Letters to the Editor: 07.14.16

To Hold Office

East Hampton

June 22, 2016

Dear David, 

I wish to take this opportunity to thank village residents who went to the polls and voted in our most recent election. It is a humbling experience to hold elective office. An honor I fully cherish. I am committed with my board colleagues in affirming the continuance of open and transparent governance of village municipal affairs.

Cordially, 

PAUL RICKENBACH

Mayor

Example of Kindness

Montauk

July 7, 2016

Dear Mr. Rattray,

Today I ran into the Reda family from Kansas picking up garbage on Ditch Plain Beach in Montauk. They were not just picking up their personal garbage, they were picking up everyone’s gar­bage as they strolled down the beach with their black bag. I was so impressed that I stopped to say thank you and to take their picture to send to you. 

Please meet Mom Dana Reda and Regan and Francie Reda. It was so refreshing to see this family and the wonderful example of kindness! How often do we see letters complaining about so many visitors’ complete disregard for this lovely town. Here we have real environmental kindness in action! They told me how much they have enjoyed their stay and how they marveled at the ever-changing beauty of the beach.

Montauk is a windswept beauty and a very special place for me growing up. I enjoy her beaches, parks, and I especially love gathering around family and friends to celebrate summer. My parents always taught me the value of respecting nature, the beaches, and, yes, the summer homes that we rented. 

I was required to leave Montauk and the home we stayed in nicer than I found it. That meant I picked up garbage on the beach and that my four other siblings and I scrubbed every bathroom, every floor, and every window was cleaned inside and out before we left. 

Now I get calls from my children when they visit the Montauk family house telling me that Montauk is the best place on earth! When they leave, they ask my parents if the house was up to their “clean” standards! I love the fact that my parents’ grandchildren have inherited that sense of respect and love for Montauk, and it is so nice to see other families like the Redas enjoy Montauk and also give back. Thank you again to the Redas. We need more visitors like you!

NONI CURRAN

Route to the Beach

Amagansett

July 11, 2016

To the Editor:

I write in response to The Star’s July 7 editorial heaping misplaced praise on the East Hampton Town officials who instead deserve a great deal of reproach for the Indian Wells failure story. 

In response to a problem that affected fewer than a dozen weekends, they implemented a series of needless changes that created, 365 days per year, a permanently bad situation on Indian Wells Highway. Once the alcohol ban was initiated, the beach problem was largely solved, and officials should have stopped implementing additional “solutions” for the occasional excess parking demand. 

South of Bluff Road on both sides of Indian Wells Highway, all the way to the parking lot, a continuous flow of native vegetation (marked with small, sporadic nature preserve signs) created a transforming approach to the beach from the hubbub of surrounding traffic. Officials audaciously authorized carving out a huge swath of the preserve to create a paved turnaround with a tacky guardhouse, which together interrupt the beauty and transitional vibe one experienced going to and from the beach. Just as confounding, officials added a wide, ugly cement sidewalk on the east side of the road and authorized parking on the road’s west side on top of the pre-existing, charming stone and asphalt sidewalk that blends in with the vegetation.

To amend this failure, officials need to remove the paved turnaround and gatehouse and fully revegetate the carved-out area. If additional parking on a sidewalk is truly needed, direct it over the new cement walkway. Officials should not be exempt from the N.R.S.P. requirements before removing beach and dune vegetation. On the weekends in July and August when the lot may fill, to prevent cars from having to turn around in a full lot at the corner of Bluff and Indian Wells roads simply post a single guard to redirect the cars that would otherwise drive to the full lot.

Rather than relegate the southern one-quarter mile of Indian Wells Highway to a mere access way, return it to the beautiful route to the beach that a century of previous town officials took care to preserve.

JONATHAN A. SOBEL

Alleged?

East Hampton

July 9, 2016

To the Editor:

It seems like on page A11 of the July 7 issue there is a typo in the headline “Allege Attack on Rare Car.” Shouldn’t it be “Alleged?” Am I crazy?

Sincerely,

MATT REBACKOFF

Apply More Respect

Columbia, S.C.

July 11, 2016

Dear Editor:

I was 13 (1984) and in a long line at the grocery store on Newtown Lane with my mother on a very busy Friday in August, when a woman behind us not-so-softly whispered to her companion, “Didn’t the locals get the memo to do their shopping midweek?” At that age, I was unsure how to react to what I had heard, but it was confusing and upsetting. Didn’t we have as much right to be at the grocery store on a Friday in August as anyone else? Fortunately, those folks were not indicative of the respectful, motivating, and friendly people I met in my dad’s barbershop, or on sprawling estate properties while fixing broken irrigation.

Our East End was becoming more a place for a wannabe to be seen, rather than the place where more accomplished and notable people enjoy the beauty of the area while still able to fly below the radar and, perhaps, happily disappear among us.

The less tolerant summer people and relative newcomers, no matter how rude at times, were a part of Bonac’s new environment, and we recognize(d) that they did/do contribute in other ways. Today, it’s expanded to more than garden-variety rude behavior — it’s now litigation!

We’ve gone from, “Didn’t the locals get the memo to do their shopping midweek?” to “Didn’t the locals get the memo to move over to another beach? This beach is mine and I’ll sue.”

As some may not be as rich in character, values, and perhaps manners as we Bonackers, a message should now be clearly conveyed that the East End’s greatest natural resource, alongside its beaches, marine and wildlife, and agriculture, is the generational citizenry and culture — so apply more respect and common sense. 

