The Raid Redux

It is the spirit and not the form of law that keeps justice alive.

Earl Warren 1891 – 1974) )


But thus do I counsel you, my friends: distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful!

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900)


As many of us sleep, with visions of sugar plums dancing in our heads, the Storm Troopers are busy preparing to burn the Constitution in Southampton. They are, and will be, breaking into homes under the guise of protecting its occupants.
Several homes in Southampton have recently suffered the same fate as Supervisor-elect Linda Kabot and her aunt - visited by the Heaney-directed Police – on orders emanating from the Town Attorney’s office. While Kabot’s aunt’s experience was mostly political retaliation from a Primary election point of view, the current plan is both a holdover of Heaney (who is still Supervisor until January 1st) and a last gasp of Garrett Swenson the Town Attorney and one of his underlings Michael Sendlenski – neither of whom would answer any questions about the lawfulness or wisdom of their illegal actions. The Storm Troopers are politically motivated by the need to silence any opposition to this new Town policy which is clearly unconstitutional.

It’s breaking and entering with a badge and a gun – to check for smoke detectors. With an order signed by a judge. Can you believe this?

Overall, what is going on is the bureaucratization of institutionalized racism.

It is driven initially by those local residents who have both fallen for the politically motivated hype of those seeking political capital (Heaney, Nuzzi and Republican Conservatives) – as well as driven by the belief that they are supporting “the law.” If we can’t send them back to Mexico, let’s arrest them and whomever harbors them.
Law-enforcement in the Hamptons is a cross between being “moral and right” and having the ability to punish those who don’t agree with you.
That’s the Heaney/Nuzzi way.

So, last week, another group -- Code Enforcement Officer Kauth, Southampton Fire Marshal John Rankin, and a few other characters (after investigation by private Detective David Betts working in the Town Attorney's office) – armed with a Warrant signed by a Southampton Justice Court Judge – broke in to a house on North Sea Road at 5 a.m., handed a Latino woman the papers and then proceeded to roam through the house looking for code violations. This well-coordinated effort found numerous violations, including faulty smoke-detectors and more people in the house than the code enforcers deemed suitable. Then they left. This modus operandi has been repeated numerous times recently.
Would it be safe to say that local residents and Town employees who supported Heaney have not had their homes invaded in the same manner at 5 a.m. with search warrants? To check for smoke detectors?
None of the conspirators in these raids would discuss who ordered them and what their real objectives were. If any of these conspirators named are misspelled, keep in mind that no Town website identifies them or places them out in the light of day. Nixon's "plumbers" acted in the same manner. When you consider the fact that
Marty Tankleff fought for many years to shine the light on Police and D.A. misdeeds, these characters understandably don't want to have to look over their shoulders in years to come as Federal lawsuits bring them to light.

Apparently, by their actions, they would have us all believe that the Building Department is either too busy, too understaffed or too corrupt to be trusted in visiting any property to double-check the certificates of occupancy that have already been issued which permits legal occupancy. Could the Town simply not send a letter to the property owner to arrange for an inspection of any property that had not been inspected within the last 5 or 10 years? And, then, apply the same standard and requirement to EVERY house in Southampton. Not just properties that are rented.
Are they not just as concerned with seniors who live alone and whose carbon monoxide detector may not work properly? The answer is simple – they would all be voted out of office if they treated others this way. And, would they do the inspections at 5 a.m. with badges and guns?
Of course not. That is because they’re not looking to make properties safer or protect immigrants – they’re intending to make the lives of simple hard-working immigrants even more difficult – in the hope that they will leave the Town. Or, they hope to intimidate owners into evicting the people.

Now, folks, let us remember that this did not happen in Venezuela, nor in Chechnya, nor in the good old Soviet Union, nor did it happen in Burma or Indonesia.
No, this happened and is continuing to happen in the Town of Southampton, right here in the good old U.S. of A. And, it could happen to you – if we let it continue. As a matter of fact, count on it. Remember, these guys don’t like New Yorkers, they don’t like Summer people, they don’t like people who share a summer house – and they don’t like the people who currently cannot vote but DO pay all of the bills. That would be YOU. They don’t like YOU. They only want your money. It's not pay-as-you-go, it's you pay --and then -- you please go.
Think about that before you plan on spending some time in the Hamptons next summer. Atlantic City, New Jersey may be a better choice. Come to think of it, so would Coney Island.

As a result of the fact that millions of undocumented Latinos have arrived in our country to work in jobs that Americans do not want to do, and the fact that the national government does not want to deal with the issue – our nation of immigrants wants to force the new immigrants out of their homes.
They want to put children out of schools, deny them medical attention and push people out into the streets or into the woods –- and harass them and harass property owners so that they will refuse to rent property to Latino people. Thereby, the plan goes, to force them back to their countries of origin – whether that be Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Ecuador or Panama.

In fact, Congressman Tim Bishop, not a popular figure among Democrats (although he ran as and is identified as a Democrat) met with some local residents recently and cited some interesting bits of information for those who were listening to him.
He pointed out to the local audience at a senior citizen’s center in Hampton Bays that 70 percent of this country’s agricultural workers are illegal immigrants – and that businesses have failed for lack of workers. Americans do not want to do the menial labor that the immigrants are willing to do.
At this meeting, which was intended to hear the grievances of local people, the issue of immigration was discussed.

