Wealthy “1 percenters” who live in ritzy East Hampton aren’t racist, according to the town’s housing director — they just don’t like looking at poor people.

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East Hampton’s Housing Authority bought the 4.67-acre property for $3.415 million with bonds backed by the town, and some wealthy residents showed up last month to a public meeting about the project to complain about “paving paradise,” while hundreds have signed a petition calling for the project to be abandoned.

“Most opponents would prefer the people who mow their lawns, cook their food and babysit their children live elsewhere,” said Catherine Casey, the director of the East Hampton Housing Authority.

The area’s Latino population jumped 166 percent between 2000 and 2010, the newspaper reported — but the Housing Authority director insisted wealthy critics had no racial motivation for opposing the project.

“It’s not that they don’t want Latinos,” Casey said. “It’s that they don’t want poor people.”
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