Letters To The Editor
Email: editor@ gcnews.com

Disingenuous Claim

To the Editor:

No one is disputing Eileen Collins' "right" to challenge the POA nominees for Trustee via a write-in campaign. I am questioning her judgment. If suc-cessful, her campaign would have deprived the Estates section of its nominated candidate and given the Western section a third Trustee, clearly a violation of the spirit of the Community Agreement. Moreover, any stealth challenge such as hers jeopardizes the candidacy of any nominated Trustee from any section of the Village because it is the four candidates with the greatest number of votes who win, no matter where they live. It is conceivable that the East, where 40 percent of Village residents live, could have ended up with no specific representative on the BOT since Village Mayor Peter Bee lives in the East, leaving us with one Trustee, the very able and hardworking Nick Episcopia.

Eileen Collins claimed at the April 7 BOT meeting, which I attended, that as a Trustee she would represent the interests of all Village residents. Again, I question her judgment. Who knows the problems and concerns of any specific area better than someone who lives there? Moreover, residents of the various sections of the Village already had selected their Trustee candidates through their POAs, with ample time to easily challenge these nominees openly and fairly. Estates chose John Mauk. Who is Eileen Collins to substitute her judgment and her opinions for those of the Estates residents? If she and her supporters seek "diversity," gender or otherwise, then start in the West (or wherever they live) in an open chal-lenge. She and her supporters fully understand how easy it could be to over-turn the legitimate choice of any particular POA because so few people vote in the Trustee elections. It is disingenuous to claim otherwise.

Christine Mullaney

Intelligent Discussion

To the Editor:

I wish that Sonja and Bill Slattery's letters that appeared in the last two weeks of the GC News had not been tucked away on the back pages. Their analysis of the Avalon Bay plan was the most intelligent and lucid discussion on the subject that I can recall. And we did not even have to pay a consultant's fee for it! When you give the Avalon Bay plan some thought, you have to wonder, "What's in it for us?" Maybe I am missing something, but it seems that the only real benefit in the lifetime of the average Garden City resident would be that we would get to look at the St. Paul's façade as we drive by. (Of course that beautiful façade might have a couple of hundred cars parked in front of it.) When you ponder the impact of the Avalon Bay plan on the land and the intersection, the potential number of non-real estate tax paying families with students in our schools (which this paper recently reported are at or near capacity), the increased expense related to the various taxpayer-funded services such as sanitation, fire, police, etc., you have to wonder what on earth we are thinking!!! The million-dollar up-front payment is chump change. As the Slatterys point out, it would not buy a single house around the corner from St. Paul's. Let's face it. We could prop up the St. Paul's façade like a Hollywood set and have much the same result, without the aggravation and expense.

So what to do? Knock it down? Perhaps we should revisit the notion of moving the high school to the site. The high school building has been in a terrible state for many years, and pales by comparison to others. The St. Paul's site is more centrally located for teachers and administrators, and the adjacent property owners could hardly object, as St. Paul's had been a school. There is ample space for athletic fields. The village could sell the high school land for residential housing, which I am sure would be welcomed by its neighbors -- a win-win situation?

Colette M. Landers

Need Ethics

Board Changes

To the Editor:

It seems that the only Trustee seriously willing to create a meaningful attempt to increase the powers of the Board of Ethics is Second Deputy Mayor Thomas Lamberti. I compliment him. This is my reaction to the defeat of his proposal to strengthen that body. He wanted subpoena power and special hearings for the Board of Ethics when necessary and the power to hire outside counsel. The recent Winston condominium issue and the AvalonBay issue make Second Deputy Mayor Lamberti's concerns about ethics quite salient. Simply because the Mayor was quoted as stating: "I do not feel that there is a lack of confidence on the part of our public in Village government," (The Garden City News, April 11, 2008, p. 41), this does not mean that Village residents blindly agree with him.

Many residents are beginning to feel a lack of confidence in the objectivity of Village government, including me. Judging from many of the letters to the editor of this newspaper, there is distrust, and the defensiveness we are encountering from Village government simply serves to increase the distrust. That is why we need to strengthen the Board of Ethics. A statement made by Karen Backus, the real estate consultant, as quoted in the very enlightening William Slattery letter (The Garden City News, April 11, 2008, p. 45)--that "her company has 'extensive experience inside government' and can secure 'land use and other governmental approvals' " --raises my suspicion that vested interests might attempt to impose their will on the community through connec-tions with government possibly without the consensus of that community. The role of special interests in government has raised ethical questions in the current political campaigns by both parties. And that includes both John McCain and Barack Obama who have taken strong positions against special inter-ests in government and in campaigns.

A stronger Board of Ethics with subpoena powers armed with outside counsel could investigate the possible role of special interests in cases such as we have before us now. How would State Senator Kemp Hannon feel about the Backus statement since he would be a key government official involved in Land Use Legislation? After all, Senator Hannon has a deservedly pristine reputation and I am sure he wants to maintain it.

