Sean Lehman's Unpublished Letter To The Smithtown Messenger

On the Town of Smithtown’s official website it is proclaimed, “The Smithtown Messenger is the Official Newspaper of the Town of Smithtown”.

In February of 2012, Smithtown Messenger became the official town newspaper. The decision was made with a three - two vote, Councilmen Wherheim, Creighton, Malloy (Yes) Supervisor Vecchio, Councilman McCarthy (No).  With its new status as the official newspaper of the town came tax dollars of approximately $30,000 a year. The paper publishes the legal notices for Smithtown. 

Many people were troubled by the fact that the Smithtown Messenger did not print a letter from Sean Lehman, president of the Kings Park Civic Association. The letter expressed the organization’s position along with dissatisfaction and criticism of positions taken by Councilmen Creighton and Malloy in a July 11, 2013 Smithtown Messenger article “Primary Race Is Getting Ugly, Graffiti and Uplands Muddy the Waters”.

Because freedom of speech is fundamental to our democracy, Smithtown Matters has decided to provide Sean Lehman with a forum to post his letter. Like it or hate it, you have the right to see it. 

Like any other letter posted on Smithtown Matters the letter reflects the position of the author not that of Smithtown Matters.

Dear Editor:

The article in the July 11th issue of the Smithtown Messenger titled “Primary Race Is Getting Ugly, Graffiti and Uplands Muddy the Waters”  is misleading, flawed, and irresponsible.

Let’s start at the beginning with the article’s headline. How in the world can the Messenger place the word “graffiti” next to a legitimate and long standing civic issue, the “Uplands”? These two words appear above a large picture of a defaced political sign on the front cover of the paper.

Linking the signs and the Uplands appears to be another attempt by the Creighton/Malloy team to discredit the good name of the Kings Park Civic Association, in all likelihood because the civic disagrees with the pair on several very important community issues. An attack on the KPCA for speaking out would not be the first by the councilmen.

I refer to the January 24th, 2013 Town Board meeting where Councilman Malloy angrily and falsely accused me of lying about a prior conversation we had on October 26th, 2012 regarding his statement that the Uplands’ application “is going through.”  His statement to me was only made public because Councilman Creighton forced me to defend myself regarding my words at the public hearing on the Uplands.  So Councilman Malloy, you can blame Mr. Creighton for the public disclosure.

The civics were at the meeting that night to oppose Councilman Creighton’s request to alienate state parkland, which would have robbed our school district of crucial tax dollars. Instead of alienation, we recommended a solution.  Ask for a lease agreement with the state to preserve the tax payments. We also suggested that this request be made by our state representatives, Senator Flanagan and Assemblyman Fitzpatrick.  Unfortunately, Councilman Creighton, Malloy and Wehrheim decided to circumvent both Flanagan and Fitzpatrick (fellow republicans) on this issue. They did not even have the decency to carbon copy the state representatives on Town Attorney John Zollo’s letter to the Governor.

I also refer to Councilman Creighton’s recent attempt to stifle the Kings Park Civic Association’s First Amendment rights (the people have the right to speak freely without government interference). The councilman tried to intimidate us to stop petitioning in a public area at the farmer’s market, which the Kings Park Civic Association sponsors. That was followed by Town Attorney John Zollo, who is part of Councilman Creighton’s campaign team, decreeing that there shall be no more civic/community interaction at the market. This has put an end to our successful fundraising and much needed monetary donations to the St. Joseph’s Food Pantry, book collections for our soldiers at war, our Kings Park High School Scholarship, and fall festival activities for our children. Isn’t that intimidation?

Did I mention that the petition in question had to do with The Uplands? There was no complaint from Creighton last year when there was a petition for playing fields; a cause in which the councilman had unsuccessfully tried to use as part of his campaign. Every person who approached the community table that day signed our petition and was provided with a fact sheet on the project. Creighton said he received complaints about the Uplands petition, yet the Office of the Supervisor never received any. Hmmm

Additionally, Councilman Malloy  egregiously claims that the Vecchio camp is riling up and misinforming the Civics about The Uplands.  Either Mr. Malloy has been under a rock, with no local newspapers or computers for the past seven years, or he is just out of touch with the facts. The Civics in Kings Park have been on this issue, both quietly and publicly, since at least early 2007. Mr. Malloy, there is nothing about The Uplands that we do not know or have not studied.  We even hired an expert to advise us on this issue. The councilman is very much aware of these facts.