I mean this all to convey a historical truth, call for tolerance, and deliver a perspective that summer people and/or newcomers may not have been aware. Our Bonac citizenry have universally embraced the masses for years, despite attitude and sometimes overtly derogatory thoughts and words. It’s time to recognize and reciprocate.

In the mind of an offended 13-year-old at the grocery store, and as much as we’d sometimes like to rid our community of intolerable people, we do tolerate, and, moreover, appreciate the positive contributions over the negative ones. We all have a place here, and we should not deny it to each other. That means one can’t legislate their way to an uncongested grocery trip on a weekend in August any more than one should tell another to go find another beach.

To those wishing to upset local culture and specific customs, stop promoting your agenda based on straws you grab for — safety, ecological, environmental, etc. We know you don’t like the view from your front porch. You don’t own the view, and that is what this is all about.

I encourage and admire the work of CfAR and all who support the efforts to uphold local culture, stand firmly against selfish intolerance, teach children respect despite disrespect, appreciate the positive when confronted with negative, and, ultimately, continue to share our beaches — as we have for generations. 

RICH FERRARA Jr.

East Hampton High School 

Class of ’89

Denial of Uber

East Hampton

July 11, 2016

To the Editor:

I continue to be utterly perplexed by East Hampton’s seeming unwillingness to enter into any kind of cooperative discussion with Uber that would result in the company’s ability to operate here. 

The Town of Southampton, which includes Bridgehampton, Water Mill, Hampton Bays, etc., found a way, after debate and discussion, to craft an amendment to the taxi laws that kept Uber on the road while remaining fair to the taxi industry. I conducted a random sampling of towns to determine the status of Uber in those places. I checked more than 20 towns in several states before punching East Hampton into Uber’s website and receiving the following message: “Sorry, we’re unable to provide a fare estimate for that trip.” Uber is active in all of the others. 

Where is the logic in East Hampton’s consistent denial of Uber? I don’t see it. Throughout history, there have been those who keep an open mind toward innovation — in this case represented by Uber — and those who would block it, for whatever reasons. The Town of East Hampton is in the latter category. East Hampton has made three demands on Uber, one of which it is certain they cannot meet. They must have a local physical address. That is not in Uber’s innovative and highly successful business model. (Uber reportedly provided 15,000 rides in East Hampton in 2014 before the town shut it down.) And, as The Star pointed out in an editorial last year, “We can think of no other example of a business blocked from operating here because it is based elsewhere. . . .”

I have many 20-something young people in my life. They are to a person hard-working, productive members of our society. They are also responsible. They want to go to a restaurant and have a nice meal and a glass of wine or two — they have earned it and should not be punished for it — but they do not want to drive. Here are some of the recent experiences that they have had with taxis: A driver who was clearly intoxicated, in the middle of the day; constant no-shows; busy signals with five separate cab companies called, and when one answered, an estimate of a 40-minute wait; drivers who will not operate without at least four or five riders stuffed into the car, even if there are not enough seat belts. Further, the tedious way of doing business is alien to those who have known the internet all of their lives. 

Nor is this an issue for only young people. I know women of many ages who consider Uber a godsend when they want to attend an event, such as a fund-raiser, at night. 

It needs to be said that there are many hard-working and responsible cab drivers, and it is a shame when they get categorized along with those who are not. My crowd has found many who are downright protective of them, and they seek them out whenever they can find them, often using that newfangled option, texting. But it should also be said that irresponsible drivers have little incentive to clean up their acts. There is no competition. 

When Southampton was exploring this issue, Councilman Stan Glinka stated: “I’m not trying to push anybody out of business, just trying to give everybody the same equal opportunity.”

I called the East Hampton town clerk, Carole Brennan, and asked if the possibility of Uber in East Hampton was a dead issue. She reported that there was no active discussion of the matter. And so it goes.

 I believe the residents of East Hampton deserve a choice here. It’s the American way. 

GIGI MAHON

An Excellent Example

Montauk

July 5, 2016

Dear Editor, 

Groups, organizations, and individuals who believe they have the right to publicly express their views, observations, and criticisms concerning public issues should also have an obligation to recognize outstanding exemplary accomplishment. East Hampton Town Police Chief Michael Sarlo and Montauk Precinct Commander Joseph Kearney are to be congratulated for their efforts and professionalism in controlling and managing an incredibly difficult, complex July 4 weekend. Given the law enforcement resources available, the huge size of the visitor influx, and the need to operate within strict parameters of the law, Montauk was orderly and relatively well behaved, while an overall atmosphere of law enforcement competence and control prevailed. 

It was an excellent example of police professionalism and dedication to correcting what was just a year ago an intolerable situation. It is hoped and expected this level of performance will continue and improve in the future.

Praise should also be given to Supervisor Larry Cantwell and the town board in their leadership and policy-making decisions that permitted and encouraged the above law enforcement efforts to succeed. Without their full and continuing support, the 2016 Fourth might have been a repeat of last year’s debacle. 

The town board also deserves commendation for its efforts in coming to terms with the past, present, legal, and social misbehavior of the Surf Lodge. Its success is a further indication of a continuous effort on the board’s part to effectively deal with and correct significant legal compliance issues that have troubled the Montauk community since the former town board’s administration. It is hoped and expected the board’s efforts and policies will continue in addressing other significant Montauk problems and issues that still exist and continue to disrupt the best interests of Montauk’s environment. 

