Letters To The Editor

Puzzled At Rejection

To The Editor:

To resurrect St. Paul's school to its formal glory and to employ the process in the best interest of the community, two committees were created.

One was the Village Board Committee charged in selecting the best proposal for the community from aesthetic and financial aspects.

The second committee appeared ad hoc and named itself "The Committee to Save St. Paul's."

Perhaps the community should borrow some wisdom from the financial genus J.P. Morgan. The story goes like this.

When Charles Lindberg first flew across the Atlantic Ocean,

Mr. Morgan's secretary came to his office and announced,

Mr. Morgan, Charles Lindberg flew his airplane alone all across the Atlantic Ocean." Morgan was busy and did not respond. In a louder voice his secretary repeated, "Sir, did you hear that one man flew across the Atlantic Ocean?"

Morgan lifted his head and said, "Yes, young man, one man can do almost anything. Tell me when a committee will accomplish that."

When the news of the cathedral school was published in the New York Times, our chairman of the board, V. Vebeliunas (Litas Investing Co.,) took an interest in it. Since our organization ha already converted one religious seminary site into a community center and development in Chicago, he saw a similar opportunity.

Knowing that this project would need a lot of initial capital, he approached a certain London financier, owner of Eskar International Limited, to join us in this proposal.

The financier traveled to Long Island several times, walked and studied the property, was provided with existing plans, and finally agreed to participate. Our proposal was very generous. The joint venturer would pay the village annually $250,000 as ground lease with a right to buy the land for $5,000,000 after five years. We could restore the chapel, preserve the facade of the edifice, install an art exhibition gallery and even bring his art collection from Europe for the community to enjoy.

We estimate the total cost of renovation and construction to be in the amount of $39,778,000.

We were and still are prepared to fund all that cost without any assessment to the community.

In addition to the five million dollars for the grounds, we offered other benefits to the village:

a) The village will have a beautifully restored National Historic Place.

b) The restored interior galleries and chapel will be available for suitable use to village residents. Required parking will be underground.

c) The tax base will be increased in accordance with the current assessment policies and with no burden on public service.

d) Apartments will be made available at reduced rentals to village employees.

Our architect, Bernard Marson, presented a very comprehensive and impressive plan to demonstrate the proposal.

To our surprise, our proposal was not even put in the hat for drawings. The committee announced that they selected a short list of three developers. We received no comprehensive answer why we were excluded.

Then emerged the second ad hoc committee called, "The Committee to Save St. Paul's." This Committee proposed a certain Canus organization to be the developer - Paul Rabinovitch being the principal of the Canus developer.

One of the first conditions is a projected levy on each household of $100 per year. This equals approximately $1,000,000 per year. Thirdly, there appears no ready front capital accompanying this proposal. Mr. Rabibnovich said that he is backed by 2,200 supporters. By that, he means he will solicit 2,200 tax shelter partners.

Based on these tax shelter benefits, they expect to get a loan from Morgan Stanley and the Raymond James stock brokerage firm.

They readily admit that the rents from the residences will have to be subsidized by the general public. Indirectly, they are admitting that the apartment project product they will offer will not be the quality expected for Garden City. They are silent under which kind of tax program the project will be constructed.

To get a tax credit, it is expected that the rental will be regulated and as such will be open for the entire general public.

After the initial financial benefits, tax-wise and other, are exhausted they propose to turn the keys back to the village.

We are mystified and puzzled why the village would reject a developer who takes all the financial responsibility and converts the edifices into a festive palace to serve the Garden City people without any charges and provide residences for the local community.

By selecting a plan proposed by Mr. Rabinovich, the community is looking for a longterm deficit of $25,000,000 and by employing the tax shelter capital, we are opening the doors for a tenancy who cannot afford or do not want to pay proper rents.

The Canus organization, recognizing that their project will be doomed for blight, are prepared to give the keys back to the village in the future.

I suggest that you take our money plus the free amenities and leave the building and operating to us.

Harry Knecht,

President

Litas Investing Co., Inc.

$25,000,000? Who Cares!

To the Editor:

Everybody knows that Garden City is an affluent community, but I was startled to learn about their complete disregard for $25,000,000.

As the architect for a Eskar Corporation, a rejected developer for St Paul's School, I was ready to forget about the project until I learned that one of the short-listed teams, Commit-tee to Save St Paul's/Canus Corporation, expects the Village to contribute over $20,000,000 to the fulfillment of its scheme, in which Canus will earn a $2,000,000 developer's fee plus certain other "financial goals". The committee's consultant reported that the other short-listed developers also expect some subsidy in one form or the other. Since they are all on an equal footing as of now, it can be assumed that their subsidies, in whatever form, are also close to equal.

But Eskar presented a comparable or perhaps even better scheme and offered the Village a $250,000 per year ground lease with the right to buy for $5,000,000? That represents a $25,000,000 difference. When this was pointed out to as many influential Garden City citizens as we could find, nobody called, wrote or asked a single question.

Conclusion: Nobody cares about pittances like $25,000,000.

Bernard Marson AIA

P.S. Although I might seem disgruntled, I am not crazy and would be most happy to meet with interested taxpayers.

