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Letters to the editor must be submitted via email and
must include
the author’s name, address, and daytime phone number
so that
Bellport.com can confirm the source of the submission. Letters can be up
to 500 words in length and should be in good taste, not libelous, and
not "Fake News."
We expect our readers and their letters to be civil to one another
and we expect them to remember that we are all friends and
neighbors and to conduct themselves accordingly.
If you'd like to submit a Letter to the
Editor, send your letter to
letters@bellport.com.
Letters are posted as soon as they are
received, not just once a week, so check back often!
The purpose of Bellport.com's Letters To The Editor section is to encourage the free exchange of ideas and experiences in our community. However, the decision as to which letters to publish is solely at the discretion of the Editor. While Bellport.com and its staff try to make every effort to see that no libelous statements, inaccurate or misleading opinions or statements, or "Fake News" appears on Bellport.com we wish to make it clear that the opinions expressed in the letters, articles, correspondence, etc. herein are the responsibility of the contributor and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Bellport.com and its staff. Accordingly, Bellport.com and its staff accept no liability whatsoever for the consequences of any such inaccurate or misleading opinions or statements.
In regards to elections (national, state, local), Bellport.com imposes a 48 hour “Blackout” period before Election Day. In other words, assuming Election Day is on a Tuesday, any letters from the candidates or members of the community that are received after 5:00pm on the Saturday prior to Election Day, will not be published by Bellport.com. We do this in order to prevent last minute claims being made and “Fake News” that don’t give sufficient time for which to respond.
January 5, 2020
New Year's Wish
Happy holidays to you & yours, Larry. Here’s
hoping (against all odds) that 2020 is a happy and healthy year for us
all. Also hope that some of the “over-the-top” political rhetoric of the
last few years can be dispensed with, and we can all get back to caring
about and for each other!
Matt Dominy
Bellport, NY
December 14, 2019
No Interest in Golf Club Improvements
To Mayor Fell and the Trustees,
I have taken the liberty of copying Jai Imbrey’s letter to you (below) as
it succinctly and accurately represents Ronald’s and my views on the golf
course project. I am unable to attend Monday’s meeting but would like you
to know that many if not most of Bellport’s residents are very concerned
about the financial impact that the golf course improvements would have on
our taxes and on the community.
I’d also like to reiterate that the Village Board is responsible for
keeping the village informed of all proposals for large expenditures and
to remind you that we have a voice in how our tax dollars are spent. Any
lack of transparency is a betrayal of our trust in you, our
representatives.
We appreciate the time you devote to sustaining and improving Bellport.
Sincerely,
Elisabeth Wingate and Ronald Kawitzky
Bellport, NY
1) No costly improvements for golf club paid from village tax dollars.
Members should pay for golf club improvements. The company that runs the
golf club should invest, not the community. Those who do not golf (80
percent of the community) do not wish to participate. Golfing is a luxury
not a social right. Furthermore, with golf carts it is not particularly
good exercise for the body. Try walking, biking, tennis or swimming. The
club used to be a source of income, what happened?
2) Use tax dollars responsibly for important programs that benefit all:
Please put tax dollars into good schools or more septic tanks for the
village community and environmental upgrades especially regarding the bay
and ocean rather than the golf club.
3) Transparency: Keep Bellport Village tax payers posted on expensive
projects. I heard of this project through the grapevine.
Many thanks for your hard work in making Bellport a lovely village and a
responsible community.
December 14, 2019
Golf Club Plans
Groundhog day came early to Bellport this year.
The Mayor and Trustees after a failed attempt to hurl an expensive Golf
Club upgrade came back with essentially the same plan minus a Driving
Range. Once again, it includes no accommodations for resident who aren't
members of the golf club. They announced it in the LI Advance as if it was
a new plan -- and the paper ran with it. Let's hope there's not a repeat
of that. Wake up LI Advance!
Copies of both the first and updated expensive golf course proposals had
to be gotten via Freedom of Information Laws. Why do we have to do this
over and over again? Why can't they make these plans available to the
public before they announce them so the conversation can be collaborative
rather than combative.
Why are they trying this again? Village residents didn't only dislike the
Driving Range but the whole expensive plan. We don't like the attitude
Fell and his Trustees continue to flaunt either. "We know better and we'll
do what we want despite the costs or protest." Not anymore. Groundhog Day
is over.
Why does everything repeat itself with the same result? They don't talk to
constituents in advance; they throw out plan that is only good for golfers
not voters; we protest; they withdraw it.
It's time to take Groundhog Day off the Bellport calendar. It's a waste of
taxpayer dollars and all of our energy. Let's all tell them that -- over
and over again and reclaim Groundhog Day for ourselves.
Ira Silverberg
Bellport Village
Editor's Note: This letter is in response to our recent Editorial.
December 14, 2019
Suggestions for Improvements
I like everything you (Larry) wrote, but I’d
like to add:
Take care of the mosquito/green flies infested beach and make the marina
on the town side more pleasant for people who just want to sit and watch
the bay (good benches, no parked cars with engine on). Have some decent
food at ho hum by the bay. Organize in a much better, friendlier way the
sailing courses for kids in the summer. I have California grandkids who
can only come for a couple of weeks a year who already hate Bellport
because they are shut out of EVERYTHING except $$$/ an hour tennis.
I could go on but I'm running out of time.
Camilla Toniolo
Bellport, NY
December 9, 2019
Proposed Campaign Reform
In a Letter to the Editor in the Advance last
week, Assemblyman Joe DeStefano (R-Medford) made a partisan attack on
State Democrats for proposing campaign reform which would include State
funds to help under-funded challengers in our elections. I believe, it’s
in society’s interest that our representatives be selected in elections
that brings forth the best and the brightest, not the candidate with the
most money. Incumbents like DeStefano enjoy a huge fundraising advantage
over challengers and this proposed law tries to level the playing field.
In addition, incumbents like DeStefano routinely mail taxpayer funded
letters to their constituents touting what a good job they are doing. No
where on these mailings does it state that it’s paid for by taxpayers, a
lack of transparency. Perhaps Assemblyman DeStefano by example could start
doing so in his mailings.
Yet, another example of incumbents abuse of taxpayers money was in the
Brookhaven Town council elections this November. Earlier this year full
page color ads started appearing in our local papers weekly picturing
Brookhaven Town Councilmen Loguercio, Foley, Panico and Supervisor Ed
Romaine, all Republican incumbents. These ads were unprecedented and it
was clear they were prompted by the fact this was an election year. One of
the many expensive full page ads let us know that we could get a free
pussy cat at the local shelter. Another week it was don’t liter, followed
by week after week of frivolous info we already knew. No where did it
state that the ads were paid for by us, the taxpayers. Let’s stop
pretending that distributing useless information in self congratulatory
mailers and ads are a function of honest government, it’s not. Those that
fill up our mailbox know exactly what they’re doing. They know they are
campaigning with taxpayer’s money.
Larry Tierney
Brookhaven Hamlet