Letters to the Editor: 06.29.17

Saved My Life

East Hampton

June 19, 2017

Dear David, 

A few weeks ago, I had a G.I. bleed at work and needed the services of the Montauk Ambulance Squad. To be succinct, they were fantastic! 

First to arrive on the scene was East Hampton Town Police Officer Tom Strong. Immediately and reassuringly, he took charge of the situation and his professionalism helped me, as I was very “shocky,” as my blood pressure was dropping fast and making my ability to maintain my consciousness very difficult. 

Next, Rob Rosen and Donna. Both unpaid volunteers arrived and began to immediately render the critical care to stabilize me for the ride from the Montauk docks to Southampton Hospital. The initial assessment information provided by Officer Strong to them allowed no waste of time, as they were told exactly what the diagnosis entailed. 

Just can’t ever thank all those involved enough, but can clearly state that the emergency response care that I received saved my life, and no other emergency services, anywhere in this great republic, could equal the professionalism and primary care that I received from these dedicated volunteers and officers. 

I hope their superiors commend them. We are indeed fortunate to live in this township! 

Sincerely, 

ANDY HANSON

Moonlight Cruise

Montauk

June 21, 2017

To the Editor:

I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Orla and the entire Viking staff for a wonderful moonlight cruise on the Viking Classic last night. What a beautiful event that was, hosted by Viking for the Montauk Chamber of Commerce. Lynn from the Hula Hut worked closely with the Viking staff to provide delicious drinks and food. Thanks to Lynn also!

We have some special people here in Montauk, and certainly the Viking organization and Lynn are part of that group. Needless to say we have a great Chamber of Commerce that provides so many opportunities to enjoy Montauk.

Again, my thanks to all.

PAT GILCHREST

‘Guestwords’

East Hampton

June 24, 2017

To the Editor:

Thank you for the extraordinary “Guestwords” contribution from Mary Ellen Hannibal. She creates a way to think about our grim situation based on hard science yet informed by our unique human capacity for creativity and hope. And she makes it all the more meaningful by relating her insight to the experience of growing up in East Hampton, a place richly blessed with natural beauty and biodiversity, with the essential bonus of citizens who recognize, treasure, and work hard to preserve and protect our little slice of this remarkable and fragile little planet. 

Sincerely,

JUDITH HOPE

Foxes

East Hampton

June 22, 2017

To the Editor:

Not to nit-pick with Helen Rattray, whom I’ve known and respected for ages, but I do question her “Connections” comment on the uber-showman Alex Jones: “Mr. Jones even believes that the Apollo II moon landings were faked.” 

I’d suggest that Jones no more believes that the moon landings were faked than Trump believes that Obama was foreign-born. In a recent New York Times Op-Ed piece, Charles J. Sykes called Jones a “lunatic charlatan.” Charlatan, sure. But lunatic? No more than Limbaugh or Coulter or Hannity or any of those ranters, including the ranter-in-chief, all of whom keep tossing out the red meat in service of an agenda that has nothing on it except self-interest. 

Foxes, all of ’em.

MARTHA W. LEAR

School Bus Depot

East Hampton

June 26, 2017

Dear Editor:

According to the East Hampton School Board, the Schaeffer school bus barn that has served the district’s buses was sold on the open market to a private buyer before the school district could purchase the property. The deal was said to be a cash deal, and was done so quickly that the school district could not move fast enough to make the purchase. Thus — the school board claims — because there was no other commercial property available, the district had to look at the possibility of building an industrial bus depot on the school property. 

However, over eight months ago, a town-owned commercial site became available: the commercially zoned, D.E.C.-approved and permitted, Springs-Fireplace Road property. Town officials reached out to the school district months ago about this property. Since then, members of the school board have turned around and publicly stated that the first choice for their bus depot is indeed the Springs-Fireplace property. 

So how is it that the town board announced at a June 20 meeting, the day after a sit-down with the district superintendent and the school board president, that the town’s property would suddenly be put on the open market? Evidently, that sit-down between the town and the district did not convey to the town that the district intended to make the Springs-Fireplace Road property the school’s first choice. In fact, Superintendent Burns had to place a call later that day to ask the town for more time. 