While the Surf Lodge agreement is a hopefully significant step forward, praise and good-citizenship recognition may at best be a bit premature. Considering Surf Lodge’s past behavior, the huge number of knowingly committed violations and management’s lack of performance of past compliance promises, it is difficult to generate any degree of enthusiasm for this new and untested agreement. 

The town board did display excellent negotiating skills in learning from past experience by demanding specific and detailed oversight and deadline mandates to be employed in gauging the timeliness and level of actual real compliance. For this agreement to succeed, it is of the greatest importance that now and into the future, constant and strict attention to Surf Lodge compliance accountability be maintained by town government, Montauk civic organizations, and individual Montauk citizens. In all due respect to future Surf Lodge commitments to good citizenship, all of Montauk has heard that song before, and, as in all promises, actions are far more important than words.

TOM BOGDAN, 

Montauk United

Poorly Set Priorities

Montauk

July 11, 2016

Dear David,

Last week’s release of the draft Fire Island to Montauk Point plan calls into question the Army Corps of Engineers’ ability to evaluate needs and prioritize the allocation of taxpayer money. The FIMP planning process has been underway for generations, and the result is quite surprising to many. The biggest surprise is that, for the most part, the plan ignores the imminent need to protect the Montauk downtown district while buying time for the long-term practical planning recently initiated by the Town of East Hampton. The low-lying downtown district presents unique problems that could devastate the entire hamlet if a Sandy-class storm were to occur.

Strangely, the Army Corps has allocated $18 million to a project at the Montauk Lighthouse to build an 800-foot seawall that will surround the existing seawall. This project is due to start in a few months using “emergency funding,” despite claims from the builder of the current seawall that “not a wheelbarrow of sand has been lost since the current seawall was constructed.” Shouldn’t that project be put on hold and the funding reallocated to an urgently needed downtown Montauk project?

Their process and planning methods are hard to fathom. The Army Corps has proven that they do not understand priorities and their engineering solutions often ignore common logic.

I suggest that the town board ask the Army Corps why their priorities are set to protect a singular structure and nonessential business at a location that is not in imminent danger, while their long-awaited FIMP plan does nothing to protect the critical infrastructure and business engine of Montauk. Our town leadership needs to stop thinking of the Army Corps as a benevolent dictator. They are affecting the lives and livelihood of our citizens, and we should stand up to their poorly set priorities. 

Our elected officials must direct the Army Corps to reallocate the funds earmarked for the superfluous lighthouse project and spend the money on crucial sand replenishment to protect the infrastructure and economy of our community!

JAY FRUIN

The Disenfranchisers

East Hampton

July 11, 2016

Dear David,

It’s interesting that Alex von Hoffmann’s June 30 letter champions the disingenuous attempt by a relatively few elitists to sue the public off a traditional family beach at Napeague. I’m flattered that von Hoffman was so impressed with what I had to say. Von Hoffman also favors the position of Cindi Crain, the leader of the sham organization SAFE, a group that out of one side of its mouth paints beach drivers as being dangerous, noisy, peeing nuisances, while on the other side encourages beach drivers to bring our trucks and drive on the sand near Dolphin Drive. Their only true aesthetic concern is having to see the public on what they consider to be their very own private beach. Apparently von Hoffman believes it’s okay to beach drive, just not on the sand close to their homes. 

Simply making a distorted, empty claim that Truck Beach, a.k.a. Family Beach, has suddenly evolved into an area of “environmental and aesthetic degradation” does not make it so. Because the public and the town’s governing officials didn’t buy into the disingenuous argument that safety was an issue at Napeague’s family beach, where locals and their families go to enjoy a fun and relaxing day and not one beach driv­ing-related accident has ever occurred, it appears that the disenfranchisers have resorted to a new level of trickery, by making Family Beach a mostly environmental issue. 

The people von Hoffman champions are behaving like a bunch of sue-crazy vultures, who are playing a very dangerous and expensive game of chicken with the town. Well, if they want to play chicken, we need to take to heart, “Pluck us once, shame on you! Pluck us twice, shame on us!” Kudos to the town board, the trustees, and to CfAR for standing up to the birds of a feather at Napeague.

Driving on the beach has been challenged in court many times, basically by the same class of whiners who are challenging it today. Ten years ago, State Assemblyman Richard Brodsky tried to push through a bill to ban beach driving all across New York State, but, thanks mostly to the efforts of environmentalist groups like the Montauk Surf Casters, the Surfriders Association, LIBBA, and many, many like-minded environmentally respectful four-wheelers, the bill never got passed. In fact, it was pretty much determined that beach driving had no lasting environmental impact on beaches!

The state concluded that beach driv­ing was simply a fun recreational pastime that was much safer than many other hobbies, and that four-wheeling contributed millions of dollars to Long Island’s economy. Our own assemblyman, Fred Thiele, argued eloquently in front of his peers that four-wheeling was a safe and fun tradition and was the only way sportspeople and families could conveniently access many beaches. This convenient and safe mode of transport has been proven to not cause any lasting environmental impact on sand that is continually in motion due to the action of winds, tides, waves, and storms. If four-wheeling passed muster with New York State and with literally hundreds of municipalities throughout the U.S.A., it ought to be respected right here in East Hampton, too!

