Public Hearing On St. Paul's Grant Angers Committee
By Stephanie Mariel Petrellese

A public hearing to review a grant application for the historic Main Building at St. Paul's was so limited in its scope that it elicited only one speaker, a consultant from Oswego hired by the Committee to Save St. Paul's. Members of the committee were angered when the consultant's speech, which was in favor of the grant program, was cut short by Mayor Gerard Lundquist.

The Mayor claimed he was veering away from the set purpose of the Sept. 28th hearing. "The law governing the grant required a hearing for a specific purpose: to hear if any residents objected to the Village's application for St. Paul's funding," Mayor Lundquist said in a statement released to The Garden City News.

The program, called Restore New York, is a governor's initiative administered by the state agency Empire State Development Corp. The village is applying for the maximum grant of $5 million to do much-needed maintenance work on St. Paul's, including roof work, masonry and plumbing. Village Counsel Gerard Fishberg explained that the purpose of the hearing was limited to negative comments on why the property should not be included on a property assessment list that the Village was providing to the state as part of its application.

The property assessment list, according to the grant, names all properties a municipality wants to be considered. It also contains the location, size, type of building and type of project (demolition, deconstruction, rehabilitation or reconstruction). The Village is submitting an application specifically for the rehabilitation of the historic Main Building at St. Paul's.

After the hearing, the Committee to Save St. Paul's issued the following statement: "Despite the Mayor's assertion that the purpose of the hearing was strictly to hear 'negative comments,' the Committee was disappointed that he did not use the opportunity to hear residents' other comments or to obtain more information from a recognized expert on the state funding process."

"At least 30 residents were in attendance, and the Committee to Save St. Paul's consultant, Murray Gould, had traveled all the way from Oswego to provide input on the Restore NY program. The mayor's actions were at best insensitive and, at worst, downright rude, and seemed to fly in the face of his claims that the Board is truly interested in all sides of the St. Paul's issue. Our mayor and trustees could have gained some valuable knowledge, but they chose not to."

Mayor Lundquist responded with the following: "Mr. Gould addressed the Board for some time. If he did not have an opportunity to say all he wanted to, the Village would welcome his written comments. Members of the Committee to Save St. Paul's commented at great length about the wisdom of the grant application at the Board's Sept. 14th meeting. I am grateful that they fully agreed with our action. Hearing them repeat these comments once more would have been needlessly redundant for all concerned, as well as off-purpose for the hearing."

At the end of the hearing, Trustee Thomas Lamberti sought to clarify his position on the grant. He explained that he is not against the grant, but voted against it at the last Board of Trustees meeting because he did not understand how it applied to Garden City.

At the last meeting, Trustees John Mauk and Nicholas Episcopia also questioned how the grant applies to Garden City. The grant information provided on the state's Web site specifically states that "special consideration will be given to projects located in economically distressed urban areas, Brownfield Opportunity Areas, Quality Communities or Empire Zones; those affected by recent and unusual flooding in June 2006 and designated as a federally declared disaster area; and communities with severe economic distress and/or dislocation."

Lamberti recommended that residents obtain a copy of the grant application and information to decide for themselves. Residents can get more information at Village Hall or by visiting www.empire.state.ny.us/restoreNY.