Letters to the Editor: Thank you, EMS
Southold
Thank you, EMS
I am writing to thank our emergency services here in Southold. Last Sunday — four days before my daughter’s wedding! — I suffered a bit of a medical emergency. It’s called vasovagal; you can look it up. Basically, you faint, blood pressure goes way down, pulse slows. It’s scary. Especially when you don’t know what it is. Fortunately, it resolves, and there are no long-term effects.
When it happened, my wife called 911 and in no time, a small army of first responders was here attending to me with competence and care, and getting me to ELIH for a short stay there.
Thank you first responders, we are super grateful to you!
P.S. I’ll note that during their visit, neither they nor I found it necessary to discuss politics or make sure we were on the same team. Yay for that.
Perry Schaffer
Southold
For your consideration
I’m Terri Boyle Romanelli, running for Southold Town Trustee to bring efficiency, transparency, and accountability to our government.
As a lifelong resident, waterfront homeowner, and former local teacher, I know our waterways and the challenges residents face with town regulations. My professional experience in real estate and technology, including streamlining complex business processes, gives me the unique skillset to modernize the Trustee office. I have a strong record of environmental stewardship, having served on the boards of the North Fork Environmental Council and Long Island Farm Bureau.
If elected, I will focus on:
- making the Trustee website clear and resident-friendly.
- advocating for Zoom access to meetings to boost public participation.
- improving efficiency and transparency with prompt responses and careful application tracking.
- educating residents on Trustee responsibilities and coastal protection regulations.
I offer a fresh, solution-oriented perspective for a modern and accessible local government. Please vote for Terri Boyle Romanelli for Southold Town Trustee on Nov. 4.
Terri Boyle Romanelli
Ms. Boyle Romanelli is running for Town Trustee on the Republican and Conservative lines.
Southold
My perspective
For more than 30 years I have worked in and around Southold Town Hall. I have seen what it takes to move a good idea from a meeting agenda to a result you can see. Progress depends on capable partners who know how local government works and are willing to roll up their sleeves. That is why I am urging Southold voters to elect Nick Planamento and Chris Talbot to the Town Board and Stephanie Hall as Fishers Island Justice.
Nick brings deep knowledge of zoning, site plan review and the Zoning Board of Appeals. That experience matters when we are addressing housing that fits Southold, improving cell service, protecting water quality, and updating codes with clarity and fairness. He knows the process and how to navigate it so residents get timely, transparent decisions.
Chris has already served with distinction on the Town Board. He is a longtime employee of the Village of Southampton as senior building and zoning official and also oversees enforcement and the fire marshal’s office, while continuing decades of leadership in the Cutchogue Fire Department. He understands permitting, enforcement, public safety and the practical realities of budgeting and infrastructure. When an issue touches you, you want someone who has been in the field as well as at the dais.
Southold is at a pivotal point with the proposed zoning update. We need Chris and Nick’s expertise in all aspects of zoning to keep the characteristic of our town that we all love.
On Fishers Island, we need a steady, respected voice in the courtroom and in the community. Stephanie Hall will provide exactly that. She will carry forward the high standard set by Louisa Evans, ensuring fair, even-handed justice and strong communication with Town Hall.
Please join me in voting for Nick Planamento and Chris Talbot for Town Board and Stephanie Hall for Fishers Island Justice. Southold deserves a team that is ready on day one.
Jill Doherty
Ms. Doherty is a member of the Southold Town Board.
Mattituck
Greenport’s traffic circle
There is a lot of complaining and talking about the traffic circle being constructed in Greenport. Yes, of course, the sooner it is finished the better — but the real problem is that people do not realize the simple traffic circle rules! I also witness many drivers not knowing what to do at the Riverhead circles — especially the one that connects CR 24, CR 194, etc.
So, drum roll please! First: Slow down when coming to circle. Second: Yield to all cars already in the circle! When all cars follow this simple rule, there is a nice flow to traffic. Basically it’s not a race, but more of a car dance.
My suggestion is for Southold Town officials to address these 101 traffic rules on some kind of very public forum. Riverhead Town would be wise to review this as well.
