Pines’ Decline
Noyac
February 23, 2025
Dear David,
With the increase in the pine wood areas, the increase of air traffic emissions, and the increase in car exhaust, the Pinus rigida has been weakened. The beetles hear the suffering; they come to help the trees die. The cause of the Pinus rigida decline is human-made.
ELAINE MCKAY
Pete Seeger
Springs
February 18, 2025
To the Editor,
Seventy-two years ago, Pete Seeger stayed in a spare bedroom at our house on Forest Park Avenue in Springfield, Mass. He had brought a bag of homemade recorder-like instruments and was going to give these to children at our local schools and museums.
That first morning, my brother and I were told not to go into the bedroom where Mr. Seeger was sleeping. We restrained ourselves but now it was 8 a.m. — time to intrude on Mr. Seeger. We quietly went into the bedroom and woke him up; I think he liked our company.
Later that morning my mother made breakfast, and we all sat around the kitchen table. Mr. Seeger opened a small bag and handed my brother and me “recorders.” It was no longer a quiet breakfast; it never was at the Freeman house.
JUDY FREEMAN
We Survive Together
North Haven
February 24, 2025
Dear David:
Colonization, urban renewal, slum clearance, gentrification, pioneering, spec building, and upzoning — it’s all much the same. Our beautiful and bountiful natural environment of the Hamptons that welcomed our human species here to live and enjoy gets the same treatment.
Colonization pushed the Indigenous native people aside. Wealth is now pushing us aside. The land itself is being chopped into unrecognizable bits to satisfy a speculative fever and outright greed. Often, upzoning can lead to the removal of decent affordable housing.
The L.L.C. form of property ownership hides the fact that anonymous investors are the forces driving us crazy. They are not really our neighbors in any conventional sense. They can only be found or addressed through a layer of lawyers, making accountability for all sorts of regulations and behavior extremely difficult. Adjacent actual human neighbors are powerless, and their municipality is not much better equipped to deal with these mysterious L.L.C.s, which have a great self-interest and strong legal and political influence over our zoning — and their own permitting outcomes.
Why do we care? When the value of one’s land and home becomes a profit center to others, its destruction in the name of quick gains takes place. Actual resident homeowners face rapidly rising taxes, while the L.L.C.s enjoy a multitude of tax shelters.
Once again Jacqui Lofaro, founder of Hamptons Doc Fest, presented a must-see film at the Southampton Arts Center, in cooperation with the dedicated Eastville Community Historical Society and SANS Sag Harbor. It was a fitting wrap-up to Black History Month.
The filmmaker Stanley Nelson spoke and showed his film, a history of the destruction of San Juan Hill, a diverse ethnic neighborhood in Manhattan that was cleared for urban renewal to build Lincoln Center and a bunch of high-rise apartment houses. Robert Moses was the New York-area urban planner and unelected public official, whose projects were often cruel to residents. He got support from the great wealth and influence of the Rockefeller fortune and the city’s mayor. Those destroyed residential and commercial communities were to them nothing but a nuisance and impediment. Perhaps that setup may sound familiar to today’s political behavior?
Here in the Sag Harbor-East Hampton area we once had a strong group of five independent historic communities of racial diversity that formed because white communities traditionally practiced exclusion. Recent times have threatened these communities with destruction by outside development interests.
Founding director of the Eastville Community Historical Society, Dr. Georgette Grier-Key, joined Renee Simons, president of SANS Sag Harbor, to explain how their groups formed to save three of those original communities. They fought with strong commitment and good strategy to get official historic designation and protection.
Numerous other modest communities throughout our area are currently under threat by big-money investors and developers. We see all around us huge McMansions being jammed into modest lots, crowding their neighbors. Apparently our only defense is to sell out to these L.L.C. jerks, then move on to God knows where?
Can’t we do something about the disappearance of our homes, our open land, and our community culture? SANS and Eastville did it successfully; we need to have their sense of commitment to our own communities as well. If we can work together as a community, we can survive together as a community.
Wishing people power to all our cherished neighborhoods,
ANTHONY CORON
Act of Promise
Springs
February 21, 2025
To the Editor:
As someone who has spent decades writing for news, academic, and financial readers — where fact, reason, and dialectical thinking prevail — I’ve found a refreshing counterbalance in the lyric writing seminars taught by renowned poet and photographer Star Black at The Church in Sag Harbor.
