Letters

Folks, it’s time to cancel the “Jay the Virgin Show.” Or do you really want to continue to suspend disbelief and accept, as in one of the latest episodes, that Jay Schneiderman was, as he claimed, totally unaware that the unequivocally denounced 60-unit, guard-gated “affordable housing” to be plopped on County Road 39, lobbed at us from a Medford “nonprofit,” was reinstating its proposal? Gosh, he never expected it and didn’t know about it? He thought it was “radio dead,” whatever that means.

Are we also to believe that he was blindsided by one Michael Daly, a member of the Southampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals, who stepped up as a private citizen to advocate—or shill—for the disputed development with 30 form letters in hand and groups of their “clients” ready to move in? Don’t these guys even nod to each other in the bathroom?

In any case, Mr. Daly, as a ZBA member, gets to vote on a zone change for this proposal. After his turn at the microphone, he must recuse himself going forward.

Mr. Daly is a Realtor who is a member of several organizations, one of which is RIMBY, or Right in My Back Yard. Only thing is, Mr. Daly’s backyard is Sag Harbor, and the backyard in question here is Hillcrest and the Village of Southampton, on a gridlocked highway completely inappropriate for consideration: the 9-acre site of the Full Gospel Church.

Mr. Schneiderman’s innocence also extends to the ramifications of this development, which, because it will benefit from state and possibly federal funding, is by law open to anyone and cannot be restricted to the local “workforce.” First time around, all the extremely well-paid mid-island advocates were in place with their letters on behalf of their “clients” before anyone even heard of this project. Yet Mr. Schneiderman continues to reassure people that isn’t so.

And do we really need to convene another body to “study” the impact of the egregious 100 percent market value taxes imposed on all of us by the town, which Mr. Schneiderman has left in place throughout his tenure? After all, he came from East Hampton and should have enough experience, and empirical knowledge, and have touched base with enough people to make that call or to answer the question: How come the Town of Southampton and Shelter Island are the only two municipalities on the East End who assess according to this punitive formula?

Enough is enough. How about voting in some new talent and a new plot line with, hopefully, fewer commercial interruptions and disruptions?

Frances GenoveseSouthampton