Letters

The untrue and misleading statements recently made in our community about the upcoming vote on the Marsden lots are concerning. It is one thing to have a difference of opinion about the potential purchase — that is democracy. It is another thing to knowingly spread falsehoods in hopes that Sag Harbor residents will rely on those statements when they vote — that is fraud, an actionable offense under the laws of New York.

Reliance on these fraudulent statements appears in the April 17 column by Anthony Brandt [“The Marsden Plan,” Out of Left Field, Opinion, 27east.com], when he incorrectly referenced a cost estimate about purported fields. The incorrect amount has been promoted by Marsden opponents who consistently and knowingly misrepresent facts about Marsden. I ask our local paper to conduct better fact-checking going forward with its articles and the advertisements it runs.

The only currently factual numbers about the Marsden lots are those in the ballot proposition: $9,425,000 total, comprising $3,425,000 from reserves and a $6 million bond. The school business official presented estimations that the increase in taxes will be approximately $40 per year over the 20-year bond term for a property with a $1 million appraised value, or 11 cents per day, per household.

Over the last few years, the discourse in this country has seemed to make lying acceptable, and the time has come to put an end to it. At the national level, our former president has been indicted. Fox News has agreed to pay an enormous settlement. These instances of accountability give hope that we can act locally in our own village to end the lying.

Open your eyes, Sag Harbor. Don’t be fooled by false messaging and misleading tactics. The Sag Harbor Schools’ IB and PLANT programs teach our children to become critical thinkers by asking students to consider the biases of authors and to review multiple sources before forming opinions. Sag Harbor residents, I implore you to do the same the next time you receive politically charged messaging.

As part of my own due diligence, I cross-checked the most vocal Marsden opponents against the Sag Harbor property tax rolls, and they tend to have two commonalities. First, their properties neighbor the Marsden lots. Second, more importantly, they rarely, if ever, disclose that they are neighboring property owners in their public discourse regarding the Marsden lots.

Democracy is about letting all voices be heard and differences of opinion are fundamental, but making false statements to sway votes for their own financial interests as property owners is fraud. It is time to hold our neighbors accountable.

Jordana Sobey, Esq.

Sag Harbor

Sobey is a member of the Sag Harbor School Board, but she notes that the views expressed in her letter are “solely my own and do not represent the views of the School Board as a whole” — Ed.