It was actually Councilman Malloy who came to a rash and uninformed decision regarding The Uplands when he told me the application “is  going through” - prior to the draft environmental impact statement being released. It was Supervisor Vecchio and Councilman McCarthy who advanced opinions only after it was released.

Graffiti on political signs and The Uplands should not be linked  together in this article. They are unrelated. The Uplands is nothing more that a high density housing project on land that is zoned one acre residential in the midst of a beautiful residential community. A project that, if approved, will set a precedent that has the potential to negatively impact EVERY residential neighborhood in the Town Smithtown.  A project that is so unaffordable that only 12% of its residents will come from the entire Smithtown Township. A project that is opposed by at least three civic associations and whose environmental impact on the area has drawn the concerns of both New York State Parks and the Audubon Society.

The Creighton/Malloy ticket seems to tout Smart Growth. Is it smart to put a 50 foot tall, high density 200 unit apartment project with underground parking garages and huge lighted parking lots in the middle of a residential community that also borders two state parks? We know many people who don’t think so.

Sean Lehmann, President

Kings Park Civic Association

Comments

[Perry]

First of all, the Smithtown Messenger is designated as the official newspaper for the sake of the Legal ads that must be published for various town matters. It does not mean that it is the official newspaper to print certain letters, articles, editorials etc that represent the town. The only function that being the designee of the official newspaper is to run the legals. That's it. For many years, The Messenger served this function until in a moment of pique and anger, Supervisor Vecchio pulled the legals from the Messenger and named the Smithtown News as the official newspaper for the Town of Smithtown. In the recent past, the Town Board voted to return the legals to the Smithtown Messenger. Doing so does not require that either paper print anything other than the legal ads that are provided by the town.

Mr. Lehmann is most certainly entitled to his opinion, and he is certainly entitled to discuss this opinion with whomever he chooses. Whether a newspaper chooses to run his letter is the option of the editor. I have written letters to both the News and the Messenger over the years and they have not been published. Neither editor is under any law that states they must run a letter from anyone who should write in.

I have a few problems with Mr. Lehmann's letter as it is published. There were two items that struck me as I read his thoughts and feelings. The first concerned councilman Malloy's statement that the Uplands application 'is going through', which seemingly has greatly angered Mr. Lehmann and others in the civic associations. The way I am interpreting Mr. Malloy's statement is that the application will be fully vetted, analyze and ultimately voted on. Mr. Malloy did not state the PROJECT was going through, but that the APPLICATION was going through. Every property owner, regardless of what they wish to develop on their property, is entitled to a fair hearing on the merits of their proposal. The same goes for St. Johnland and the Uplands proposal. Mr. Malloy and Mr. Creighton are both correct in saying that they will withhold comment until the environmental impact study is complete. To say they will vote down the proposal as Mr. Vecchio and Mr. McCarthy have said is a disservice to the property owners. There is a process that must be followed and this process cannot and should not be thrown away simply because a civic association, a neighbor, or a politician seeking reelection and looking for votes wants it that way. As the owners of the property, St. Johnland is entitled to due process. When the time comes, all councilpeople will have the opportunity to vote on the proposal. Their feelings about certain proposals should not be discussed until the vote. Mr. Lehmann is playing politics in my opinion with this issue when Mr. Malloy is simply stating that the application should not be declined simply because a group opposes the proposal. What if a person was accused of a crime and everyone decided that this person was guilty before they had their chance in court? This is not the way our country works and while I personally am opposed to the Uplands project, they are entitled to have the application vetted and voted.

Secondly, Mr. Lehmann appears to question Councilman Creighton's honesty when Mr. Lehmann states that Mr. Creighton had residents speak to him about petitions being signed at the Farmers Market. Mr. Lehmann wonders about the truthfulness of Mr. Creighton when Mr. Vecchio did not have similar complaints addressed to him. It might simply be that Mr. Creighton is very visible in the community - in stores, at church, at the Farmer's Market, etc and during one of these times residents addressed their concerns. If the person spoke to a council member - no matter which one - they may be satisfied that their voice has been heard and did not speak to the other members of the Board. To state that because Mr. Vecchio did not hear about a certain issue does not mean it did not happen. Mr. Vecchio is not a deity who knows, hears and sees all - he is just one member of the town board that addresses resident issues.

In conclusion, it is evident in Mr. Lehmann's letter that he does not support Mr. Creighton and Mr. Malloy, which is his right. But please do not interject personal feelings into a discussion and disparage people for doing their jobs. You may not agree with the issue at hand, but the Councilmen have a duty and a responsibility to hear every aspect of a proposal and concern from residents. Criticize the proposal all you wish, but let the elected officials perform their elected duties.