Regarding the article “Cannabis Sales on the South Fork Are Coming; Express Sessions Event Taps Expert Assessments” [27east.com, October 30]: I question whether most of the panelists at the Express Sessions are “experts.” Supervisor Maria Moore and Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. are politicians; the former “opted out” when she was mayor of Westhampton Beach, and the latter opposed this state law and the way it was written and handled. Greg Konner is a real estate developer.
I also question the adjective “lauded” to describe “the state’s first-of-its-kind attempt at steering the benefits of legalized pot sales to the people who had been most negatively impacted by decades of pot being tangled up in the war on drugs.” Did the federal government try to make amends to bootleggers and speakeasy owners after Prohibition was repealed, giving them dibs on liquor licenses?
Greg Konner says that he wants to replace the Carvel with “a cannabis shop as a business he and his son could embrace together.” His words sound familiar. Several of us recall that when his mother, Carol Konner, applied to develop their property across from the Bridgehampton Commons, she attended a Citizens Advisory Committee meeting and said that she did not have a life insurance policy that would help her grandchildren after she passed away, so she wanted to be able to pass on the rental income from the outsized stores and facilities in question. Now, Mr. Konner seems to be taking the same tack.
In the article, I am identified as “a Bridgehampton resident,” saying, “Why didn’t we leave this to the Shinnecock?” Actually, I identified myself as the president of the Bridgehampton Civic Association, and my questions were more complex.
I asked why, when town officials and residents decry the economic plight of the Shinnecock Nation, who were the first local group to say they wanted to open pot shops, did we not give them the exclusive right to do so? And why, when the town’s Comprehensive Plan names preserving agricultural lands as a goal, do we not allow farmers like David Falkowski to also be a retail seller of the marijuana he grows, so that a farmer will thrive and agricultural land will be saved?
Even though the then-Town Board knew that by doing nothing when the deadline came to opt in or out, the state considered doing nothing as opting in, it’s disappointing that Supervisor Moore says, “Nothing can be done now … so there’s no sense in looking back.”
Our organization is hoping that, considering how poorly this law was written, that our Town Board might find its way to petitioning the state to allow another decision — one that is informed this time by public hearings.
Pamela Harwood
President
Bridgehampton Civic Association
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