Letters

So, do I have this correct? Trustee Aidan Corish wants paid parking to pay for sidewalk repairs, rain gardens, John Steinbeck Park and a host of other projects that paid parking would pay for [“Sag Harbor Will Weigh Paid Parking,” 27east.com, December 10]? Seriously — so residents should pay for these things that a homeowner should be responsible for, such as maintaining your sidewalk in front of your house?

John Steinbeck Park should be paid for by parking? What happened to the master plan, from design to conception, using little to no taxes, balancing nonprofit and grants? Instead, you want a paid parking plan to absorb this burden.

What’s next — electronic tolls over the Jordan Haerter Memorial Bridge?

Additionally, we are going to pay Park Mobile 35 percent on each transaction. Their customer service is horrendous, and I encourage members to do their due diligence in vetting this company as thoroughly as possible, as they have thousands of consumer complaints.

This is beyond incredulous, and our residents need to speak out against this before we become the very towns he mentions, Southampton and East Hampton. Ask most residents and they will say we certainly don’t want that vibe, but what do you get when your representation embodies all that small towns don’t stand for? East Hampton is littered with empty stores and looks like a ghost town. Wasn’t the very reason you came to Sag Harbor was to absorb its quintessential small time feel? But now you want to transform it into a village of tourists and paying gawkers willing to shell out tons of money just to park on Main Street, visit our new cinema and soon our new theater. I sense a community of buses lined up to partake in our new cultural enrichment that they once had fulfilled in Manhattan.

You are about to kill the goose that laid the golden egg — to satisfy whom? Residents? I don’t think so. We certainly don’t want paid parking. All we want is to come to our town when we want, park where available and not worry about apps, overreaching parking parameters or how to pay for rain gardens.

This town has lost its way, and the residents had better wake up, speak up and send a clear message that we want to keep our town a small town without absorbing the distractions of those who come to the most perfect place in the world just to shape it in their distorted urban visions.

Thomas M. Jones

Sag Harbor