Star’s classes emphasize putting spirit above rationality, unlocking a kind of creative joy that is truly remarkable. Her approach is both encouraging and illuminating. She has a signature way of celebrating originality — her delighted exclamation of, “Wow!” signals a moment of artistic discovery, a reminder that creativity is a gift.
What makes Star’s teaching so exceptional is her unwavering support. She never critiques in a way that stifles; instead, she skillfully opens doors to perception, guiding participants toward greater self-expression. Given her vast knowledge of writing and the creative process, one might expect judgment, but what she offers instead is a masterful blend of insight and encouragement.
Being in one of her classes feels like embarking on a journey — one where new roads to expression and higher creative peaks reveal themselves. Taking part in her seminars is, in itself, an act of promise and creativity.
My deep thanks to Star Black and to everyone who makes The Church such a vibrant and inspiring space.
DON SUSSIS
Does Not Raise Hope
Amagansett
February 22, 2025
To the Editor:
Your front page article “Town Seeks to Settle Airport Litigation” by Christine Sampson last week was expert coverage (as always). I have some questions, though.
1. The town seems to be abandoning its effort to privatize the airport. Was this really necessary? I don’t believe the court ruled that was impossible, just that the town had skipped an important step or two (as it so often does). Why not keep the original goal (it is our property, after all) and attempt to do it right this time?
2. Will we see any decrease in the number of low, noisy aircraft as the result of a settlement, or is that being relinquished as well? That was, after all, the entire point of privatization. Supervisor Burke-Gonzalez’s promise, quoted in the article, not to “change the nature of current airport operations,” does not raise very much hope.
3. The town’s long history of equivocation and spinelessness naturally raises doubts about how badly the town even wants to fight the case. The unending but little covered shanda of the Duryeas’ expansion, after all, began with a secret settlement giving Q, the Montauk fish hobbyist billionaire, almost everything he sought (a settlement, it should be said, the town then tried to repudiate by throwing its attorney under the bus). Ms. Sampson quoted Supervisor Burke-Gonzalez that the town “in an abundance of caution” wishes “to avoid any future contempt proceedings.” Run through my patented English-to-English translator, that emerges, “We surrender!”
What do the airport litigation and the Duryeas’ cases have in common? Hmm, their attorney, James Catterson, represents the plaintiffs in both. The possibility there is a “Catterson effect,” of extravagantly wealthy clients easily rolling over the town with his help, needs to be more in the spotlight. The articles Mr. Catterson quotes calling for an “honest, open, and solution-driven dialogue” processed by my translator, emerges, “I win!”
I ended last week’s letter, “We need better Democrats.” Think about it: That would also solve every problem I raise in this letter (and probably in almost every letter).
For democracy in East Hampton,
JONATHAN WALLACE
Meaningless Activities
Wainscott
February 24, 2025
To the Editor,
As director of the Coalition to Transform East Hampton Airport, I note that the town board’s offer to “settle” the airport litigation raises a host of concerns. Supervisor Burke-Gonzalez speaking of “meaningful solutions” is comparable to the “meaningful restrictions” referred to repeatedly by our elected officials in recent years. Those restrictions (modest at best) then discussed were never seen as meaningful to airport opponents, hundreds of whom participated in the public input process hosted by the town in 2021.
We were told repeatedly that we had control of our own airport, as the Federal Aviation Administration grant assurances had finally expired after 20 years! The overwhelming sentiment was to enact genuine changes that would significantly curtail environmental impacts, including noise, air (lead and other toxic emissions), and even groundwater pollution to our sole-source aquifer. Safety remains another huge concern, especially with the growing threat of wildfire and the 10 documented crashes near and at the airport between 2002 and 2023.
Many citizens called for closure of an airport that was shown to be a convenience for a few with negligible economic advantage to the town and constant aggravation and danger for thousands affected — both here and throughout this region all the way to New York City. Climate change alone is reason for responsible people to eliminate unnecessary luxury air travel.
Three and a half years of meaningless activities, an unsuccessful move to go private, and an environmental review process bungled by the town, led to the airporters’ successful litigation — of which the town’s defense was paid for by the airport account and not absorbed by taxpayers, by the way.