An Inconvenient Truth In GC

To the Editor:

Since March 2006, two extremely alarming stories have come to my attention with regards to ground and water safety in our community. In March of 2007, it came to my attention that Hempstead water was heavily polluted. The levels of Trichloroethene (TCE), an industrial chemical substance, was found to be in excess of what is considered safe. The drinking water in West Hempstead, parts of Franklin Sq, Garden City South and Cathedral Gardens was compromised. People were advised to not drink the tap water. Right away I feared for my own health and the health of my family in Garden City. It seemed impossible to me that in the safe confines of our 11530 existence we should be exempt from this crisis in water safety. Last week, on the local 12 news I saw a story about a "toxic plume" right here on the Garden City Hempstead border. Many residents of both Garden City and Hempstead were outraged by this KeySpan-owned toxic utility gas-plant site in Hempstead, and what they saw as the failure of the state to alert them to the dangers it imposed. In June 2007 News Day story on the subject, Nassau Leg. David Denenberg (D-Merrick) harshly criticized the DEC for treating the Hempstead site with what he viewed as a low priority, and with spending more of its time testing and reviewing results rather than cleaning up. He read from documents showing the DEC has known about toxin levels at the site for 15 years or more, and noted that the first community meeting on the site took place only just that week.

In my search for more information on the water pollution, I had a chance to read the water report for Hempstead written up by water Superintendent Francis J. Koch, the usual caveat was posted below all the bad news, "you'd have to drink 2 liters a day for 70 years for this pollution to effect your liver or give you cancer" This sounded to me like the same non alarming air quality reports we citizens were given regarding the toxicity levels at ground zero after 911, and we know now how that turned out.

This past week, Garden City residents received the same inevitable bad water notice from the Garden City Water Department, issuing the same warnings as the Hempstead water report. Superintendent Koch wrote a more congenial and less alarming read to Garden City residents, laying out the same bad news, but claimed the department "did their best" to "flush the system", resolving in a "problem solved" declaration on June 28th by 9pm. At the end of the letter he posted a less alarming " the presence of this chemical at this level does not constitute an immediate health threat." Well that does not make me feel better, so should I look forward to getting cancer or liver disease in ten years from now, or maybe twenty? And what will become of the polluted soil a few blocks away at the toxic plume site?As a fairly new resident (five years) to Garden City and Long Island I had heard many bad stories about the water on Long Island, the cancer clusters, the toxic plumes etc. Well now it's in my backyard and I am frankly appalled that the people who hold these high positions, who are paid to be our advocates, don't ask us to take action, take action themselves and get involved in this fight. I think it' time we all get upset, the pollution we are enduring is on all sides of us, in the water our kids drink and the soil they walk through.

Getting involved in the green movement is a very overwhelming task, one we all have to take one step at a time. It is daunting to realize these things are happening around us, and that we as citizens must open our eyes to it and get involved, as Al Gore said it is an "Inconvenient Truth". Maybe it's time to realize that within these well-manicured lawns that we maintain by dumping tons of chemicals, we are all accomplishes in what is a very serious problem. Let's all get involved before it's our own families health that is at risk.

Nina Justman-Wozniak

Thanks To FD

To The Editor:

This morning, carrying a load of laundry to our basement, my husband was surprised to find three adorable kittens looking at him thru a window-well window. Further investigation showed that the mother cat was prowling around outside, the kittens were unable to jump high enough to escape, and an unmovable grate was firmly in place over the well. What to do? We tried to bring one kitten in thru the basement window but it was too wild to hold, and it jumped and hid behind our furnace.

I called the Garden City Fire Department just in case they had a suggestion. The asked our address, came right over and were able to reach into the well (wearing heavy gloves) and pulled out two of the kittens. They then went into our basement and moved stuff around till they were able to capture the last one and got it outside. I nearly wept with relief!

We want to commend Firemen Shawn Bigam, Gerry Cadigan, Chris Taylor, Peter Thorp and Lt. Joseph Cieslewicz for kind, courteous and humane service. The Garden City Fire Department is one more reason to be proud of our town.

Thank You, Gentlemen!!

Henry and Betty Pupke

P.S.

Two kittens that might have starved to death in a window-well and one who could have been a fugitive in the basement, are certainly three strong arguments for neutering animals!

Off-Duty NYPD Captain Makes A Lifesaving Car Rescue

To The Editor:

Life is good and all will be well for one very lucky lady, due to the quick actions of off duty NYPD Captain Vincent LoRusso. Captain Vincent LoRusso of Garden City, and his family were traveling eastbound on Stewart Avenue on July 1, 2007 at 12:40 p.m. when they drove up to a two-car collision. One of the vehicles was flipped on its side and on fire. Capt. LoRusso jumped out of his vehicle and ran toward the burning car, that he believed was occupied. Capt. LoRusso observed a woman in the driver's seat. Without a moments hesitation Capt. LoRusso kicked in the front windshield and climbed into the burning vehicle to release the woman's jammed seatbelt. He extracted the woman through the windshield, and along with other motorist carried her to safety just before the vehicle became fully engulfed. The Garden City Fire Department arrived to extinguished the car fire. The woman from Wantagh and Captain LoRusso were both taken to Winthrop University Hospital with numerous lacerations to the arms, legs and hands. Both were treated and released to make a full recovery. Captain Vincent LoRusso was at the right place at the right time for this lifesaving rescue. It is not about where you came from or where you are going in life that counts, it's about the people you help along the way.

JOB WELL DONE CAPTAIN!!

K. Matizza