Email: editor@ gcnews.com

Broadcast Meetings

To the Editor:

Over the years I have had the opportunity of viewing town hall meetings on television. I understand it does not cost the town anything since telephone companies like Verizon or Cablevision offer this to towns at no charge and can be played on channels set aside for such events.

I think it would be a great idea if Garden City would avail itself of this opportunity. It would provide a vehicle to homeowners, who could not attend meetings to be kept abreast of the village business.

What say you, Mr. Mayor?

John F. Chianese

Sneaky

To The Editor:

The recent village election demonstrated how vicious and sneaky the members of the Committee to Save St. Paul's are. One of the things that has made Garden City unique is the Community Agreement. Under this agreement, the property owners associations and residents nominate candidates for trustee. This year four trustees were renominated and it was expected that they would be re-elected with minimum vote and no controversy. These furtive members of the Committee, behind their dark hoods and capes, put together a secret write-in campaign for their former executive director, Eileen Collins. While she was soundly beaten, it shows the underhanded steps these Committee members would go to. They are bent on destroying the Community Agreement to try to achieve their selfish goals.

Recently the Eastern Property Owners Association passed a resolution that the AvalonBay plan should be approved with no community space. Since the village has an abundance of unused community space, for the village to pay rent back to AvalonBay for space that will not be used makes no sense. The village should adopt the same resolution.

The controversy with regard to St. Paul's has gone on for more than a decade. I supported the elite Mayor's Committee which recommended an excellent proposal for assisted living. Members of the St. Paul's Committee fought that proposal which would have produced substantial revenue for the village and provide a needed space for seniors. They have also fought every reasonable proposal over the years, which has discouraged developers from even making viable proposals.

In the meantime, the costs of upkeep of St. Paul's have skyrocketed and the village has lost substantial revenue. The actual costs of all of these delays by the members of the committee have cost the residents of the village millions of dollars. At some point, all of these costs and lost revenue should be assessed against this small group of committee members.

Unfortunately, this little committee of unknowns acts like a bunch of spoiled brats saying "I want! I want! I want!." Their actions have forced the village to consider a less than perfect compromise, which is the AvalonBay proposal, which should not have any public space and no pay backs.

If the St. Paul's Committee continues its selfish approach, it may end up causing the opposite effect of what it wants and could result in the village residents petitioning the trustees to paraphrase former President Ronald Reagan and say "Mr. Mayor, tear down this building!"

M. John Pittoni, Esq.

Against Development

To the Editor:

I have always opposed the use of St. Paul's for private real estate development. And, now after reading of the possible appearance of a conflict of interest of a Trustee who chose to re-sign from the Mayor's Committee on St. Paul's both as chairman and member, as well as reading of pending legislation in Albany allowing developers to supersede local zoning and increase the density of development, I feel vindicated in my opposition to private real estate development at St. Paul's. In addition, I have heard a rumor, if authenticated, that AvalonBay developments may have tended in the past to become low income housing. If that is true, how would that affect property values in the surrounding areas of the Estates and the Central Section where houses have been assessed at well over a million if not two or three million dollars?

The Trustees should also consider the problem of high density which would increase the tax burden on our schools as well as undermine the safety of our children as traffic would explode at the intersections and cross walks in the area of the Garden City Middle School. The Trustees really should consider these problems before making the drastic decision to allow AvalonBay to develop St. Paul's. Haven't we already had enough fatal accidents involving Garden City school children to alert our Trustees to this ongoing problem? Do we want to worsen the problem by overdeveloping a property which was to be used for the community, not for high density development? What is the median income of AvalonBay residential properties that are already in use? The Trustees should provide us with accurate statistics to answer that question before making a decision that would affect property values in the heart of Garden City. Can people with a low income really afford property at St. Paul's without going through the foreclosure process which is now an epidemic in this country? Shouldn't our State Senator Kemp Hannon take a position on this controversial legislation that would affect St. Paul's?

St. Paul's is already designated as a park; how would the pending legislation affect parkland? Do we want one of our last remaining green spaces to become another high density project with possible mortgage foreclosures, tax defaults, and an increase in accidents and fatalities among our young people in Garden City? These are questions that the Trustees should address (with the exception of the Trustee who resigned from the Mayor's Committee on St.Paul's both as chairman and member).

Francis N. Elmi, Ph.D.

Update From AvalonBay

To the Editor:

To bring you up to date on our recent activities to preserve St. Paul's, AvalonBay has been working with the Mayor's Committee and its new Chairman on revised site plan concepts for the preservation and re-development of the Main School building. The revised concepts reflect the feedback received from the Committee and from hundreds of village residents as a result of the numerous public outreach sessions that began last fall and have continued through last week.

In part, the revised concepts being finalized eliminate the need for a parking structure at the site by placing all parking either at grade or below ground. An option for public access to the Main Building also remains.

AvalonBay's strong financials allow for the continued commitment to self-finance its redevelopment of St. Paul's. We also remain committed to limiting to the greatest extent possible any new construction that may be needed behind the Main Building to help underwrite the significant costs (twice the cost of new construction) associated with preserving this unique structure.