This raises a question: Has the school board truly discussed the Springs-Fireplace property in good faith? 

The Springs-Fireplace Road property has far more advantages than the site proposed on the school grounds on Cedar Street. The advantages for placing an industrial bus depot on Springs-Fireplace Road are:

•The property is in an industrially zoned area.

•The property will allow the preservation of a long-established neighborhood.

•The property will allow the district to maintain safe playing fields for students on the campus; students will not be exposed to exhaust and fumes from an industrial depot abutting the fields.

•The property will not add to the traffic mayhem on the narrow, overused bypass of Cedar Street.

•The property will allow the school district to share services and eliminate duplication of services which benefit all townspeople.

•The property is located next to the town fueling station, allowing the district to take advantage of the town fueling station and save on the costs of building its own fueling station.

•The property could provide shared storage facilities for other neighboring districts. 

Let’s hope that the members of the East Hampton School Board truly have the best interests of all the townspeople at heart when negotiating with the town. Let’s hope that the school board acts as forward-thinking community members and neighbors, and that these school board members leave a legacy that shows their consideration of the health and welfare of all the townspeople of East Hampton while preserving school land, neighborhoods, water resources, and our fragile, precious environment.

CHUCK COLLINS

On Behalf of the 

Cedar Street Committee

 

Real Environmental Deal

Springs

June 24, 2017

Dear Mr. Rattray,

East Hampton has reached critical mass on environmental issues. Clean water, septic issues, and the grotesque Deepwater project that will not only destroy our fishermen’s livelihood but will likely unleash an environmental Armageddon on Cox’s Ledge, a prime fishing and spawning ground, all will be front and center in our upcoming local election. 

These problems are complex, and specific expertise is needed to find workable and affordable solutions. At present, there is no one in town government or on the town board who has the requisite skills to deal with these problems. But, there is a candidate for town board running in this November’s local election twho does have those skills. 

Paul Giardina, running for town board on the Republican, Conservative, and Reform Party lines, has nearly five decades’ worth of experience in the federal Environmental Protection Agency. He has a bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering from the University of Michigan and a master’s in nuclear enineering from both the N.Y.U. College of Engineering and the Institute of Environmental Medicine. Paul is the real environmental deal. 

Paul knows the players in all levels of government, having worked for seven presidential administrations. He has been part of management teams that successfully dealt with major environmental disasters. With a mastery of government, Paul is informed about, and knows how to access, valuable federal, state, and local government resources that will mitigate pressure on East Hampton taxpayers when local projects get underway to solve these environmental problems.

As a town board member, with his command of science and engineering skills, Mr. Giardina will be uniquely qualified to evaluate environmental problems and solutions expertly, efficiently, and cost-effectively. He has spoken about, and recently authored, a plan for solutions to East Hampton’s septic issues. The plan was given to the town board in November and will be available on the East Hampton Town Republican Committee website shortly. 

Mr. Giardina has lived and worked as a small-businessman in East Hampton for 40 years. In the 1980s as an owner, he restored and rejuvenated the Springs General Store. He will bring his scientific expertise, his problem-solving skills and knowledge, and his love for this glorious place we all call home, to Town Hall. He will find the environmental solutions to the town’s problems. As Paul has said, “If not now, when?”

CAROLE CAMPOLO

Economic Sustainability

Springs

June 25, 2017

Dear David,

There is much talk about the lack of affordable housing in East Hampton. We are at a critical crossroads. Our seniors find it more difficult to get by, our youth quickly discover there are few well-paying year-round jobs, and their parents work longer hours and more days struggling to make ends meet. We don’t want to be a community of haves and have-nots, a playground for the uber wealthy while the local community scrapes by. We must reverse this trend, but to do so we must recognize the problem for what it is.

As the founding president of the fifth biggest police union in New York State, the Police Benevolent Association of New York State, I have had to address cost-of-living issues during contract negotiations with the state. Our contracts are complex and exceeded the total amount of East Hampton’s $75 million town budget. A single percentage increase would be worth millions of dollars. The cost of living varied widely from western New York to the north country to the New York metropolitan area, so we had to understand that one solution was not good for all. 

