Letters

At the last Southampton Village Board meeting, Trustee Len Zinnanti, a former Rudy Giuliani employee and Mayor Bill Manger’s deputy mayor, told frustrated residents that “anyone who wants to be on the traffic committee can be on the traffic committee.”

That claim would be comical if it weren’t so insulting. The so-called “traffic committee” already lists about 20 members and has met about three times in the past 12 months. Yet, it is routinely invoked to justify bad traffic laws that have left Hill Street lined with cones and Halsey Neck Lane in a daily chokehold.

The reality is that the traffic committee is in name only; real traffic decisions come from a few well-connected donors, like Eric Ruttenberg, and elite New York City prep school buddies like William McLanahan, who appear to direct the mayor.

The same evening revealed more of this administration’s failures. Trustee Roy Stevenson actually said, “I apologize that their life has been hell,” referring to residents on Halsey Neck Lane. But he only apologized because he got caught privatizing part of Captain’s Neck Lane to appease a top campaign donor, despite no documented traffic problem there.

Perhaps Mr. Stevenson should also apologize to neighbors on Moses Lane and Pelham Street, where traffic has worsened. Or maybe apologize to a resident who was struck by a car on Somerset Avenue when he let enforcement slip. After more than four years in office, he has little to show beyond apologies.

And Manger? He can’t even decide whether a traffic light should stay or go, all while paying an expensive traffic consulting firm with taxpayer dollars without board approval. He owes the public an accounting of how much money has now been spent on “traffic studies” before spending another dollar. As of June, the expense was about $50,000.

So, Len, please consider this my official sign-up. Just let me know when that next meeting is so I can speak on behalf of working class Southampton residents and the year-round greater community.

Jessica McNerney

Southampton Village