This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Politics & Government

Pols Pick Apart Wilkinson Over Airport

Though civic meeting cut short by lack of civility.

East Hampton Supevisor Bill Wilkinson found himself under fire for his handling of the East Hampton Airport at Saturday’s meeting.

While the “meet the candidates forum” was intended to introduce this year’s candidates for local office from the Democratic and Republican parties, finger pointing took over the event.

For starters, Frank Dalene, who is the vice-chair of the Quiet Skies Coalition, a group focuses on reducing air traffic noise, grilled Wilkinson for not taking the noise seriously.

Find out what's happening in East Hamptonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

But Wilkinson pointed to layout plan which was accepted by the FAA last month and further plans for a are initiatives that have taken place under his administration.

Zach Cohen who is challenging Wilkinson for the office of supervisor promised a two year moratorium on accepting Federal Aviation Administration money for the East Hampton Airport if he were to be elected, at least until the administration came up with a plan to tackle the noise and carbon emissions problems. Cohen said accepting federal monies would limit local control.

Wilkinson thought the idea would solve nothing,  since there is no correlation between accepting the federal funds and maintaining local control, he said.

The meeting eventually ended with several walkouts and bickering over the town’s termination of the leaf removal program.

Find out what's happening in East Hamptonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?