Once revised site concepts have been reviewed and approved for public discussion by the Mayor's Committee, AvalonBay will again conduct extensive public outreach to inform all Garden City residents of the revised concepts for saving St. Paul's, which will include several Open House sessions toward the end of April.

The Open House sessions will provide residents with an opportunity to engage in a personal, two-way dialogue with AvalonBay executives and consultants on all aspects of the preservation and redevelopment concepts, e.g., architectural design, historic preservation, public space options, development impacts, and project economics.

As per the requirements of the original Request for Proposals issued by the Village regarding the future of St. Paul's, Avalon Bay is committed to advancing a plan that maximizes the benefits of preserving the Main Building at little or no cost to the Village. And, as part of the Open House process, all of the financial information related to AvalonBay's proposal will be fully provided to the public. There will be complete transparency on the financial transaction between AvalonBay and the Village.

We look forward to publicly sharing the new site concepts soon and continuing the dialogue that will help shape the future preservation of the St. Paul's School Main Building for generations to come.

Sincerely,

Matthew B. Whalen

Vice President, Development

AvalonBay

Communities Inc.

Deserve Better

To the Editor:

We have all heard Trustee John Mauk claim that he knew nothing about Avalon Bay and its business dealings with his employer, CB Richard Ellis. Let's set the record straight. A simple word search of the CBRE website reveals over 400 separate references to Avalon Bay. Either Mr. Mauk is completely clueless about his employer's business or he is not being completely truthful with the residents of Garden City. In either event, the entire process of selecting Avalon Bay is tainted. We deserve better than this from our elected leaders.

David J. Sutton

Rink Robbed

To the Editor:

Last week, on Thursday March 20, 2008 the shack at the roller hockey rinks in Community Park was broken into and a theft occurred for the second time in a year. Upon discovering the break-in, rink supervisor Andrew Karen called the police and had the police fill out an incident report. When I arrived there I discovered that four of my hockey sticks, 2 goalie sticks and 2 skater sticks, had been stolen in addition to my roller hockey pants. I was not the only victim of this robbery, as my other five co-workers had equipment stolen. In addition to the theft of staff equipment, equipment was stolen that is used for the roller hockey league that begins this Friday, March 28.

When the Recreation Department was alerted of what had happened none of the recreation heads came to see the damage, and when asked if we could come down to talk about the situation we were informed that it was almost 4:30 and that they would rather go home for the day. We were also told right away that the village had no plans of reimbursing us for what was lost. The damages are close to about $2000 in total.

My question and the question that everyone I have spoken to regarding the incident has is why won't they reimburse us?

The recreation department last year after the first incident told our supervisor to tell us that it may not be the best idea to leave our equipment permanently in the shack anymore, but we were never given anything in writing from the village stating that we would not be reimbursed should a theft occur again. It should be noted that the staff is not leaving their equipment in the shack to use the shack as a personal locker room. The equipment that was left there is necessary for us to do our job, and is used by people taking part in the programs at times as well. Though the youth league and "learn and play" clinic have not started yet, we will be entering our third week of adult roller hockey, in which the staff is allowed to play. This year we have an interesting situation in adult hockey because there are no adult goalies. This has resulted in me, as well as one other staff member to play goalie during these games using our own personal equipment. With our equipment gone there is nobody to play goalie at the moment because none of the staff members have the ability to replace the equipment that is currently missing. We are all aged 17 to 21, so for us this kind of expense is not one that we can endure for a second time. This program, as well as the other hockey programs that are offered, are programs that the kids, and the "big kids" (adults) look forward to each week due in part to the active staff participation. You may note that these programs were the subject of numerous positive write ups in the GC News in November and December. Not having the equipment that we need reduces how effective each staff member can be in each of the programs.

Another point to consider is why after 5 years of having these successful and fun leagues that we are still forced to use a garden shed as our shack, when renovations have been going on around the village to build new shacks or offices such as the new shack in Nassau Haven, the new Recreation office at the St. Paul's cottages, the building adjacent to the soccer fields at St. Paul's, and the similar, but larger structure currently being built for the community park tennis center office. Our shed is made of wood, and has bars over the windows that can easily be pried off the way the door was pried open for this burglary, and is probably too small for our needs. Regardless, both the lock on the door and the bars on the window are only held in by screws, which can easily be taken out or ripped out. The bottom door lock was also broken for at least 3 days, and that had been reported to the village as well, but nobody had fixed that lock in the days leading to the incident. The only working lock holding the door shut can be cut easily, as was the case a few weeks ago when a similar lock was cut so that people could turn the lights on in order to play at night. Since then a thicker lock and chain has been installed, and the surrounding fence has a top now so that nobody can hop the fence to try to turn on the lights. Action was taken when the lights went on, but no serious action was taken to protect the shack when it was broken into in the spring of 2007 and to prevent this second break-in.

The village has also installed new locks for the bathrooms and shacks in the parks. This was done when it was discovered that people were breaking into the parks and using the shacks and bathrooms to have parties at night. While no property theft had occurred at these times, the village felt that it was necessary to change the locks to deter people from drinking alcohol after hours in the parks, yet when the village actually was the victim of theft, and personal equipment was stolen, no action was taken to seriously protect the area the first time, and now after the second incident the employees are being told "too bad".

