Email: editor@ gcnews.com

Code of Ethics To Serve Village

To the Editor:

The Trustee vote not to expand the Village Code of Ethics to allow staff or other trustees to request a review by the Board of Ethics of a potential conflict of interest is disappointing. Such review of potential conflicts is not harmful to anyone and only serves to protect the trustees as well as the residents of the Village, while at the same time supporting the integrity of governance.

Wouldn't it be in the best interests of the Village residents to allow the Board of Ethics to review potential conflicts at the request of staff or trustees?

Donna M. O'Brien

Ethics Needed

To The Editor:

In a New York Times editorial published on April 18 entitled "Too Much Discretion," we were advised that New York City Council members were endowed with so called "discretion money" which permitted them to steer money to favored non-profit organizations, relatives and other activities.

There are some unconfirmed rumors, which I plan to track down by means of the Freedom of Information Law when time permits, to the effect that the Village has a clerk or clerks who earn more than $100,000 a year either as direct employees or through some contractual arrangement. We trust that this is not so! However, in today's atmosphere "we must not trust but verify."

Slush funds, if budgeted for, seldom serve legitimate purposes! Weak Codes of Ethics breed fiscal problems! Even the strong one promulgated in Albany was not enforced. Code of Ethics Committee, please take note!

Joseph A. Calamari

PS: The concepts addressed in the Garden City News editorial of September 25, 2008 relating to a Code of Ethics are generally to be supported. Residents should rally behind such an approach not only relating to a code of ethics but also in relating to our poas. The Freedom of Information Laws must be made applicable. They currently are not.

What Those

Horns Mean

To the Editor:

In the wee hours of Monday, April 28th, dozens of LIRR train warning horns were clearly audible inside my home between the hours of midnight and 2 AM (time approximate due to vision-blurring affects of pillow pulled over miserable sleepless head). These warnings horns sounded in vigorous, insistent clusters of 6, 7 and even 8 long blasts at a time.

In the past, my calls to LIRR community affairs persons on this subject have been met with incredibly courteous and helpful responses, such as my being referred to an OSHA website which did not exist. However, my own diligent research has finally revealed the safety reasons for why so many repeated blasts are necessary in the dead of night:

1. First horn: required to get the attention of all track workers.

2. Second horn: required to get the attention of any track workers who have been partially deafened by exposure to previous high-decible horns.

3. Third horn: required for any deaf AND vision-impaired trackworkers who cannot see bright train lights bearing down upon them in the black of night, even though commuters can see these lights in the daytime from a station away.

4. Fourth horn: required for all deaf, blind and numb workers who cannot feel the tracks shuddering well in advance of thousands of tons of arriving steel.

5. Fifth horn: just for fun as the train crews 'stick it' to rich Garden City folk who are meanly protesting a third track to move nuclear waste through our backyards. Traditionally, the longest time-wise of all the sound blasts.

6. Sixth horn: to make it more difficult for Garden City residents to get up the next day to work as hard as we do to own these homes everyone resents us for. (Only fair since we are denying the trainmen extra work. See blast 5).

7. The seventh horn is optional: saved for when you know your cousin/brother/beer buddy is on the track crew.

8. Reserved as honorary salute to cute girls on platform taking 'trains of shame' home.

I would give the citation for the above information, but being sleep-deprived this Monday morning, I cannot remember it now. Of course, light travels much, much faster than sound, but it's nowhere near as much fun to use as an alert system, now is it? Please withhold my name.

Name Signed But Withheld

PTA Supports Budget

Printed By Request:

Mr. Kenneth J. Monaghan

President

Board of Education--Garden City UFSD

Dear Mr. Monaghan:

Each year the PTA Executive Committee evaluates all areas of the proposed school budget. Over the last few months, we have met with building principals to discuss the budget as it relates to program, staffing and the general operation of their schools. We have met with the superintendent and other administrators responsible for the areas of curriculum, business and finance, athletics, music and fine arts, pupil personnel services (PPS), technology and buildings and grounds. These discussions, along with information gathered from the public budget work sessions, enable us to understand and evaluate the direction and progress of our programs, as well as assess their impact on the school budget. Throughout this process, we are acutely aware of the limited federal and state funding allotted to Garden City, our relatively small commercial tax base and the resultant tax burden a $94.5 million school budget places upon the residents of the Village.

