Letters

The Sag Harbor School District’s push for community acceptance of a proposed athletic field on the vacant lots on Marsden Street is manipulative and greedy.

The fact that the Teachers Association is chiming in now to throw their support behind this effort is ironic [“Sag Harbor Teachers Association Throws Its Support Behind Marsden Purchase,” 27east.com, December 14]. Most teachers live west of Sag Harbor and perhaps do not understand the residential neighborhood that the school happens to be located within.

Let’s take a moment to consider noise pollution that echoes from Pierson hill — it’s a natural amplifier. Second, let’s consider parking, which is already a headache to anyone who lives on the stretch of Jermain Avenue from Route 114 to Madison Street.

When they say, “Don’t worry! We haven’t decided on turf!” they mean “not yet.” Didn’t we already vote this $7 million plan down years ago?

They claim the lack of an on-site athletic field is affecting the education of students … well, I went to this same school, and my education did not suffer. On the contrary, generations of students have succeeded without this additional athletic field. In fact, the back field at Pierson already is more than what was available to me as a Pierson student.

They say the walk to the park is “dangerous,” when, actually, the beauty of Sag Harbor is that we are a safe community — safe enough that our kids can walk the short distance from the school to the park on their own. I think it is beautiful that our community can work together to benefit our students, meaning that the school and park can work to create accessible fields for our children to use.

The final line of this article really pushed me over the edge: “It is an investment that may not impact as many residents all at once … but it will impact some of the community’s most important residents for decades to come.”

I wonder, just where will this generation go, in those decades to come, when there are no affordable places to live for hardworking young professionals? Basically, this purchase would benefit a small number of students and their determined, entitled, stage-mom/sports-dad parents.

Ya know what would actually help the younger generation for decades to come? Putting a small number of affordable living units on these 4 acres on Marsden Street. Leave most of the trees and vegetation and create living space for a dozen young couples who’ve worked their butts off just to keep their heads above water.

This way, a residential area of the village remains residential, peaceful, and perhaps one day a young student could come home to Sag Harbor and become a teacher in their hometown.

Megan Toy

Sag Harbor