Misinformation

In Letters

To the Editor:

Two letters printed in the Aug. 22nd edition of the Garden City News require a response. The letters, submitted by W.R. Lynch and Rochelle Dowling, both contain misinformation regarding AvalonBay's reputation as the builder, owner, and operator of quality developments on and off Long Island.

It's unfortunate that the debate on St. Paul's has been clouded recently by false claims. We have always respected the opinions of Village residents about the future of St. Paul's. However, we must respond diligently to any false claims, because AvalonBay has worked hard to establish a strong reputation for delivering on our promises to the residents of the award-winning communities we build and the municipalities in which they are built.

Contrary to the claims in both letters, AvalonBay has a superior reputation in the marketplace and with its residents for constructing and operating high-quality communities.

Our Web site, www.AvalonCommunities.com, will provide your readers with a wealth of information on the kinds of awards and recognition AvalonBay has received over the years. Just last year, AvalonBay was recognized by the National Association of Home Builders with a "Property Management Company of the Year Award;" by the Connecticut Apartment Association with a "Community of the Year Award;" and a Multifamily Executive Award for "Project of the Year." On Long Island, AvalonBay has received numerous awards. Most recently, Long Island Business New recognized AvalonBay with a Multifamily Development of the Year Award for 2008 for Avalon Glen Cove North.

The August 22nd edition of Newsday's "Your LI Home" real estate section featured three of our Long Island developments: one in Glen Cove, which has been completed and is fully occupied, and two others, one in Coram and one in Rockville Centre, that are either under or are about to start construction.

We use superior quality materials in all of our construction and each community is designed to fit the character of the area in which it is built. By visiting our Web site, Garden City residents will see for themselves that we do not use a "dorm style" design for our communities.

In fact, the design concept proposed for the new construction at St. Paul's has already received a preliminary review by Garden City's Architectural Review Board. The Board offered comments on some design elements, which we adopted, and provided a positive response to those revisions and overall design. The design concepts can be viewed at www.AvalonAtStPauls.com.

Contrary to the claims made by Mrs. Dowling in her letter, and at the August 21st meeting of the Village Board, our developments in Glen Cove have received many positive comments by City officials and residents. And AvalonBay developments built in Suffolk County have not placed a burden on local schools.

Very specific information on the potential number of school-age children who may live at St. Paul's or traffic, water and local service data, can be also be found at www.AvalonAtStPauls.com. It's the same information that will be discussed with residents at the Open House Information Forums on September 10th and 16th.

To address an important concern, AvalonBay's proposal for St. Paul's will not burden the Village's school district with a large influx of students. Based on data supplied by the school district on the number of students generated by other multi-family dwellings in Garden City, AvalonBay consultants' project that 108 units at St. Paul's could generate a total of three to four students.

Our studies also indicate that a redeveloped St. Paul's will not burden the Village when it comes to municipal services such and police and fire protection and other Village administrative services. In fact, a letter published in the August 29th edition of the Garden City News, submitted by the Village in response to questions from the Eastern Property Owners Association, stated that there would be no need to increase Village personnel or taxes to cover the cost of projected Village services.

While there have been several letters published in recent months expressing opinions against AvalonBay's proposal, the vast majority of those letters offer no suggestions on how to resolve the St. Paul's question or they rehash old suggestions that have been reviewed and dismissed by a number of Village Boards over the years.

And while letters keep appearing from basically the same people, as I stated at the August 21st Village Board meeting, the overwhelming feedback I've received on St. Paul's in face-to-face conversations with many residents throughout the Village is that after 15 years of debate and review of all possible alternative uses for St. Paul's it's time "do something."

I agree with my fellow residents who say focus on the decision at hand and "do something."

Matthew Whalen

Vice President, Development,

AvalonBay Communities, Inc.

A Matter Of Semantics

To the Editor:

Is AvalonBay really "saving" St. Paul's?

AvalonBay's public relations campaign asks Garden City residents to believe that AvalonBay will save and preserve St. Paul's, and provide access to the Main Building for Village use.

Let's read between the lines...

* AvalonBay is "preserving" some significant historic interior features of "our architectural jewel" only for the pleasure of those who choose to lease one of its luxury rental apartments. Nearly all of the building will be off limits to Village residents.

* AvalonBay will not be giving the Village any "community space." Instead, it will be "allowing" some Village residents the opportunity to use the chapel, 2,800 square feet, one day a week - a sad token to the many dozens of sports groups, social and fraternal organizations, and clubs that have long waited for ample meeting space.

* AvalonBay will restore the façade - not for residents' benefit - but to showcase its commercial enterprise. Residents passing by can gaze at a historic structure they once thought could serve community needs. As Avalon's "private property," the building will be "for tenants only: all others, keep out."

AvalonBay, a for-profit developer, is not saving and preserving the Historic St. Paul's Building for the Garden City community. AvalonBay is saving and preserving "our" St. Paul's to become just another of their many brand name developments, in this case, Avalon at St. Paul's.

Let's stop the runaway train. Let's stop a redevelopment plan that robs this community of the last, vast and priceless piece of real estate that we own.

This letter is submitted by the Committee to Save St. Paul's, whose objective is truly to save St. Paul's for the community at minimal cost, and not give away, at our community's loss, the entire historic building and immediate adjacent property to a private developer.

Executive Committee

members

Peter Negri, Ed Keating, Frank McDonough, and

Maureen Traxler,

Administrative and

Communications Director

Catch-22 For

St. Paul's

To The Editor:

The latest proposal being discussed by the Village Trustees is not a vote "yes" or "no" on the Avalon Bay development proposal at St. Paul's, but a non-binding, rigged, resident referendum which presents the issue as a false choice between either the developer's proposal or the demolition of the historic structure. Linkage of development and destruction presents residents with a Catch-22 of two choices which yield undesirable results (a project with high density new construction which destroys the context of the site in which the building sits on destruction of a village historic, hallmark structure).

