Short Term Greed

To the Editor:

As a Trustee of the Village of Garden City I am deeply concerned about the future of Nassau County and the Villages and hamlets surrounding the proposed Lighthouse Project.

This is a project driven by pure short term greed without any consideration for the long term deleterious effect it will impose on all of the residents. While there will be inordinate demands on our water supply and waste disposal no real thought has been allocated to this exponential explosion. So too, has the inevitable progressive growth of traffic been ignored. Hempstead Turnpike, which is a major artery for this site, is already bursting at the seams at rush hour along with the Meadowbrook Parkway. The anticipated will happen ,i.e., drivers will explore new outlets through Garden City and other surrounding locals.

The attempted solution will be to slice our Village in half with a light rail system that will realistically not work and will not be used. People will still opt for the convenience of their cars as opposed to trucking their shopping packages on and off public carriers. The last nail in the Village’s coffin will be to our retail establishments. At present there is a plethora of retail space vacancies in the immediate area of the Lighthouse property: Fortunoff’s; Home Expo; Avis (Old Ctry. Rd.); to name a few.

Are we not satisfied until we drain the lifeblood out of the Villages of Garden City and Hempstead?

Donald Brudie

Delay Decision

To the Editor:

On September 16 I received mail notification from The Office of the Supervisor encouraging “all who are interested to weigh in on this important proposal” concerning the Lighthouse Project. The notice neglected to advise that e-mail must be received by 09-17-09. This sounds like a negative way to begin and it is!

My sentiments regarding any expansion and expenditures in this critical financial environment are to delay decisions pending the big ‘change’ that is promised and supposedly forthcoming from our government. Job creation and economic stimulation sounds wonderful. I am NOT in favor of contributing to the tax support necessary to maintain and provide any of the infrastructure required for this project.

There seems to be more than a satisfactory retail base in that general area - evidenced by several vacant stores. There should be concern regarding the ability to afford and take advantage of the renewed recreational and social opportunities being proposed. And, what about the best interest of local merchants that presently provide goods and services in that immediate area and have invested their time and monies to support their lives? Do we disregard their efforts and intentions and investments? Why should they be discounted and discarded?

I am glad to respond although my response may not align with the entire town board. If you truly want Islanders to remain on Long Island, let’s not press this issue until we have been financially stimulated as promised and can afford to undergo expansion and support additional taxation.

Dennis A. Piccirillo

Mayor’s Comments

At Hearing

The following are comments by Garden City Mayor Robert Rothschild made at the Town of Hempstead zoning hearing for the Lighthouse project.

My name is Robert J. Rothschild and I am the Mayor of the Incorporated Village of Garden City.

My comments will refer to the two projects, the Lighthouse and the HUB as one, even though both development entities, Messrs. Wang and Rechler for the Lighthouse and the County Executive for the HUB seem to differ on the need for the HUB as currently proposed.

My comments have been gleaned from scores of discussions, meetings and public forums with residents and Village officials from surrounding areas over the past several months. This includes a recent and most important communication from the elected Officers and Directors of the four Village of Garden City Property Owners Associations. I must admit that the letter directed to myself, as Mayor, and the seven other Village Trustees, which was approved unanimously, is the most ardent, single-minded voice of concern that I have ever heard on any issue that has ever affected the Village of Garden City.

We are here today as was stated in Newsday, to discuss “how far you are willing to stretch the zoning code to accommodate the proposal”.

What will you allow to be built on the site?

Obviously, I think we have put the cart before the horse. The developers have failed to answer many questions and concerns that residents have asked over the past several months, many of which will have a major impact on what “can” be built and what “should” be built that must not have deleterious effects on the surrounding areas, the Town and the County.

Therefore, I do not believe there should be ANY stretching on ANY issues.

The Village of Garden City and our surrounding communities have worked tirelessly to rebuild, maintain, energize and draw commercial users, owners and developers to our local villages at great expense to our residents. We continue to be hit with tax certiorari cases due to the existing distressed national economic conditions. This is a condition, which results in extensive loss of commercial tax revenue that residential homeowners must then assume in the form of additional residential tax increases. We always hear the politicians talk about innovative and practical ideas to reduce property taxes but no one has said this project is one of those innovative ideas. The scale and intensity of the uses in the proposed project will naturally compete with these same surrounding communities.

We do not see this scenario ending in the near future, and is a great concern you need to consider in your decision.

This project is labeled “Smart Growth” but I do not believe that filling every open square foot of land with concrete and steel to compete with the very downtowns that Smart Growth is supposed to enrich is “Smart Growth”.

Water

The issue of water supply and the effect on the surrounding areas is still very much a question that must be answered before you agree how many square feet of space you will allow to be built. What will be the effect of the introduction of increased contaminants into our water supply caused by the massive draw from the Project area?

