Letters

Last week, East Hampton Town forwarded a “news flash” to residents via email, wherein the state sought input regarding, among other things, the accessibility of internet and broadband use at our workplaces and homes.

I was slightly amused by this, as I wasn’t 100 percent sure how the governor’s request for “input” actually relates to the town’s existing “unlawful” (ruled as such by a federal court) “Communication Tower” Code. It is funny only in the fact that it is unclear to me what our now-sitting Town Board ultimately decided its “vision” was for future cell and emergency towers — as per a tax-underwritten survey. Most residents of Springs said cell service was “inadequate” or “nonexistent.”

I am hoping that survey will be forwarded to the governor so Springs residents don’t have to respond again individually to some of the same questions posed almost a year ago.

Having lived in Springs since 1985, and being a Town Board-appointed member of the Springs Advisory Committee on and off for almost 20 years, I believe the reason Springs residents do not have the basic ability to call 911 from a cellphone or to download “wireless data” from a computer or their phone may seem complicated, but I don’t believe it really is if you follow the dilatory “recommendations” that came, and continue to come, from the Planning Department over the years, deeming such applications incomplete or recommending outright denial.

Regardless of political affiliation, one can easily connect the political dots over the last two decades to understand the dire situation we have been placed in for a very long time. I am hopeful our current administration and the new head of the Planning Department will recognize once and for all that federal law trumps (unlawful) town code — stop needlessly holding up applications objected to by neighbors based on property values, environmental and/or aesthetic concerns, and a new day will dawn when all Springs residents agree that safety must come first in the tower debacle.

I am most disconcerted by the obvious commitment the town has in ensuring cell tower proceeds go into its own coffers vs. the pockets of any not-for-profit, private or quasi-municipal entity. Way back when the Springs Improvement Society proposed that the existing flagpole be raised to 100 to 150 feet for cell communications to be installed at Ashawagh Hall, the biggest objector was then-liaison to the Springs Citizens Advisory Committee and Town Board member Deb Foster.

First responders and residents alike should have the ability to make calls for health and safety reasons. Being able to work from home and use basic “download’ capacities on a computer or cellphone would just be an added bonus.

Tick, tick, tick.

Tina Piette

Springs