To restore our confidence in Village government, we should give more power to the Board of Ethics; a second step would be that those whose possible appearance of a conflict of interest led to the ethics controversy in the first place might be advised to seriously consider resigning from Village government entirely; a third step would be to postpone any decisions regarding St. Paul's until we have Trustees who unquestionably put the welfare of Garden City residents ahead of any other priority (the AvalonBay issue should be deferred, if not completely removed from consideration, in view of the ethics controversy which, from my perspective, and the perspectives of others obviously, casts a shadow of suspicion on the entire deal). And a fourth step to be taken in the long term would be to assess whether or not the current form of Village government is really working to benefit Village residents. If the assessment shows that it is not working, then it should be amended or scrapped in favor of a more democratic method such as having conventional elections for Mayor and other officials. My perception is that the current structure favors oligarchical private interests over public interests. It is essential in a democracy to have a system of checks and balances that prevent the accrual of power in the hands of a few while the interests and the views of the general public seem to be ignored or even worse, disre-spected.

Joseph Calamari in his very good letter to the editor in The Garden City News of April 11, 2008, stated the following in his argument for a strong Code of Ethics and a strong Code of Ethics Committee to keep our Village government honest: "Just because they are volunteers does not give them a pass" (p. 2). I agree completely.

Francis N. Elmi, Ph.D.

Broadway Comes

To Stratford

To the Editor:

We would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Ms. Stillwell for her outstanding dedication to our children that she displayed through Stratford School's recent production of "Willy Wonka Jr."

If anyone was fortunate to attend any of the performances, they would have been transported into a wonderful world of fantasy filled with candy boats, gobstoppers, a chocolate river and the sage advice of the Oompa Loompas from Loompa Land. You would have sat there in amazement as 194 students acted, sang and danced as well as directed lights, scenery and props to put on a show that could only bring to mind a Broadway production.

The caliber of the performances was outstanding for a fifth grade elementary school production. This magnificent musical could not have been made possible without the brilliant direction of Ms. Meredith Stillwell, musical director of Stratford School, and the assistance of the fifth grade teachers. We would also like to acknowledge Mr. Lee, Mr. Lucas, Mr. Madden, and the support of the entire Stratford school staff.

Ms. Stillwell made every child's role an important one. Each child was allowed their time to shine. Every aspect from stage crew, to the soloists, to an ensemble part was considered a vital aspect to the total success of the production. No one was considered insignificant. In so doing, the children learned collaboration, team work, timing, musical theatre, friendship and respect for one another. All this, while having fun.

Ms. Stillwell has the unique ability to bring out the best in each child's self-expression and also instruct them with outstanding professionalism.

Thank you Ms. Stillwell for teaching and guiding our children. You established in them a belief in their own abilities, some of which had not been discovered until this production. These newly acquired abilities will no doubt extend way beyond what the children could ever have dreamed possible. You have taught our children the wonderful outcome of using their "Pure Imagination".

Mary Searson &

Julie Germano

Stratford School 5th

Grade Parents

Against Hillary

To The Editor:

Is it possible that Bill Safire was incorrect when in his New York Times column he diagnosed Mrs. Bill Clinton as a congenital liar? The ever gallant slick Willie, protector of women, threatened to punch Safire in the nose. We know from Clinton's military record Safire was never in danger.

Born to lie? Compared with generally honest people, chronic liars, cheaters and malingerers average 22 percent more white matter in the prefrontal cortex of their brains and 14.2 percent less gray matter or neurons.

A recent study by the University of Southern California, excerpted in National Geographic March 2006, found white matter, the brains networking material, connects neurons much the way telephone wire connects phones; it also ties the prefrontal cortex to the bodies limbic system, which controls emotion.

That's why pathological liars can tell such whoppers without showing any nervousness. "It could well be that some people are born with a genetic predisposition to lie," says Adrian Raine co-author of the study.

Considering her record and the present outbreak of whoppers, Bill Safire was correct in his diagnosis but did not go far enough. He could have included both Clintons. To our disgrace they continue to lie and lie. Just a good old boy and his cuckold going down the road, grasping for power and a quick buck or two, while we laugh and laugh.

Is it too late to check heads, theirs and those of many of "The American People?" I just love that phrase, it has a ring.

Edward J. Heaney

Make Comments In Public Forum

To the Editor:

In last Friday's front page story, "Debate Follows Write-In Campaign," it was reported that Ms. Eileen Collins stepped up to the microphone at the April 7 Board of Trustees meeting to defend her legal right to put her name out for a write-in in the Village Elections. In addition, she categorically denied the false rumor that the Committee to Save St. Paul's was involved in her efforts. It is unsettling, to say the least, that Trustee John Mauk passed up the opportunity to comment in public and decided instead to send his postscript on the topic to the Garden City News in the privacy of email. Had he wished to speak at the public meeting, I believe Mayor Peter Bee would have given him the floor.

To set the record straight once again, the CSSP Executive Committee was never "associated" with Ms. Collins's write-in effort...CSSP did not encourage her to run for election and did not work on behalf of her candidacy. Although not reported in the article, Mayor Bee mentioned that he had spoken to Peter Negri of the Committee to Save St. Paul's who confirmed that his leadership had NO involvement in Ms. Collins's write-in campaign.

Perpetuating unfounded rumors never leads to trust. Mr. Trustee, this community needs to heal and move on. Let's continue on the path to finding an equitable solution for St. Paul's based on the facts.

Maureen Traxler