Letters

As a 25-year resident of the Town of Southampton, I have been witness to the vast and significant influx of people either moving to or working on the East End.

According to my observations, and more importantly relying on the word of lifelong residents, the Hamptons are more congested than at any other time in history. Our roads are dangerous; if you haven’t had, or seen, an accident, or observed a form of road rage, you are fortunate. Simply read the paper to understand the escalation in accidents.

Let me begin by thanking our emergency services personnel. I happen to live within earshot of one firehouse whistle, and it blows at all hours of the day and into the wee hours of night. Ambulance and firehouse volunteers are called out so frequently, I can’t imagine how they handle their paid jobs.

Worse still is that I understand some of the “emergency calls” are false alarms, because some household technical system malfunctioned and signaled an alarm. Ugh. It must be mighty frustrating to be dragged out of bed to a false alarm.

And yet, our volunteers respond to every situation as a crisis — thankfully so, because many times it is truly life threatening. Too many people driving too quickly and without attention has caused a dramatic spike in catastrophic injuries and fatalities.

This job is beyond demanding, so thank you to the entire faction of emergency responders.

I’d also like to acknowledge the outstanding efforts of newly elected Highway Superintendent Charlie McArdle and his team of employees. The constant congestion on both major thoroughfares and what were once “back roads” is problematic, because the infrastructure wasn’t designed to handle the horde of passenger cars and throng of contractors. Knowing there isn’t an easy solution hasn’t stopped Superintendent McArdle from attempting to mitigate problems in our more strained pathways.

And bless those employees out before sunup placing barrels and cones, directing and tracking traffic patterns in an attempt to keep us all safer. Your efforts at problem solving this intensely complicated issue are praiseworthy.

In addition to focusing attention on alleviating the most clogged roadways, McArdle and his team have done an outstanding job caring for all our roads. In the 25 years I’ve been a homeowner, my dirt road had never been graded — not once. Potholes were so massive in one section that emergency personnel couldn’t access residents after a heavy rainstorm or snowfall. Under the present administration, however, our dirt roads have been well tended to and the problem resolved!

A heartfelt thank you to Superintendent McArdle and his employees for taking their role seriously. I appreciate and applaud these folks who work tirelessly to maintain our quality of life.

Heather Haux

North Sea