Which brings me to East Hampton. Affordable housing is only one part of a bigger problem. East Hampton has a cost-of-living problem. Each hamlet of East Hampton varies greatly and as such, the causes of the cost of living also vary. Common throughout is the lack of well-paying jobs created by local businesses. To have a sustainable, vibrant local community, we need to create an environment that is friendly to existing businesses and welcoming to new enterprises. Naturally these businesses must be consistent with the needs of our community and our values.

I believe working together in a bipartisan manner we can create an environment that will be an economic generator for all in our community. Working with our partners on the county, state, and federal levels, as well as private-sector businesses, we can create the economic opportunities that our young people need to be able to stay in East Hampton.

I believe my experience gives me the skill set to accomplish these goals and set East Hampton on a path to long-term economic sustainability. As supervisor, I will create an Office of Economic Development that will create a pragmatic economic plan to attract, establish, support, and help develop both small and large businesses, ones that are consistent with the values of our community in a variety of professions. This Office of Economic Development will interface with our chambers of commerce, local business groups, citizen boards, and town advisory committees. We will find the best and the brightest and help them do their job for all in our community. 

As a candidate for East Hampton Town supervisor, I am humbled not only by the tasks before us but also by the opportunity and privilege over the past 33 years to have served not only our community but also throughout Long Island, New York City in Harlem and the South Bronx, and in upstate New York as well.

I ask for your support this November.

MANNY VILAR

One Fourth of July

East Hampton

June 23, 2017

Dear Mr. Rattray:

By my count since 1979, when I moved here, I have spent all but one Fourth of July in East Hampton. Many are memorable. From a barbecue on the late Tom Collins’s farm across from Ashawagh to watching fireworks either on Accabonac Harbor or at Maidstone, all still stir fond memories. However, the one that stirs the fondest memories was in 2003, and it wasn’t here in Bonac but in, of all places, the Republic of Georgia, a former Soviet Socialist Republic.

I was there helping the Georgians out. I was sort of a novelty, I imagine. On the Fourth, a party was held in this beautiful farm field. I was the guest of honor, and the gathering numbered well over 100 as I remember. The group spoke a multitude of different languages: Georgian, Azeri, Armenian, Russian, Ukrainian, German, and yes, I was relieved to know even a few spoke English. The crowd was Christian, Islamic, Zoroastrian, Jewish, and God knows what else. While neither my English nor Spanish was terribly useful that day, I don’t remember having any trouble communicating.

What stands out the most was when the M.C. got up to speak. You see, he was the chief of the local constabulary, and a much respected, senior uniformed gentleman. Perhaps he was well into his 70s, or even older. He apparently did not speak a word of English. Yet on that day he toasted us in Georgian and, yes, in English. You see, he wrote out his words and then had them phonetically translated so he could say his little speech in English as well as Georgian. 

He said for many years our people had been enemies, at the brink of war. Now we were friends and sharing a toast on the day the U.S. achieved independence. He thanked me for coming and helping their business. He thanked me for being an American and working together with them. He then spoke as clear as a bell, “God Bless America.” 

It was good I wore sunglasses that day as my eyes were wet. Whatever I said was surely inadequate in seven languages, and certainly not memorable. I will always remember that a distinguished but grizzled old gentleman, eight time zones from me, learned enough English to say “working together” and “God Bless America” in my tongue.

Now, a decade and a half later, I still cannot read or speak a word of Georgian, but I have learned what the words “working together” and “God Bless America” mean, not just here in Bonac, but all across the world.

As I run for town board let us work together and let us be mindful of the blessings that the U.S. has brought to us here and throughout the world. We are not a perfect people. We can do better. And maybe if we keep remembering to work together the other 364 days, we will continue to earn what our forefathers did for us on July 4, 1776. 

PAUL GIARDINA

 

Revealing Slip

East Hampton

June 26, 2017

To the Editor,

Manny Vilar wanted East Hampton to view him as a reasonable Republican. This camouflage disappeared when he made a revealing slip last week. In a letter to The Star he hymned of “compromise and understanding for the betterment of all.” Then he flatly said the mental illness of the nut who shot Republican members of Congress at baseball practice was “driven” only by the “constant over-the-top hate speech leveled against President Trump, his family, and Republicans.” In doing do, Mr. Vilar carries on the G.O.P. tradition of holding others to a standard of behavior that they fail drastically to meet.

