We were sorry to hear that John Mauk has decided to step down from the Mayor's Committee on St. Paul's. Although we have not yet come to a conclusion on the merits of the AvalonBay project, the committee and Mr. Mauk in particular has spent countless hours working on the proposal.

We are satisfied with Mr. Mauk's responses to the criticism that has been leveled against him about the connection between his employer and the AvalonBay corporation. It does appear to be a minor connection that does not benefit Mr. Mauk in any way.

However, as he says in his resignation letter, it is important not to cloud the issue. If AvalonBay's project makes sense to the residents, they should be able to support it without any fears that something untoward is taking place.

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Regarding the proposed Winston condominium project on Garden City's border with Mineola, we'll leave it to our readers to decide: does a nine story building with only a fifteen foot setback belong in that area, or will it, in fact, "loom" over the surrounding area? The mayor of Mineola disagrees that it will. See his letter in the letters column.

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A bit of trivia: the last time the Garden City News was published on a Leap Day was in 1980.

Meg Morgan Norris

Publisher