The good folks who drive and park on Family Beach cause absolutely no real or lasting environmental impact on that beach. What they do has a lot less impact on the dunes and beach environment than homes that may be leaching pool chemicals and insecticides or God knows what onto the sand and ultimately into the water. What about the environmental and safety hazards when some homeowners, without consulting our local beach officials, erect hard revetments or hire inept companies to place offensive and dangerous fencing along the sand, which after a northeaster leaves sharp rusty poles strewn all about? Heck, beach driving has far less negative public environmental impact than the beachfront homeowners’ bellowing chimney smoke has on air quality and our lungs. We don’t see anyone arguing that all beach homes should be torn down or moved away from the shore — maybe that’s a topic for eventual discussion.

Why were there 10 recent letters to The Star in support of family vehicle access and only one against it? Most people know that to live in the modern world, mankind has always had to balance the benefits of the things we need to do with the effects they have on the environment. In the case of beach driv­ing, the pastime is highly regulated and policed. To make the type of careful driv­ing that we all practice on our beloved beaches an environmental cause célèbre is just hypocritical. 

Next, Alex von Hoffman will tell us that we shouldn’t use golf carts, drive on highways, or fly in airplanes, all practices that to some extent involve careful and thoughtful interaction with the environment! What’s next, will someone say we shouldn’t step into the ocean because we might scare a crab? 

As far as traditions go, tens of thousands of reasonable people who live in our town are all for respecting them. And millions practice four-wheeling nationwide. So maybe we have 100 beachfront property owners and people who live near the beach who hate traditions. Let them move away; we’ll help them pack!

The thing about the beach in contention is that there are not enough parking spaces there to accommodate the hundreds of families who enjoy it. There never will be enough. For decades, any groups trying to disenfranchise public beachgoers have known that if they can sue us off the beach and prevent us from using our vehicles to access certain spots, they will in effect eventually succeed in privatizing all public beaches. Although Alex will probably think this is just another dysfunctional tradition, we have never allowed privatizers to dictate public-access policies in our wonderful town. If that ever happened, those of us who couldn’t afford to own a home on or near a beach simply would have no way to get to it.

I personally hope that all those folks with the good fortune and wealth to have homes near the beach will continue to enjoy great financial prosperity and good health. But can’t they still achieve all this prosperity by working hard, playing the stock market or managing their inheritance, and then sharing the sand to relax side by side with their neighbors? Do they really need the windfall profits they’d achieve by doubling their property values after privatizing?

It’s rumored that at trial, the Napeague plaintiffs’ expert witness, under cross-examination, was confused about there being only two low tides and two high tides daily. Apparently the anti-beach-driving crowd either frowns on or misunderstands many traditions, not the least of which is the changing of the tides. If they had any clue at all, they’d have figured out the folly of buying a home on a beach and expecting the public to give up important traditions there that have been allowed for centuries. 

Last, the comment when referring to the tradition of four-wheeling — “I will warrant that they did not do so from 4,000-ton S.U.V.s and trucks until the 1980s or later” — is so off! Four thousand tons is equal to 8 million pounds, so the statement is only off by about 7,994,000 pounds. Even a large Suburban weighs only around 6,000 pounds.

Most of us have a hard time paying $40 to fill up our S.U.V.s. Imagine the cost of filling an 8-million-pound S.U.V. So, with this “weighty” distortion, one wonders how far von Hoffman would go in making other exaggerated claims, expecting us to buy them hook, line, and sinker.

JAY BLATT

Cooperation Reigns

Amagansett

July 10, 2016

Dear David,

Incivility in society is on the rise. Every day we witness inconsiderate behavior, in-your-face interaction in communications with others, and other forms of rudeness. It surrounds us! Civility requires restraint, respect, and responsibility in everyday life. Without these, we can never act ethically. 

At the town board work session on July 5, I saw the combination of respect, integrity, and cooperation in action on the preservation of the George Fowler house, with the town supervisor, Larry Cantwell, the Planning Department director, Marguerite Wolffsohn, and the deputy supervisor, Peter Van Scoyoc, all offering help with the restoration of the building. Folks, it’s nice to know our government is effectively working together!

Ms. Wolffsohn presented a recommendation for landmark status for the George Fowler house and property. The Fowler/Horton house is believed to be the only surviving dwelling of the Montaukett tribe, moved long ago from Indian Field in Montauk to Springs-Fireplace Road in East Hampton. In serious disrepair, it was deeded to the town by Suffolk County in 2002. Since then it has languished until this town board and the Planning Department pursued preserving it.

This house is an important historical site in the history of the Montaukett Indians, the multiracial community of Freetown, and East Hampton. I felt a sense of pride in how my town government functions. Nationally, government electives are working negatively against each other, but cooperation reigns in East Hampton Town!

RONA KLOPMAN

Albatross of Misery

East Hampton

July 11, 2016

Dear David,

We’re nearly to the middle of the summer and the aircraft noise pollution has significantly increased over last summer, due to the increase in partnerships with various helicopter and seaplane companies as well as the use of private jets and other noisy piston-engine winged aircraft. 

The town’s curfew has done little if anything to ameliorate the deafening and disturbing aircraft. Pilots pay no attention and fly well before and after the curfew permits. I ask, what penalty do they receive and how is it collected? 

