I sent you a letter last week not to broadcast my opinions but to refute an inaccurate and very unfair editorial about me (“Tree Lover Gone Wild”, Nov. 8, 2013).
I was assured prominent placement but my letter appeared at the bottom of the second page and the headline did not even mention ‘trees’ or ‘editorial response’ (“Overbuilding Destroying LI’s Character”, Nov. 29, 2013).
I am afraid many casual readers who read the very harsh main editorial two weeks before would not easily have noticed my rebuttal. That was unfair and damaging to me.
I ask that this short statement be printed now.
(1) The editorial says I appeared at a board meeting, then tried two other appeals to the Village of East Hills regarding trees to be cut down. Failing that, I sued, the editorial said, but it’s not true and creates a false impression.
I appeared with three other residents at the Architectural Review Board opposing the planned work. When the board improperly — as I argue in the lawsuit — let the work go forward, I sued with the support of two of the others.
(2) The editorial essentially says the case was thrown out, but it wasn’t. It is still pending, and I have in fact requested a special hearing to resolve factual errors in the meeting ‘transcript’.
(3) I question the judge’s language as quoted in the editorial, but your staff would not assist me by providing the transcript that they were given by the Village attorneys.
(3) My supposed excessive affection for trees is not based on some personality disorder, as you imply, but on sound environmental grounds which are repeatedly noted in the text of local laws for tree protection. As the the Village of East Hills’ own tree law says: “…[T]he removal of trees deprives the residents of the Village of these [specified] benefits and disrupts fundamental ecological systems of which trees are an integral part.” (Village Code Section 186-1).
(4) I pointed readers to my detailed and document-rich website www.Planet-in-Peril.org to allow them to form their own opinion of who I am and what I do, but that reference was removed.
I appreciate your hard-news local coverage, but I feel it needs to be a bit more nuanced to be more accurate.
Richard Brummel
Organizer, Keep East Hills Green Civic Association