So REMEMBER to YIELD to all cars already in the circle — and proceed with caution when it’s your turn.
Happy fall to all and here’s hoping one day soon we get to enjoy it without leaf blowers blowing our peace of minds to smithereens!
Amy Greenberg
Mattituck
Finding a balance
Your article on the Southold election forum positions the proposal by Strong’s Marine to dig out the bluff over the Mattituck Inlet to provide yacht storage as a “key topic.” The issue is not how long the process has taken but how our community balances economic development with environmental destruction.
In this case, the proposal threatens surface and groundwater quality and destroys wildlife habitat, increases traffic and public safety issues, and will have significant impact on the quality of life of everyone who uses our coastal resources.
As your article states, the process has taken several years. It’s not because of bureaucracy or anti-development sentiment. It’s because the proposal is so egregious that it set off a State Environmental Quality Review Act mandated environmental impact statement, a legal process that the Southold Town Planning Board is following to the letter.
Throughout that process, Southold has collected over a thousand pages of community comments, the vast majority of which oppose the project, and the developer has been slow in responding to Planning Board requests for more information, often taking months and in at least two occasions taking a full year.
The original plan called for two roughly 50,000-square-foot buildings and the removal of 135,000 cubic yards of sand and 634 trees. The Final Environmental Impact Statement condemned the project for its overwhelming environmental and community impact.
Last year’s amended proposal was for one 65,100-square-foot building. The current proposal reduces the building size to 63,310 square feet and increases the amount of sand being removed and the number of trees being cut down from the previous proposal.
Despite the changes, the latest proposal doesn’t mitigate the environmental, coastal resilience, quality of life or safety issues raised by the community. It is being reviewed by the Planning Board, as required by SEQRA.
We agree that finding a balance between economic development and preservation is a key issue. This project is not an example of inefficiency. Rather, it is a model of the town following the law to protect the environment, our coastal resilience and our community’s character.
Jeff Pundyk and Anne Sherwood Pundyk
Mattituck
‘Cringeworthy’
Projection is a defense mechanism whereby an individual attributes unacceptable feelings and behavior patterns to others instead of confronting them internally. It’s one of the hallmarks of the president’s personality. The abuse that the he routinely directs at other people, calling them scum, slobs, losers, dogs, etc., or accusing them of theft, fraud and corruption, all such attacks are clearly self-referential. You don’t need an advanced degree in psychology to see that in each case he’s really talking about himself.
This syndrome achieved a kind of apotheosis last week when the president posted a video of himself in a fighter jet, wearing a gold crown, spraying excrement over the demonstrators at the “No Kings” rally. Except to leave them shaking their heads in astonishment at his unsurpassed vulgarity, the video had no impact on the protesters. Like a baby in his diaper, the only one befouled by the president’s video, was of course, himself.
Not one to rest on his laurels or to break his streak of daily outrages, last week the president also tore down the East Wing of the White House. A clearer symbol of the havoc he has wrought upon the presidency would be hard to imagine.
Cringeworthy as it may be, the president’s video has one notable virtue. It suggests a possible means for terminating his dismal administration, and one that might well gratify his deepest urges: Excrete him from the body politic.
Dave Warren
Cutchogue
Be a hero
The photos of the demolition of the East Wing of the White House offer a troubling visual parallel to what President Trump is doing to democracy and to our American heritage. Representative LaLota likes to remind us of his military service, and I commend him for that service. However, I can’t but help to view his refusal to stand up to Speaker Johnson, the Republican Party or Trump to defend our Constitution as an act of cowardice. It’s beyond my understanding why Mr. LaLota would vote for a budget bill that cuts VA benefits, particularly mental and physical health benefits.
Mr. LaLota, you can be a real hero by being the last signature on the discharge petition to demand the full release of the Epstein files, to demand accountability for the perpetrators, whoever they are. That would remove Speaker Johnson’s justification for the House recess (blocking the petition) and get the House back in session to work out a compromise with the Senate Democrats to end the government shutdown.
P.S. Thanks for the property tax reduction on our federal income taxes. But you can keep it if it means my neighbors have to go without health care, SNAP food assistance or due process protection from illegal deportation.
