Letters

It’s with no happiness that I write to you with respect to the recent chaos on display by our local government. In this time of crisis, with people losing loved ones, we need our leadership united and concentrating all energies battling this pandemic and preparing for perhaps the most challenging summer in Southampton’s history.

With that said, I am writing specifically to defend the record of Kimberly Allan and to refute the allegations against her made by Mayor Jesse Warren with respect to the environment.

I had a great deal of exposure to Trustee Allan when I was in the trenches on my anti-leaf-blowing crusade. She always picked up her phone — and I called a lot — and she never failed to respond to emails. She worked tirelessly to set up meetings — which she always attended — between environmentalists and landscapers, and helped shape and pass the legislation banning the nightmarish pollution machines in the summer months.

It was very hard work, with a lot of guaranteed antipathy directed her way. But she handled it with the passage of the ban, making Southampton Village a leader in the country when it comes to this hot-button environmental issue.

So any allegation that she’s part of an anti-environmental cabal is ludicrous.

Mayor Warren: Instead of making irresponsible, false allegations against a hardworking trustee whom many of us like and respect, please concentrate on being a positive force in these challenging times. The infighting, bending of rules with respect to budgets and posts on social media are beyond the pale.

We all expect better.

Orson Cummings

Southampton Village