The people of East Hampton, Southampton, and other affected East End townships have nothing to show for our sincere efforts. Many of us were skeptical, thinking that the entire “process” was a charade to quell concern and the status quo would ultimately prevail. So it has.
BARRY RAEBECK
Pseudo Waste
Amagansett
February 23, 2025
To the Editor,
Jonathan Wallace wrote last week about some members of the Town of East Hampton and if they have a “backbone.” Well, we are on day 2,405 of Bay View Avenue being blocked by an illegal, noncompliant obstruction. Which hasn’t even had a state environmental conservation permit for almost two years now. Apparently, some unknown reason is the town’s kryptonite and to allow violations to continue.
We could ask Kevin Cooper for help. But he already, in my opinion, used the town to leverage his next stop, which is now according to documents leading Port Jefferson’s ordinance department as of Jan. 30. If ever some government entity needed a form of DOGE, the town might just fit the bill. Quick aside, that’s no endorsement of Elon Musk, even if I agree any government and government agency with duplication of services should have cuts. I truly believe the money he is saving will just be granted to him for Tesla or an adventure to Mars. We will see.
If we wanted to look at pseudo-government waste and duplicating services, look no further than the Amagansett School. To be honest, if you followed the bouncing ball, you should already want to know. How much did we spend on this Maria Dorr hearing? Itemized, detailed, line-by-line budget for the school year, Mr. Mager. You do have two full-time account clerks to help you now.
Still here,
JOE KARPINSKI
Dogged Lying
East Hampton
February 23, 2025
To the Editor,
A recent headline in Sunday’s Times reads: “Key to Trump’s Success: Knack for Dogged Lying.”
Since when did getting ahead by dogged lying become a success? Shouldn’t we replace success with failure as in, “Key to Trump’s Failures: Knack for Dogged Lying”?
TOM MACKEY
Purged
Montauk
February 23, 2025
Dear David,
In January of 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed German chancellor by the aging war hero President Paul von Hindenburg. In a free election in March 1933 the Nazis received 37 percent of the vote and became the largest party in Germany due to the fact that many political parties existed at this time.
Shortly thereafter, the German Reichstag building was burned. Hitler blamed the German Communist Party for the arson, and communist Reichstag representatives were all arrested. The Reichstag then passed the Enabling Act with the support of the right-wing nationalist and centrist parties and the wealthy industrialists. Only the Social Democrats voted against the bill.
The Enabling Act created a dictatorship wherein Hitler could decree laws without Reichstag approval. Shortly thereafter, Hitler purged the civil service, judiciary, Foreign Office, military, and police. Civil liberties and due process were abolished. Communists, labor union leaders, liberal journalists, and others perceived to be regime opponents were arrested and sent to the new Dachau concentration camp, located near Munich in Bavaria.
After gaining internal power Hitler looked to expand Germany in Europe. In 1938 he invaded Austria. In 1939 he first annexed the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia and later invaded the rest of the country. In 1939, Hitler sent his foreign minister to negotiate a treaty with the Soviet Union. The result was the Non-Aggression Pact that secretly carved Eastern Europe between Hitler and Stalin. A week after the treaty was signed, Germany invaded Poland. Two weeks after the German invasion, the Russians invaded eastern Poland, and Poland ceased to exist as a nation.
The historical antecedents are obvious. Trump is too illiterate to have read a book on German history, but his much-better-educated advisers: Stephen Miller, Steve Bannon, and Elon Musk obviously have. Both Mr. Musk and Mr. Bannon have even started to use the Nazi salute at rallies.
Do not for a minute think that court rulings will change any of the recent illegal and criminal purges of the Trump regime. The courts, including the Supreme Court, have no power of enforcement — only the president has that. Perhaps we should use the word “king” instead of “president.”
Sincerely,
BRIAN POPE
Local Authority Limits
East Hampton
February 19, 2025
To the Editor:
Recent events in East Hampton highlight the precarious situation faced by undocumented immigrants. Town officials have certainly made heartfelt efforts to reassure the community and clarify law enforcement’s role, but, at the end of the day, the reality remains unsettling.