Barbara Farr
Ridge
Thanks
Re “This traveling medical team offers access to health care (Oct.23): We read the humbling article, and we were very pleased with how we were represented, as well as the empathy we received from all of you guys. We both know you guys all care about the people that you try and help. We thank you.
John Santomauro and Natasha Rodriguez
Riverhead
Time to vote
I’m Mark Woolley, your hometown candidate for Riverhead Town Board. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 4, when you will vote at your normal polling station.
My name is located on Row E, Taxpayers First, and on Row A, Democrat Party. This allows registered voters of all political affiliations to cast their vote for an Independent voice who, like you, believes our community deserves better than what my opponents have served up over the past four years.
They’ve voted for high taxes amounting to a 23% increase over their four years in office, increased fees, increased salaries and produced overdevelopment — all the while turning a deaf ear to us. I do listen and that’s why I’m committing 30 years of public service to my Contract with Riverhead, which you can find on my website: votemarkwoolley.com.
We can no longer afford more of the same from my opponents. And, it’s time we say no to developers involved in Ponzi schemes who destroy the heritage of our town, and endless costly lawsuits that bankrupt our reserves.
Riverhead is not for sale — and that’s why I’m already working for you.
Like you, I proudly support our police, fire and EMS first responders, and as a member of an Air Force family, especially our veterans. I’ll match my public service record against my opponents’ failed leadership, collectively, any day of the week. It’s time to put taxpayers first by giving you what you deserve: real public service, not lip service. We need real change. We’re being taxed out of our homes.
I ask for and would be honored to have your vote. Thank you. God bless you and God bless America.
Mark Woolley
Mr. Woolley is running for a Town Board seat on the Democratic and Taxpayers First lines.
Riverhead
The survival of democracy
I was shocked to read the anemic response to our nation’s numerous, urgent problems by my House representative, Mr. LaLota. I call his office often to question his continual betrayal of the values and needs of this country. I appeal to him, as a fellow Hofstra alum, to remember the wisdom imparted there, especially the history and law departments, when he votes against everything we were taught there — especially the 1930 period in Germany and the steps that are now clearly being repeated right here.
Education budgets reduced, lessening of free speech in all areas, climate change being dismissed, women’s rights being abridged, armed troops in major cities searching for undocumented human beings doing nothing criminal (especially if they are not lily white).
My Irish forefathers were dismissed as monkeys. Surely his genealogy would not be seen on a list of Mayflower arrivals. To watch the hatred toward the hardworking immigrants is to imagine what our relatives were subjected to at their arrival.
But as a retired history teacher, with daughters, nieces, gay and LGBTQ+ friends, he is silent. Recently, I have called to remind him that he has three daughters, yet he has never spoken of releasing the Epstein files, protecting a pedophile and a president who is preventing their appearance. As time goes by, his daughters and other Republican daughters will be old enough to ask why.
I keep waiting for him and his compatriots to stand up to an unhinged and dangerous despot. Do the honorable thing and implore your political representatives to get a conscience and renounce an emperor with no clothes! Or maybe I have watched “Casablanca” too many times and hope that enough time has gone by for patriotic decisions to rise again, no matter the consequences.
Elizabeth Weiss
Laurel
Closer to the cliff
It’s budget season for towns in New York State and, in Southold Town, there’s good news and bad news.
First, the good news: The 2026 budget that the supervisor proposed and the Town Board tweaked calls for a property tax hike of 2.94%, which is less than the state’s tax cap for Southold in 2026.
The bad news: Once again, the town is proposing to spend more money than it takes in next year. It’s relying on an infusion of $5,050,000 in reserve funds to make ends meet next year. This is especially dangerous since, according to budget projections, the town will overspend its allocation of reserve funds for 2025 by 9.8%. Fortunately, the town has significant reserves, but if the annual practice of using them to pay for operating expenses continues, those funds will run out. Had they not been available to mitigate the tax levy increase next year, taxes would have to rise by 14% as opposed to just under 3%. Those are career-ending numbers for the public officials who impose them.
