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Letters to the Editor: 09.26.19

Wed, 09/25/2019 - 12:10

Unsung Heroes
Montauk
September 18, 2019

Dear David:

Sunday, Sept. 15, was the last day of lifeguard services at East Hampton Town beaches. I went to Ditch Plain Beach, where the lifeguard team led by Glen Baietti was working. The town is fortunate to have people of such dedication and commitment working on our beaches.

I was sitting near the lifeguard stand when an incident happened that shows the lifeguards as somewhat unsung heroes of the shore. A rip current was at play in the ocean waters and a young man seemed to have gotten caught in it. The situation is quite dangerous, especially if the swimmer is not experienced in what to do and fights against the current, exhausting himself.

The team sprang into action and a lifeguard named John was dispatched immediately to help the man get in. The other members of the team were on alert to prevent other people from entering the water while the rip was in progress. From the lifeguard stand, Glen observed and reported on each aspect of the current’s movement and observed a second person near the edge of the current who seemed to not be in panic mode or in trouble. John was successful, and the swimmer emerged happily from the water. And someone went out to an area beyond the second swimmer as a precaution.

The lifeguards probably do this every day, but it was the first time I witnessed the professionalism of one of our teams. I am sure the other teams working East Hampton Town and East Hampton Village beaches are equally dedicated and professional. I told members of this team that what I observed was interesting, exciting, and safe, and that the people of the town were grateful for their service. Hats off to East Hampton lifeguards.

JIM DEVINE


Bonac Beaches
Springs
September 23, 2019

Dear Editor,

On one of the most pleasant days of the year, Sept. 21, a team of 35 environmentally conscious volunteers took to Springs beaches in search of refuse.

 Co-sponsored by the Springs Citizens Advisory Committee and the Accabonac Protection Committee, the day marked the first of what we hope to be a semi-annual event.

Armed with bags, picks, and vests generously donated by Steve Lynch and the East Hampton Town Highway Department, three teams of volunteers met at 9 a.m. at Maidstone Beach, Gerard Point, and Louse Point to rout out refuse wherever it might hide. They expected to be overwhelmed with garbage. They weren’t. Of course, it didn’t hurt that Pat Brabant had done a cleanup at Maidstone with the Boy Scouts earlier in the month. But the other beaches were lighter than expected as well. Could it be the message of personal responsibility for one’s own garbage is being heard? Twenty-five bags were collected over all — a good (or bad) haul never the less.

Special thanks to G-Town, a store of unknown location, whose two shopping carts mysteriously showed up at Maidstone Beach, making garbage transport at that location much easier, and our team leaders, John Potter (Gerard), Jamee Becker (Maidstone), and Patrice Dalton (Louse Point), who rallied the volunteers to “get that garbage!”

John Potter provided breakfast treats for the volunteers, which certainly raised enthusiasm, but the day itself was treat enough and we thank everyone who participated in keeping Bonac beaches beautiful. See you in the spring!

LORING BOLGER

Chairwoman

Springs Citizens Advisory Committee

and Accabonac Protection Committee


A Great Day
Montauk
September 23, 2019

To the Editor:

On behalf of the Montauk Friends of Erin and our co-sponsor, the Kiwanis Club of East Hampton, we offer a tremendous thank-you to all of the vendors, sponsors, and volunteers who help­ed make this year’s Montauk Sea­food Festival another success. We also owe a tremendous thank-you to our hosts, George Filopoulos and everyone at Gurney’s Star Island Resort and Marina, for their continued generosity.

With the Montauk Seafood Festival wrapping up its eighth year, we are honored to be able to put on this event, to provide a great day of food and entertainment, and to allow both of our organizations to continue to give back to Montauk and all of East Hampton.

We look forward to seeing everyone again next year, and in the meantime, we hope to see everyone this spring for the marching of the 58th annual Montauk St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

Sincerely,

BRIAN E. MATTHEWS

President

Montauk Friends of Erin


Convivial Spirit
East Hampton
September 23, 2019

Dear David:

Yesterday, Sept. 22, saw Herrick Park explode with community joy! Joy over baseball, played for the first time in almost 100 years between the Bonackers and the MugWumps of Maidstone Club! There was some hard playing, some kindness, some community spirit, some real history, and some magic in the convivial spirit between teams, and spectators, on a beautiful day for baseball.

We at the Farm Museum are so grateful for all who helped make yesterday such a special day for East Hampton. We are looking forward to next year to play ball again.

