Letters

I would like to share my very favorable experiences with Maria Moore, who is the mayor of Westhampton Beach. As you may know, she is running for the position of supervisor of the Town of Southampton this fall [“Westhampton Beach Mayor Maria Moore To Run for Southampton Town Supervisor,” 27east.com, February 18].

We lived in the Village of Westhampton Beach from 2013 until 2022. Maria Moore was elected as the mayor of the village in 2014. So she was our mayor during most of our residency.

My wife and I are both retired and we did not own a business in Westhampton Beach; we were simply year-round residents, nothing special. Yet Mayor Moore was most gracious and very responsive to our concerns.

Please keep in mind that she had a very full plate, overseeing the reconstruction of Main Street and dealing with the many thorny aspects of the COVID pandemic.

During this time frame, a couple of things were of concern to my wife and myself. The first was a vacant, dilapidated building on the corner of Montauk Highway and Depot Road. It was a terrible eyesore and an unsafe place where kids might frequent. We lived right up the street in Patio Villas, so we saw it every day as we walked and drove to and from our daily activities.

We contacted Mayor Moore about this matter and, lo and behold, she got back to us rather quickly. She explained that the building needed to be inspected for the existence of “live” electricity before it could be demolished. In any event, amazingly to us, she kept us informed until the structure was removed and the land cleared.

We also expressed our concern about the eyesore of the vacant building (formerly Dora’s Restaurant) on the corner of Montauk Highway and Oak Street. In a similar fashion, she kept us informed on a regular basis. Unfortunately, the owner of the property moved at a snail’s pace, and last we saw (March 2022) it had not yet been demolished or refurbished.

We moved down to Vero Beach, Florida, for the warm winter weather a year ago. The winter weather is fabulous, but we do miss so many aspects of the East End. We will be back for a visit in September (our favorite month).

If we were still residents of Westhampton Beach, we definitely would vote for Maria Moore for Southampton Town supervisor. She has the management skills and the leadership capabilities to do an outstanding job as supervisor. She has demonstrated that she can tackle big, complex projects (Main Street reconstruction). However, she also listens to her constituents and addresses even their relatively minor concerns.

We wish Maria Moore well in her upcoming election for supervisor of Southampton Town.

Dick Sheehan

Vero Beach, Florida