Letters

As I meet residents from Westhampton to Montauk, a universal complaint appears to come up consistently: Traffic has reached epic proportions.

Many factors have led us to where we are today. In the end, the absolute truth is a failure of planning. Planning failures come in many forms, including a myopic view for which Robert Moses was classically famous for his focus on roadways at the expense of mass transit and residential urban planning.

In other instances, the failure of communities to understand the consequences of growth, as in the late 1970s, when Suffolk County proposed a widening and upgrading of 11 miles of County Road 39 in Southampton, only to meet intense opposition from the community.

In other instances, planners and politicians fell in love with their work and could not make adjustments as development intensified. Take Springs, for example: The town’s newly created 1980s master plan zoned the hamlet of Springs into a tax base fiasco, condemning Springs residents into a never-ending cycle of spiraling high school taxes.

Just as with traffic, septic management is equally problematic — a failure to recognize that, at some point, there would be more septic than can be safely filtrated. In the 1960s, East Hampton and Southampton were still very rural. Sewers could have been required as a development component at a minimum cost comparable to sewer installation today.

The good news is that the invention of I/A septic systems is all the rage and much better than traditional septic systems. Unfortunately, I/A systems are not foolproof. As recently as 2022, several county-approved systems have consistently failed to meet minimum standards, and the county had to direct the manufacturers to retrofit already-installed systems.

The future of eastern Long Island will require out-of-the-box innovative thinking to protect our environment, economy and all the wonders that make our homes unique — but if we depend on the same old thinking, the future will bring more problems than solutions.

This Election Day, let’s move forward to protect our environment, community, and future. Let’s think out of the box, bring innovation back, and vote for change. A decade is too long to go without solutions.

Manny Vilar

East Hampton

Mr. Vilar is a Republican candidate for the Suffolk County Legislature — Ed.