You have to laugh at the sense of entitlement Hempstead Town Supervisor Don Clavin has. On his social media feed, he rails against adding more housing density around LIRR stations and then has the nerve to sue New York City for imposing congestion pricing.

Clavin’s slogan is “local control, not Hochul control.”

Well, yeah, because we’ve seen how much damage can be done to our housing situation when policy is left in the hands of hairdressers and local hacks.

And who could blame him? After all, everyone knows Hempstead is just dripping with charm and world renowned as a destination just oozing je ne sais quoi. More housing around a mass transit hub would just ruin the place. I think….

But apparently, the City of New York isn’t allowed “local control.”

That’s a privilege Mr. Clavin reserves for himself, so while he complains about “duh nuys and duh twaffic,” he thinks he’s perfectly within his rights to export as much of it as he wants to midtown.

Despite the carnage caused by roiling up the NIMBYs, not only can he do what he likes locally, he’s also entitled to dictate tax policies to other municipalities. How’s that for chutzpah?

While I have my doubts about congestion pricing’s merits, Clavin’s actions are obnoxious pandering. You don’t have to be a Constitutional scholar to know that the case he filed has no legal merit, and watching the town attorney squirm as he spoke on this was pure comedy.

New York has the same right to impose this tax just as they do on sales taxes or anything else. Long Islanders who work in the city already pay the City a payroll tax, so the lawsuit is pure theatre.

I personally liked how he called the tax “disingenuous.” Imagine arguing that in a court of law.

Clavin wants it both ways, but in a well-governed society, he should get neither.

Here’s why:

The MTA’s debt stack alone is larger than that of the state of New Jersey. That’s due to decades of featherbedding, corruption, patronage, and mismanagement, features that I’m sure Mr. Clavin, as a Nassau County Republican, is well familiar with.

So if his bailiwick happens to be gifted with the convenience of a LIRR station, that is a public asset to be leveraged to the hilt. No Supervisor should have any say over its use. For that matter, nor should a village mayor.

Mr. Clavin should save his revenue resources for something that actually has a chance of working.

Donald Davret

Morristown