Dear David:
I write this in my private capacity, and not as a representative of the town or the town planning board, which I chair.
Yesterday, in response to the town board voting to grant an easement to allow an electrical cable beneath Beach Lane, the Citizens for the Preservation of Wainscott (C.P.W.) sent an email which attacked everyone and everything with which C.P.W. disagrees, and promised that C.P.W. “will not be bullied any longer by the Supervisor and his allies, including the so-called Wainscott United. Wainscott United will do anything to stop incorporation because they have their own agenda linked to the Supervisor, as evidenced by their founders’ massive contributions to the Supervisor’s and Trustees’ political campaign.”
C.P.W.’s hypocrisy knows no bounds. As reported in the New York Post on Saturday, C.P.W. “amassed nearly $1 million in donations during its first year in operation and spent $307,734 to hire high-powered Mercury Public Affairs in Manhattan to represent it, according to its tax filing.” I doubt whether the total of all campaign contributions made by every member of Wainscott United to the supervisor and trustees amounts to even 1 percent of the genuinely massive war chest which C.P.W. plans to unleash against the town. Indeed, C.P.W. promises, without a care about the legal costs to the town, “we expect to move forward with litigation in the coming days.”
Wainscott United’s only agenda is to bring the truth to Wainscott voters about the serious, long-term dangers of incorporation, and to shine a light on C.P.W.’s false promises and fictional financial projections. C.P.W.’s only real agenda is to prevent the Beach Lane cable landing, and it is ruthless in its efforts to achieve this singular goal. C.P.W. has proposed a boundary that deprives nearly 100 of our neighbors access to the ocean beach closest to their homes, thus decimating their property values. C.P.W. bemoans the town board’s “rush” to grant the Beach Lane easement, yet C.P.W. insists on bringing its incorporation petition in the midst of a pandemic. C.P.W.’s big money ad campaign and its intimidation tactics have divided our once-harmonious hamlet. Yet C.P.W. does not seem to care, just as long as the Beach Lane cable landing is stopped.
I shudder to imagine what life will be like if Wainscott is incorporated and the self-appointed guardians of democracy at C.P.W. are put in charge.
Very truly yours,
SAMUEL KRAMER
Wainscott, NY