PRUDENCE CARABINE


L’l Abner
East Hampton
September 18, 2019

To the Editor,

Irene Silverman’s article on John Steinbeck and L’l Abner made me return to my youth. I loved reading it.

#1 Al Capp fan,

ARTHUR BECKENSTEIN


Better Sendoff
East Hampton
September 18, 2019

To the Editor,

Richard Rosenthal passed away a couple of weeks ago and it seems like he deserves a better sendoff then the one he received in the papers. Richard, almost 93, born in San Francisco, Army vet, antiwar activist, civil-rights activist, disabilities champion, affordable housing advocate, television personality, writer, remarkable lover, obsessive, often brilliant, unrelenting, sometimes forgiving, fearless, and a good guy. For those of us who loved and adored him he was very special.

There are lots of stories, too many stories, to include, so one that cracked me up sums up Richard, I think. We were going to Paris for a family trip and when I told Richard that we were leaving he asked me for a favor. When the war ended, he was stationed near Paris and had met a girl through some friends. He was 18 and had lost his hearing during artillery bombardments. Despite not being able to hear and his not speaking French they managed to spend some time together and have a short love affair.

Richard gave me her name and her Paris address and asked me if I would look her up and send his love. When I asked him if he was sure that she would remember him after 60 years had passed, he rolled his eyes in disbelief and gave me a huge smile and said that he was sure that she would never forget him.

Richard had taken on the mantle of enforcing the disabilities legislation (A.D.A.) in East Hampton. Lots of local institutions like Guild Hall, the movie theater, and East Hampton Town and Village refused to obey the laws. In front of Guild hall during the film festival a group was protesting Guild Hall’s refusal to make the building accessible. When Rod Steiger and the cast of “In the Heat of the Night” walked past, Richard confronted them with a sign saying, “If Jews or blacks weren’t allowed into Guild Hall you wouldn’t cross the picket line.”

Fearless is the word everyone seems to use in describing Richard. When he believed in something, he went full bore. Not concerned about what people thought or said. He has hounded me for two years to sue the East Hampton Town Board for bailing on the Wainscott affordable housing project for reasons that were blatantly illegal.

His program at LTV with Jodi, Vic, and the rest of his crew was insightful and often groundbreaking, pushing the boundaries of acceptable conversation. But the dinners after the program were even better than the show. Hours-long conversations and arguments about politics, art, and often sex were often hilarious and invigorating. I remember talking about them for days after the night out.

Richard was lots of things to lots of people. Not everyone will miss him but few of us will forget him.

NEIL HAUSIG


Heavenly Dream
East Hampton
September 23, 2019

To the Editor:

Submersed amid wispy clouds above mother earth, a lavish stairway sways miraculously on a gentle breeze. From it, leagues of treads float weightless beneath my feet. Flooded in uplifting peace, I take a final step up to the gates of heaven. Opening, they are transforming me through time and space. Inside the beautifully lit room lingering both near and far in all directions, I feel like a child filled with wisdom. Familiar friends and family step forward.

In my heart I know I’m just visiting. Hoping to stay, I lean against a hand-carved oak desk. Indistinct voices murmur within the vastness. Many dearly

departed souls occupy myriads of

sun-drenched chambers. I’m permitted glimpses as a pure voice prompts me to remember. My vision is then broken and I am sent back down the beautifully swaying staircase. The ornately curved banisters and sweeping treads beckon. At once awakened, I open my eyes, seeing my husband sleeping soundly beside me as I recollect my heavenly dream.

MARY CECILIA

KONCELIK MILLER


Long-Term Parking
Amagansett
September 16, 2019

Dear David:

The proposed changes to the town-owned parking lot behind Amagansett Main Street (“Parking Lot Changes Afoot in Amagansett,” East Hampton Star, Sept. 12) are a slap in the face to second-home owners who spend much of their time (and much of their income) in this beloved hamlet, but must return to the city on a regular basis and take the Jitney, mostly because they do not wish to add to the terrible burden of traffic on our roads, the gasoline fumes, or the carbon footprint.

For years we have relied on available, long-term — i.e., several days or a week — parking spaces in that lot, from which we can walk to the Jitney stop. With parking denied on the streets, where can we leave our cars?

When one member of the advisory committee raised this very question, it was answered with a “shrug,” and the comment, “We have to give up the long-term parking if we want to keep our businesses thriving.”

