Letters

The advertising sign at Division and Marsden streets indicates that all four lots are still for sale. The fact that the whole site remains intact seems a great opportunity for both the village and the school.

Can we at last find a way to all work together, with financial help from the Southampton Town Community Preservation Fund, on a plan that would benefit both village and school?

Maybe a purchase wouldn’t be just a nature preserve, with no specific use for the neighboring school? Perhaps it wouldn’t be just a full-size athletic field, a big expense to construct and maintain, and a real threat in floods?

The school has expressed interest in creating a wet lab. What could be more useful than an outdoor laboratory in which to study and practice the restoration of native plants and wetlands?

The village is clearly overburdened with overdevelopment: too much paving, too much traffic. It urgently needs safer streets around the school now. And it badly needs restored wetlands to absorb the floods we know are coming. Preserving, instead of grading and filling, the Marsden site now would save millions in engineering costs later.

These are just a few thoughts. Let’s have others.

In this time of division, wouldn’t it be wonderful to come together and heal the Marsden rift with some imagination and care?

This time, let’s really preserve the community.

Carol Williams

Sag Harbor