To the Editor:

I write this letter in support of Nick Episcopia to return to the Garden City Village Board of Trustees. Nick has served as a Trustee on the Board for seven years already, while his opponent (John Segerdahl) has sat on the sidelines for this same period.

Respectfully, for those who wish to re-enter village service, it would be well to show a record of civic activity while out of office. In our current choice, that has not been done.

For those who wish to stay in village service, it would be well to show a record on a range of issues (not just one), fiscal conservatism, concern for the philosophy of the Community Agreement that has served us so well for so long, and a strong background in finance and land use (the twin bedrocks of G C, its budgeting and zoning). In our current choice, that has been done.

At different times, I have served with both men on Garden City’s Village Board. And to steal a famous Shakespearean quote, I have no wish to bury John, but I have come to praise Nick. It is Nick who was chosen by the East’s Nominating Committee to replace John seven years ago; it is Nick who has been at the Board of Trustees’ meetings over the last seven years (and Property Owners’ Associations meetings for years before that); it is Nick who has helped lead the charge for keeping your village taxes flat (averaging 1.75% increases in the face of a 3.10% rate of inflation during his tenure); and it is Nick who has honestly and forthrightly dealt with the near-insoluble problem of balancing our collective emotional desire to maintain St Paul’s as a village icon, with the reality of current municipal fisc.

I don’t have all the answers ... , but I have one: vote for Nick Episcopia.

Peter A. Bee

Former Property Owners’

Association President

Former Chair of the Joint

Conference of Property

Owners’ Associations

Former Garden City School

Board Member

Former Garden City

Village Trustee

Former Garden City Mayor