Letters to the Editor: Amagansett Housing 04.21.16

Will Be an Asset

Amagansett

April 15, 2016

Dear David,

We all know this: As one ages parts that used to fire on all pistons, not so much. Certain opinionators in The Star appear to have mislaid the parts of their brains that control common sense. Certain opinionators are resisting a really attractive work force rental cottage complex in Amagansett. 

These cottages are so state of the art that there is a market for the poo; how many of the naysayers can say the same?

Certain folk live in fear of fecundity. Certain folk view procreation as a tax liability: egg plus sperm equals Amagansett School student. They are nuts. Amagansett can well afford to educate a few more kids, after all, they pay their local school superintendent $300K.

The Amagansett cottage complex will proceed. It is needed. The parcel has always been for affordable housing. It will be an asset.

Think of the specter of an army of preteen activists asserting their rights, as residents of East Hampton, to be educated. Aux barricades!

All good things,

DIANA WALKER

Its Fair Share

Amagansett

April 18, 2016

Dear Editor,

The East Hampton Housing Authority was proud to say that the 531 affordable housing plan was approved with no opposition and were claiming a victory in the online petition battle on Change.org. Then Newsday had an article about it on April 13, and The Star followed with an article on the following day, and all of a sudden, opposition is rising. Their 3-to-1 advantage disappeared, and now more residents disapprove than approve. Of course, that will be ignored because it doesn’t fit their agenda. 

The 531 plan was brought forward with no transparency of the town tax ramifications for East Hampton and no mention of the effects on the school taxes of Amagansett residents. This project is subsidized housing, which means federal, state, county, and/or town taxes must be used to make it go. Nothing is free; somewhere down the line someone has to pay. There is no free health care, no free college tuition, no free cellphones, etc.; it’s all paid for by the tax dollars of those who actually contribute taxes to government.

What exactly are the residents of the 531 project going to be responsible for? They will pay a subsidized rent — will they pay for heat, electric, garbage removal, snow removal, maintenance, or will that be on the taxpayers also? This is an $18 million project. Who has the oversight? How are the contractors picked? Are there sealed bids? Who gets to keep the 5 percent off the material bills for 30-day early payment? So many questions, so little information.

If you take $18 million and divide it by 40 (the number of apartments planned), you get $450,000, the low end of a house in East Hampton Town, and some families would only need a one-bedroom condo or co-op, which can be had cheaper. Just an observation. 

I looked through the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Nowhere does it say that people have a right to live in any town they want with the residents of that town having to pay taxes to subsidize their reduced rents. Unless this project pays its fair share, I am totally opposed to it. But, I forgot, paying your fair share is only for those who are perceived to be wealthy.

Sincerely,

BOB ELDI

Work-Force Housing

Springs

April 17, 2016

Dear David,

Here in East Hampton, we can always rely upon certain influential members of the Democratic Committee in alliance with real estate brokers, who have shown complete disregard for the history, heritage, and culture of this town by advocating and promoting the most recent Amagansett work-force housing plan. Have they thought through the realistic consequences of their zealotry on this issue? I don’t think so. Once again, they espouse their misguided agenda.

The only beneficiary of the proposed work-force housing project on Montauk Highway, in Amagansett, is the East Hampton Business Alliance, whose primary concern is cheap labor close at hand, without any financial investment in the project. The Business Alliance has been influencing the East Hampton Town Board for as long as I can remember, and I have lived in East Hampton for over 50 years. The alliance has no concern for the tax-paying community. If it did, it would take the initiative and ascertain other ways to bring its laborers to the hamlets, such as shuttle bus services, and utilizing the already existing Long Island Rail Road. This is called commuting, and 95 percent of Americans do it to get to and from work each day.

This special-interest housing plan will not enhance the unique open-space character of East Hampton Town, and Amagansett in particular. It will negatively impact the infrastructure, traffic, safety, environment, and the East Hampton school system. It will raise taxes for all of us, across the board.

The fix is in, folks! The good-ole-boy backroom political maneuvers are alive and well in East Hampton. Our town does not need to increase its population, it needs to protect its resources, environment, for the tax-paying citizen.

Best Regards,

MICHAEL HASTALIS