Billboard battle brews on Long Island
A billboard battle is brewing on Long Island. FOX 5 NY’s Jodi Goldberg explains how there’s been an ongoing debate over who owns the land that these massive structures are sitting in.
LONG ISLAND – A longstanding battle over 61-foot-tall billboards along Sunrise Highway in Hampton Bays on Long Island is intensifying, as the Shinnecock Indian Nation and the State of New York dispute who controls the land on which the structures stand.
The Shinnecock Nation refers to the billboards as “monuments,” which they say serve as a gateway to their territory and a crucial source of revenue.
“It’s basically a gateway to the Shinnecock territory as we’re concerned,” said Lance Gumbs, Vice Chair of the Shinnecock Indian Nation.
The dispute over the billboards has been in and out of the courts since the monuments were first erected more than five years ago.
In December, a court ruling determined that the structures could not remain, but Shinnecock Nation believes otherwise, citing a letter they received Thursday stating that the land is within the Nation’s aboriginal territory.
“This morning we received correspondence from the Department of Interior confirming what we’ve always known that this land is tribal land,” Gumbs said.
The tribe alleges that the State and the Town of Southampton have consistently obstructed their economic endeavors, including cigarette sales, the billboards, and plans for a travel plaza near the monuments.
“We’ve been working with the nation for a number of years now to see what we can do here,” said Southampton Town Attorney Jim Burke. “The area is surrounding by residential development and have received a lot of concerns for the residential area.”
Key issues include establishing a buffer zone and creating an access point from Sunrise Highway, which the Shinnecock Nation says is already part of their plans.
“The situation has always been with the Shinnecock Nation for 400 years – ‘NIMBY’- not in my backyard,” Gumbs said. “It’s ok for us but not Shinnecock and those days are over.”
