans have been out to kill it since its inception in 1920. However, in this case, as in most others, they are, once more, on the wrong side of the issue and our country; they are on the side of big-ship owners and against the little guy.
The oil spill was more than five miles offshore. No waivers of the act were requested since none were needed. Wrong again, Mr. French. So what else is new? Wanna talk about Shirley Sherrod or slimy Republican dirtball Andrew Breitbart or perhaps Fox News and its despicable race-baiting and its repeated efforts to turn whites against blacks in this country with lies and out-of-context and edited videotapes like they did in the false demeaning and destruction of Acorn? No? Then I suggest you crawl back to your computer in Wainscott and await the next bit of lies, fraud, and edited videotapes to be trumpeted by your favorite “news” outlet and its sycophants.
RICHARD HIGER
Over-Fishing
Springs
July 24, 2010
Dear Editor,
Decades of overfishing the world’s oceans and recent events like the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico illuminate a falsity in the trusted, centuries-old truism “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.”
In light of our current circumstances it seems it should go “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for as long as there are fish to catch. Teach a man how to create the circumstances for there to be a continuous abundance of fish, then and only then will you feed him for a lifetime.”
Oops. Well, better late than never. Maybe we should give this new version a try.
Possibility plus choice equals reality equals possibility plus choice.
RICHARD M. KOSTURA
Five Years Ago
East Hampton
July 26, 2010
To the Editor:
This August Vered Gallery commemorates the fifth anniversary of the disengagement from Gaza, with three benefits: an installation by Artists 4 Israel (American Artists 4 Israel), a brunch for the Museum of Jewish Heritage, a living memorial to the Holocaust, and a benefit for Israeli Defense Forces aid work worldwide with photographs of Operation Haiti.
After sundown on Saturday, July 31, Artists 4 Israel opens a startling, interactive, multimedia exhibition set in a replica of a Sderot bomb shelter. What are the lessons of the past five years? Eighty-five-hundred Israelis were uprooted from Gaza and a far smaller number from four communities in the Shomron, the disputed territories. The Jewish towns in Gaza had a thriving economy five years ago — they supplied 95 percent of the organic vegetables for all of Europe, which returned $100 million annually to Israel’s economy. To produce these record returns, 4,000 Gaza workers worked alongside the 8,500 Israelis in the greenhouses. When Israel’s government made the decision to surrender their land to Gaza for peace, they decided, as an additional good-will gesture for peace, to leave all the public buildings, including their synagogues and the greenhouses, intact for the Palestinians. These greenhouses were the highest in technical design in the entire world.
What lessons are to be learned from these past five years? The immediate response of the Palestinians was to destroy all the synagogues and the greenhouses. Within two weeks, not a public building remained standing, nor any of the greenhouses. With the removal of the I.D.F. from Gaza, Israel fell prey to incessant rocket attacks, particularly landing in the town of Sderot, a town of 20,000 people, six-tenths of a mile from Israel’s border with Gaza. Ten thousand rockets fell on towns in the southern Negev, and keep coming, day after day after day.
Visit the amazing bomb shelter constructed by American Artists 4 Israel at Vered Gallery. Interact via Facebook and e-mail Israelis in Sderot in real time; Internet contact will be open 24/7 for the next three weeks.
Five years have now passed, and it is now assumed by the world at large that a peace partner has been found for Israel. Has it?
JANET LEHR
Wonderful Event
Montauk
July 24, 2010
Dear Editor:
Kudos to Ruth Widder from Montauk and New York, who has successfully launched another classical music program. This one is at Guild Hall on Thursday evenings in July and hopefully will continue yearly. So far this season, Ms. Widder has arranged for the Manhattan String Quartet to play, also, an unusually talented young violinist from Siberia, Mikhail Simonyan, with accompanist Weiyin Chen, and last week, pianist Matt Herskowitz.
As a longtime concertgoer, I was amazed at the talent I heard. Mikhail Simonyan was wonderful — and the audience cheered. Young and personable, he played a difficult but beautiful program. Last week brought another surprise! Pianist Matt Herskowitz from CHAMZZ (meaning chamber music and jazz) was fantastic, combining classical music and jazz to the delight of all present. The cheering at his concert was even louder! I cannot wait for next Thursday to hear yet another program.
We have a fantastic happening right here in East Hampton. The best and most entertaining musicians come to us to play. I can only hope this wonderful event will take off and continue for a long, long time!
Sincerely,
JOAN LEVINE
Collective Power
East Hampton
July 25, 2010
To the Editor,
To The East Hampton Star and the people of East Hampton: Thank you for the pleasure of reading so many heart-felt, real-value letters regarding the issues that have pretty much ruined the America we once knew as a solid congregation of cooperation, decency, and respect (including the one Faust bought from so many: self).
