Letters

One of the things I like about local politics is that it’s mostly free of the extreme partisanship we see so much on the national level. Town government is about things like land use, roads, bridges and property tax, not the divisive us-and-them stuff that’s burdening our national discourse.

The largely legitimate grievances of the Hampton Bays community about Bel-Aire Cove Motel, Main Street plans and battery energy storage systems are no exceptions to this rule, but some people try to make exceptions of them and cast these things as disputes between political parties.

It’s not so, and those who attempt it, such as Greg Robins in a recent letter [“Deaf Ears,” Letters, July 27], should be more careful. Mr. Robins’s approach — painting the Democrats on the Town Board as the bad guys — prompts at least one question: Who on this Town Board lives in Hampton Bays? Turns out it’s Republican Rick Martel, who’s running for reelection this year.

Next question: After Rick Martel, who on this Town Board lives next-closest to Hampton Bays? That will be Republican Cyndi McNamara of East Quogue, who’s running for — wait for it — town supervisor this year.

Now, if Rick Martel and Cyndi McNamara could claim to have been a staunch minority of two on the board, always opposing the three Democrats on these Hampton Bays questions, that would be one thing — but that hasn’t been the case.

Of course, all board members are working for the whole town, but when you live in a particular community, it’s expected that you’ll fight for that community, that you’ll listen to your neighbors and take their concerns to Town Hall.

If that’s happened here, there’s no evidence of it. Instead, as Steve Crispinelli observes in another letter [“Three Words,” Letters, July 27], at the BESS discussion in the July 20 board meeting, “Cyndi McNamara stared ahead, hoping this event would be over …”

It’s not about party politics, though Greg Robins would make it so. He and others like him should learn that when you take this path, there are hazards.

For example, in his July 27 letter, Mr. Robins states that the recent closure of three town transfer stations due to the breakdown of Waste Management Division trucks “illustrated the poor management of the Democratic-led Town Board.” But what member of that Town Board is designated as responsible for the Waste Management Division? It’s Republican supervisor candidate Cyndi McNamara. Whoops!

Let’s all try to keep our local politics off the hazardous path of hyper-partisanship. It’s always been better for Southampton when we do that.

George Lynch

Quiogue

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