Letters: Go-Green a hot topic in Southold
CUTCHOGUE
A wall ball thanks
The wall ball project was a lot of fun and a great learning experience.
One of the things I learned was how generous our community is. Everyone involved showed so much enthusiasm and support, which made the project a huge success.
I would like to thank the many organizations, people and local businesses that helped to make the project succeed. Without the help and guidance of these people the project would not have been possible.
To all who donated money for this project, I thank you so much. The new wall ball court will be enjoyed by many students for years to come.
It has been a pleasure to be able to complete this project and I thank you all again.
Billy Hickox
fourth-grader,
Cutchogue East Elementary School
FLANDERS
Proud of her son
I am the proud mother of Frank Fisher, the owner of Go-Green Sanitation. My son has been single-handedly fighting Southold Town at great expense since he first began Go-Green.
Southold Town has put one stumbling block after another in his path since day one. The town has even made up codes as they go. Despite his name splashed across local newspapers like he’s “Public Enemy No. 1,” being served with one ridiculous ticket after another and taking time from his workday to appear in court, he keeps plodding on, just trying to make a living.
These towns have been getting more and more out of control. We pay property taxes, quarterly taxes, income taxes, highway use taxes, sales taxes and tolls. We have to pay for a beach pass, senseless permits, business licenses and the list goes on and on. Then we have to watch our elected officials throw our hard-earned money down the toilet.
When they need more, they fine us or come up with some new scheme, like useless yellow bags. Southold says the taxpayer has to pay for yellow bags that are horrible for the environment they claim they’re trying to protect. The bags are expensive and flimsy and have to be doubled up so the trash doesn’t fall through.
In the same session that the town [authorized] the attorney to move forward with the injunction enforcing the yellow bag law, they also approved a measure to begin to take action banning plastic bags from grocery stores.
Hypocrisy or idiocy?
Our elected officials are entrusted with safeguarding our money and using it wisely. They are sworn to carry out the will of the people. The people have made it perfectly clear that they do not want to buy yellow bags. Now, by serving Go-Green with a stop work injunction, they have interfered with free enterprise and left your residents with rotting garbage on every street in Southold. And they’re using taxpayers’ money to do it.
Good going, guys.
Don’t even get me started on the “good old boy” system. We all like to help our friends, but how far do you go? Tell me someone other than the taxpaying residents of Southold Town isn’t benefiting by insisting on using those useless yellow bags.
In the meantime, son, I’m so very proud of you.
AnneMarie Fisher
SOUTHOLD
Land of the banned
By the time I reached page 3 of last week’s Suffolk Times, Go-Green Sanitation was banned from operating in Southold Town, dogs are banned on Southold town beaches and plastic bags may be banned in Southold.
This is supposed to be the land of the free?
I agree with Thomas Jefferson when he said: “If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so.”
Martha Jones
CUTCHOGUE
Tis a puzzlement
Plastic bags are bad.
Yellow town plastic bags are good.
Is anyone else perplexed?
Xavier Fleming
CUTCHOGUE
Give us a choice
In the past 25 years, Go-Green has been perhaps one of greatest quality of life enhancements to come along.
Think about all of the driving around town, wasting gas, frantically looking for the right size yellow bags before the trash man shows up, then schlepping the trash to the dump, hoping the garbage juice doesn’t leak in your car when you can simply Go-Green.
Even more ridiculous is the town’s process for buying a permit. The working man must take a half day off from work just to buy a permit at Town Hall. There is no logical reason why permits are not available at the landfill.
Instead, there’s more driving around town at $3.69 per gallon. So much for a smart eco-friendly solution.
The even greater hypocrisy here is, I would venture to guess, that the same Town Board members who are probably against the government intrusion of Obamacare are staunch supporters of intrusion into my personal garbage. When it comes to my trash I’m “pro choice” for the freedom to deposit my trash where I want and how I want without the taxation of yellow bags.
It’s all about the money, isn’t it? Then say it and defend the illogical thinking. If a few green garbage cans on wheels threaten the economic model of the landfill, perhaps we should shut it down, buy four new garbage trucks and have the workers collect the taxpayer’s trash and cart it to Brookhaven.
One other thing: I’ve never seen a restaurant use yellow bags; I’ve never seen folks in retirement condominiums use yellow bags either. Are they exempt?
Why not put a freedom-to-choose referendum on this November’s ballot? Let the taxpayers decide what’s right. After all, we’re footing the bill.
Eric Izzo
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
SOUTHOLD
Let us use the beach
In response to your July 12 article regarding dogs on beaches, I think there’s an easy solution.
Why not allow unleashed dogs before 9 a.m. and after 6 p.m. except on the official town beaches? The rule of thumb could be dogs must be under owners’ control, meaning recall trained, with leash at the ready and owners must pick up the dog waste.
I run/swim my dog frequently on a beach I will now not name for fear of reprisals from a few anti-dog people. He is trained to stay away from anyone we meet unless I allow it.
On our beach walks, I always have a number of bags with me — for picking up any dog waste and, most importantly, picking up the plastic bags, cups, forks, straws, abandoned beach toys, beer cans, bottles, pieces of Styrofoam boat fenders, sharp metal pieces, fishing line and hooks, etc. left by other beachgoers.
I’ve always found that we dog owners are considerate and careful citizens. We understand that not all people like dogs, especially wet and sandy dogs, and that many folks are afraid of dogs.
Please don’t criminalize dog owners. All we ask is a few non-peak hours to enjoy Southold’s unique beauty and myriad beaches with our four-legged family members.
Cathy Haft
MATTITUCK
An absurd article
In regard to the article “Traffic nightmare on Love Lane,” I think it’s absurd.