But many of the businesses on Main Street are restaurants, and most of their business is dinner service, and street parking is not limited to an hour after 6 p.m. Also, does the respondent take into account how much we second-home owners add to the local economy — not only the shops and restaurants, but the taxes we pay and the service people we employ, our plumbers and contractors and electricians and handymen. Not to mention the professional resources we consult: architects and builders, doctors and lawyers. To have our only long-term parking solution so cavalierly dismissed is deeply insensitive.

I have been a homeowner and a taxpayer in Amagansett for 52 years, and was a renter for some years before that. I am now a slightly disabled senior (very senior) citizen. I spend as much time as possible here, but must return to New York City on regular occasions. I depend utterly on a parking space behind the Amagansett Library. If the respondent is concerned about abuses, in her words, “people taking up spots for a day at the beach,” then have the police check cars for residential stickers.

I urge the town board to maintain long-term parking spaces in the Amagansett lot as it is enlarged.

JUDITH BANKI


A Caring Person
Springs
September 17, 2019

Dear David,

I have known Ann Grabowski for about 30 years or more. She is one fine person. She has never said no to anyone who is in need.

I served with Ann on the ambulance squad for 30 years and 3,000 calls. I found she was very knowledgeable on what has to be done on all calls. She has served on many committees and done a fine job on each one.

I have known Ann’s parents for just about as long as I have Ann. They did a fine job bringing her up to be a caring person. I don’t know why anyone would hurt her. I find it a privilege to know her and would trust her in the ambulance. She is a fine parent and raised her children to be the best.

RALPH C. GEORGE


Ms. Grabowski and her wife, Kathleen M. Weiss, have been sued for damages by Anthony Bosco of Yaphank, who is an East Hampton Town police officer who said his knee was injured during a 2018 incident at the couple’s home involving their then 17-year-old son. Ms. Grabowski is assistant chief of the East Hampton Village Ambulance Association and a longtime emergency medical technician. Ms. Weiss is also a long-serving volunteer E.M.T. Ed.


Need to Discuss
Springs
September 23, 2019

Dear David,

My analysis letter to The Star this week and next week will discuss why the town board and Springs Fire Commissioners can, and should, work together to install an emergency communication and cellphone tower that can also provide general cellphone service for individuals. Each of their promoted locations plus another one I recommend will be mentioned this week and discussed next week.

Who are or have been the decision makers? Town board and town employees, town planning and zoning committees, Springs Fire Commissioners and Fire Department helpers, legal court. I strongly advise the town board and Springs Fire Commissioners to work together and to find a solution that makes them partners and ends the court case.

Important character of decision makers: All town board and town employees are elected or hired to benefit East Hampton and people who live here. All Springs Fire Commissioners and Department members are people who live in East Hampton and volunteer or work as members to help East Hampton and especially Springs. The two groups should cooperate and be working together, but the opposite has been the case for several years. Working together needs to be developed.

Financial costs: Town board has paid millions of dollars for equipment (which they bought way too soon) and they may have more needed equipment purchases; depending on location, the town may have expenses of rental or purchase of property; Springs Fire Department currently has legal costs of this issue. Additionally, Springs property owners pay significant property tax costs. Cell-tower costs to the town or Springs Fire Department are best if avoided. Income to the town and Springs Fire Department would be beneficial.

Danger and similar problems: For many years, the Springs Fire Department has not had adequate internal communication when fires or other potentially dangerous events are occurring in Springs. The Springs Fire Department has not been able to adequately hear from or respond to other fire departments and central emergency offices. People in Springs have poor to very poor cellphone response, which can make necessary phone calls an impossibility during a fire or for another urgency.

Participation improvements: Springs Fire Commissioners need to consider installing the tower on other locations on their property, or on other property leased modestly from the town. Town board should realize that their first priority of location should be town or Springs Fire Department property. Installing on private property may raise costs to the town, and thus the public, and it may make future modifications difficult to install. The town board and fire commissioners need to discuss, first in private if that is needed, how to work together.

Next week in my letter to The Star, I will analyze three possible locations for the emergency communication cell tower in Springs: 1) At the Springs Fire Department (including at a different location on that property), 2) On the Nassau County Girl Scout property, and 3) On a large town-owned area just south of Fort Pond Boulevard, which is directly between the Fire Department and the Girl Scout land. This location would provide the best financial and partnership coordination for the town and Springs Fire Department. Importantly, all Springs residents will prosper.