I also do not think we fully understand and the developer has not acceptably explained other environmental impacts such as waste, refuse and air pollution.

We have seen no response to our questions how the developer and the County plan to keep the potential traffic increases off local residential streets without a light rail system through the heart of Garden City.

As I stated in my opening comment there have been different opinions from the developers, as well as the County, as to the need for the rail system.

This proposed rail plan would devastatingly and dramatically change forever the character of the Village of Garden City.

I cannot imagine that is something you want to see happen.

Let me be very clear on this point, there is no difference of opinion from ANY resident of Garden City.

The Village will not accept ANY form of light-rail, or whatever name you may want to give it, inside Village boundaries to fix the obvious shortcomings of the traffic mitigation plan presented by the developer and County for the project.

I must question how committed the County Executive is to “maintaining all that is good in Nassau County- schools, family homes, low crime, parks, beaches and open spaces”, and he thinks a rail system through the heart of Garden City is a model for his 90/10 Solution for Re-imagining New Suburbia.

In conclusion, I am not sure how we got to this point where we need to build 5.5 million square feet of new development in the back yard of local villages to keep the Islanders on Long Island but if this project moves forward, in any form, we must have full disclosure and accountability to all residents from the developer for EVERY aspect of this proposal. That must include the items I have just mentioned and proof that financing is available to build and complete the different components along with a new 25-year lease that commits the Islanders to Long Island.

Rob Rothschild

Misleading Headline

To the Editor:

As one of the twenty-one parents who was officially informed the Friday before Labor Day that my children would no longer be bused to Stratford School, I would like to take this opportunity to respond to the article “Village, Schools To Work Together To Aid Residents”. The title of the article just irked me! Ms, Petrellese, perhaps you could do some hard core investigating for the next issue and let us know how exactly the school district/board of ed and village has worked together to aid in our plight?

It is disappointing to say the least that the Garden City School District made the sudden decision to take away busing for 21 children (ages ranging from 6 1/2 to 11) who must now cross Nassau Blvd. twice a day with no assistance from any of the devices mentioned in the article but especially a temporary crossing guard.

As parents do in a time of crisis we joined together and attempted to coordinate our efforts to investigate the rights of these young children and how to best get them to school safely. Parents are working with the village, the school district and the Board of Ed (who spends more time telling us what they cannot do or we cannot have rather than how they are capable of helping). Are those three entities working together? There is no evidence of that. As of September 21st, the only change we have seen is the light lengthened (thanks to Mayor Rothschild contacting the county) despite constant contact with the village and school district.

In the meantime, a request to have instruction given to these children on how to cross safely by the Garden City Police Dep’t has gone unanswered...understandably! Would you want to be the officer responsible for teaching a 7 year old to cross a major thoroughfare when that child is struck?

Hence, “Village, Schools To Work Together To Aid Residents” is inaccurate since the school district did not take action until Bob Schoelle, Village Administrator reached out and asked Dr. Fierson to support our request. Dr. Fierson, why did you wait for this formal request? Dr. Fierson, you need to take this hazardous situation you placed 21 children in a little more seriously and act immediately. Shame on the school district for the way in which this matter was handled from the beginning. The title of the article should have been “Parents Work Together To Aid Students”, unfortunately the outcome up until now would most likely be the same since no one is working together except the parents. Residents, please drive carefully! Thank you.

Name Signed But

Withheld Upon Request

Lighthouse Project Comment

Printed By Request:

Dear Supervisor:

This is a response to your invitation for residents of the Town of Hempstead to express their concerns and desires to assist you in formulating a successful path to the controlled development of the 150 acres you describe as the Nassau HUB for our Town.

The subject area (formerly Mitchell Field established by the United States on the largest plains in America east of the Mississippi River) has been a continuing project of mine for at least twenty years. It arose when I served as a Trustee of the Garden City School System and it increased when I was elected Village Trustee and sat as chairman of the Village’s Postal Relations committee. It was there I became deeply involved in the growth of the subject area, the stores that were moving in, and the use and misuse of the name of our village by people and organizations flaunting themselves as residents of our Village of Garden City At that time the protection of our historic village, its residents and its businesses, became of primary importance while I served the village as Mayor during the years of revitalization of our own business community.

After multiple letters over the years to Long Island Newsday that newspaper’s editors graciously directed their reporters, in time, to more specifically designate people and businesses in the subject area as coming from a place they chose to call East Garden City. Apparently they did not pick up on the recommendation from the more historically accurate name of “Meadowbrook” as recommended by Garden City’s Village Historian John Ellis Kordes. Even today several such East Garden City organizations hold themselves out falsely to the world as either being in or affiliated with the historically unique Village of Garden City. You probably already know that such misrepresentations as to location can be a violation of Federal Law.