A busy road means business for all the shops on Love Lane, which in this day and age is a good thing. I suppose the residents would be happy if there were no signs of life on Love Lane so they could retrieve their mail, bank, and get a bite to eat without bothering to look both ways when crossing the street.
My, my, what an inconvenience.
Give me a break. It just sounds so outrageous that people would complain about cars on a road that has stores. Should we all walk to the shops and leave our cars at home? I live in Mattituck and frequent the shops on Love Lane and I never see anything wrong with the traffic on that road.
It’s just common sense that at this time of year you’re going to have more people in the town looking to shop in all the cute shops that line the street along with the sycamore trees. Be thankful that people are shopping in your town. I’m sure the store owners have no complaints.
Don’t worry, Mattituck residents. Soon it will be winter and you can enjoy a dead street.
I’m sure our town supervisor and police department have more important things to tend to than to tell people where to park. Any town with shops will have cars and traffic.
Deal with it. No one is going to run you over. They’re just looking to park their cars.
Susan LaGuardia
SOUTHOLD
Buy the unsalable
Do Southolders really need a $3 million boat ramp?
The Town Board is considering paying $3 million for three acres at the site of the former Old Barge restaurant. That figure is just for the property. There will be other costs as well, such as a feasibility study, demographic survey, plot survey, environmental impact study and dredging costs.
The town wants to use Community Preservation Funds in league with Cornell Cooperative Extension, which is also publicly funded. Cornell has already thrashed Cedar Beach and still doesn’t know what causes brown tide.
That land is already preserved as it sits. It can’t be a restaurant without the grandfather clause. The DEC won’t allow new structures.
This is nothing more than a bailout for the Rieter family on an unsalable property.
Also, I think I saw a piping plover there last week.
Gary Quarty
New Suffolk
The cumulative cost
I have always known I am getting close to home when I drive over a bridge and see, on my right, the roof profile and turquoise trim of Salt Meadow, an historic home now slated for demolition.
The landmarks commission has to sit this one out because Southold’s landmark law does not provide them with the power to protect a building which has not already been landmarked. Even though this one fulfills two criteria for designation stipulated by the Department of the Interior and three by Southold’s landmark law,
First, it “possesses a unique location … thereby representing an established and familiar visual feature of the community or town.”
It also possesses “significant character or historic, aesthetic, or archaeological interest or value as part of the cultural, architectural, economic or social heritage of the community.”
Lastly, it’s the site of “an historic event or identified with historic personage,” in this case Douglas Moore, whose life and work will be celebrated this summer, as in summers past, at the Douglas Moore concert in Cutchogue.
The new homeowner could have chosen to renovate rather than demolish. Yes, parts of the home are in bad condition and require extensive repairs. Old houses are routinely jacked up and have new foundations built beneath them. I live in a landmark and had to do this work on my house.
Is there no part of this home that could be salvaged?
My architecture practice, which specializes in residential renovation, has shown me that old houses with updated interiors, if renovated sensitively, command very high prices. That’s because of an intangible thing called character — and Salt Meadow is loaded with it.
You might think it’s just one building and the owners have the right to do whatever they want. But there’s a cumulative cost to a community seeing the visual history of a place they live in and love rearranged piece by piece, until it is no longer recognizable.
Barbara Schnitzler
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
SOUTHOLD
Bishop’s on our side
On its business page, the July 13 New York Times reports that during his time as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Tim Geithner knew and tried to change rate-setting practices now at the center of the Barclays Bank scandal.
The Times reports that HSBC failed to stop money laundering by perhaps both terrorists and drug cartels. The Times reports that Peregrine Financial has closed, its founder tried to commit suicide and perhaps there will be criminal charges. Investors lost $125 million or so.
Other recent stories include J.P. Morgan’s $5 billion in losses on a bad bet and, of course, MF Global’s financial loss in excess of $1 billion in investors’ money.
After the 2008 meltdown. Congress passed the Dobbs-Frank Bill to put in place stronger regulation on financial institutions. Tim Bishop supported this bill as our congressman. He believes that financial institutions need to be watched carefully because a failure in this area endangers the whole economy and financial institution are notorious for not regulating themselves.
Randy Altschuler and the Republicans want to repeal Dobbs-Frank and reduce to bare bones regulation in the financial sector. Wall Street bankers and brokers are among Altschuler’s biggest contributors. Recent history tells us regulation is necessary.
In this election the question comes down to voting to protect ourselves from the overreaching power and greed of the financial industry. Tim Bishop will represent us. Randy Altschuler will represent Wall Street.
Steve Curry
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
PECONIC
Rules for radicals
“I want to be perfectly clear,” this is not a tax. That’s a lie and so is:
This will keep health care cost down, the quality of health care will not change and you can keep your present doctor.
Wake up America, you were lied to. But why?
It’s because of Saul Alinsky, the author of “Rules for Radicals.” If you are not a progressive, communist or a radical Democrat you are oblivious of Saul Alinsky, his dogma and how he influenced Mr. Obama’s thinking.
The president openly admits he embraced the Alinsky’s dogma while in school and later when he taught Alinsky’s dogma in class.
This according to Alinsky: “Join the system and undermine it from within. Revolutionary change must be preceded by a passive, affirmative, non-challenging attitude toward change among the mass of our people. Simply put, first it is necessary to sell the people on change itself.”
The “audacity of hope” and “Yes, we can”? Sound familiar? You were sold on hope and change in 2008.
Keep in mind that the Black Panthers and other radical groups embraced Alinsky and they profess, “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”
Now you know why Eric Holder refused to prosecute the Black Panthers who intimidated voters outside a voting poll in 2008.
Brace for more communist, radical ideology and a plethora of lies from the liar in chief.
George Dengel
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