I visited the airport terminal a few weeks ago. Two young women smiled and asked me if I would like to make a reservation on one of their “luxury” helicopters or the new air-conditioned and faster-traveling seaplane. I was surprised to find that one of the biggest offenders of the skies, Blade, had taken permanent residence in the terminal. Posters outside depicted the image of young entrepreneurial men and women who “need” to enjoy their weekend getaways to the Hamptons without traffic. The ad campaign deeply offends those who sit under the whopping thunderous sounds of taxi helicopters that hover over the tarmac and don’t turn their engines off when they land.

The town introduced a new website to watch the aircraft. It is a product of Robert Grotell of PlaneNoise, who just happens to be a member of Eastern Regional Helicopter Council. If it sounds as though I’m making a point of a conflict of interest, you are correct. This website is not in real time, delayed by 10 minutes for the purpose of “security/privacy.” Therefore, a person who wishes to report a particular aircraft for noise pollution cannot with accuracy report it. The website offers no description of the aircraft, no ID number, no registration of owner, and no photo. Once you find the offensive aircraft, 10 minutes later, to report it you must deduct 10 minutes, fill in the original form offered by the town, minus any and all details as required. How is this helpful to the town or legal counsel when they present collected data? It serves no purpose. 

On the other hand, there is the far more precise and efficient system website: airnoisereport.com. Aircraft is visible in real time. It offers all the details of the offensive aircraft, including the ability to click on a link to see a photo and additional website information about ownership, past history, etc. Developed by a resident on Long Island closer to the city, he has no political or business conflicts as do Jeff Smith and Robert Grotell of E.R.H.C. I urge our residents of all East End towns to take a close look at this informative and helpful website. 

The second website I am simultaneously using is PlaneFinder.net. This also offers nearly identical information but also features international airline aircraft traversing the skies. 

I rely on airnoisereport.com and PlaneFinder.net websites to compare and make an accurate assessment of offending local aircraft, as the town’s website does little to help us identify, with accuracy, any aircraft. 

Noise pollution is impacting wildlife and our entire environment. People in Springs and Riverhead are complaining. Most residents in our community have no idea how to report the offensive aircraft. I suggest the town place an ad in The East Hampton Star with instructions. If people don’t know about how o report these aircraft there will be fewer reports. 

Lastly, I would like to note that since the public has become aware of the town’s website and most recently, airnoisereport.com, many of us note the aircraft is not seen on the maps. The only reason for this might be because pilots have been forewarned that the public is tracking them and they have turned off their transponders. This practice is not only a serious and dangerous practice, but a message to those of us who are under the aircraft, that they do not care about our distress. All aircraft should have transponders in operation for safety measures. The public has a right to know who and what kind of aircraft are flying above our homes. 

The time has come for the town to recognize that the former counsel who represented the last administration, who was pro-F.A.A. grant assurance funding, is not truly representing the town or people’s fight to keep KHTO a local town asset for recreational aviation enthusiasts. We have been misguided. The taxpayers contribute to Mr. Kirsch’s exorbitant fees that result in do-nothing results. 

It’s far time the people of the East End and neighboring communities take back their rights to enjoy their homes without constant bombardment of outside lobbyists and pollution from aircraft. East Hampton Airport has become an albatross of misery as opposed to an asset. 

The court and the town board know there is a problem. Why are we being made to report, yet again, the ever-present noise pollution from the growing sum of taxi helicopters, seaplanes, jets, piston turbo engine-winged aircraft? When is enough enough? I believe we all agree that it is long past. 

SUSAN McGRAW KEBER

A Godsend Solution

Springs

July 9, 2016

Dear Mr. Rattray:

The Springs School Board welcomed two new board members at its July 5 meeting. Both board members take their places with sizeable electoral mandates and hopefully they will use their mandate to be strong voices for independent and thoughtful decision-making, rather than be rubber stamps for a school administration that has brought much conflict to the school over the last year.

In addition to taking some very questionable personnel actions against long-tenured and well-thought-of school personnel, the administration and board over this past year have been pursuing an unrelenting march toward building a potentially grandiose and expensive school addition that could cost taxpayers anywhere from $20 million to $35 million.

Inconsistent with BOCES data showing the school’s population is at a peak level now and declining in later years, the administration and board continue to move forward with a project that is unlikely to be completed much before 2021-22. The school is crowded now. The Child Development Center of the Hamptons charter school that has recently become available is a godsend solution for students, faculty, and taxpayers, and the Springs School Board should pursue this solution quickly, efficiently, and move the appropriate grades to that facility as soon as possible.

It is therefore unfortunate that at the July 5 meeting the board awarded an open-ended contract to BBS Architects, Landscape Architects & Engineers. BBS has a storied and controversial history at the Springs School. Allegedly hired from a State Board of Education pre-approved bidders’ list, BBS’s first $8,000 project soared to $34,000, amassing $26,000 in cost overruns in a very short time. Shockingly, to this day, even after FOIL requests have been made, no legal resolution has ever been found, allowing for BBS even to be hired.

In addition, the school administration has been conducting a “competitive” request for proposal process seeking architectural firms to work on a number of school projects, including the school expansion. The administration released an R.F.P. on June 25, 2015, that was so unprofessional and deficient, it had to be scrapped, and a new, more professional R.F.P. was released on Nov. 17, 2015. 