ZACHARY COHEN


Amusement Park
East Hampton
September 21, 2019

Dear David,

Just when you think the circus couldn’t get any crazier, the next batch of clowns arrives. Not in a clown car but a bulldozer, or maybe a tree spade excavator or Gravedigger, that monstrous monster truck, and there go the 100-year-old oaks, disappearing like they were never there.

Suddenly, town water is connected and a nice little patch of new paved road on Oakview Highway appears. That is the second act. The first was the new road dug out in the woods off Middle Highway, which we don’t believe is legal, but it’s the circus so. . . . Welcome to the Freetown Amusement Park. Go see the giant sand pit crater at your own risk. Water-ski the new groundwater lake. Have a pint of delicious pit water. And then maybe you can buy a raffle to win one of the eight, million dollar houses to be erected right next door to the sand mine. What a view you’ll have out your kitchen window — Bobcats, excavators, skid steers, all humming and buzzing, digging and spewing sand mine dust into your windows and yards from sunup to sundown six days a week. Why not call this new development in the works Pit Landing? Or maybe Gravel Camp Crud? Whatever happened to one house and a horse barn? Guess that was just a ruse. Why didn’t the C.P.F. buy that parcel for groundwater protection? Oh, that’s right, the parcel was low on the totem pole. No billion-dollar farmland here or waterfront property. Just the silly groundwater. The darn Special Groundwater Protection Area. “No one cares,” I’m told. “These guys are gonna do what they want. No one ever stops them.” That’s no answer. Elections are coming. Somebody had better get serious soon. We’re fed up and the circus is setting up right under your noses. Poor Mrs. Hetiger must be spinning in her grave, knowing her land on the corner of Oakview and Middle Highways, which she never wanted developed and was promised such in a deathbed agreement according to local legend, is part of the groundwater circus. Please don’t ever talk to me about “citiots,” when it is local boys who don’t give a damn about the groundwater. I guess if no one ever tells you no, then you don’t have to consider that what you’re doing is not a good thing. Maybe the long dead and buried Montauketts and freed slaves who once resided here in Freetown will rise up like a zombie army and give you what for. That’s a sideshow I’d pay to watch. Send in the clowns? Don’t bother, they’re here.

Farcically tragic,

NANCI LAGARENNE


Good News
Amagansett
September 23, 2019

Dear David,

Sunday’s Times appeared to have good news for those of us seriously worried about climate change. Al Gore’s article documented worldwide measures to curtail carbon emissions. His report, that we can arrest global warming within the time frame science deems essential if we all get on board, belied a sense of futility about the crisis. Stunning calls for action by young people all over the world sent a message that should inspire any grown-up with a heart to support and invest in needed changes.

The United States unfortunately is under leadership that’s made clear it doesn’t care about sustainable energy or kids who can’t vote so long as profits from carbon are sustainable. Meanwhile neighborhoods in East Hampton, a pioneer in moving to sustainability, are arguing about where the cables from the South Fork Wind Farm should land and whether wind turbines will cause more damage to the ocean and its fish than reduction in fossil fuels’ use will prevent.

I hope this wrangling will not be the death knell of a shovel-ready project serving 70,000 homes that will substantially end our town’s dependence on fossil-fueled electricity and honor the warranted demands of a proud young generation.

JEANNE FRANKL


Kill Rates
Springs
September 23, 2019

To the Star:

As an environmentalist, I care passionately about birds. The fact that 30 percent of United States bird species have gone extinct in the last half-century makes me heartsick. Climate disruption is a huge contributor to bird mortality. The Audubon Society says, “Warming temperatures, shifting seasons, changing precipitation, and rising sea levels are disrupting the behavior of our feathered friends and the ecosystems that support them.”

Forty-three percent of bird species evaluated by Audubon’s most recent report on the state of birds are highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change predicted to occur by 2050.

Fossil fuels are driving climate disruption, so we all know that the sooner we replace them with renewable energy like wind power, the better it will be for birds.

In a letter to The Star last week, Walter Donway disputed that fact. He claimed wind farms kill birds in large numbers and so he concluded we should reject wind power.

But he is misinformed. Back in the early days of wind power, turbines did kill many birds (although still far fewer than global warming). But advances in technology have brought bird kill rates way down.

Offshore wind power developments happening now off our own South Shore will bring those rates down even more sharply. That’s what I found out by talking to Greg Lampman, who manages the New York State Environmental Research and Development program. (NYSERDA is commissioning two new large offshore wind farms in New York State.)

