Library Plans, Mixed Reviews At Parkville

The library board’s traveling presentation, showing the various options for renovating/expanding the Main library, came to the Parkville branch area in North New Hyde Park and was cut short and met with protests that “it’s too much money and people are out of work here.” It appeared that the topic of spending money at Main tapped into a well of long held, simmering resentments and feelings of not really belonging to the Great Neck community, even though the residents there pay taxes and are served by the school district and library system.

Taking a Look at the Health Care Bill

Meeting With Congressman Ackerman

“Happy is a relative word,” said U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman, when asked if he is happy with the health care bill recently passed in the House of Representatives. Meeting with the Anton Newspapers’ editors last week, the congressman said, “I’m glad the bill passed … but we could have done better.” Congressman Ackerman said that the bill is not his “ideal,” but that at least this was “progress.”

Urgent Request: Bone Marrow Match Sought

Be Tested Sunday, Nov. 15 at Reconstructionist Synagogue

Alan Cohen, husband, father, and graduate of Roslyn High School, has an aggressive form of leukemia, and is in urgent need of a bone marrow transplant.

The best chance for a match will be in Jews of Ashkenazic descent. Alan is one out of thousands of patients in need of a bone marrow transplant and you could be their only hope.

New York Conference of Mayors Calls for Amendments

“The Devilish Details” of New Law for Village Dissolution

The sponsors call it, the “Empowerment Act” for short, but local governments are calling it, the “Disenfranchisement Act” because the sweeping legislation passed this June, going into effect in March 2010, requires voters to vote to dissolve or consolidate local government before they know whether such actions would save money, or not.

“There’s a lot of confusion about the Act and it’s up to you to educate your residents so they’ll know that signing a petition for dissolution sets into motion a complicated, expensive process where the cart is before the horse,” said Wade Beltramo, special counsel for the New York State Conference of Mayors (NYCOM) to a roomful of mayors and village officials from Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties at a special meeting held at Mineola High School on Oct. 29. Mr. Beltramo spent the evening giving a quick course in the new act, which is summarized below.

Nassau County Executive Suozzi: Now, Let Me Run Your Schools

With his election hanging on recounts and absentee ballots and after what some political operatives called a lackluster campaign, Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi grabbed the headlines after his Op-Ed piece ran in Newsday on Sunday. His analysis of why he did not receive a mandate to run the county was that voters were angry that he had not brought down their property taxes. His solution? “Give the control of our schools to the county executive.” He sees himself as the “victim” of the property tax revolt because he thinks that voters held him accountable for school taxes over which he has no control. He writes, “County executive control, if passed by the New York State Legislature, would both reduce costs and improve educational quality.”

GN Rally Against Consolidation/Dissolution

“This rally is to get New York state, the state legislature, and the governor to change the law passed in June … a law with no other purpose than to make money,” said Saddle Rock Mayor J. Leonard Samansky, president of the Great Neck Village Officials Association. The GNVOA, along with the Great Neck Park District, the Great Neck Water Pollution Control District, the Manhasset-Lakeville Water/Fire District, and the Long Island Special District Association, hosted an Oct. 26 rally calling for amendments to the state’s law that now permits easier consolidation or dissolution of local municipalities (i.e. villages and special districts), often with little say from the residents involved.

At the podium with GNPD Chair Robert Lincoln, New York State Senator Craig Johnson, and New York State Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel, Mayor Samansky noted the presence of many public officials, calling the two state legislators “the two champions of this effort.”

Town’s Bond Hearing for Waste Water Treatment Upgrade

Tuesday, Nov. 17 at Town Hall

The multi-year struggle to decide on the best approach to do the required upgrades for sewage treatment for much of the peninsula will culminate in a vote by the Town of North Hempstead Council on Nov. 17. A super majority vote is required for passage of a bond.

Even though the idea of diverting sewage to Nassau County’s Cedar Creek facility was eventually rejected for a host of reasons, it was, as environmentalist Julian Kane called it, “a vampire that just wouldn’t die no matter how many times you stabbed it in the heart.”

Proponents of diversion cited an estimate of $20 million to divert to Cedar Creek over and over again even though years went by and construction costs went up.

Goats in Great Neck: Ackerman Brings in AmericCorps

Got a Lot of Munchin’ to Do…

What could possibly have brought a busy congressman to rendezvous with a herd of goats in, of all places, Great Neck?

Commissioners from the Great Neck Park District, who lease Kings Point Park from the Village of Kings Point and maintain its natural assets, learned from resident Elizabeth Allen that an invasive thorny vine, cat briar, which spreads through underground tubers, was inexorably marching through the park. It is a formidable vine that grows straight up, tangles around saplings, bushes and trees and eventually makes for an impassable thicket of thorns.

Difficulty in eradicating cat briar is made harder because its buddy, poison ivy, grows all around. Much of Kings Point Park is a protected wetlands area, therefore, chemical weed killers are not allowed. The people power to hack into the vines and manually dig out the tubers would be a staggering number, estimated at $100,000.

NC 10th Legislative District Election

Incumbent Judi Bosworth, a Democrat, and Republican candidate Garry Stark are running for election as legislator for the 10th District in the Nassau County Legislature. Anton Newspapers made several attempts to contact Dr. Stark. With the assistance of the Nassau County Republican Committee, a phone number and an email address were obtained, but, as of press time, Dr. Stark had not responded.

Great Neck Rally to Protect Local Governments from Threats

Monday, October 26

Do you know that your village could be dissolved by a countywide vote? Or that your village could be compelled to initiate an expensive plan for consolidation or dissolution triggered by a small percentage of residents signing a petition? Or that your water district could be forced to consolidate with another water district, again by a countywide vote of people who have never paid one cent into supporting your district’s necessary infrastructure for producing clean water?

With the aim of educating the public about the consequences of allowing the law, “The N.Y. Government Reorganization and Citizen Empowerment Act” to go into effect in March of 2010, un-amended, a rally will be held on Oct. 26 at 7:30 p.m. at the Great Neck South High School. The Great Neck Village Officials Association, the Great Neck Park District and the Long Island Special Districts Association are sponsoring the event. Although the meeting is being held in Great Neck, it is open to all residents in Nassau County.