‘So self-important’: Hamptons airport vote pits wealthy against super-rich
An extraordinary battle pitting New York multimillionaires against their billionaire neighbours is expected to reach fever pitch on Thursday when local politicians in the Hamptons vote on proposals to close an airport in the super-rich enclave.
The East Hampton town board is expected to vote in favour of a plan to “deactivate” the local airport that buzzes with helicopters and private jets ferrying the uber-wealthy from Manhattan to their luxury beach houses.
Residents who are wealthy enough to live in the Hamptons, but not enough to regularly fly in and out, have fought a months-long battle to close the airport that some claim has become so busy it is “like living near JFK”.
On the other side, billionaires who regularly use East Hampton airport have been funding a campaign to keep it open. Flight logs show aircraft belonging to the former Google chair Eric Schmidt, the hedge fund manager and New York Mets owner Steve Cohen, and the New York Patriots and New England Revolution owner Bob Kraft regularly use the airport.
The disagreement has been described as “the 2% v the 1%” and “the have-everythings v the have-a-lots”.
After months of fiery council debates, the town board has proposed a complicated compromise whereby the airport closes as a Federal Aviation Administration facility on 28 February but reopens a couple of weeks later as a “publicly owned private-use airport”. This would allow the town’s officials to limit traffic and noise.
Peter Van Scoyoc, the town’s supervisor, said: “The majority of the public has indicated that allowing the airport to continue operating as it has been is unacceptable, and that traffic volume, noise, environmental and safety concerns must be addressed.”
The proposed plan would “provide [the]
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