Letters

The Southampton Press recently published an editorial regarding a successful challenge brought by a Hampton Bays resident, Gayle Lombardi, that blocked the rezoning of the hamlet’s downtown business district [“No Need to Bully,” August 5].

I believe The Press did readers a favor by calling attention to an opinionated response by Southampton’s supervisor. However, by stating that Ms. Lombardi’s argument involved mostly “technical” concerns, I believe The Press somewhat diminished Ms. Lombardi’s achievement.

Zoning is technical. It’s not a popularity contest. The opinions of town and land-use boards (or developers) are irrelevant when a law is broken.

I’ve also made successful complaints (to various town departments) and, ironically, I’ve used quotes published in The Press by people who aren’t telling the truth and/or who are trying to create a counter-narrative to distract readers from a technical issue. As pointed out by The Press, Ms. Lombardi is concerned about safety, and I suspect her opposition to Good Ground Park involved safety issues as well.

I believe it’s important to establish the conditions under which zoning changes are granted in order to hold investors or developers responsible for meeting those conditions as properties change hands over time. Failing to do so makes it difficult to deal with issues of polluted water, polluted air, increases in traffic, accidents, street flooding and zoning abuses.

Susan Cerwinski

East Quogue