To the Editor:

It is that sickening, gut-level dread so many of us are feeling lately: the realization that Greenport is being run out of a back room, where public rights, water protections and due process are traded away.

Our local leader spends his time writing unvetted policies—such as the recent media restrictions detailed by the North Fork Sun—to force press questions into advance screening and evade public scrutiny. If this resolution had passed, officials would not be managing a village—but a secret operation. When accountability is discarded, the community and your voice are next on the chopping block.

Thankfully, the Board of Trustees drew a hard line by tabling that heavy-handed media resolution. By standing up for freedom of speech and refusing to rubber-stamp backroom controls, the board showed a vital check against executive overreach.

Public office is not a private club. It is time to drag this bad-faith machinery straight into the light and remind these elected potentates whom they actually work for.

Sincerely,

Michael and Isabel Osinski Widows Hole Oysters, Greenport