Mr. Vilar conveniently ignores, and makes no attempt to apologize for, the myriad instances in which G.O.P. candidates, elected officials, and public figures made similar rants, such as Sarah Palin’s mailers with cross hairs on certain congressional districts, which ended up with Congresswoman Gaby Giffords and others being shot (including a 6-year-old girl who was killed). 

He conveniently ignores the proven false tweets by the son of Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser that a child trafficking ring (run by Hillary Clinton) was run out of a local D.C. pizza parlor, which resulted in someone coming into the place and opening fire. 

He conveniently ignores Mr. Trump’s own broad-brush demeaning of Muslims and Mexicans, of women, of the disabled, of whoever might be considered “the other.” He ignores Mr. Trump’s wishful statement that “Second Amendment people” would deal with Hillary Clinton should she be elected into office.

Whether Mr. Vilar’s failure to account for the behavior of his own party leaders is intentional hypocrisy or just one-sided thinking, it directly contradicts his calls for compromise and understanding for the betterment of all and shows his true colors. If his thinking in this case is any example, what kind of judgment can he possibly bring to the many social issues faced by the town board? How will he be able to represent our town’s diverse population, including people of both political parties? 

Mr. Vilar’s reflexive blindness to the many aspects of issues he might encounter is a clear disqualification in his bid to become town supervisor.

Sincerely,

MARA GERSTEIN

Really Glorious

Amagansett

June 24, 2017

Dear David, 

“Don’t be fooled by any who wish glory for themselves.” Thus did a friend of mine write, meaning, I think, that local political candidates should mind their egos.

In my view, a little glory is swell. In the ’70s in L.A., I managed a perfor­mance space called Power and Glory Unlimited Space. We were often mistaken for a place of worship or a hair salon.

I am perfectly fine with some more glory in East Hampton Town: affordable housing a centralized school district, townwide tax reassessment would be glorious. Banning pesticide use and noisy aircraft would be glorious. A town board that looked like its residents — now that would be really glorious. 

I say that, if there are those who wish to serve the residents of East Hampton by achieving elected office where they will try to do good, glory to them!  

All good things, 

DIANA WALKER

Affordable Housing

East Hampton

June 26, 2017

Dear David,

As our year-round population continues to grow, affordable housing for our friends and neighbors has diminished. Young people who wish to return to or remain in East Hampton to live and work have found affordable housing is nearly nonexistent. 

Thankfully, under the Democratic leadership of Councilwoman Sylvia Overby, who serves as the liaison to community housing, “Manor House” will soon break ground. Though it was shelved by the former administration, Ms. Overby has succeeded in bringing a 12-condominium residence with three or four units within each building to help our community members obtain affordable housing. It will be compatible in style with East Hampton’s traditional community character of cedar-shake shingles and is innovative in design. I am encouraged to know this is the first of other affordable housing projects to follow. Historically, it has been the Dem­ocrats who have initiated, conceived, and built affordable housing for East Hampton residents. 

Additionally, every business now has the opportunity to put in an affordable apartment above its place of business. This is a great example of the Demo­crats’ initiative to help our community members who are in need of housing. 

Stay tuned, there are more terrific things to come from the Democrats!

SUSAN McGRAW KEBER

Democratic candidate for

East Hampton Town Trustee

On Trustee Issues

Montauk 

June 26, 2017

Dear Editor,

The needs of the citizens, balanced with environmental imperatives, make the work of the East Hampton Town Trustees more complex than ever. This is the reason I am running for a trustee position this fall. I believe that my education in environmental science, combined with my on-the-water experience, provide me with an ability to implement practical solutions based upon knowledge.

My late husband and I were put out of business because of chemical contamination of the commercial striped bass fishery. I have watched boat owners unable to access waterways because of shoaling issues. And, I understand the frustration of beachgoers and fishermen closed off from accessing areas that once were easily gotten to. Clean energy initiatives are a good idea, but not when they ruin pristine fishing grounds as the Deepwater plan will. 

