Letters

We are Wainscott residents who read with distress the opposition being mounted against the affordable housing project proposed for construction near Route 114 [“Wainscott School Says Affordable Housing Project Fits Growth, but Wants Town To Add a Cap,” 27east.com, April 5]. The concerns being raised by the school district reflect its self-interest and not the greater interests of the community in which we live.

To suggest that housing should be largely restricted to seniors or to the childless (maximizing one-bedroom apartments over two- or three-bedroom units) is to turn a willfully blind eye to the paucity of existing affordable residences for teachers, health care workers, firefighters, police officers and municipal workers, among many others.

In addition, the idea that it would be unmanageable for the district to meet any possible special education or English as a second language needs of new students living in the affordable units seems to underscore significant educational limits, as well as the space constraints at the small Wainscott School.

These objections are solvable, as was so well articulated in last week’s editorial [“Time To Grow,” Editorial, April 13]. The Wainscott and Sag Harbor school districts can merge, reducing the high cost of educating the 26 children enrolled there, and eliminating the need to tuition students into other schools after third grade. The cost to Wainscott taxpayers for participation in a merged school district is capable of being forecast and can be part of this discussion, but maintaining the lowest tax burden in the area should not be an end itself.

Stacey and David Brodsky

Wainscott