Featured Letter: We can protect both land and water

To the editor:

Gail Wickham’s letter misrepresents three matters pertaining to the amendment of the Community Preservation Fund, proposed by Assemblyman Fred Thiele and State Senator Kenneth LaValle.

First, extension of the real estate transfer tax that preserves open space and farmland will guarantee more money for land purchases than contemplated when the CPF was created in 1999. Directing 20 percent of the fund for water protection will not reduce the funds intended to protect farms.

Second, there are inadequate funds to reverse declining water quality on the East End by reducing nitrogen from wastewater from septic tanks and from fertilizers used on farms. The CPF expansion and extension would allow us to protect land and water.

Third, contrary to Ms. Wickham’s assertion, I don’t want to use someone else’s money for my goals. I want some of the CPF, for which I campaigned, to be used for clean water for the East End, which should be everybody’s goal — even those of us who don’t even live on the East End.

Richard Amper
executive director,
Long Island Pine Barrens Society