Defying a state restraining order, a group of Long Island Indians broke ground yesterday on a casino in the Hamptons, a plan that angry residents say will cause traffic chaos.
“This will destroy the fabric of life on the East End,” said Bob Ward, one of the leading opponents of the project. “This will be a major disaster for us.”
The Shinnecock Indian Nation wants to build the casino on 15 acres of a 79-acre tract it owns in Hampton Bays.
Ward said some residents are so irate, they are thinking about blocking Sunrise Highway – one of the main routes to the Hamptons – on July 4.
The Shinnecocks held the groundbreaking even though the state attorney general’s office on Sunday obtained a temporary restraining order against the project.
In addition to traffic, critics say the casino, which would front on Peconic Bay, would damage the environmentally sensitive area.
What’s more, the Indian group doesn’t have the right to build the casino because it hasn’t been recognized as a Native American tribe by the federal government, the agency said.
Both sides will argue the matter at a hearing tomorrow in state Supreme Court in Riverhead, L.I.