Like all other school districts across Long Island, Garden City struggles with the financial pressures of operating a highly regulated, labor intensive organization. Over the past year, the district has renegotiated and settled contracts with three of the four employee bargaining units. Given the fact that our budget is primarily composed of personnel services and employee benefits--these two areas comprise approxi-mately 79% of the total budget--we support the district's goal to maintain a reasonable, yet competitive, compensation structure. This approach allows the district to balance the community's demand for high quality programs and personnel with its desire for fiscal prudence. In addition, we commend both the Board of Education and district employees for recognizing that the cost of health and medical benefits is a burden that must be incrementally shared and no longer borne solely by the taxpayer.

Overall, the PTA Executive Committee is satisfied that the proposed budget of $94.5 million for 2008-09 will adequately provide for the programs, ini-tiatives and district goals outlined for the upcoming school year. Considering the current economic conditions and forecasts for our region, the impact of increased costs fueled by fed-eral and state "unfunded mandates", and the desire for continuous program improvement and fairness for all our stu-dents, we believe that the 4.49% budget-to-budget increase (or $4.064 million) is reasonable. Therefore, the PTA Executive Committee has voted unanimously to support the school district's budget proposal for 2008-2009.

Although we support the adoption of this budget, the Executive Committee feels obliged to comment regarding an area with which we have significant concern. We base the following comments on information contained in the Facilities Report and Five-Year Capital Plan dated June 2007 (prepared by Savin Engineers, PC), the recently updated demographic study, discussions with administrators and staff, feedback from many parents, as well as personal observations and experiences in our school buildings. The PTA Executive Committee believes that this district is fast approaching a point where the condition of certain buildings (the high school in particular), coupled with changes in the distribution of our student population, will hinder the district's ability to meet its own goals for continued improvement of our programs and impair its ability to deliver quality programs and services to ALL of our students. While the recent creation of an ad hoc committee is necessary and appropriate, its primary charge is to address needs that are long term in nature, the benefits of which would not be realized for four or more years. We are particularly concerned that the following areas of our physical plant cannot, without immediate attention, allow for the proper housing and/or servicing of students over the next one-to-two years:

1. the fragility of the high school roof; identified areas of "weakness" causing repeated water/other resultant damage to inner walls and ceilings;

2. lack of adequate lighting and ventilation in the high school special education testing area;

3. lack of adequate space at the high school to provide for the incoming population of students with special needs, particularly students requiring a self-contained setting;

4. lack of adequate space at the primary schools for provision of student support services such as speech therapy, occupational/physical therapies, developmental skills, resource room;

5. the condition of heating and ventilation systems and other items (not yet addressed) that have been identified as "highest priority goals" in the Savin report.

While the Executive Committee fully appreciates the district's creative approaches to space management in all buildings over the past few years, its focus on scheduled maintenance and upgrade, as well as its response to situations requiring emergency repair, we urge the Board to address as many of these priority items as is reasonably possible using the operating funds set aside for capital projects, rather than await a bond referendum.

The PTA Executive Committee would like to thank the Board of Education and the Administration for their candor throughout the budget review process and for the clarity of the information disseminated to the public. Again, we reiterate our support for the proposed 2008-09 budget and thank you for your continued commitment to all of our children.

Angela Heineman

President

Garden City PTA

American Legion Poppy Distribution

To the Editor:

As Memorial Day approaches, the William Bradford Turner Post No. 265 of the American Legion and its Auxiliary will be distributing poppies throughout the Village, to be worn in honor of the men and women in the armed services who sacrificed their lives in defense of our freedom.

The tradition of wearing the poppy dates back to the years immediately following the First World War. French and Belgian civilians would gather the poppies that grew in the battlefields and place them on the graves of the fallen soldiers. Returning veterans came to look upon the poppy as a symbol of the sacrifice of their fallen comrades and wore it in their memory.

The poppies distributed by the Legion and Auxiliary are made by hospitalized and disabled veterans, using materials provided by Auxiliary. The funds raised through the program are used exclusively to assist and support these veterans and their families. If you are offered a poppy, please accept it, wear it proudly and remember our veterans, both those who gave their lives in service and those who now need our help.

The William Bradford Turner Post and Auxiliary thank you for your participation and generosity.

Clorinda Burdi,

Poppy Drive Chairlady

Ladies Auxiliary,

American Legion Post No. 265