Lampman told me that NYSERDA is working very closely with National Audubon, New York Audubon, South Shore Audubon, New York City Audubon, and other ornithology groups on bird-related issues, with the goal of developing best management practices on what they should be doing with respect to offshore wind.

It turns out that most bird mortality at wind turbines happens only during certain periods: when there is low cloud cover during a mass migration when the turbine lights are on. (The birds are attracted to the lights.) “Then for the rest of the year, you won’t see mortality,” he said.

As a result NYSERDA has mandated in its procurement that turbines include aircraft-controlled lighting, which means that the lights only go on when aircraft are in proximity to the turbines. How often will that be? Thirty seconds — yes, seconds — per day over the course of a year. Lampman told me, “And so, for not having that beacon for birds to circle, we’re going to reduce mortality substantially from what you’ve seen historically on terrestrial sites.”

Offshore wind is the quickest way to get carbon-free clean power to the largest number of homes. It is essential to fulfilling the goals mandated by New York’s groundbreaking new climate law. Now, it will help bird species by using science to make sure they are least harmed by the turbines — and even more important, by keeping the climate more bird-friendly.

FRANCESCA RHEANNON


We Must Begin
Springs
September 19, 2019

Dear Star:

When will we face the reality of what is happening on a daily basis in all corners of this planet earth such as more destructive storms, droughts, flooding, and endangered species dying off? All the time causing a chain reaction that is both unknown and uncontrollable.

Thirteen species of salmon and steelhead trout are listed as threatened or endangered in the Columbian basin, which includes Idaho, Oregon, Washington State, Montana, and British Columbia. Salmon are a keystone species in this region, critical as a food source for animals such as bears, eagles, and life forms all the way down the chain to insects.

This is only one resource that will disappear if climate change is not taken for the existential threat that it is.

We, all of us, have an opportunity in our small town to start the process to help change this suicidal course.

We must start with at least: Encourage the use of renewable energy as a substitute for the polluting effects of the CO2-belching furnaces that are responsible for this disastrous warming condition. It is we who must stop this insanity. It is here that we must begin. It is now that we must start to make a difference. There is no time for Nimbyism.

Our backyard is the earth, all of it. What happens in the Amazon is our backyard. It is not the windmills that will decimate the birds and fish but it is, and will be, the effects of this warming climate that will add to their demise.

As a functioning community we must stand united and together, and save ourselves, our children, and those yet to be born.

We must not put our heads in the sand. Instead, please, approve the cable coming ashore at the Wainscott beach. It will allow us to save a full year in getting the wind turbines turning. It will replace a year’s worth of pollution from spewing forth its poisons. Can’t we at least start here and now?

BETTE E. SMITH


Energy Goal
Wainscott
September 16, 2019

Dear David,

It is very sad that a candidate for supervisor in East Hampton finds he needs to attack every person in East Hampton to try make a point that he is an expert on everything including renewable energy, even an expert in physics, when he has no background in either. In the same breath he accuses others for not having a background in certain subject matters they are addressing. He even attacked me for my last letter to the editor, being a “friend” and colleague, he totally twisted my words, taking them out of context and putting words in my mouth. This type of person is dangerous and not fit to be elected supervisor.

In his letter last week he accused known experts on renewable energy and current town board members for pretending, yet it is he who is pretending to be the expert. He uses wild assumptions in an attempt to calculate the units of power in relation to units of energy but his math is flawed simply because of his ignorance on the subject, thus blowing his cover that he is the actual person pretending.

When it comes to solar panels, the expected output is not precise as he thinks it should be because there are numerous variables with the amount of sun or solar radiation. The expected output of electrical energy is generally given within a range of what we can expect, based on the amount of solar radiation that we expect in our area plus the efficiency of the solar panels. The average power output of a 1.1-megawatt solar farm will produce about 1,100-1,600 megawatt hours of electric energy, not the 2,000-mega­watt hours he claims. The math is flawed. What else is flawed in his reasoning?

Deepwater Wind’s offshore wind farm was a major contributor to attaining East Hampton’s 100 percent renewable energy goal as I presented it to the town board in May 2014. No one is pretending; we are all very serious about withdrawing from our addiction to fossil fuels. This current supervisor is leading by example by installing solar panels on the roof of his own house. I wonder what this candidate has done to reduce his consumption of fossil fuels?

