In regard to the Southampton Town plan to obtain surplus housing from the U.S. Coast Guard and the issue of transparency of local government, I offer this interesting piece of information.
A recent Freedom of Information Act request produced a letter from Jay Schneiderman to Congressman Lee Zeldin expressing the town’s interest in purchasing the U.S. Coast Guard property for the purpose of rent or sale. The letter is dated August 2017.
This means that the town has had an official interest in this potential project for at least over four years — yet, during that time, numerous requests for information by local Hampton West Estates residents went unanswered or simply ignored.
So much for transparency.
We fully expect that the Coast Guard units in question will eventually become occupied. Over the years, our local residents association has made it clear we support owner-occupied units and not rentals, which the town may prefer, as that creates a revenue stream.
If the community housing town officials think we will settle for three minutes of time at a public hearing to express our position and then be brushed aside, they will be sadly mistaken.
Forest Markowitz
Westhampton
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...
