Letters

As you reported in “U.S. Department of Interior Says Westwoods Is ‘Aboriginal’ Shinnecock Land, but Southampton Town Will Press Lawsuit” [27east.com, January 2], the U.S. Department of the Interior directed that Westwoods be recorded as land held in “restricted fee” for the Shinnecock Nation.

A group of Hampton Bays residents have been asking for clarity on how Westwoods is held since the Shinnecock began developing a gas station on the site in early February. We expected our government to be open and transparent on this question.

Instead, we get a memo from the DOI, issued on the day before Christmas Eve. Our elected officials at the state and local level were not notified. And the DOI is refusing to share its reasoning with the public.

We do know that at least some of the information on which the DOI based its decision is erroneous. For example, it states that Westwoods is zoned as “Indian reservation” by the Town of Southampton. That is false — but the DOI never checked with the town. They also must have neglected to consult the federal court case on this very question that concluded that “there is no question, from a legal standpoint, that the town has zoned Westwoods as residential” (New York v. Shinnecock Indian Nation, 523 F. Supp. 2d 185, 195-96, E.D.N.Y. 2007).

Our elected officials at the federal level have been missing in action. Where do Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, and Congressman Nick LaLota, stand on this determination? What do they think of the possibility of a casino going up on this land now that it’s been determined to be aboriginal?

Diana Adams

Hampton Bays