“They have taken away the jobs of the American people, and we should be going after the people that hire them. I watch Lou Dobbs every night…” said Sara Jeanne Stephani. Another resident, Paul Forthmuller, complained that “My teeth are falling out and I’m a disabled veteran and they get more help than I do.”

Lewis Black would have a field day with those lines – and then perhaps remind these people that this country is entirely populated by legal AND illegal immigrants.
Lou Dobbs and Ms. Stephani should take a few lessons from Jesus Christ, and Mr. Forthmuller should write to Mr. Bush about his shoddy treatment of Veterans.

The answer for many is simply to end illegal immigration, put up a wall between Mexico and the United States (they are actually planning to do this at a cost of $6 million per mile -- no one seems to remember Berlin) – and, most important, round up everyone who is here illegally and send them home.

All fifteen million.

While we cannot solve the problem right here, right now – the answer is not to cut our noses off to spite our own faces. Or, as they say, let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

But, here are a few realities:

We are either in or going into a recession.
Don’t believe that?
Okay, how about this, then.

Fact: The number of foreclosure auctions in Suffolk County are up 276% over the same period last year – and there is a nearly 50% drop in the number of properties that have sold in that same period. The Hamptons are part of Suffolk County and share these numbers but lag in the severity of what is going on. But, these problems are on the way, big time.
Even high end properties – the multi-million dollar ones that are selling – are automatically receiving offers 20% BELOW the asking price. That’s just for starters.

The current market in the Hamptons, according to many local brokers, is, to put it mildly, dead in the water. Where there used to be a two or three season sales market, there is now only one: from late February to April for rentals and March through May for sales.
It is a shortened real estate market. And it is a smaller real estate market.
Multi-million dollar mansions sell in certain locations like Dune Road in Southampton or the Estate section of East Hampton; $400,000 to $600,000 houses sell in Hampton Bays; and $200,000 houses sell in Flanders. Everything else is a hard sell and may not move for a year or two of difficult, active, open-house marketing. Finding a buyer for a million dollar 5 bedroom house with a pool on a three-quarter acre lot in Southampton is harder than finding a rent-controlled three bedroom apartment for $1000 a month in Manhattan. Brokers are laying off people and contemplating closing offices. Several have gone out of business or have been billed as mergers. The cell phone wielding, blue-tooth ear-pieced, Hollywood Star of the realty world -- driving a new Land Rover to her appointments with clients – is now selling soap in Woodstock. And, these agents left the Hamptons even before the sub-prime meltdown hit. The current situation is not pretty.

Speaking of which, the sub-prime meltdown has made home equity loans, refinances and new second home purchases practically non-existent. LTV’s have dropped, appraisal values have dropped, rates have gone up and some banks have pulled out of the mortgage market altogether. Citibank, WaMu, IndyMac, JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America have all pulled back substantially. This has forced some builders to walk away from land contracts and default on hard money loans. It’s not a pretty picture. And, strangely, no one is talking about it yet in the Hamptons. That's partly due to the fact that they do not focus on the bigger picture of where we are headed.

To put it bluntly, the Hamptons market is dead except for the very big money and the small money. Everyone in between is screwed.
There is no liquidity and the adjustable mortgages are forcing up the cost of financing. Houses are now starting to be dumped on the market because they are not affordable even in a normal market.
The fiction about European buyers flocking to New York to buy with cheap dollars versus the Euro – is only temporarily true for Manhattan property. The European banks are stuck with our SIV’s and their banks and hedge funds are on their way into the basement as well. There is fear in the financial markets and clearly they have no answers as to how to deal with this crisis.

So, with this “normal” inventory balloon of unmarketable houses as we enter a serious downtown in the market -- what does the Town of Southampton do to help matters?
It creates an even more onerous market for sales.

To this flooding of real estate, the Town adds pressure on property owners by telling them that they will now not be able to rent properties. A new, draconian rental law takes effect on January 1st.
By harassing owners and threatening them with huge fines and arrest for renting to Latinos – under the guise of a rental law to “protect” tenants from unscrupulous landlords – they are now forcing more properties on the market for sale. If you cannot rent an investment property you have to sell it.
If the purpsose of a law is to make it impossible to rent a property, it must be sold or abandoned.

Since there is no affordable housing to speak of in the Hamptons and no multi-family housing, investment property had been he only form of reliable rentals. It became the affordable housing that the government would not or could not provide.
That too will now evaporate.

As the Constitutionality of the new rental law is challenged while those who object to racism and McCarthyism raise their voices, we must stand by and watch civil rights be trampled. Police operatives and its government seems intent on contributing to the demise of the Hamptons as a desirable resort community.
Jerry Seinfeld needs gardeners, landscapers and cleaning people. So does his architect and builder.

Does Cheryl Kraft of Public Safety do windows? Does David Betts do toilets as well as sell his private detective services to the Town in order to catch these serious criminals? Is Heaney planning to move his fence company to Texas?

And, more important, does Linda Kabot plan on cleaning house?