Local police chiefs Michael Sarlo and Jeffrey Erickson have emphasized that officers will not assist immigration and customs enforcement in civil immigration matters, in line with New York State sanctuary laws. However, they have also made clear they will not interfere with federal agents. As Chief Sarlo stated at a recent town meeting, pointing to his gun, “People who wear this and put this on don’t interfere with other people who wear this and put this on, because then people die.” This stark reality effectively nullifies any protection local police can offer.
The probability that ICE agents will arrive armed will cause our police to stand aside, leaving immigrants vulnerable. The well-intentioned assurances of town officials cannot override this fundamental truth. It is crucial for immigrants to understand these limitations, know their rights, seek legal counsel, and prepare emergency plans.
And, as a community, we must recognize that protection should not rest solely on local law enforcement. Alternative support systems, rapid response networks, and legal aid programs are needed. Joining groups like Concerned Neighbors of Long Island ([email protected]) or OLA of Eastern Long Island ([email protected]) can provide meaningful ways to help.
Efforts to create a welcoming environment are important, but we must be realistic about the limits of local authority. Only by acknowledging these constraints can we develop effective strategies to protect our vulnerable neighbors.
On behalf of Concerned Neighbors of Long Island,
JOAN CASPI
FRED DOSS
TIM FRAZIER
JOAN OVERLOCK
JUDITH SCHNEIDER
TESS WACHS
NORBERT WEISSBERG
Didn’t Have a Chance
St. Petersburg, Fla.
February 21, 2025
To the Editor,
This is in response to a letter, “Defies Constitution,” signed by “concerned citizens” published in the Feb. 22 edition of The Star.
Laken Riley was a 22-year-old college nursing student beaten to death while jogging by an illegal alien with the intent to commit rape. She fought for her life. She was overpowered by a man. She didn’t have a chance.
Laken Riley didn’t plan on dying that day at the hands of a criminal who was in her country illegally and shouldn’t have been anywhere near her. The thought likely never crossed her mind. Maybe even Laken Riley gave her murderer a friendly nod before he jumped her as they passed each other on the path. She had no reason to hate or fear anyone. She didn’t think it was her last day on earth, jogging on a familiar path she’d felt safe jogging on before. Her parents didn’t think their beloved child would die before they did, brutally murdered and left under shrubs, her clothes tattered and torn, taking her last breath alone, gazing up through blurred vision at the heavens, praying to God.
But her murderer, Jose Antonio Ibarra, was on a mission that day. He wanted to rape a woman, even if it meant killing her in the process. He stalked Ms. Riley like a wild animal and pounced upon her with no regard for her sacred life. He didn’t care at all. He didn’t show Ms. Riley any mercy or remorse as she begged for her life. And then he let her die with no conscience.
Whose victimhood do the signers of the letter wish to protect more? Criminal minds who enter our country illegally, capable of committing heinous acts, safeguarding them against detention and deportation when they break the law, or law-abiding citizens who don’t want to be killed violently or seriously injured, raped, robbed, or burglarized in their own neighborhoods?
In what other country are the rights of noncitizens more protected than the rights of its citizens? In what other country is an assault on a law-enforcement officer by an illegal alien not automatic deportation or even prison?
Laken Riley had human rights, too. An illegal alien stole them from her. It’s happened before to other victims and their families. It will happen again. Should we just shrug our shoulders and pretend it doesn’t happen at all? Should we tell their grieving loved ones to forget their agonizing sorrow and open their hearts to the rapist? We don’t do that for American rapists and murderers. Our own citizens who commit crimes expect and do suffer severe consequences for their actions when they break our laws. It’s called “incarceration.” So why should the American justice system exempt and protect people who enter our country illegally from punishment, detention, and deportation when they break our laws?
If the common sense behind the Laken Riley Act is too much to process for the individuals who penned the letter, who tag political motives to justify their weak logic, may it weigh morally on their minds. And by the grace of God, I look forward to their retraction letter before losing any more hope in humanity.
CAROL DRAY
Sack of Weasels
East Hampton
February 21, 2025
Dear David,
Donald Trump never revealed what transpired in the several phone conversations with Vladimir Putin in the runup to his election. Nor did we get a readout of their talk last week, but we do know that he followed up by parroting Putin’s line on Ukraine, even claiming that Ukraine started the war. One might reasonably ask, is President Trump out of his freakin’ mind? Or, had he proven with his Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen that his partisan media would not contradict him, and enough people would believe him?