Sea level rise and climate change will continue to affect the waters we all love. I have for many years advocated for water quality testing long before it became a widely used tool. I spent several years working on the Lake Montauk Watershed Plan, which you can read on the town’s website. 

You simply have to look around to see the reason we love where we live. It is also the reason people come here to buy homes. It is because of the quality of our environment and the way we protect it. And at this time, we need to be vigilant and flexible.

So when you consider the field of candidates running for the nine available positions, please consider those who are able to do the job well. I was surprised at Rona Klopman’s letter in last week’s paper aggressively asking you to vote for the people in her party. I would ask that you vote for the candidates most qualified to meet the challenges we most certainly will face in the next few years. Let us keep the trustee focus upon trustee issues and not become an arm of any political party.

Sincerely,

CAPT. JULIE EVANS

Need the Water Tested

East Hampton

June 26, 2017

Dear David,

  We remain a force to be reckoned with here in the woods of East Hampton on the village fringe — the working-class locals and second-home owners too, the mobile home residents, the new, but not new to town, young families choosing this neighborhood to raise their young’uns, and a horse farm too. We require very little compared to other, more demanding areas. We don’t need private beaches, completely dark skies, no airplanes overhead, or perfectly lined-up privet. What we do require is clean drinking water from our sole-source aquifer that flows beneath us here in these lovely woods so near Three Mile Harbor, Gardiner’s Bay, and the ocean. The aquifer flows to all of these waterways.

There is a sand-mining pit located here on Middle Highway in full-on operation since the spring of this year, against our urging for the town to buy that land and preserve and protect. Granted, the buyer of the former Talmage sandpit was not willing to sell.

Yet, the sandpit was carelessly grandfathered in, to continue said mining of sand until we don’t know when. 

What we do require as residents of these woods is for the water within that sandpit, which flows underneath the sandpit, to be tested, so we will know if our drinking water is safe. The county water authority’s drinking-water wells are on Oakview Highway, right down the road. This is not a difficult request, is it? 

So why isn’t it being done? Calls and letters and petitions to our town board, public speak-outs at town board meetings, calls to the person in charge of permits to the sandpit, Bob Yager; a letter to the Commissioner of the D.E.C. in Albany, a letter to County Executive Steve Bellone, calls and emails and a meeting with Bridget Fleming, our loyal local legislator whose platform is clean water; calls and letters to the Suffolk Health Department and the water authority. Emails to concerned citizens organizations. Everything short of calling the president of the country.

Who, pray tell, will help us? None of the above has done, so far. Apparently a legislative order is required to get into the sandpit and get a water sample. 

Do we have to wait until someone gets sick?

Have we learned nothing in our town about water pollution and disease?

Why are we being ignored?

Anyone? 

This is an election year locally. Who is going to step up and do something? We have reached out, and only some have spoken to us, namely Peter Van Scoyoc, Larry Cantwell, Sylvia Overby — all present town board members. But they have referred us to the D.E.C. The D.E.C. refers us back to our town board, as it has zoned and allowed a commercial operation in a zoned residential property, grandfathered in or not. 

This sandpit has been mining sand since the 1960s. It’s time to stop mining, reclaim, and preserve. Why is this so hard to fathom? Why was no SEQRA readdressed before the smooth sale and the new owner began chopping down all those trees and expanding. It’s outrageous. Go see it.

We as a group, the Freetown Neighborhood Advisory Committee, talked with Jeff Bragman as legal counsel and we endorse him for town board as well. We also met with Zach Cohen, who is petitioning for a run in the primary in September to run for a town board seat. I like Zach as a candidate, too, having gotten to know his regard for the environment (like Jeff) when we ran as trustees together in 2011. 

We also met as group members with Jerry Larsen, Manny Vilar, and Paul Giardina. They listened to our issue with the sandpit, and preserving our wells and saving our aquifer and drinking water from pollution due to harmful compounds leaching into groundwater. We liked their enthusiasm and interest in our issues here in this neighborhood. We are not committed to anyone as yet running for office in November, but personally I like the two men mentioned above and some of the others mentioned, too. We aren’t committed to a certain party. We want people in office who are not beholden to a “good old boys” club in town that exists and to certain big-money local companies who do whatever they want it seems, because money talks. 

