Letter: Islip officials shirk blame
An investigator collects samples of debris at a dumping site at Route 111 and Sage Street in Central Islip on Tuesday, May 13, 2014. Credit: James Carbone
Since initial reports in Newsday in April about possible illegal dumping in Roberto Clemente Park, Islip Town officials have continued to publicly blame other people ["Residents on dumping at park," News, June 15].
Councilman Steve Flotteron blamed "deplorable" prior administrations for their failure to maintain town parks and pools. Councilman Anthony Senft is the Town Board's liaison to the parks department and should be shouldering some responsibility. Instead, the town forced Parks Commissioner Joseph Montuori to resign.
Robert Cicale, the Islip Town attorney, was reported to be waiting for the completion of the Suffolk County district attorney's investigation to decide whom to sue.
However, it appears that the Town of Islip actually ignored warnings. In November 2013, a town park ranger submitted a report about "piles of rocky dirt" dumped on soccer fields at the park. Senft said he was aware of the report but had not seen it. Is that allowed? For an elected official to simply not read an important report and then claim no knowledge or responsibility?
In fact, as far back as Aug. 27, 2013, at a news conference about the long-unused pool at the park, a Newsday reporter spotted trucks and piles of dirt at the park. Both Senft and Montuori said they didn't know what was going on.
I was born and raised in Brentwood. I don't see that any dumping has been done in well-off areas such as Brightwaters, West Islip or Fire Island. That is no coincidence.
Kathleen A. Malloy, Islip Terrace