Sincerely,

FRANK DALENE


To Build Densely
East Hampton
September 23, 2019

Dear David,

I am the EH Fusion Party candidate for East Hampton Town supervisor. Along with my running mates, Betsy Bambrick and Bonnie Brady for town board, and our town justice, assessor, and trustee candidates, we are all on the Independence and Libertarian Party ballot lines in the election on Nov. 5.

A couple of days ago, someone wrote to our campaign to say, “We know lack of affordable housing is a problem, but I would like to hear more of a solution.

. . . I have two college-age boys who would like to stay here, so this is a hot topic in my home!”

I agree! So, let’s start right here and now, in the pages of The Star. To solve any problem, the first thing to do is to understand the key facts. Here is our problem in a nutshell:

Our comprehensive plan, adopted nearly 15 years ago, calls for 1,300 units of affordable housing. Including Gansett Meadow, now under construction, we will have achieved only 150 units in all that time. At that rate, even our great-grandchildren may not see the goal achieved in their lifetimes. Clearly, what we are doing is not working.

Housing prices in East Hampton are set by the housing demand of second-home owners and retirees who earn, or earned, their living mostly in New York City, where incomes are much higher. As a result, local housing is out of reach for many people who work locally.

Given that economic reality, there are two ways to solve the problem: public subsidies or economies of scale. By economies of scale I mean building housing more densely than we do now with more units on a given piece of land.

Public subsidies and the town’s current attempt to build at slightly higher density cannot come close to meeting the need. For example, the average cost per unit for the 37 units at Gansett Meadow in Amagansett (a $23 million project) is $620,000. The public subsidy is approximately $400,000 per unit. At that rate, it would require another $500 million of public subsidies, which do not exist anywhere, to reach our goal.

Worse, if we are trying to solve the housing problem for local people, not UpIsland, we cannot accept public funds that require the housing to be open to everyone.

What then? To get the cost within reach without public subsidies, we need to build densely enough to get the cost down to an affordable level. People in our town with decades of experience building affordable housing tell me that this is achievable and that the only real obstacle is lack of political will.

Denser housing is actually better for the environment. It requires much less clearing, allowing for much more groundwater recharge, and can be well buffered with vegetation. It is much more energy efficient and can include its own septic treatment so that what is put into the ground is much cleaner than what a single family home produces. It can be beautiful, as design costs are spread over many more units without creating a huge landscape of identical houses.

Accessory apartments and apartments over stores can be part of the answer, so-called “mother-daughter” housing can be part of the answer, buying and repurposing foreclosures can be part of the answer, but the bottom line is, even if we do all of these things, we will not meet the goal of providing the housing we need at a price people can afford. We need to build affordable housing and quickly.

The prospect of low-rise apartment buildings in a mere half dozen places around town seems to frighten some people. They immediately imagine we would turn East Hampton into Lefrak City. Well, the American Hotel in Sag Harbor is three stories high. The Municipal Building almost adjacent to it is four stories high. Most of us think they lend charm to Sag Harbor’s Main Street.

With affordable housing built more densely in just a handful of places across the Town of East Hampton, we would need as little as 80 acres in total, quite possibly less, to meet our goal. By way of comparison, we have more than 15,000 acres of preserved land in town. Can we really look ourselves in the eye and say to local people, to municipal employees, teachers, firefighters, and police, there is no room for you here?

At campaign events, people sometimes tell me that East Hampton will never accept a different way of doing things, even on what is ultimately a very minor scale and even if there is no realistic alternative to keep our local community, our neighbors, from being forced out by housing costs. Maybe. But until we sit down together as a community and see where we can do it, what it can look like, how we can address issues that arise, we will never know. I know passionate local architects, planners, developers, and builders, people who love East Hampton, who cannot wait to try.

If you give us your votes on Election Day, Nov. 5, to me for supervisor and Betsy Bambrick and Bonnie Brady for town board, on the Independence and Libertarian Party lines, we won’t wait until Jan. 1. We will get started on Nov. 6 with energy and commitment. There is no more time to waste if we don’t want our local community to vanish.

Sincerely,

DAVID GRUBER


Fusion Candidates
Springs
September 18, 2019

Dear David:

Every election, we have a choice! On the national level the options tend to be more defined and rooted in political ideology. However, on the local level, that’s where the defined lines of political ideology get blurred. National politics and political-party line doctrines are less critical to the community, and elected officials who adhere to that ideology rarely serve the needs of the population that elects them.

