Time for a One-Year New Development Building Moratorium in Huntington

At a dinner last week of the North Shore Land Alliance, held at Sagamore Hill - the home of the "great conservationist" US President Theodore Roosevelt - the talk was all about preserving the woodlands and farms and parks of the north shore - the green spaces - to keep our neighborhoods green and healthy.

Just two miles east in Huntington, the talk - and the smell - is very different:

The Long Island Builders Institute (LIBI) just created a "Super-PAC" to push for huge apartment construction developments - with Huntington named as "ground zero."

Local elected politicians are in the pay - and personally enmeshed with - land fraudsters. They are looking to turn Melville (and other parts of Huntington)  into a huge construction site. Not for the betterment of the community - but to enrich their construction industry "friends" and the land speculators who bought-in, on inside information.

The Huntington politicians latest "best friend" is a sleazy contractor behind a $50 million "Ponzi Land Scheme." A man who made tens of millions by getting "free" land - and incredible zoning changes - from the politicians of the Town of Huntington. Including a recent re-zoning from Huntington to build high-density condos in a single family home neighborhood.

Last week, the Huntington Town Board issued its fourth revision of a Melville Apartments Re-Zone. There are now eight (8) slightly differing Melville Apartment Resolutions before the Town Board. Deliberate confusion.

But still no actual "Plan." No map. No artists renderings. No plat maps. No blueprints.

Just a "Trust Me" grant of vast power to re-zone crony's properties in Melville. Not by the Town's Planning Board, but by the elected political Town Board itself. If that is not a recipe for gross municipal corruption ("give me some money - a "contribution" say, and we'll give you a re-zone...")...

Last week, Councilwoman Brooke Lupinacci - the only member of the 5-person Town Board to vote "No" on the Melville Resolutions - had enough.

Lupinacci called for a law enforcement investigation into the corruption and conflicts of interest (a/k/a federal Honest Services criminal fraud) in Huntington's government.

The FBI and the NY State Attorney General are now in Huntington.

The Leader calls for the Huntington Town Board to stop. Just stop. The conflicts of interest are glaring.  The community opposition (including from the Half Hollow Hills School Board) is massive.

Huntington needs a break from the hungry barbarians of LIBI, and from the corrupt land fraudsters.

A one-year building moratorium on all new apartment development projects, effective immediately.