It is now important for our village residents that I refresh your knowledge about that uniqueness that makes Garden City worthy of special consideration as you and your Board move forward to change an area that has been awaiting change since the end of World War II.

In 1869 Irish-born self made multi-millionaire Alexander Turney Stewart bought a portion of the relatively unpopulated Hempstead Plains and founded the village of Garden City. The village, like many in our Town of Hempstead, was created as a peaceful community for those seeking respite from the clamor of New York City. Early on the main attraction of this community was the Garden City Hotel, designed by the acclaimed firm of McKim, Mead, and White and of national fame. Although the original structure, as well as the one that replaced it at the end of the 19th century, were torn down many years ago, a hotel still stands on the original grounds, as do many nearby homes that continue to display construction styles of an earlier memorable era.

Stewart’s wife, Cornelia, founded the St. Paul’s School for boys, St. Mary’s School for girls, a Bishop’s Residence and the Gothic Cathedral of the Incarnation, which is today the center of the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island, as well as the final resting place of Alexander Turney Stewart and Cornelia Stewart. This elaborate memorial was completed in 1885. Our residents continue to respect that historical honor.

The early village did well due to its proximity to Hempstead, at that time the commercial center of Long Island. In time, thanks both to the railroad and automobiles, Garden City’s population increased. In 1915, the village of Garden City merged with the village of Garden City Estates to its west. It became an incorporated village in 1919. Garden City’s growth led the way in promoting development of many nearby towns, including Stewart Manor, Garden City Park, Garden City South and, more recently, East Garden City.

In the 1920s, the community continued to grow, with houses built in Garden City Estates as well as the Eastern Section of Garden City. This development included the Mott Section, developed by the heirs to the Mott’s apple juice fortune, which was spurred by easy access to the now defunct Long Island Motor Parkway, as well as the establishment of the Doubleday publishing group’s corporate headquarters.

Housing construction slowed after the 1929 stock market crash. But in the 1930s, hundreds of houses were built to accommodate a population boom, though Garden City used a strict zoning code to preserve Stewart’s vision of residential beauty. Alone in central Nassau, the village retained a strict sense of orderly development, true to its rigorously planned roots. Mitchell Air Force Base, located on the far east side of Garden City, served as a United States Air Force Base from 1918 through 1961. As you already know, as of 2008, the U.S. military still retained a limited physical presence there, with the rest of the former base occupied by housing, Hofstra University, Nassau Community College, the Long Island Children’s Museum, the Nassau County Firefighters Museum and Education Center, a Sony IMAX theater and the Cradle of Aviation Museum.

I apologize here for going on so, but the point I wish to make clear is that the Incorporated Village of Garden City is historically unique across the nation, not only for the fact that it is America’s first planned community, but also because it is studied in Political Science Courses in universities across the nation as operating under a most unique form of governing. It operates under what is designated as “The Community Agreement” under which all residents have a direct input into how their community will be run. The Mayoralty changes from section to section every two years so that equality and balance reign continuously throughout the village. These features, then, make Garden City worthy of special interest for you and the developers of The Lighthouse Project. The plan is unique and abuts a village that is unique. They will be creating a multi-modern scene for America on the remains of the greatest eastern American plains while the quaint village abutting the new glitz and city-type community will remain a stronghold of what American life has always been-pleasant communal living among New York commuters and residents who own, operate or are employed in the village in small offices set in pleasant and peaceful environs.

The goal, then would be for you to recognize that vastness and size have a place in the 2010-12 Town of Hempstead, but alongside it belongs tranquility that visitors to the new Nassau will seek out to return to yesteryear-the historical village of Garden City. Dare I even think the phrase “Old Garden City”?

You are in the unique position today to help the Town of Hempstead move into a new century with spectacular development while preserving for all our residents throughout Hempstead Town a special place of pride and historic tranquility.

I recommend that you propose four reasonable and appropriate criteria to the Village of Garden City for the development of the Lighthouse project:

1. Establish, with the wholehearted consent of the village leaders of Garden City and residents most closely affected by the new development, two (and no more) ways for users of the new Nassau HUB to transfer themselves into the historic Garden City via pre-planned and architecturally appropriate roadways;

2. Have the developers of Nassau Hub create and establish historically correct entrances to the village using unique Victorian Era lighting lamps and floral patterns that travelers will admire and respect; and

3. Provide the Village of Garden City with sufficient funds to change all its street lighting in residential areas to architecturally correct Victoria Era lamps that the Village officials determine will generate necessary and appropriate lumens for residents to continue to safely pass over and along the village streets;

4. Require Nassau Hub, for as long as it continues to exist, maintain at least twenty (20) appropriate signs calling the attention of travelers and business personnel of the HUB to look for historical Garden City for their dining and business needs.

