Temporary Restraining Order Issued Against Shinnecocks Over Sign

HAMPTON BAYS, NY— After public outcry from some elected officials and residents about a large electronic billboard erected by the Shinnecock Indian Nation on Sunrise Highway, the New York State Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order on Friday.

According to Glenn Blain, assistant director of communication for the New York State Department of Transportation, “The state commenced an action against the Shinnecock Nation to halt the construction of billboards along State Route 27 (Sunrise Highway) and, following a hearing before the New York State Supreme Court, a temporary restraining order was issued.”

Further details will be reportedly be available once the NYSDOT reviews the order.

The Shinnecock Indian Nation issued a release Tuesday in response, stating that they would fight the state's "illegal legal action to stop" the development project.

The Council of Trustees of the Shinnecock Indian Nation said that they would be "asserting their immunity from suit against any legal proceedings brought against them and the Shinnecock Nation by the State of New York."

Late Friday, the State Department of Transportation, represented by Attorney General Leticia James, filed papers in State Supreme Court requesting a temporary restraining order against the Nation’s officials to prevent them from completing construction and operation of advertising towers on tribal land adjacent to the Sunrise Highway, or New York State Route 27, the release said.

"In its lawsuit, the state has named personally the Nation’s officials as defendants, as well as its duly authorized agents who are constructing the project. However, under federal law, the Nation is recognized as one of 573 sovereign Indian nations in the United States. One of the inherent attributes of tribal sovereignty possessed by federally-recognized Indian nations is immunity from suit. Accordingly, the Nation, its officials, and its agents acting in furtherance of the Nation’s authority are immune from any and all legal proceedings brought in State courts," the release said.

And, added the Council of Trustees: "The state’s lawsuit against Shinnecock officials is a thinly veiled attack on the Shinnecock Nation and our right of self-determination. Throughout our history, our lands and economic future have been taken from us by the state and the surrounding community. Our goal is simply to generate revenue to provide for our people. The state has a long history of bulldozing Indian lands and Indian people to get what it wants. We will fight
against this most recent effort to attack our tribal sovereignty."

The Nation has given notice to the State Supreme Court that it intends to exercise its rights under
federal law and will seek a resolution of its rights through the legal process, the release concluded.

The sign remains standing — a reminder, according to the Shinnecock Indian Nation, of the economic opportunity it symbolizes. The first of the two large structures was erected Thursday.

Recently, a number of East End elected officials sent a letter to Shinnecock Tribal Council members, calling upon the Shinnecock Indian Nation to "immediately halt construction," of the billboards, to be located on the north and south sides of New York State Route 27 in Hampton Bays.

The rectangular structures are 61-feet tall, with 30-foot high by 20-foot wide electronic billboards on each side, and "are completely out of character with our rural area. They would be more fitting in New York City's Times Square or in Las Vegas, Nevada," the letter said.

(Courtesy photo)

But despite stop work orders and a cease and desist letter from the New York State Department of Transportation, work continued last week, with the first billboard on the eastbound side of the highway erected Thursday in time for Memorial Day weekend.

After the cease and desist letter, the Shinnecock Tribal Council fired back a response: "The New York State Department of Transportation continued an unfortunate and unjust pattern of mistreatment and total disregard for the economic welfare and Sovereignty of the Shinnecock Nation. Without any legal basis, the NYSDOT sent the Shinnecock Nation a cease and desist letter regarding the work being conducted on tribal territory alongside Sunrise Highway," a release said.
The letter continued: "We have been good neighbors since 1640, but our good nature has been met with encroachment, theft of land, racism, and double talk."

The project, the letter said, will provide substantial resources to the Nation and allow its people to address the "economic disparity that has plagued our community for generations."

The NYSDOT and Southampton Town officials, Shinnecock tribal members said, attempted to illegally impose state and town law on its sovereign territory by referring to an illegal easement on Sunrise Highway which does not grant the state title to the land.

Elected officials, in the letter to the Shinnecock Tribal Council, said the signs were an eyesore and could detract from the East End's bucolic quality of life. Some residents also organized a protest of what they feel are unsightly signs.

"We work hard every day to protect our community character. Although we respect the Shinnecock Nation's desire to improve living standards for its members, we believe these structures directly hurt our region by urbanizing the landscape," the elected officials, including Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman and other Southampton town board members, Suffolk County Legislators Bridget Fleming and Al Krupski, and elected officials from Riverhead, East Hampton, Westhampton Beach, Sag Harbor, North Haven, Southampton Village, Quogue, Sagaponack and Westhampton Dunes, said.

