Dan's Papers - October 10, 2008

Dear Dan,
Imagine you'd just received documents in the mail that referred to your financial situation, scary talk that your retirement was in danger, savings and investments not as robust as you'd been led to believe and that, at some point, your paycheck will be affected too.
You call to get help; two teams appear offering to help you figure this stuff out. One-team talks a bit about the numbers, it mostly goes over your head, so they back up, try to explain it again. Some of what they say makes sense, some of it sounds a little half-baked, but at least you get the notion that these guys have little experience with this kind of trouble.
Now, the other team? The other teams gets all chummy and points out they drink the same beer as you, that they talk the way you talk, and that they are "just folks" from down the street. Same as you, no pretenses, no glib intellectualism, they're just regular guys here to help. When pressed for specifics, they refuse to talk numbers, and mutter some vague comment about how the other team has connections with terrorists.
You know very well what you'd do. You'd toss the second team out of your house. You'd recognize that their attempt at folksy friendliness shows that they have no idea what they're doing.

Rodney Stells
Via e-mail

Who the hell does know what they are talking about. - DR

Letter to the Editor:
In reference to the article by T.J. Clemente, "How to Impeach a Supervisor (Clue: You Can't)", Dan's Papers, 10/3/08, I recall speaking with Mr. Clemente twice. I do not recall what he looks like. I am sure I apologized when I approached him the second time for a signature. I know I explained to him that it was hard to remember exactly with whom I had already spoken since I spoke to hundreds of people outside of the East Hampton post office this summer while collecting signatures on a petition calling for the resignation of Supervisor McGintee.
To the best of my recollection Mr. Clemente accepted my apology at the time. In fact, I believe we engaged in several extended conversations. This was not an unusual event. When I approached someone for a second time and I apologized, there was no one, who did not graciously accept my apology.
Now I read that apparently this senior citizen, grandmother (me) somehow so intimidated Mr. Clemente that he felt it necessary to begin "using the rear entrance to the Post Office."
Sorry, Mr. Clemente, I didn't mean to scare you.
Question: Why is it that when Mr. Clemente writes about the McGintee fiasco the only person he seems to interview is the Supervisor's personal assistant, Lynn Ryan? Yes, Ms. Ryan, the Supervisor should "consider the source" of the signatures on the petition - over 1,200 East Hampton voters and taxpayers who have wholeheartedly given the Supervisor a vote of "no confidence."

Beverly Bond
East Hampton
Via e-mail

Lynn Ryan, assistant to Mr. McGintee is as far as he gets. - DR

Letter to the Editor,
I just reread Dan Rattiner's article in the September 26th edition, and once again, I was disturbed by the mistakes and somewhat snide innuendos he made. Firstly, the signs were not divided in their messages; all the signs read "STOP OVERDEVELOPEMENT PRESERVE OUR ENVIRONMENT PROTECT ENDANGERED SPECIES hamptonspresevation.com." We were very careful to ask homeowners if we could put the signs up on their property for two weeks only, and did not place any in front of a "big yellow sign that read NO RIGHT TURN." For the readers' information, we asked the highway department if they had removed the signs. The answer was an emphatic no.
Next, we got our housing development in 1985, when there was no threat of over-development. The land was wooded, so "open vistas" were not in peril. Houses were of modest size and lots were approximately one acre. Strict adherence to environmental demands, such as the amount of natural area that had to be preserved, meant that still today there are deer, rabbits, foxes and pheasants that reside here.
Lastly, it should be a question of "enough is enough"...... the "barn door should be closed," or we'll end up with a community that resembles Florida (as one of our town council members said recently, when he wondered what was the matter with that). Does Mr. Rattiner believe that since we live in a development, we have no right to speak out against what is happening in the Hamptons (especially Bridgehampton)? Or is it simply that Mr. Rattiner has his, so the rest of us don't count? Whatever his reason, Mr. Rattiner, and others like him, used to be concerned about preservation. Well, preservation doesn't just apply to huge tracts of land that you can see in front of you and that increase the value of your own personal property. It involves people and animals and water aquifers and quality of life. We don't want to stop development. We would just like to see intelligent development: where aquifers aren't threatened; where excessive demands for more energy aren't made because of the increase in numbers and size of the houses that are built; where environments and the endangered species that inhabit the land are protected; and where existing families aren't threatened by a complete lack of regard for their needs and their community. No, Mr. Rattiner, it is time to close the barn door, while we still have something to protect.

Leslie Kapon
Hampton Farms
Bridgehampton, NY

I hiked through those woods when "Hampton Farms" was a gleam in a developer eye. Of course we should slow development. - DR