But BBS had been working on the school addition project with school staff and a now-dismissed facilities committee, drawing up plans and discussing various options for the addition, for many months before the release of the June 25 R.F.P. (For full disclosure, I was a member of the facilities committee.) A BBS partner, Roger Smith, assured committee members that he was not charging the school for his work with the facilities committee. I thought BBS’s largesse was an interesting business model. 

Enormous amounts of taxpayer dollars go to fund public projects. It is critical that public contracting processes are competitive and fair for all bidders and respondents so taxpayers can be assured they will be getting the best product for the best price. 

In a 30-year career in New York City government, I have been responsible for managing R.F.P. and contracting pro­cesses, and capital budget and planning for some very large and visible projects. In my opinion, the Springs School management of the R.F.P. process has been questionable. Directing BBS to work on the school addition without a resolution, allowing them to respond to the R.F.P.s and ultimately awarding them the open-ended contract, I believe, has compromised the integrity of the contracting process. BBS, in my opinion, clearly had a leg up over any of the other respondents, of which there were five on the first scrapped R.F.P. and eight on the Nov. 17 R.F.P.

Given the availability of the C.D.C.H. space for expansion, and given the troubled, questionable, and, I believe, tainted contracting process, the Springs School Board should suspend the expansion project and focus full time on acquiring the C.D.C.H. space.

Sincerely,

CAROLE CAMPOLO

Golden Opportunity

Springs

July 11, 2016

Dear David,

The last Springs School Board meeting had some bad and some good news. The departure of the high-priced superintendent, leaving for personal reasons, was the good news, though the community will be keeping an eye peeled that the replacement this school board chooses does not get the same kind of unrealistic contract that the soon-to-be former superintendent will be leaving behind. 

The bad news is that this school board is completely unaware of the community it serves. Hell-bent on building an addition that is beyond the pocketbook of most of the residents of Springs illustrates this point. 

Springs is made up of people who work to support their families (some with more than one job) and a huge group of retirees struggling to live on fixed incomes who never get to see the inside of Nick and Toni’s. To build this addition, a bond of many millions will need to be generated. The bond will put the school board’s hand in the residents’ pocket for years to come. Considering there is a prediction from an extremely reliable source that the school’s population will diminish in time, this seems not only foolish, but downright dumb.

What makes you scratch your head even harder is that there is a golden opportunity for this school board to grab the sweetest deal this side of the Shinnecock Canal. A school, not just a building, but a real school, is being vacated, and this school is located at a convenient place on town-owned property. One would think that the gods are watching and rooting for Springs and have presented this opportunity to our community as our reward for living with the highest school taxes in East Hampton. We don’t need to build a high-priced structure, and this building is available to us years ahead of anything that can be built. So why is our school board not jumping on the deal? That’s what the head-scratching is all about.

Springs School Board, do the right thing for the children of the school and for the people who live in the community. Put our name on that empty school building now! 

A proud Springs resident,

PHYLLIS ITALIANO

Nonresident Hunters

Montauk

July 9, 2016

To the Editor:

 If a town board proposal goes through, more bullets and arrows will fly through our woods. The sound of more gunfire will fill the air.

 The proposal allows nonresident hunters to come to East Hampton to shoot deer. According to the document, local “big game hunters” (residents who hunt deer) will be able to obtain guest licenses for nonresidents who possess the other state permits.

 The town board has already expanded deer hunting in the past two years. It has added weekend and bow hunting during the January firearms season. It has permitted bow hunting closer to residences. It has opened new parcels of land for hunting. Now it wants to bring non-residents to town to kill the animals.

 The town board has shown no regard for deer as living beings. It has failed to acknowledge that each deer wants to live as much as we do.

 The non-resident guest policy will make it even more difficult for East Hampton residents to enjoy the quiet and serenity of nature. It will become even riskier to walk in the woods.

 The town board will hold a public hearing on the proposal on July 21 at 6:30 p.m. Citizens can also express their views to the town board in writing.

BILL CRAIN

President

East Hampton Group for Wildlife

Screaming Emptiness

Amagansett

July 9, 2016

To the Editor:

This is an election year, but a far more formidable era confronts us, the post-ecological age, if we do not wake up as a species. A few years ago I inspired a tremendous piece, “Agony and Ivory,” in Vanity Fair (August 2011) when no other media outlet was listening, and that galvanized the world to the elephant slaughter that has become rampant throughout Africa. 

Alex Shoumatoff wrote a blistering piece that sent shock waves through the conscience of the planet. Today, many realize through the current ivory ban that the greatest land mammal on earth needs complete protection before it and fellow creatures like the rhino become distant memories. 

Richard Leakey, during the ivory burn in April in Kenya, where over 100 tons of ivory and rhino horn were burned, even spoke, in a palpably angry tone, about SITES that still allow for the trading of ivory. He asked that SITES become KITES (Killing the International Trade on Endangered Species). What is it about the other beings on the planet, of which we are just one demonstrably out-of-control species, that we do not get in this late hour? The European Union most recently voted against the ivory ban that African leaders are pushing for. Europe, which has brought so much havoc to the world, must come to its senses. Europe is unraveling, but so too is the ecological fabric of the only planet we have. 

My grandfather helped liberate Paris from Germany in August 1944. Fascism was never a good idea, and yet glimmers of it are reappearing around the world. It seems clear that the way humanity has conducted itself in the last 100 years has been an atrocity, not only against itself but especially toward the firmament of life and toward the natural world. It feels as if we have become a very unnatural species. 

