Letters: Village at Jamesport, Mitt Romney and choppers
SOUTH JAMESPORT
Land seizure
changes nothing
Legal action taking back the Village at Jamesport developer’s adjacent property is interesting news, but wholly unsurprising. And it changes nothing.
1. The sheriff’s seizure and auction don’t directly impact the commercial parcel where the Village is planned.
2. Even if they did, this would not affect the special use permits, which is what Save Main Road is challenging.
Permits run with the land, which is why we’ve always been concerned that someone with the wherewithal to actually build this project would buy the 10-acre parcel. If that happens, then bistros (as many as four, thanks to the Town Board’s “answer” to our concerns) and offices will quickly follow.
We’ve never taken issue with Julius Klein, who, despite carrying considerable baggage, is just doing what developers do.
Our issues are with the Town Board members and staff, who continue to ignore both the law and the wishes of hundreds of local residents who have spoken against these uses. So far, our representatives are neither doing their jobs nor protecting our interests.
As wise neighbors to the west have observed: “Our environment is our economy.” If we despoil Main Road, our piece of the North Fork will stop being special. The more it looks like the rest of Long Island, the quicker agro-tourism will dry up. We’ll be twice-cursed: our economic engine will run out of gas, and we’ll drive down our once-pastoral roads and think we’re in Brookhaven.
No one is saying nothing should be built on this site; we just insist new development conform to the regulations that were designed to keep the Rural Corridor from becoming Route 58 Extension. We have the right to remain rural; see SaveMainRoad.org.
Larry Simms
JAMESPORT
What about
the taxpayer?
Today an apparent emergency at the IGHL facility located on Timothy Lane in Jamesport resulted in a total of nine emergency vehicles responding, along with the corresponding personnel.
As this is one of the many facilities located in Riverhead Town that pays not one penny in taxes for services, much less this level of emergency response, I just hope that when a taxpayer needs medical attention we’ll be receiving the same level of care as the patients at this home do.
Thomas W. Smith
RIVERHEAD
Not essential
to whom?
I can’t help but be both curious and confused by candidate Mitt Romney’s characterization of the affordable health care plan as being “non-essential” when he spoke at the NAACP Convention in Houston recently.
It is estimated that around 30 to 33 million Americans who don’t now have health care benefits will be able to get them when the health care plan comes into full effect in 2014. And simple math will tell you that on the very day that Romney was addressing that convention, there were literally thousands and thousands of Americans who were sitting in doctors’ offices, emergency rooms and even lying in regular hospital beds, who aren’t covered by any benefit plan, whose “essential” thought at that time was how in the world they were going to figure out a way to pay their ever-mounting medical bills.
I would like to think Mr. Romney, whose personal wealth is said to run into the hundreds of millions of dollars, has been wise enough to invest in a health care package that covers him and his wife, although Mrs. Romney might be feeling some concern now, with Mitt showing a possible penchant for living life on the edge with his deeming of having health care insurance as “non-essential.”
Colin Grattan
SOUTHOLD
Out with the inept
Quite often national issues are really local, as we are all impacted.
I am old enough to remember the New York City fiscal crisis in 1975 when Mayor Abe Beame asked President Ford for assistance and the president declined. The Daily News carried the front page headline “FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD.” The city had been badly mismanaged and was using borrowed moneys to meet daily expenses.
Gov. Hugh Carey passed legislation for the Municipal Assistance Corporation and appointed Richard Ravitch to oversee the mess. Under his leadership and effective financial management, along with Mayor Ed Koch’s political backbone, the city eventually returned to a sound financial footing.
I was in business school at the time and my economics professor was teaching that this could never happen to the USA because the federal government had the power to print money. I don’t think most economists today would take this stand toward solving our $15 trillion debt.
Once investors and the citizens lose confidence in our printed money we will become no different from the past fiscal crises in Germany, Argentina or Brazil. I also remember when everyone thought Japan was going to buy the USA, but look how financial confidence has left their economy.
Fiscal mismanagement, whether in the private or public sectors, is always going to end badly.
Yes, we need to make cuts and we may need to raise taxes until our debt is under control. We can only hope to solve our crisis if we vote out the inept and vote in people of character, experience, guts and who understand the time for talk has passed and the time for action is here.
Kenneth Peterson
CUTCHOGUE
Why is he special?
It’s a miracle. Speaker John Boehner and minority leader Nancy Pelosi finally agree on something.
The issue that united them was the flap over the U.S. Olympic Team uniforms being outsourced to China. It was the Olympic Committee’s prerogative but, as Americans, we expected them to live up to a higher standard.
We now find out that Gov. Romney thinks it is acceptable to open Swiss and Cayman Island bank accounts and to own Bermuda shell corporations all for the purpose of avoiding U.S. taxes. Gov. Romney shows he supports these special privileges for the wealthy and that it’s just fine to make use of these tax loopholes available only to the super-rich.
Gov. Romney is not just some rich guy following his accountants’ advice. He’s running for the highest office in the land, president of the United States. If ordinary citizens are required to pay income tax on money withdrawn from an IRA account, why does Gov. Romney believe he should be an exception?
While foreign-made uniforms and Swiss bank accounts are not illegal, both are insults to average Americans.
Mort Cogen
MATTITUCK
Call about copters
The North Fork was supposed to be a quieter place this summer, yet the choppers keep using us as the crossover to the south shore.
Over the past two years I’ve noticed a significant increase in seaplanes and private jets flying overhead toward the South Fork. If you’re affected by the noise or are concerned about the low altitudes they are flying at, please pick up the phone and call Senator Schumer’s office and let him know.
Let him know that the North Fork is not the peaceful place it used to be. Also, please call the East Hampton Town Airport complaint line at 1-800-376-4817 to file your complaint. Each phone call is documented.
Teresa McCaskie
ORIENT
He’s on our side
Now Tim Bishop is responsible for helicopter noise over the North Fork, according to a misinformed reader. In fact, Congressman Bishop has supported the sensible plan that Senator Charles Schumer worked out with Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, an Illinois Republican.
Mr. Bishop is not favoring the South Fork, a claim his opponents consistently and erroneously make. Earlier this month the DOT finalized and made public the regulations mandating the use of an over-the-water North Shore Helicopter Route. The rule mandates that each helicopter operating along Long Island’s northern shoreline between Orient Point and Huntington must use the North Shore Helicopter Route over Long Island Sound. The regulation will be in effect in early August.
Because Long Island is surrounded by water, the FAA was able to develop a route that takes helicopters a short distance off the shoreline. Thus, the route does not negatively impact other communities and operators can use the route without significant additional cost.
Mr. Randy Altschuler’s tea party supporters seem unable to give credit where credit is due. Instead, they misinform or perhaps lie to undermine the tremendous work that Congressman Tim Bishop has done for our community.
Edwin Blesch
