Letters

I was struck dumb when I opened The New York Times last week, and there was a big picture of Southampton Village Mayor Jesse Warren sitting amid boxes, with the headline that he was a “squatter” in a village home.

I mean, really?

This isn’t the first time our mayor has run to the press to play the victim. When he contacted the New York Post in July of last year, they reported how he was in a “panic,” bemoaning the fact that he could not find another place in the village to rent at his current $2,750 a month. Really? That’s about the cost of a designer coat at his store, Tenet.

Somehow, he managed to scrape together almost $1.5 million, because he bought a home in the village [“Southampton Village Mayor Jesse Warren’s Housing Squabble Continues With Epley Family,” 27east.com, January 26].

So, really, what was all the fuss about? It appears that our mayor is more interested in any kind of publicity than in working to address the larger local problem of affordable housing. It appears he can take advantage of a housing situation to serve his own purpose.

That rankles, even more so in a pandemic when real people are facing real housing problems.

Andrew Wahl

Southampton