My wife and I are finishing a unique two-hour documentary film, 10 years in the making, on the meaning of the elephant and wildlife to childhood and the human condition. Listen to the indigenous elders: “If we do not save the elephant, we will lose our minds. The only thing left will be to kill ourselves.” This is a prophetic, clairvoyant view from people who have been on the ground living in coherence with hundreds of other species, and they know how to honor the earth. It is not the ranting of an out-of-control, technologically fixated civilization. That is who we are! 

Recently, Juma, the mascot of the Brazil Olympic Games, was shot. The other beings of this world are not toys, and we are not their superiors. We need to wake up to an ontological reality: The children of today will inherit nothing but a high-tech slum (Edward Abbey) if we are not very, very careful. There will simply be nothing left to look forward to. 

Look! The time is now. Our son, Lysander, learned to dive a few months ago. He is 10 years old and learned a college-level course in Tobago. A few days into that trip, we learned that coral bleaching had devastated nearly 90 percent of the once Great Barrier Reef! It is the oceanic equivalent of what we have done to the elephant. What are supposedly good schools teaching children when the fabric of creation is being torn apart? 

What we have to learn is how to conduct ourselves in this 11th hour. It is a few minutes before midnight, and the high noon of climate change has not even struck yet! We once had a paradise on earth, harsh, with restrictions, with mosquitoes, with crocodiles, and challenging, but now we are creating a purgatory in every corner of the planet. Imagine what the Hell realm will look like when Greenland’s ice cap will have all melted. The Arctic recently lost an area two times the size of Texas. No Shakespeare, Beethoven, or Picasso will be able to atone for what we are doing to the earth’s life-support system. 

My grandfather signed the accord with the Germans long ago. Now, months after the Paris Climate Accord, it is high time we signed a truce with earthly existence. Planting carrots on Mars is not the answer. As Lysander said after seeing a super moon a few years ago, “We have landed on Mars, but we haven’t landed on Earth yet.” 

We are already having way too many children. The question is, do we love children, really love them, or are they just trophies of a superannuated ego that is more interested in a synthetic future, watching films like “Finding Dory,” when the ocean will be screaming emptiness across the face of the seven seas and the giants of earth like the elephant will have long become extinct due to perfidy, ignorance, and the abject narcissism of a species that has totally lost its bearings?

CYRIL CHRISTO

Take a Deep Breath

Springs

July 8, 2016

Dear David,

As of this writing there have now been three terrible racially charged killings in the last week that have stunned the nation. First, there was the cold-blooded murder of the African-American Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, La., by white police officers. Everyone should review the online videos, horrific as they are. They make your blood boil with anger at such inept police work. 

Second, there was the deadly shooting of the African-American Philando Castile in Minnesota by a white cop. This was in front of his girlfriend and their child. The incident was recorded by the victim’s girlfriend on her cellphone. The video clearly shows that the trigger-happy officer was notified that Castile had a licensed gun and that he was reaching for his registration as per the order of the officer. The video was posted on Facebook and has gone viral. Everyone should review this video. An innocent black man was again shot and killed by a white policeman. No wonder that there have been widespread demonstrations. It looks like Rodney King revisited.

Perhaps it is no wonder that these incidents were immediately followed on July 8 by a shooting in Dallas, where a black sniper shot 12 police officers, 5 fatally. He was specifically looking to kill white police officers, apparently in retaliation.

What makes the current situation so dangerous is the way our “leaders,” and in fact a large segment of the people in this country, deal with their anger. Pandering to David Duke and his followers, tweeting racially charged messages against all kinds of minorities, or posting anti-Semitic Star of David messages, these are not the voices of tolerance that we need. 

A study by the Southern Poverty Law Center has shown that teachers have noted an increase in bullying, harassment, and intimidation based on race, religion, or nationality, echoing the juvenile rhetoric of the Republican campaign. Where are the rational and reasoned Republican leaders? Where are those who should be condemning anger of all kinds? 

But it is not only the political leadership. It is also those who proudly display their “Hillary for Prison” T-shirts and stickers. Those angry and intolerant messages are tone-deaf. Greater than 50 percent of the population voted for an African-American, President Obama, not once but twice, and he is currently more popular in the polls than any of the candidates. And Hillary’s followers, by the latest polls, are in the clear majority. 

Why don’t we all take a deep breath. We have come way too far to be dragged down by this. It is time that all of us, not just police forces, black extremists, Muslim haters, L.G.B.T. haters, and abortion extremists, but all of us, practice tolerance and act accordingly.

DAVID POSNETT

The Other Woman

Aquebogue

July 11, 2016

To the Editor:

Green energy and a green economy are not trends but essentials. The two political parties are beholden to fossil fuel and special-interest corporations. Furthermore, the skeptics argue that cooperative economics will neither sustain itself nor reduce the impact of climate change. Contrarily, there is a political party with a candidate that is unbound to big money, and has a green platform: Dr. Jill Stein, presidential nominee of the Green Party, the other woman running for president. 

Stein is a global environmental, political, and social justice activist and a practicing physician. CNN, Quinnipiac, and other polls show Stein has doubled from May’s 2 percent to this month’s 7.5 percent nationally, and she has reached the 15 percent to qualify for a three-way debate with Clinton and Trump. Among voters under age 45 she polls at 15 percent, a result of many Americans, particularly millennials, who are breaking away from the “duopoly,” two-party system. 

