A few years ago, the late Southampton Press columnist Phil Keith and I shared emails about zoning. Phil, a conservative, always treated me with respect and a willingness to listen to my ideas. He provided valuable input and had some pretty good ideas. We jokingly agreed, “But nobody in Town Hall listens to us!”
So I agree with newly elected Town Board member Cynthia McNamara, who argued “that the people want to be heard.”
In a recent Letter to the Editor, East Quogue resident Rita Kennedy wrote that Ms. McNamara successfully fought to bring Suffolk County water to homeowners located on a stretch of Lewis Road ignored by the town over the years [“Working For Us,” Letters, October 7]. And I agree that Cynthia deserves credit for her effort.
However, I believe the issue going forward is why Ms. Kennedy and her neighbors were cut off from public water in the first place when a subdivision of larger homes right behind her house received public water. This question goes to a second Letter to the Editor, from Nancy Graboski, also a supporter of Cynthia McNamara [“Trusted And Respected,” Letters, October 21].
Ms. Graboski, a Republican, along with Steve Kenny, a Democrat, served on the Planning Board that created the subdivision. In addition to cutting off public water to the neighbors, they redesigned a street that created a traffic hazard and enlarged a recharge basin that overflowed, contributing to multiple traffic accidents and significant property damage.
The challenge facing Cynthia McNamara, I believe, is to make the effort to understand why this type of planning was allowed and why the developer of a proposed golf course resort, known as the Lewis Road PRD, was allowed to propose zoning that also cut off public water to Lewis Road homeowners who apparently were not considered important.
Ironically, both Ms. Graboski and Mr. Kenny went on to serve on the Southampton Town Board, where they supported an annual reassessment that lacks a transparent methodology and that favors the relatively large homes in the subdivision they created.
One begins to wonder whether some homeowners are being exploited to favor others.
Susan Cerwinski
East Quogue
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