Wikipedia describes Catch-22 as a bureaucratic device which embodies multiple forms of illogical reasoning which is an absurd joke based upon bureaucratic nonsense that has gotten to such a high level that even the catches are codified by numbers. 22 may be too low a number for bureaucratic nonsense in the St. Paul's saga. Only this is not a satiric novel, this is real government in action.

The historic structure stands on a site which proudly has a sign "St. Paul's Recreation Complex." Without the building, St. Paul's will not be St. Paul's'; it defines the space. The historic structure is the focal point - the eye-catcher. St. Paul's is a major part of GC's DNA. Its destruction would be government sponsored vandalism with a high price tag. Unthinkable! Does this generation of Garden City residents want to be remembered for what it preserved or destroyed?

James M. Kenny

Opinion The Same

To The Editor:

My Opinion on St. Paul has not changed:

Fifteen years plus later here we are, the tax payers of Garden City; still at it (St. Paul). I was sixty plus when we were given a choice of " for or against" purchasing a seven million dollar bond for the purchase of the St. Paul property. My wife and I and a minority of those tax payers were over ridden in that vote.

No "preplanning" had been done on this purchase but a good amount of "hoopla" was done on what this property would bring to Garden City. I am now looking at age seventy-eight (and retired) soon. The "hoopla" has turned to discontent and a division in the entire town. I would like to know how much we tax payers have already paid for consultants, surveys, lawyers, court actions, up keep of this sacred building, lighting the face of the building every night. Not to mention, the up keep of a structure well over one hundred years old. It is called protecting your investment.

It has taken a long, long time but in the Garden City News, August 29, edition it looks like the stale mate has moved off center, although some of the original "Monument Builders" are still at it. My first letter on this subject was just after we put this anchor around our necks. How many court actions have we had in these years?

Not knowing the specifics of this purchase when we bought this property, in my opinion, it was a bad mistake. In a similar letter as this one, I suggested selling off fifteen acres of this property for building more homes along the outer edge of those forty plus acres. That would have brought homes and new tax payers into one of the more exclusive areas of Garden City. To add: paid off that seven million dollar bond.

I whole heartedly agree with those that think this issue should come to a vote. Let the tax payers decide what is best for them and not the "Board of Trustees." If the "monument Builders" want otherwise, they are welcome to foot the bill.

Michael Falabella

A Hypothetical Speech

To the Editor:

Let's look ahead to the next Trustees meeting on St. Paul's:

(The hall is full and Trustee X begins to speak.)

"Thank you all so much for coming tonight to this historic meeting. You might want to tell others who could not make it that this meeting will be rebroadcast on the Village website at 2 am tomorrow morning. We are here tonight to review the elements of a decision, a bit long in coming, that will have to be made in the very near future. We hope to convey the thought process your representatives have been following, at least for the last few years. (he chuckles.)

By now, you all know that a high level developer, Avalon Bay, has made a serious and very professional proposal to develop 7 acres of the St. Paul's site. The process and presentation were typical for large, well run, companies. They have figured out the Capital outlays and operating expenses they would encounter in the project we asked them to consider. They then compared those figures against the revenues they expect the new rental units to generate. (In the Real Estate business, there is always a return on investment target that must be met, or the project won't fly.) Unfortunately, they were a little short. (He chuckles again.) But, together, we figured out some ways to make things work. If we give them the 7 acres (prime real estate worth about 15 million) the numbers become more workable, but not quite good enough. (He thinks about chuckling again, but decides against it.)

They suggested that, to fully meet the target profit level, we enter a NPILOT arrangement (Non Payment In Lieu of Taxes.) For the first 35 years of the lease, the Village taxpayers would pay most of their taxes for them. Now comes the good part! (He beams.) For all of our remaining years, and those of our children and grandkids, we will be able to see the gaspworthy southern facade of that majestic token of our history, whenever we catch the stoplight at Rockaway and Stewart. (Quiet for a moment, expecting applause. Disappointed when there is none.) We know that on a poll taken a few years ago, many opined that they didn't want any increase in taxes for such a project, but we have reviewed this exhaustively, believe me, and it's well worth the 30 or 40 million dollars in taxpayer investment.

Now, I'll take a few questions."

Frank Kiernan

Race For The Cure

To the Editor:

Still need support for "Race for the Cure", Sept.14, in Central Park. I am a senior at Garden City High School, hoping to form team for race and raise money for our team.

Everyone has to become breast cancer partners. As a community we could promote awareness, fund research and provide support to everyone who has breast cancer. We have to acknowledge the need to support breast cancer awareness.

I want everyone to think pink throughout the year and not just in October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Please join our team or donate.

Neighbors, friends, High School students and teachers show your support.

Go to Website: Komennyc.org Click join team "Garden City High School Team"

Thank You for Your Support.

Team Captain

Patricia McCormick

Thanks

To The Editor:

On behalf of the Board of Directors and the membership of the Garden City Retired Men's Club it is my pleasure to extend our thanks to you and your staff for the professional representation of the activities of the Garden City Retired Men's Club.

The timely appearance of our articles in the Garden City News greatly contributes toward the success of each activity. Garden City residents continually comment on the manner in which our material is presented.

Please extend our thanks to your fine staff.

Joseph J. Leto,

President

A Better View

To the Editor:

This is a very heart-felt "thank you" for the removal of the green stuff from the fence around the GCCC golf course. I was overjoyed to see it gone.

Stacey Kalkines

Email: editor@ gcnews.com