Stein’s platform, “Green New Deal,” would create 20 million living-wage jobs by transitioning to 100-percent clean renewable energy by 2030; additionally, investing in public transit, sustainable agriculture, and conservation. Stein is also an advocate for education as a human right. Cancellation of student loan debt, Stein’s signature, is among the 11 components of her “Power to the People” plan, as she is the only presidential candidate who proposes to utilize quantitative easing to buy back student loan debt. “Using quantitative easing to repay student debt,” said Stein at a speech in May 2015 to the New Jersey Student Power Conference, “would unleash enormous productivity and creative power.” 

Jill, as she is known by her supporters, describes her path from physician to political revolutionary: “I used to say I practiced clinical medicine, now I say I practice political medicine, because it’s the mother of all illnesses. And we have to fix this one if we’re going to fix the things that are literally killing us.” 

It’s not just about living green, but also about campaigning for and advancing a policy for the future global economy and environment, and that presidential front-runner for that policy is Jill Stein of the Green Party.

CELESTE TRACY

Presidential Material?

Springs

July 9, 2016

Dear David,

It is sad to see letters to the editor that are filled with such anger, rage, and hatred. It makes me wonder if the writers of such letters really appreciate the country we are fortunate to be able to live in.

I fail to understand why any individual who degrades women with “ughs” as he refers to their menstrual cycles, who cannot refer to women and men whom he dislikes without calling them derogatory names, who thinks all people of Mexican descent are “rapists,” who would stop all Muslims from entering the United States, and who threatened one Republican senator who would not support him and derided another as a “loser” could possibly be considered as presidential material.

Parents must certainly ask themselves, “Is this the kind of individual I want standing in front of the class and teaching my children, and do I really want someone leading the United States who behaves in this manner on a daily basis?”

I do believe that Mrs. Clinton has some drawbacks, but she beats the other option by many, many miles.

DAVID WILT

A Conservative Riff

East Hampton

July 10, 2016

To the Editor:

The symbolism of Benghazi for the American public is a remarkable kick in the chops. And as good Americans who believe virtually anything we are told, bend over and say, May I have another? Nothing happened in Benghazi that is out of the ordinary or particularly special. Some Americans were in the wrong place at the wrong time and got killed. They were in a war zone, in territory that no one knew who was controlling, in the middle of a civil war where the sides had yet to be determined, in the middle of a region that was falling into serious chaos.

There are many reasons why people die during a war, but the underlying basis of going to war is to kill someone or something. Everyone in the world except Americans understands this truth to be universal. Even we once understood it, until we got scammed by our government into believing that we could fight a war without casualties (non-Americans don’t count) — a remarkably imbecilic belief, given that even the war on drugs and poverty had thousands of casualties, and Vietnam had 55,000 deaths and over 100,000 suicides, barely 40 years ago. 

The idea of war without casualties and a volunteer Army came about at the same time. The volunteer Army took the public out of the war equation, and no casualties made it seem less onerous than it really was. War was considered serious shit until it wasn’t. It became a video game for most of us, until terrorism and refugees forced the real world into the game. We eliminated the horror and pain of war, which allowed our government to pursue it free of public discourse. The objective was a form of perpetual war.

Communism died and the U.S. military panicked. No more economic or political threats. We hadn’t had a serious military threat in 50 years, until we discovered terrorism; 9/11 saved us from a world without fantasy. Now with terrorism we have an undefined war with an undefined enemy without an established base of reference. Even better, we can’t possibly win it so it has no termination date.

Benghazi is a conservative riff to deflect attention from real issues. Since conservatives lost their mojo with Reagan’s fantasy schemes they have fabricated a litany of phony issues to make sure the American people don’t go after them for the economic debasement of the middle class. Nothing happened in Benghazi that doesn’t happen in war, except when war becomes a video game and no matter how many people play, no one ever dies.

Neil Hausig

The Real Problem

East Hampton

July 9, 2016

Dear Editor,

It has become patently clear to those who have taken the time to examine the course and actions of Donald Trump in his campaign to become president of the United States that he is a frightening individual riding the wave of misplaced and misunderstood anger and resentment of the American people. He is a prime contributor to the obnoxious quality of our treatment of each other.

However, Donald Trump isn’t the real problem. The real problem in America is the state of our education system. How can we expect voters to evaluate candidates for office who will lead them, if they aren’t aware of the reality of what is going on in the world around them? 

That is why we get a less than 40 percent voter turnout.

How can the buffoonery and total prevarication of this crass nincompoop divider from Queens be understood by voters if they think July 4 is to determine the winner of the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, or that the War of 1812 was fought in 1957?

The media is no help. Where is the explanation emanating from CNN or MSNBC or Fox denying that job losses and wage halts aren’t wholly because of free trade or Nafta or any other trade agreement, but mostly because of the fast approach of technology and globalization. Have you ever heard any of these self-anointed talking heads on TV strongly oppose Trump’s meanspirited rhetoric about “crooked” Hillary or “rapist” Mexicans or “murderous” Muslims? They are just very happy as little pigs in excrement to have these controversies go on and on under the heading “Breaking News.”

Anyway, think about it. Fight for better retentive education and you will see Mr. Drumpf’s poll numbers shrink like ice in the sun as tensions ease and understanding sets in.

RICHARD P. HIGER