Letters

Someone shared this week’s article on business district proposals and land procurements in Hampton Bays [“To Further His Vision, Developer Has Purchased An Array Of Downtown Hampton Bays Parcels,” 27east.com, August 10] to social media. Almost immediately, commenters mentioned that something should be done with the former Hampton Bays Diner.

Kicking that idea around brought me to an “a-ha” moment. I propose a cut and paste. I would like to see a brand-new U.S. Post Office on the property where the current diner stands. There is plenty of room on that land for the parking needed for the postal trucks and for us, the patrons.

I would demand that the new building return to the old-style drop boxes instead of the Trump-era disasters we currently have in Hampton Bays. I have noticed that the Southampton Post Office has the old-style “mail it from your car” drop boxes that work quite well with their new, clean, presentable building.

The old Hampton Bays building could then be leveled to become a new parking lot. Not a park, not commercial buildings and absolutely not affordable housing. Hampton Bays is fully saturated with affordable housing, and we look to our neighboring communities to give their fair share.

The biggest problem with downtown Hampton Bays is that there is nowhere to park, get out of the car and conduct some retail business. The vacant land where the current post office sits would answer that need quite well.

To summarize: We need a new post office, and we don’t need a dilapidated diner. We need new postal drop boxes, and we don’t need much of anything from the Trump era.

And most of all, when it comes to affordable housing, Hampton Bays has “No Vacancy.”

Bruce Doscher

Hampton Bays