This year the East Hampton Town Republican, Independence, Conservative, and Libertarian Committees are supporting a diverse group of candidates from all political parties that represent a broad swath of the East Hampton community. Despite our divergent views nationally, we all agree that partisan national political ideology has no place in East Hampton. In a town where billionaires, Hollywood celebrities, landscapers, waiters, and baymen rub elbows we understand East Hampton’s issues are unique and unlike New York City, Nassau, and western Suffolk County, or rural upstate.

This election, regardless if you are a full-time resident or part-time second-home owner, East Hampton needs you to vote locally. East Hampton needs you to be an informed East Hampton values voter.

What are East Hampton values you ask? Simply put, they are the values established at East Hampton’s founding by John Hand, John Stratton Sr., Thomas Talmage Jr., Robert Bond, Daniel Howe, Robert Rose, Thomas Thomson, Joshua Barnes, John Mulford, Thomas Osborn, Nathaniel Bishop, William Hedges, William Barnes, Ralph Dayton, Lion Gardiner, Thomas Chatfield, John Osborne, Thomas Osborn, Jr. Jeremiah Veale, William Fithian, John Miller, Richard Brookes, Charles Barnes, William Simonds, Stephen Hand, Samuel Belknap, Thomas Baker, Samuel Parsons, Ananias Conklin, Joshua Gablicke, Richard Shaw, Fulke Davis, and Jeremiah Meacham, and best summed up by the late Stuart B. Vorpahl Jr. on Nov. 21, 1998, in a lecture titled “The Persistent East Hampton Town Trustees”

“Long Island towns have a form of government, in part, peculiarly their own. It differs greatly from that of localities in other sections of the state and nation. For nearly 150 years before New York State adopted its state constitu­tion after the Revolutionary War, East Hamp­ton Town had been settled. Being without the jurisdiction of any chartered colonies, it became necessary for them to establish regulations of their own formation or to adopt those of a system already devised. All laws were enacted and all the general affairs were regulated at a town meeting, at which every inhabitant was bound under penalty to be present.”

In short, the town’s founders believed that they had to be

1. Good stewards of the environment through sound conservation.

2. God, family, and a sense of community are foremost.

3. The government had to be transparent, respectful, fair, and accessible.

4. Economic resourcefulness was critical to the community’s survival.

Learn more about East Hampton; visit the East Hampton Historical Society — easthamptonhistory.org. This election, vote for the fusion candidates on the Republican, Independence, Conservative, and Libertarian lines that embody East Hampton’s humble beginnings and the town’s founders independence.

MANNY VILAR

Chairman

Town Republican Committee


Tim Ryan
East Hampton
September 18, 2019

To the Editor,

I write to both salute candidate Tim Ryan and to give a perspective to his call for a chief manufacturing officer. I spent over 40 years working with manufacturing companies as a software executive and in early days worked in several such companies. My wife and I live both in East Hampton and Oak Brook, Ill. I can say that while on Long Island it is hard to get a perspective on manufacturing and the value it brings to communities.

It is easy to give up on manufacturing. It seems so 19th century. And yet, as Ryan points out, there is a tremendous opportunity to wed our desperate need to build a whole new technology framework to contain global warming and our need to provide jobs for our people. This is not a right or left, red or blue issue but one everyone can get behind. Now this idea may be buried in the many position papers but it is an idea that needs to be sold.

There is much to admire in Tim Ryan’s positions and this article introduced me to him and I thank Christopher Walsh for that.

TOM MACKEY


585 Deaths
Plainview
September 20, 2019

Dear David,

Neil Hausig’s (hopefully only) hypothetical and (thankfully only) theoretical imagining that even if “someone walked into the Senate with an automatic weapon and killed all 100 senators,” it would probably result in “no new legislation enacted” is probably correct; but if the shooter walked into a joint session of all 535 senators and representatives hosting the nation’s 50 state governors, I think those 585 deaths just might motivate their 585 appointed or elected replacement officials to feel scared or guilty enough to pass meaningful, common-sense, lifesaving national and state gun control laws.

RICHARD SIEGELMAN


Revolting Display
Wainscott
September 20, 2019

Dear David,

Several day’s ago, I witnessed one of the most despicable behaviors from one of our local citizens. There were three women and a man in front of the Wainscott Post Office at a table bearing an American flag and passing out literature supporting the president. Nothing in this vitriolic atmosphere surprises me anymore.

Along came this man in a yellow baseball cap, screaming the most vile language at these people. He was confronted by some man in the parking lot to stop. Then this miscreant raised his arm in a Nazi salute, and screamed “Sieg Heil,” then repeated this revolting display.

