Leadership lacking


To the Editor:


I am glad to see the Reporter ask some questions regarding the reach of the Town Board. It is pretty clear it exceeds their grasp.


I’ll tell you what I think: I think that this “holistic” nonsense is nothing more than a gambit to entangle the Zagoreoses’ application process in red tape, which, were they ruthless developers looking to rape the Island, would not bother me much, but they are not. They are established neighbors who lived in a house that has been there already probably 25 or 30 years, and who have already waited years to get the permits necessary from the county and state.


It’s embarrassing to me to watch this kind of thing go on, supposedly in the name of “leadership.” Leaders would have made every effort to acquire the property immediately after the fire, rather than gamble that the hapless individual would not be able to rebuild. Now they have to scramble for some new scheme to screw these people, all other methods having failed.


To use blatant fearmongering tactics, likening the results to Dune Road, is outrageous behavior. The technology obviously exists as of today to satisfy codes in such locations. The Zagoreoses did not invent it, or cause it to be invented. That means it is, and has been, there for anyone who was looking to develop the nearby area, regardless of what the Zagoreoses do.


Holism, like the Constitution, is not something you can cherry pick, deciding when and what you apply it to. It also includes the concept that what goes around comes around. I said it before: do unto others as you would have done to you. This is not how any of the board would like to be treated, I’m quite sure.


I want to see the board grant the demolition permit, let them rebuild, as proposed, outside the wetlands setback and hence the board’s purview, then man up and admit they didn’t “lead” at all. I’d respect that a whole lot more than this wretched little parlor game they’ve developed, where the board inserts itself into processes that would be far better left to the other agencies we have for the purpose.


It unfairly politicizes things, for one. I cannot imagine the Zagoreoses’ feeling they would get a fair hearing when virtually all members of the board clearly said, on TV no less, that they would “rather not” see a house there at all, or hearing Mr. Dougherty say it would make it look like they had screwed up big time. 


Too late, buddy. Take the heat and move on. Making life miserable for the applicants is not going to make you look any better, at least to those of us who still know right from wrong.


PAUL SHEPHERD


SHELTER ISLAND