In closing the equipment stolen was used by employees in order to effectively work with the village residents taking part in the recreation programs. A simple way to resolve this issue would be to file a claim with the village's insurance company and get money from the insurance policy to reimburse the employees for what was stolen, but the village is refusing to do this. The Recreation Department has an obvious lack of concern for the employees who work in a program that generates close to $12,000 for the village each spring and fall season. If you don't agree consider this quote by Kevin Ocker, head of the village's Recreation Department, upon being told of employee dissatisfaction when hearing the news that they would not be reimbursed: "I've been in this job for 35 years and I am not going to let some part-timers hold a gun to my head". As you finish reading this please remember that your taxes pay for the village to have an insurance policy to be used in the event an incident was to occur. Are your taxes paying for nothing?

Hoping for a change,

Brian Johnston

Offer Chinese Courses

To the Editor:

I am proposing the replacement of French language studies, with that of Mandarin Chinese, recently selected by the Chinese government as the country's official language. Colleagues, who have worked in China, also recommended Mandarin as the dialect of choice. The major responsibility of our educators is to prepare our children for the future; this foreign language change would help them achieve that result and at minimal budget consequences.

French used to be the language of diplomacy. I believe we can all agree that English is now the de facto language of diplomacy, as well as, of commerce and science. Given the declining French birthrates, they will, in all likelihood, be speaking Arabic in the near future anyway.

Not that I consider the Chinese to be an ally, however, they will be our major commercial trading partner and/or competitor in the future. Our children should be in a position to participate in that growing commerce.

Alternately, China has stated its desire to increase its influence, with weapons purchases from the Russians and Europeans, in the Asia Pacific area at the expense of the United States. We have agreements with the Republic of China (Taiwan) which guarantee our involvement should the Chinese invade, a policy they explicitly embrace. China is North Korea's major benefactor, a country with which we are technically still at war. China is also challenging Japan, a staunch American ally, over oil in the Senkaku Islands.

Should a shooting war start, (not too far fetched a prospect); U.S. citizens educated in the Chinese language would be of great value to our military and intelligence services. Our children would be in an enviable position to serve their country, and perhaps remain a little safer.

Let's say "Ni Hao" to the future, and bid adieu to past.

Please send letters to our Educators supporting this proposal. You can also take a World Language and Math Survey supporting Mandarin Chinese under the High School website. Thank you for your support.

Thomas P. Brosnan

Great Coaches

To The Editor:

No one will ever be able to remove Ed Phillips or John Dell'Olio from the memories and hearts of thousands of Garden City students, parents or fellow teachers.

The children of Garden City, will always have fond memories of you and John. They will be grateful for what they learned from both of you. The discipline and teamwork that is necessary to win on the sporting fields, will, serve them well as they face life's difficulties.

A brief review of the accomplishments of our Garden City Graduates, who have been coached by you and John, is living proof of the dedication of two great coaches, who have dedicated their lives, knowledge and skills to the students of Garden City. Ed and John will live on in the history of Garden City Public Schools Sports Program.

Thank you for a job well done Coaches!

Play ball!

Your friend and fellow teacher.

Paul Kelly

Garden City Teacher

1970-2005

Great School

To The Editor:

For at least as long as the five years I've lived in the Village, the Garden City Nursery School has had an illusion of exclusivity: long wait lists, full classes, few spaces. Its reputation even caused me -- a young mother moving to town with a two-year-old and another on the way -- to (wrongly) presume the school would not have a spot for my son. I heard other mothers express similar misgivings.

However, like any other nursery school in the Village, GCNS experiences an ebb and flow of students, with opportunities for placement at any given time. It is, in fact, the opposite of exclusive: founded on and sustained by a welcoming, cooperative spirit. When my second child was born, I shrugged off the school's reputation and called. They had a spot. And my son and I couldn't be happier with our decision.

Janeen Renaghan

Help! I've Been Robbed!

To the Editor:

The beauty of my village has been taken from me! For more than 40 years I've enjoyed and loved the view of the rolling hills and pond that make up the Garden City CC golf course. When I first rode past the fence that obliterated the beauty that ALL the residents of Garden City have shared for so many years, I felt as if I had been kicked in the gut. I still can't believe that something so valuable, our village's beauty, has been taken away from us. What if beauty-blocking fences are erected around the Cherry Valley and Garden City Golf Club golf courses and other open views?

When my father returns home to Garden City after working in Manhattan or visiting friends or relatives elsewhere, even after 40 years, he always joyfully comments, "Ahhh Garden City, Garden Spot of the World!" Keep one of the reasons so many of us moved here intact.

Maybe the people who chose that type of fencing

didn't realize what a horrible consequence it was to inflict on everyone. I only pray that now they realize it (the green stuff) was a mistake and it is undone. Please! To continue to cover over our shared landscape would just be spite work.

Stacey Kalkines

Kildare Road

resident since 1967.