A few days later Trump boasted of killing congestion pricing and saving Manhattan. He added, “Long Live the King.” A Trump functionary reposted it with a picture of Mr. Trump in medieval kings’ garb, and later the White House issued a pseudo-Time Magazine cover showing Mr. Trump wearing a crown captioned, “Long Live the King.”
Yes, Trump is mad as a gunny sack full of weasels, but we are fools if we don’t soon accept that he believes he, like Mr. Putin, is above the law. Already, we share some characteristics with Russia. There is the obvious parallel that no public Republican will contradict his most-obvious lies. In Russia, contradicting President Putin gets you flying out the window or poisoned in a prison.
So far, Republicans are silent just from the fear of a primary attack funded by billionaires. But now that Trump has gutted the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the intelligence services, and the Justice Department, ask yourself if he would emulate Mr. Putin’s methods if necessary to achieve his ends. Another recent Trump quote, “He who saves his country breaks no law.” Who will stop him? And he isn’t working alone.
In Russia, they call them oligarchs. Here we call them billionaires. If you look at the people at Donald Trump’s inauguration, it is clear that our billionaires already understand that self and wealth protection requires kissing Mr. Trump’s ring. I’ve read that when Mr. Putin rose to power, the first thing he did was break the richest man in Russia and take over his fortune. This is a lesson that keeps the oligarchs in line, a lesson that has jumped the oceans to Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, et al.
Remember when the top echelons of our financial businesses thought they were masters of the universe and ran the country into a ditch? Our new would-be masters are the tech billionaires. Mr. Musk is the tip of the spear. Their philosophical guru is Curtis Yarvin, who says that Americans “are going to have to get over their phobia of dictators.” He says democracy is a failed experiment. He is described as techno-monarchist, at other times techno-feudalist. Peter Thiel, famously JD Vance’s financial godfather and mentor, admires Mr. Yarvin, and Mr. Vance has acknowledged Mr. Yarvin’s influence. Mr. Yarvin was a guest of honor at President Trump’s inauguration. With Mr. Trump wallowing in nonsense, these self-described geniuses are disassembling the government.
I get the feeling they will allow Mr. Trump to call himself king as long as he keeps the masses in thrall by tweeting about 5 or 10 trans guys infiltrating women’s sports, gutting all the agencies that could protect Americans from total oligarchy, and delivers the tax cut for the rich he has long promised. But they are shrewd. If they have to get rid of Mr. Trump, they have a spare Yarvinist in Mr. Vance riding shotgun, and the nucleus of a Brown Shirt brigade recently released from prison on “standby.”
Mr. Trump made a show saying he won’t touch Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid. Same day, Republican Representative Richard McCormick said there are hard decisions to be made about those programs. “There’s hundreds of billions of dollars to be saved.” He did not add, “and millions of lives to be ruined.”
We have a Republican congressman. Nick LaLota, 202-225-3826. Tell him what you think about cuts to these programs to pay for tax cuts for the rich. Don’t be nice.
DON MATHESON
Common Sense
East Hampton
February 24, 2025
Dear David,
In the harsh winter of 1776 the entire rebel American cause was on the verge of death and the revolution was still viewed as an unsteady and unlikely prospect. Thomas Paine, an 18th-century Enlightenment philosopher, author, and firebrand advocate of the American Revolution wrote a series of pamphlets that came to be known as “The American Crisis” or simply, “The Crisis.”
He signed it with the pseudonym, Common Sense. Paine wanted the weary and discouraged patriots to stand, persevere, and fight for an American victory. His opening lines, written for the common person, ring as true today as they did in 1776:
“These are the times that try men’s souls: the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”
Washington’s troops were ready to quit that winter until ordered by Washington to read aloud Paine’s “Crisis” paper. The words did inspire and changed the course of the struggle.
Paine further wrote: “Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered: yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” He saw the British political and military maneuvers in the colonies as “impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God.”
If the American people and our East Hampton community take Paine’s words to heart, the attempted coup by Trump-Musk in our time cannot and will not succeed. We don’t exist as their modern-day colonial servants to promote their wealth, their perverted ideas of being divine-right kings and rulers that are destroying our hard-won democracy, It’s common sense.
Stay strong,
JIM VRETTOS