Letters

My wife and I have been residents of Southampton for the past 45 years. If you have ever been to the Hamptons, you know it is a gem of New York State and known worldwide for its beautiful beaches, farm vistas and laid-back way of life.

Our children grew up like most other children, with the exception that clamming, oystering, fishing and gathering directly from the farm were a commonplace occurrence. Much has changed over the past 45 years, which is not to say that we shouldn’t nonetheless seek to preserve as much of our former bucolic lifestyle as feasible and possible.

The Shinnecock Nation has been our neighbor and friend as long as we have lived in the Hamptons, and we embrace them. We acknowledge the hardship imposed upon them by history and welcome all opportunities for them to better the lives of tribe members. For decades, they sought federal recognition, and thankfully were recognized almost a decade ago.

Notwithstanding, their intent to now construct a Class II casino within our township is an ill-conceived idea, admittedly forced upon them, and one which will irreversibly diminish the quality of life we have been privileged to enjoy.

It is not in their best interests, nor ours, for a casino to be built in the Hamptons. They sought other, more populated locations for decades and were led to believe that such locations would be provided to them by our governmental officials. Yet, year after year, the proverbial ball was kicked down the road.

Understandably, the tribe has grown weary of their dismissal and are now taking matters into their hands, and are on the verge of constructing a 76,000-square-foot facility in Shinnecock. This is not ideal for them, nor for any Hamptons resident.

We have the Community Preservation Fund, enriched by a 2 percent tax on all real estate transfers within our local townships, whereby Southampton Township alone has earned tens of millions of dollars to be applied to acquire land or development rights, the goal being to preserve the rural character of the Southampton.

For reasons unclear to me, there has been no response by our local elected officials to engage the Shinnecock Nation and propose to utilize CPF funds to purchase an alternate site for this proposed casino, which would be beneficial to the Shinnecock Nation as well as our townships.

I urge our officials to intercede on our behalf, to reach out to our town supervisor, Jay Schneiderman, to implore him to do everything in his power to utilize his robust CPF coffers to help preserve our township for future generations. I beg our representatives to do so — and, in so doing, you will make yourselves Hamptons Superstars.

Alan Sosne

Shinnecock Hills

CPF revenues could not be used for such a purpose based on the way the law is currently written — Ed.