Instant thoughts of the most horrendous slaughter of innocent people that man has ever known made me stop dead in my tracks! He was confronted by another man and he slithered into the post office, like the lowlife he is. Who raised this “deplorable”? God help us!

Yours sadly:

ARTHUR J. FRENCH


Tied to Denmark
New York City
September 19 2019

To the Editor:

Winston Churchill: If ever there was a question about our president’s judgments, acumen, pragmatism, his recent exhortation, outcry, to buy Greenland should unequivocally dispel this doubt.

A classical exemplar of epic Church­illan temperament and beyond. The crisis: global warming. Greenland: 2mm square miles 80 percent covered with ice, population approximately 58,000, English being taught in early schooling years, approximately 3,000 miles from Washington. A former Danish colony categorized as a constituent country, degree of autonomy, home rule, still tied to Denmark. Enjoys perpetual daylight two months a year.

Many unexploited natural resources are lead, zinc, diamonds, gold, uranium, and oil. By cause of global warming and dissolving ice further passable safe navigable waters are appearing.

A “polar silk road,” shortest route, sea lane, between Europe, North America, and the Orient. One does not have to be an accomplished, consummate real estate developer like a Donald Trump to envision, grasp, the vast potential of this island. But there he is. Unequivocally, such prospective developments, infrastructures, will require, demand, golf courses, several.

Okay, all kidding aside. As anticipated the pouncing upon was immediate: Buy Greenland! Laughing it off, having a field day. The thought of Denmark selling 50,000 citizens to the United States is completely ridicule. An April fool’s joke totally out of season if he is truly contemplating this than this is final proof that he has gone mad — another sample of the president’s impulsive, ignorant quips, and on and on. It pans out there was an underlying actuality that probably promoted the president’s jest, one that usually always is interconnected to a crucial contemporaneous, national-security issue, one of his typical “aquilar” throws, a classical verbal one. (An aquilar is Latin for eagle, was a prominent symbol used in ancient Rome as a standard for a Roman legion; the eagle was extremely important to the military, a lost standard was considered an extremely grave occurrence. It was considered a point of honor to preserve their standards in some cases of extreme danger, the leader himself through them among the ranks of the enemy in order to divert their attention or to animate his own soldiers.) Undoubtedly that “jest” was related to a subdued episode of a foreign, unfriendly power attempting to establish a foothold base close to our continent. On Feb. 19 to 17 the Pentagon raised an alarm over what it deemed a troubling development. China was looking to bank roll and build three airports in Greenland that could give it military foothold on Canada’s coast. The prime minister had flown to Beijing to discuss and confirm the offer of the Chinese state-run banks to finance the airports, including a big one in the capital, Nukk.

The bankers were interested so long as a Chinese company constructed the airports. That year China declared itself a near Arctic state, outlining plans to carve new shipping routes through the region’s melting ice and exploit sources underneath, considering Greenland a key to china’s strategy. When word of the incipient offer reached then U.S. defense secretary Jim Mattis, he called on Denmark whose kingdom includes Greenland as a self-governing territory, explaining, defining, that President Trump, and he insisted that Beijing must not be allowed to militarize this stretch of the Atlantic. Consequently this resolute, principled stance engendered a chronology of efficacious implementations. In November 2018 Greenland’s lawmakers approved the funding of all the major airports. Denmark has pledged to secure the investments. The runways will be making it possible for intercontinental jets to land there. Work on all three airports is expected to be completed by 2023. Mr. president, apt to carve another notch on your revolver’s butt. At this moment the “coast seems to be clear,” but let’s not be fooled. The threat is not gone, not by a long shot. Our stakes and interest in the Arctic are significant and on the rise. We need, should, have a much bigger influence. China’s economic and military rise is also intensifying international competition over the Arctic, especially Greenland, whose tiny but vulnerable government is slowly moving towards independence from Denmark, a concern that was explicitly stated by a renowned authority Mr. Enders Wimbush, president of “stratevvarious” global strategies consultants, former director of radio liberty on August 26 to 19.

 Buying Greenland shouldn’t be a joke, it is strategically important in our ever-shifting geopolitical landscape. Its potential would be better used in American hands. Make Denmark another offer. Yes, Mr. President! America! It is time to invest. It is time to buy now! A.A.A. buy rating assured, guaranteed return in 12 years.

EDWARD A. WAGSCHAL

 


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