Letters to the editor: An RV park? Really?
RIVERHEAD
An RV park? Really?
At its work session on March 21, the Town Board enthusiastically embraced a proposal for a 165-acre RV park at the Enterprise Park at Calverton containing a 100-acre man-made lake, exploiting more than a quarter of the available land. Supervisor Tim Hubbard called the RV proposal “a home run” as reported in the News-Review of March 28. Second thoughts about the project surfaced as Town Board members became suspicious that the real intent behind this proposal was a sand mining operation.
While that is a relief, we still need to be concerned that such a lame proposal received 25 minutes of supportive official attention in the absence of a thoughtful vetting procedure. The experience suggests improvement in current administrative practices. However, the larger issue at hand is how Riverhead can benefit most from opportunities to develop 600-plus acres at EPCAL as well as protecting 1,000-plus environmentally sensitive acres.
Will the town’s agenda be defined by reacting to random ideas from politically connected promoters or negotiated by individual board members? Or will there be a robust public discussion of the full range of potential uses of the EPCAL land, broad agreement on goals and priorities and the creation of a comprehensive plan that is the basis for issuing requests for proposals and consistently evaluating what comes in?
We cannot afford to wait until after the months or years it will take to defeat the Ghermezians’ legal attempt to recapture the land. The supervisor and board need to establish soon an EPCAL Futures Commission like the Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee that broadly reflects the community.
EPCAL Watch suggests it have a seat at the table. Seven years of documentation, research, networking and experience with public education that helped defeat the Ghermezians’ boondoggle can contribute to a participatory and open process. We are planning a guided bus tour of EPCAL and a public forum. Ideas for the land can be seen and posted at tinyurl.com/EPCALfuture.
John McAuliff
Mr. McAuliff is the coordinator of EPCAL Watch.
GREENPORT
Why the fare increase?
A couple of months ago, the Hampton Jitney sent out the word to those of us who use it to go from Greenport and other towns on Long Island into Manhattan and back. They wanted customers to contact the New York City MTA about the proposed congestion pricing, which at the time looked like it would apply an extra fee to the Jitney buses, thus “necessitating” a fare increase to an already pricey ride.
Eagerly a number of us wrote to the MTA requesting that the Jitney be exempt from this fee, as the Jitney is an important mode of transportation for many out this way — which also helps keep vehicle congestion down.
To my surprise, right before the MTA decision was to be announced, I noticed online that the Jitney had already quietly raised the price of tickets a few dollars.
Then the MTA rightfully exempted the Hampton Jitney from the congestion pricing — but we got the fare increase anyway. So much for that.
Peggy Backman
CUTCHOGUE
‘Dr. Trump’ is wrong on Roe v. Wade
No doubt about it. A medical degree from Trump University really is of limited value. According to Dr. Donald Trump, who previously demonstrated his medical knowledge when he recommended injecting bleach in our bloodstreams to treat COVID-19, he now takes pride in being responsible for overturning Roe v. Wade because he says that’s what the majority in this country want. Actually, about two-thirds of the country didn’t want Roe v. Wade reversed, but Dr. Trump doesn’t deal with facts.
Now, according to the country’s fake doctor, the law is where it should be. He says each state can decide how it wants to handle the abortion issue and that’ll be the “law of the land.” This, of course, begs the question of which state — New York, which permits abortion care, while South Dakota, which has banned abortions with no exceptions — is entitled to claim “law of the land” status.
What Dr. Trump’s latest approach comes down to is the luck of the draw when it comes to the accident of where a woman was born. If born in a state where termination of a pregnancy is left to the woman and her doctor, she will have access to reproductive health care. But if born in a state where politicians have decided that forced births, even those which are the products of rape or incest or risk death to a pregnant woman must be carried to term, she’s just out of luck. That’s not law of the land. It’s law of the jungle.
Once again, Donald Trump doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Which begs the further question of how in heaven’s name this ignorant, uninformed clown ever got to be the nominee of the Republican Party for the presidency of what used to be the best country on the planet until he came along.
Michael Levy