5. Obtain a commitment from developers of the HUB to support the efforts of the village’s desire to promote its and the HUB development’s historical background in Nassau County to direct the payment of a sum-like twenty five million dollars-to Garden City supporters of the history of Nassau County, the Town of Hempstead, and the Village of Garden City which sum would be used to restore and preserve for residents the history-filled structure known as Saint Paul’s School on Stewart Avenue.

Thank you, Madame Supervisor, for your patience and careful consideration of the needs and desires of the residents of the Village of Garden City as you progress through the planning of this great project.

This proposal is a personal one and in no way represents the position or thoughts of the officials of the Village of Garden City.

Richard A. Benack

Not In Chicago Anymore, Mr. President

To the Editor:

Recent actions by President Barack Obama to block the re-election efforts of New York Governor David Paterson have been widely covered in the media. It would not be a stretch to call President Obama’s actions in this matter a case of Chicago ‘politics as usual’. These overt strong-armed tactics are well known in Chicago political circles. They have helped to keep a well connected, under-qualified member of the Second City’s political circus (ooops) in office for far too long. This has been made crystal clear as the 15 years of education reform, spearheaded by Mayor Richard M. Daly and former Chicago Public Schools Czar, Arne Duncan, now U.S. Education Secretary, has been found to be flawed, inadequate and, worst of all, manipulated. Chicago style politics - connections over capabilities - a theme that keeps repeating itself in the Obama administration.

Clearly, our President enjoys the bully pulpit position that Chicago style of politics afforded him during his meteoric (too fast?) rise through the State Senate in Illinois and the U.S. Senate. In fact, during the final layover (U.S. Senate) on his well planned presidential whistle-stop campaign, President Obama artfully exercised, in true south-side style, the skills he had acquired as a Chicago community organizer. Locally, we all got a taste of the fruits of President Obama’s early labors when the ills of the movement known as ACORN were visited upon us. In a classic case of time being an ally, ACORN has been exposed for what it is and was and, hopefully, will bother us no more. Unfortunately, the well documented (just Google ‘Obama ACORN’), poorly covered (a special thanks to the New York Times) and, until recently, lack of action in the face of shenanigans by ACORN have left us with, at the very least, a four year problem. Judging by the early-term spending habits of the Obama administration, the problem may be around for decades to come.

So we are faced with the reality of presidential influence being forcefully and publicly brought to bear on the candidacy for the Governor of the State of New York. While none of us are naïve enough to be convinced that this type of political influence pedaling has not routinely occurred in the past, we are likely more comfortable when it takes place behind closed doors. In that way, we are not openly faced with the prospect that the most capable and deserving candidate(s) did not make it onto our Election Day ballots. That is not to say that Gov. Paterson is either the most capable or most deserving candidate for our highest state office. In fact, that is for Gov. Paterson, his supporters and the voters of New York State to decide. One thing is clear: we do not need President Obama deciding who our candidate(s) for Governor, Democrat or otherwise, should be.

In the end, we should all recognize President Obama’s actions for what they are: an initiative by the President and his party to maintain control of New York State by advancing a candidate that they see as more ‘electable’ (forgive my license) than Gov. Paterson. Their initiative takes on greater urgency for them when you consider the long-term ramifications of a Rudy Giuliani Governorship, especially since the office of Governor is widely thought to be the best training ground for the U.S. Presidency.

Finally, pundits from both the left (alright, maybe just left of center) and right warned that President Obama’s ultra liberal track record, over-blown reputation for reaching across the aisle (remember all those Senate votes of ‘Present’) and his ‘political boss’ working style (see Rahm Emanuel) would make for a lethal combination. Coupled with a mandate in both Houses, the American people would bear witness to a sea change the likes of which they neither wanted nor needed, necessarily. Now, less than one year into his presidency, it appears that Barack Obama may have effectively circumvented the Constitution by creating the offices of some 30+ Czars, usurping Congressional authority over the process of ‘advice and consent’ for these offices. On the matter of healthcare reform, the President, while not offering much in the way of details on his own ideas, has permitted the House and Senate to run up all kinds of trial balloons. The budgetary issues for such reform, namely how and when it is paid for call to mind the old reference to voodoo economics. Lastly, consider that the President has demonstrated federalist tendencies toward bigger, more expensive government. Conversely, he has proven to have few reservations when it comes to treading on state’s rights. The most compelling instance of this has been his meddling with the re-election plans of Gov. Paterson.

So we close, as one of my favorite news shows does, with a request for a word of the day. In our case, the word would have to reflect the actions of President Obama in his first nine months in office. Given the tone and tenor of the issues touched on here, my word for President Obama’s actions to date would be: overreaching.

John J. Donachie