The proposed 2026 tax increase comes on the heels of the 2025 cap-piercing Southold tax hike of 7.48% that would have been 20% had the administration not spent down previous balances to an even greater extent than next year’s budget does. Town revenues, including the 7.48% hike in taxes under the ’25 budget, were forecast to be short of expenses by $5,095,000. None of these facts has been previously reported.
As I wrote last year, “by relying annually on money raised in previous years to pay future town expenses, the Town Board puts Southold on a fiscal cliff.” The 2026 budget proposal moves us closer to the edge.
David Levy
Calverton
Piercing the state cap
The past two years, you, the Riverhead Town Council, have has passed budgets that pierce the state cap. The reasons given for such a higher amount seem to be the same both years. They are typical expenses that should be planned for in any budget year. Wage increases, medical benefits, pensions and such are normal cost of running a township. If there is a shortage in any year, then a one-time cap pierce would be expected. To do it two years in a row would seem to show poor management and short-sighted planning by the council.
To the average town residents, we should expect the same raise every year. Since the present council is made up of members from previous years, especially Supervisor Hubbard, blaming an earlier administration is putting the blame on yourself. Most of the major accomplishments we have seen began under the earlier administration.
Times have been especially tough for everyone, but we do not have the your luxury to pass our shortfalls on to others. The town needs to manage finances to ensure that our budget will meet the community needs and provide a sound base for the following years.
This seems to be something you have shown us you are incapable of accomplishing. To elect someone else wouldn’t hurt.
Paul Spina Jr.
Aquebogue
Transparency trouble
I am writing to express my growing unease with the lack of transparency in recent decisions made by our Town Board. I publicly informed citizens on several platforms about the Town Square. I asked them to write to the town clerk by Aug. 1 if they opposed the building of a Miami-style five-story hotel/condo. At the Aug. 5 board meeting, Mr. Wooten stated that he received some letters and would present them in the future. Another resident stated he had the results of his online public poll regarding the square. No board member requested to hear them, so he didn’t present. That evening, the board unanimously approved Mr. Petrocelli to build the Town Square.
On Oct.16, Tim Hubbard defended piercing the state’s 2% property tax cap, calling it “antiquated.” He has proposed a 7.92% tax hike.
On Oct. 21, the Town Board voted unanimously to authorize demolition of 127 East Main St., which was not on the agenda, and has received numerous complaints of this being a “surprise move” that benefits Petrocelli.
When decisions are made behind closed doors or rushed through without meaningful dialogue, it erodes the democratic process and leaves residents feeling excluded from shaping the future of our town.
Kevin Shea is running for Town Council and gave out aster seeds so that yards with blue asters would represent their support for him. Kudos for his forward thinking.
I encourage the community to take advantage of the right to vote. In a non-presidential election year, there is a drop of almost 50% in voting in community elections.
Gina Ristau
Laurel
Scary, but still hopeful
The late Sen. John McCain said, “Americans never hide from history. We make history.” For the recent No Kings rally I used that quote on my sign. As we witness history in our museums, textbooks, national parks, and our White House being violated, it sounds like Mr. McCain saw into the future.
McCain had earned a Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross, three Bronze Stars, two Purple Hearts, and the Prisoner-of-War medal. And for objecting to Trump’s policies and blocking his effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, McCain also earned Trump’s wrath. Trump never stopped showing his disdain for this war hero, even while the senator was battling brain cancer.
In 2017, after touring the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Trump praised the Smithsonian saying it was “incredible.” But that was before Project 2025. Months ago, he said it was “out of control” and would be undergoing a review by the White House. He’s been irritated by the dark parts of America’s history on display, including slavery. Quite different from “Americans never hide from history.”
Russell Vought, an author of Project 2025 and a Christian nationalist, is in the background but he’s in charge now. The word Christian in the name does not mean it’s like the loving, compassionate teachings of Jesus.
The No Kings rally was uplifting. Trump’s video response to it was vulgar. The silence from most Republicans is hard to interpret. Perhaps they’re feeling warned: Inch away from the flock, risk being pooped on. If Democrats win these elections, maybe it’ll signal our democracy has a chance.
Mary Ellen Tomaszewski
