Letters

I am trying to figure out who had the idea of using the State Department of Environmental Conservation to put up fencing and block the 4×4 driving on the beaches in Southampton. Great idea on using the piping plover excuse to close the beaches from driving. It is a political ploy to satisfy the homeowners who live on Meadow Lane in their million-dollar mansions.

The earth, land, oceans and lakes are not anyone’s. The beaches and oceans are not for sale. They are town or village beaches, maintained by those governments. County parks are not restricting vehicles or campers because of piping plovers.

If piping plovers are found at a residence on Meadow Lane, are you going to evict the owners? You should!

Why do we pay for 4×4 beach access permits and then you stop us from fishing or using the beach for recreation?

If you never allowed building in the dunes, the birds would have never become endangered. And now the town and village allow removing all vegetation and moving the sand dunes all around so the owners can build these God-awful monstrous mansions to the maximum setbacks. It was never like this years ago.

When a hurricane or flood destroys their (second or third seasonal) homes, they should not be allowed to rebuild — let it go back to nature. Write it off as a loss. And the piping plovers have their land back.

And the residences on Meadow Lane should be assessed to fund and add to the road a bike/walk lane, since people have forgotten that cars have the right to the road. Bikes and people walking or running should be in a single file, not double file.

Also, the persons who purchased the 4×4 beach access permits and did the right thing, and have for years, are mostly residents, because we respect and understand the rules of using town and village beaches — it is the out-of-state and seasonal residents who ruin it for others. Those people should be refunded the fee of $40, because you are not allowing us our right to access our right, set in the laws, to use the beaches. Instead, you will keep our money and use it inappropriately, like using the piping plovers to keep us off the beach.

We know, and it is stated in the guidelines given to us when we purchase the permit, not to drive up and nearest to the dunes, and not in the water’s edge at the middle or high tide mark. Piping plovers nest in the dunes.

Money can get you what you want, or the people to make the changes to allow them to get what they want.

Tim McCarthy

Southampton