We have reached out to Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, and we await her response. We are willing to talk with all the incumbents and candidates who care about the town’s drinking water and groundwater and this neck of the woods. 

This water, and where the aquifer exists and the county wells, are an issue affecting the entire town. We all drink the same water, which comes from the aquifer. It is not trucked in from a spring upstate. It is not from private wells. You’d be surprised how many people have no clue about this. 

The water is the main issue going forward out here on this fragile East End. 

We are members of Surfrider, CfAR, Accabonac Protection Committee, and we are aware and active in other water protection organizations and causes on the eastern end of Long Island, our dear home.

We love our town and we chose to raise our sons here, who have now chosen to raise their children here. Others of us here have grown up in these woods and near the beautiful bays and sea. They are as dug in as we are, and driven to fight to preserve a way of life and clean waterways and drinking water. We aren’t going away. We will see this through. If you know me, you know I don’t give up. I’ll meet with anyone who will talk to us. I’m reasonable and I don’t bite. 

When I ran for trustee in 2011, a member of the community didn’t know me and suspected I was not “from here.” He called me out in another paper after seeing my name and bio for the campaign. He threw a few stones. I responded to his letter and told him though I was not “born in a clamshell” I cared deeply for this community and chose this place as my home years ago as a teenager working in Montauk, and returned years later with family in tow. The person changed his tune because I did not attack him back as he was used to, so he told me. We struck common ground, though our issues were different. He wanted an ATV track in town. I wanted our woods preserved and safe drinking water. We are both still fighting for both.

But we also both wanted to preserve a way of life for both locals and transplants. It’s not difficult when you communicate.

We are here. We are willing to talk. We need the water tested. It has to be done right and done officially. It’s expensive. As we head into our summer season, won’t you get involved with us to fight for clean water? 

I would be remiss if I did not mention our amazing police force here in town, for assisting with our pleas to do something about speeders and cut-through traffic out of control on our small roads. Our friend’s dad was run down and killed in May by a hit-and-run driver in Tryworks Lane, that “little road,” as someone calls it. Yep, the person never stopped and was speeding. Poor Willie never had a chance. What if it were a child? I shudder at that thought. We cannot tolerate such behavior. We won’t.

So there is police presence, and tickets will be issued, hopefully, as the speeding continues and the indifference to common decency prevails, sadly. Thanks, our Police Department! 

The speeder box recorder is missing, by the way. Vandals? We will be calling today.

We would also give a shout-out to Steve Lynch and his Highway Department.  Awesome job keeping the town trees trimmed so we can see to turn onto Middle and Oakview, and picking up garbage thrown out of car windows or dropped by inconsiderate people who weren’t taught better. Awesome job, highway guys! 

NANCI LaGARENNE

Montauk Wastewater

Montauk

June 26, 2017

Dear Editor,

The Town of East Hampton should be commended for considering a low-nitrogen sanitary system standard and rebate proposal. Antiquated, failing, and ineffective septic systems are contributing significant and harmful nitrogen loadings to our ground and surface waters. However, without addressing the downtown Montauk wastewater issue, we continue to threaten the human and environmental health of the Montauk community.

Downtown Montauk is in dire need of a community wastewater treatment system, and the need has been well documented in the East Hampton Town Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan, Lake Montauk Watershed Management Plan, East Hampton Town Water Quality Improvement Plan, and most recently the Montauk Hamlet Plan.

The time to act is now. The water quality problems will persist until a comprehensive approach is taken. East Hampton Town must step up to the plate and pursue a downtown Montauk community wastewater treatment system.

Sincerely,

LAURA TOOMAN

President

Concerned Citizens of Montauk

Many Questions

Amagansett

June 19, 2017

Dear David,

I attended the 7:30 a.m. Amagansett School Board meeting on Tuesday, June 13. I once again brought up the topic of eliminating the two full-time administrative positions, one principal and one per diem administrator. In addition to these full-time positions, a full-time custodial position has been added and is not needed until October. 

The facts that were presented:

• The state requires a school district to employ one superintendent along with a school board as per ed law.

• Past practice of the Amagansett School was a superintendent/principal position.

