With all the fuss about having to give up (polluting, loud) gas-powered leaf blowers and switch to the (cleaner, quieter) electric kind, you’d think that gas blowers had been around forever.
In fact, those of us who grew up in Southampton Village in the 1950s and 1960s had only the rake. And while it’s true that raking didn’t move leaves around at 200 mph, it did the job, allowing us to enjoy fall — our favorite season — in peace.
It’s not that we expect that rakes will make a comeback; it’s just that electric blowers seem like a more than reasonable compromise.
Many of us in the village feel that a ban on gas blowers is called for — and by that we don’t mean a ban that will take effect in over two and a half years, as the current draft legislation proposes. Enacting it no more than a year from now should give all parties time to adapt to new and more Earth-friendly (and people-friendly) practices.
Because there is a possibility that this may be voted on that evening, all village residents interested in this issue, please attend next Tuesday’s 5 p.m. Village Board meeting and make your voices heard.
Penelope Wright
Southampton
Shut Him UpFolks: it is time to take Michael Daly at his word(s), unpleasant as that may be. First: glide by his smarmy greeting card calls for “love.” His own words reveal him, above all, and consistently, a purveyor of hate and...
Suffering in SilenceWhen our world gets out of balance, we lose our comfort and security. Too much or too little of anything spikes our fear, and we lose our sense of peace. Those who have what they want and need are comfortable....
Advocate & Adjudicate?The previous administration of [Supervisor Jay] Schneiderman and current board member Tommy John Schiavoni did not give high priority to monitoring appointed public officials for ethical lapses in their private life activities. This laissez-faire policy towards ethics enforcement appears to...
Soil Is CallingIn a book titled “In Old Southampton,” Abigail Halsey reminds us that in the early days of Southampton, “every man was a farmer and a fisherman.” But those days are long gone and most people, today, have no connection to...
A Web of InterestsKudos to Craig Catalanotto [“What Are We Doing?” Letters, April 18] and Barbara Ring [“Tangled Web” Letters, April 18] for their letters to the editor shining a light on the web of special interests, conflicts of interest and misinformation that...
Dates of InfamySeptember 11 and October 7, similar dates of infamy for strong allies with similarly divergent reactions. Now gathered mobs of protesters are cheering on those who cry “Death to America” and call for the complete annihilation and genocide of the...
Your VoiceOn June 25, registered Democrats will go to the ballot box to determine who will represent their ticket for New York’s 1st Congressional District. Although CD1 has recently been held by Republicans, both parties have assumed leadership over the years....
Master ClassI thank Barbara Ring for aptly proving my point. In response to my letter [“An Alliance,” Letters, April 11], which decried the state of civic public discourse in Hampton Bays as being overtaken by misinformation, fear-mongering and conspiracy peddling, Ring...
