My Email from Levy

My letter to Levy is on the bottom...
RR

August 12, 2005








Dear Concerned Constituent:



Thank you for contacting my office to express your support for the County’s action with regard to an un-permitted, illegal, single-family residence rented by upwards of 60 people.



I believe it is an outrage that government has allowed this type of illegal residence to proliferate over the last several years. In fairness to the local municipalities, a great deal of evidence must be accumulated in order to force a closure. An official cannot simply demand access to the premises to get to the underlying facts. Painstaking detail is involved. With respect to 33 Woodmont Place, the information was gathered and presented to a judge who agreed that this un-permitted residence should be closed and issued a court order. As months went by, however, the landlord did nothing. At that point, it became clear that more than just a fine ought to be levied. The owner needed to receive a clear message that violating a court order would result in an arrest. The County will continue to assist any town that comes to us with a contempt-of-court order.



What I find remarkable is the criticism that has been levied by some extremist groups, journalists, and editors, whom I believe to be out-of-touch. The overwhelming majority of people in Suffolk support our efforts to take action where few have dared to before. I find fault with a media that has concentrated heavily on the perspective of the more extreme groups which have attacked the authorities for seeking to enforce safe-housing standards, while giving little, if any, focus to the plight of the neighbors who are so severely impacted. Who is speaking for the hard-working taxpayers who have had to endure upwards of 60 people living next door, defecating in the back yard, to say nothing of the daily truck traffic seeking day laborers on these residential streets?



While the media has tried to paint this issue as related to race and immigration, it is not. It is a matter of enforcing our zoning codes so that we can preserve the integrity of our single-family neighborhoods.



Sincerely,



Steve Levy
County Executive
SL:ej

Sent: Sunday, July 24, 2005 4:50 PM
To: county.executive@suffolkcountyny.gov
Subject: hooray for a patriot


Mr. Levy,
I want to praise and congratulate you on the stand you have taken against the illegals who were crammed into a 900 sq.ft house. Not to mention the arrest of the slum lord.

I live in Texas, far away from you, but I hope and pray that your courage will infect Americans from shore to shore. We can not afford to continue to support people who are illegally entering and working in this country.

Our congress seems to be blind and deaf to our pleas...and there are millions of us pleading....it must be something in the air in Washington that drives the common sense right out of their skulls. With any luck at all we'll be driving hundreds of these treasonous persons out of office in the coming election cycle.

Hang in there, Mr. Levy...we're with you.