• According to Superintendent Tritt, a “per diem evaluator” position was needed in order to follow New York State’s Annual Professional Performance Review’s new regulations for a second person to do teacher evaluations.

Many questions remained:

• On June 13, why was the “per diem evaluator” (present at the meeting) still working? 

• What is the role of the principal? 

• Why was a third custodian hired six months before the scheduled leaving date of the employee he is replacing? 

• If it takes six months to acclimate a custodian to a school, how long would it take to acclimate a superintendent when Mrs. Tritt leaves?

Many other questions went unanswered, including the position of superintendent/principal turning into three administrative positions, expanding the duties of the “evaluator” to justify his position, and the cost of an actual salary of $63,000 (180 days at $350 per day) versus the $24,000 salary claimed by Superintendent Tritt and the school board.

The president of the school board, Mr. Bistrian, stated that the board liked Tom Lamorgese and, being a taxpayer, I stated that the position was not about the person but his salary. Dr. Lamorgese was my boss for 10 years and his likability had nothing to do with his position. 

Hank Muchnic, another school board member, suggested posting the descriptions of the administrators on the school website (aufsd.org), to which Mrs. Tritt responded, “If you like?” Check out the site to determine if this was done for the 103-student body.

There were many board member comments made to justify the hiring of the custodian, including the need to get to know the children and learn his duties. (There is no school in July and August.) Are the taxpayers being considered in all these hiring decisions? 

Mrs. Tritt added at the June 13 meeting that the school would be in the deficit within five years and the facts will be posted on the school website. Amagansett community members should question the expense of additional administrators to the taxpayers of the approximately $225,000, especially if the school is expected to have a deficit in the future. The school’s budget needs to be explained by this board, whom we elect.

I’m proposing that the time has come to have the school board meeting televised on LTV as East Hampton School does. It would be very helpful to all Amagansett residents to watch on LTV and be better informed about where our taxes are going.

The next school board meeting is on Tuesday, June 27, at 6:30 p.m. at the grade school. 

MARY A. EAMES

The Nation’s Health

East Hampton

June 26, 2017

To the Editor:

The new Republican health care plans fall short in almost every essential area because they have no philosophical underpinning and are mostly about eliminating rather than improving a substandard system.

A Sunday’s New YorkTimes article headed Times headed “I Am the Man Who Denied Your Claim” is a clear, concise explanation of the system’s practical failings. But the actual operational problems all stem from the basic philosophy.

Somehow, in our attempts to create a national sense of independence, individuality, and self-reliance, we give short shrift to our history and collective achievements, whether by groups of citizens or by the government. We take for granted our infrastructure, without which it would be impossible to function, with little understanding that this was all created and paid for by our parents and grandparents. Our schools, hospitals, military, fire and police departments — virtually every public and social service that exists was created and paid for by someone else.

The collective conscience of our country has always had wealthy states paying for poorer states. Current workers’ Social Security contributions paying for retirees, etc. There is no free lunch. There never has been. Without the contributions of our parents and grandparents, we would be third world at best.

What Obama brought to the Affordable Care Act was the collective conscience that exists everywhere else in the world. He gave it the missing philosophical basis that everyone has the right to health care, and it is in the interests of the country that they do. The financial benefits that would accrue from a healthy population dwarf the costs. The cost/profit/benefit analysis is extraordinary.

That everyone chips in for the nation’s health is as logical as building roads and airports. You may not use high-speed trains, but your taxes will pay for them. You may never go to Mississippi or Louisiana, but your taxes pay for half of their services and keep them out of bankruptcy.

The philosophical question is not how to make a profit or bring down costs or increase efficiency. It is a choice between health care for everyone, or not. How does our government value the American people? Obama said we were worth the cost; the new proposed programs radically disagree.

There are valid questions about a lack of humanity, empathy, and social conscience, but the essential question is whether we value ourselves enough to think that health care, like housing, food, and schooling, is a right for everyone.

NEIL HAUSIG

The Cosby Case

East Hampton

June 19, 2017

Dear David,

So I guess the Cosby case is a matter of he-said, she-said, she-said, she-said, she-said, she-said, she-said. . . .

LISA KRONE MELLA