Elected officials also said they questioned whether the structures complied with federal highway law in terms of setbacks from the roadway and fall zones from a designated evacuation route. They also expressed fears that motorists, distracted by the signs, might crash into the signs — and about the impacts of light pollution on nearby residents and wildlife.

"We understand that the tribal council believes that these are sovereign lands, immune from local, county and state regulation," the elected officials wrote. "Whether or not such immunity exists, we implore the Shinnecock Indian Nation to stop construction and work collectively with other South Fork governmental jurisdictions on economic development projects that are more in keeping with our area."

Schneiderman said next steps could involve the New York State Attorney General's Office; the state, he said, enforces federal highway law on is roads.

When asked if work would continue on the other sign after the TRO, Gumbs did not comment, but said as a federal tribe, the Shinnecock Indian Nation was immune.

The Shinnecock Indian Nation, he said, is represented by attorneys including Robert Odawi Porter, a former President of the Seneca Nation of Indians, Indian law attorney Judy Shapiro, and tribal attorney Tela Troge.

Reflecting on what the TRO means, after what Gumbs deemed the "victory" of seeing the sign erected last week, a joyful moment he said was made even more meaningful by watching the happiness on the faces of the 100 or so members of the Shinnecock Indian Nation who gathered at the site, he spoke of disillusionment and a lifetime of frustration: "I, and others in the community, have waited a lifetime for this, a lifetime for our tribe to have an achievement of this magnitude. And a visual achievement — no one even knew that property was ours. They ride through that area without ever realizing that the property belongs to the Shinnecock Nation, and that it is the last remaining piece that we never lost, that never changed hands — that wasn't stolen from us."

Gumbs spoke of the hypocritical detractors who, he said, have deemed the sign an "eyesore. We've watched this eyesore of the Hamptons grow for 400 years."

He pointed to signs, gas stations, and buildings on County Road 39 and said he remains incredulous over the uproar about "our little sign over on the highway. It's just ridiculous."

The issue, Gumbs believes, is not really about the sign. "It's about the control the town wants to exert over our Nation. It's the 'you can't' mentality from the town against the Nation that's been around since first contact. We're tired of hearing, 'You can't,'" he said.

Gumbs scoffs at the argument that the Shinnecock Nation is not being a good neighbor. "It's so hypocritical. When has the town been a good neighbor to us? Everything we do is a 'no,' or a 'you can't do that because it's going to infringe on our Hamptons.' When the Hamptons have been built upon the stolen lands of our people," he said.

When asked how much revenue the signs were expected to generate, Gumbs said he could not comment because the tribe does not yet have the final numbers, which will depend upon advertisers and other factors. However, he said, revenue will help "immensely" in terms of bolstering programs on the reservation.

"As a tribal leader, when you have 60 percent of our people living below the poverty line as of the 2010 census, you have to do something about it," Gumbs said.

And, he added: "When you live in one of the richest towns in the areas surrounded by all of this opulence, they should be ashamed of allowing something like this to happen in their beautiful so-called Hamptons. We are not looking for handouts. We are looking for our own economic development avenues so we can be self-sustaining," an objective that was furthered by President Richard Nixon, he said.

In 1984, Gumbs said, the Town of Southampton "tried to stop our cigarette business and hold us down economically. In 2003, the Town of Southampton and the state tried to stop our casino. They got away with it — temporarily."

On Monday, he said, that the casino project was definitely on hold just "temporarily" and, while it is currently not being acted upon, it's a major form of economic development that the tribe will revisit in the future.

"And in 2019, they came after us once again, trying to shut down our ability to do this sign project," he said.

The sign, which some elected officials and residents have deemed a blight on the bucolic vista, is sited just a short distance from a cell phone tower that stands 150' in the air, Gumbs said.

"Their sense of entitlement seems to want to entitle us to do nothing — and those days are over," he said. "We are taking control of our destiny. We are no longer going to be second class citizens."

As the sign was being erected last week, a rainbow illuminated the sky above, Gumbs said. "It was a beautiful gift from the Creator to let us know that we are doing the right thing. It was absolutely a sign that there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for the Shinnecock Indian Nation. We just need to be patient."

(Lance Gumbs)