East Hampton is truly one of the last vestiges where people can express themselves free of ridicule, fear, and social ostracism. It is encouraging to read about and feel an undercurrent of tenacity, even if just written (spoken). Those intent on furthering the deterioration of a close-knit and small-town social texture may seem to be unstoppable great whites of unethical, immoral, and integrity-free persona but, they just have rubber teeth in the face and collective power of the people. Besides, Captain Quint lives.
And the warm sunlight of genuine East End residents shines bright, illuminating the collective strength we have when we are willing to walk the walk and not just write the talk.
NATALIE LONGURL
Misstatements of Fact
Gyongyos, Hungary
July 25, 2010
Dear David,
Once again, I find myself having to write to you to present the truth regarding claims made by one of the regular contributors to the letters section of your paper.
In last week’s online edition, a writer stated that as a state senator, Barack Obama had “over 125 roll calls for a vote and his only answer: ‘Present.’ ” The non-partisan Web site FactCheck.org shows that while Mr. Obama did in fact use this term 129 times, that was only slightly more than 3 percent of the more than 4,000 votes in which he took part during his time in that office!
The letter-writer goes on to state that the cleanup of the oil spill in the gulf had been hindered by the failure of the Obama administration to waive certain provisions of the Jones Act of 1920. Again, FactCheck.org shows that the Jones Act does not apply to the cleanup, and that the administration has said it will expedite any waiver requests it may receive made in regard to the cleanup.
The writer finishes by saying that President Obama has broken his promise to the American people by, among other things, preparing to raise taxes on the middle class after pledging not to do so. There are two things wrong with this statement: First, whatever tax increases may occur will be due to the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, not because anyone wants to raise rates above what they were before those cuts. The second may simply be a disagreement between the letter-writer and all the rest of us as to what exactly “middle class” means.
According to an article in The New York Times, President Obama wants to maintain the tax cuts for families earning up to $250,000 per year, or individuals making up to $200,000 per year. I know East Hampton is somewhat different from the rest of the world — my wife and I are teachers here in Hungary, and it would take 10 years for our combined salaries to equal that middle class tax threshold — but I hope we can all agree that most families can live pretty well on $250,000 per year.
Finally David, I would like to propose a change in policy regarding the letters you accept for publication. As you may have noticed, when I find myself compelled to respond to misstatements of fact published in some letters, I cite the sources of my information. It is my belief that, if you were to require all letter-writers to follow this example, there would be much less need for the rest of us to spend our valuable time trying to find the truth in these matters. Even if that did not happen, we would at least be able to decide for ourselves whether we trusted the sources cited (e.g., The New York Times, FactCheck, et al.) or not.
Sincerely,
JONATHAN SCHLESSEL
Is No Wall
Sag Harbor
July 22, 2010
To the Editor,
There is a powerful image of war on the black, shining wall in Washington, D.C., listing the names of some 58,000 of our young men and women killed in Vietnam. But no picture of war is complete unless you include the millions of victims of post-traumatic stress disorder from Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. They are now part of our culture — sad yet true. Their wounds are invisible, suffered in silence the rest of their lives. There is no wall large enough to list their names. Hear my plea.
For over 10 years I have been involved with veterans with P.T.S.D., trying unsuccessfully to at least get a monument representing these forgotten souls. Damaged souls can take years to heal, including their families and loved ones.
Just recently I learned Suffolk County is the second richest county in our country. The money for a monument is here. The missing ingredient may be compassion.
Hear my plea!
In peace,
LARRY DARCEY
Peacemaker
Sag Harbor
July 22, 2010
To the Editor,
On rudeness: We were blessed with a German waiter. He announced that origin to us before he took our orders, a poor beginning. Nevertheless, I ordered a delicious glass of Corey Creek rosé, a wine I always believed was a pleasant peacemaker, so much so I ordered another glass, which never came. I could not find our German waiter. Let’s not go into details. The German waiter came by at the end of a delicious meal and said he would get my wine.
Naturally, I refused, except if it were for free. After all, we had nothing left to dine on. At this point, he said if I were not so rude he would have gotten it for free. This is a pleasant exercise, and I refused this free glass. Nevertheless, I went to see an entertaining “Cabaret” (about Germany before the first war). Whoops.
By now you are getting signals. In case not, Germany was a place to escape in the 1930s, except if you were a Nazi. I was more or less raised to believe this is so. Even today, I do not trust the native arrogance of most Germans. I think they were the original barbarians. Polite to a fault while they slit your throat. Gosh, I have blown the entire piece right here. But I still believe it will take 10 centuries to forgive and forget the bestiality of that group. I must be more forgiving.
Anyway, “Cabaret” that night was entertaining and said almost the same as I say. All this happened at the Publick House restaurant and was a reminder to me of the good old days.
All the best,
BILL SOKOLIN