Letters

Supervisor Maria Moore, when running for election, said, “The town should have the ability to just say ‘no’ to projects such as Liberty Gardens that wind up in a years-long process with town agencies before elected officials finally say, ‘Let’s give them something.’” Or everything?

Does she actually not know that she and the Town Council have just that ability — to say no by declining applications in presubmission, or after a work session, and by voting to approve or disapprove? That is, if she and the Town Council ever make up their minds to vote.

As part of Moore’s election pitch, she agreed with Cyndi McNamara (who does know how municipal governments govern) that the Liberty Gardens application had “been presented without proper transparency and details from the developer for what it would entail insofar as traffic and sewage.” Neither of these issues have been addressed sufficiently, along with myriad others. What more does she need to know to vote no?

She also said, “People” — by which she means developers — “get down the road and spend lots of money creating a fait accompli even when the projects don’t fit in the community.” Is that a no, then?

No, because she then told Newsday, after being elected, that the 45-day window granted by the developer gives her and the developer “time to come up with scenarios (sic) to ease congestion.” Adding, “The town and the applicant both felt that things were progressing and we should give ourselves more time to work out the details.”

Scenarios? Details? Does she not know that the problem of congestion has been acute for over three decades?

“I know the applicant feels the development is not going to create a lot of traffic, but I feel that, given the current circumstances that currently exist with County Road 39, anything added to that creates a problem.” A problem she allows Ralph Fasano to define and to solve with “details.” As for all the rest — crime, danger, safety drain on services, etc. — she states “It’s really not about that for me …”

Does she know what proper transparency, which she prattled about in her pre-election pitch, means? She should know that she does not speak for “the town” when her closed-door meetings include only Tommy John Schiavoni, Fasano and his lawyer.

When asked by Newsday if she would be able to get to a point within the 45-day window when she can say yes to Liberty Gardens, she declared shamelessly, “I’m very hopeful that that’s going to happen.”

What more do we need to know? I expect she will serve for one disastrous term, leaving even more damage than her pal Jay Schneiderman did in her wake.

Frances Genovese

Southampton