Letters

A recent story [“Divided Southampton Town Board Approves Funding for Affordable Housing on Quiogue,” 27east.com, August 27] relates the Town Board’s discussion leading to a 3-2 vote to award $2.7 million in Community Housing Fund money for a 79-unit workforce housing project on Quiogue.

An editorial in the same issue [“Stop Stalling,” September 4] reviews the South Fork’s admitted crisis in affordable housing and concludes that Southampton’s Town Board is “stuck in first gear” about the much-needed acceleration of the approval process.

The editorial refers specifically to the recent $2.7 million award for the Quiogue development, in which Supervisor Maria Moore was one of the two no votes. While criticizing the town for “analysis paralysis,” “old thinking” and “needless last-minute obstructions,” the editorial makes no mention of Supervisor Moore’s stated reasons for opposing the award.

This is strange, because it ignores facts related explicitly in Michael Wright’s news story in the same issue. There, Supervisor Moore is reported to have seen that the approvals for the necessary change of zone expired in May of this year, so that a CHF award now would be for a project that is no longer legal. We should, she suggested, extend the approvals and bring the project within the law before funding it.

Maria Moore is a lawyer. She understands what must be done here. That’s not “stalling” — it’s just following the law. Especially when it takes only a week to extend the approvals, the stalling charge is utterly misplaced.

There was another reason Supervisor Moore voted no, as reported by Michael Wright: She was concerned that the project is already being heavily subsidized by federal and state tax credits for low-income housing, and by public funding, so that the CHF grant would only “help increase the developer’s profit margin.” She thus opposed it.

As supervisor, Ms. Moore sees her job as ensuring that the town’s laws are kept and that the town’s money is spent responsibly. That’s what this vote was about, and it’s very hard to see how this is “old thinking” or raising “last-minute obstructions” or any of the other ill-considered charges made in this editorial.

It surely wasn’t by stalling that Maria Moore accomplished the historic transformation of downtown Westhampton Beach as mayor there, or the addition of Town Police officers, improvement of water quality, and significant land preservation, all with a balanced budget and AAA bond rating, as Southampton supervisor. No, indeed. This is a leader who gets great things done in the right way.

I’m voting for Maria Moore for supervisor on November 4. Please join me.

George Lynch

Quiogue

Lynch is communications chair for the Southampton Town Democratic Committee — Ed.