Covering All Bases: May 15, 2012

Looking Back, Look Forward

“I don’t watch the news. It’s too depressing.”

If I had a nickel for every time I heard that, well, I’d have a lot of nickels. Of course, when you work in the newspaper industry, it’s hard to avoid the news, but is it that depressing? Let’s recap some of the major news stories from this week.

Not So Humble Opinion: May 15, 2012

Get The Word Out: Parking In Parking Lots Is Cool

I’m aware that addressing any group as “those people” sounds judgmental, but in this instance I don’t think I can get around it: I just don’t get those people who park in the fire lane in front of Starbucks, or a similar establishment, presumably because they’ll “just be in there for a minute.”

We all know that most customers of Starbucks and its ilk are only in there briefly to pick up a drink, so the “just a minute” excuse can be unilaterally ignored. These people park in the fire lane because they seem to think, for some reason, that parking in the lot and walking to the store is something only other people should have to take the time and energy to do.

Letter: Fiscal Group Endorses Marsh, Sheffield

During the last decade, Massapequa homeowners have had their real estate taxes increase significantly.  Some residents pay nearly three times as much now as they did ten years ago.  This dramatic rise, coupled with a weak economic environment, has made it difficult for them to enjoy the lifestyle for which they are accustomed and deserve as hard-working citizens.

The increase in taxes has caused homeowners to reduce their discretionary spending and tighten household budgets.  Yet the Massapequa School District, to which the majority of the tax revenues are directed, shows little inclination to lower its disbursements.  Seemingly unconcerned about the hardships of those it was elected to serve, the school district’s board of trustees has in fact raised its budget every year for the past ten years.  Additionally, there have been years when the district over-budgeted, effectively calling for more money that it needed to operate, resulting in a current reserve balance of almost $20,000,000.

Letter: More Marsh, Sheffield Endorsements

For many years, Long Island school taxes increased at two and three time the rate of inflation. They are now the highest in the entire country. With great fanfare, a tax cap was recently signed into law, but unfortunately, when the dust has settled, we may find that it did more harm than any good it achieved.

Contracts with New York teachers’ unions have long provided step increases, a feature that guarantees annual salary increases for many of those employed. Thanks to the Taylor Law’s Triborough Amendment, these annual increases continue indefinitely, even when a contract has expired.

Letter: DFM Endorses Rich Carozza

Drug Free Massapequa (DFM) is fully committed to endorsing Rich Carozza to run for the Massapequa School Board. Rich is an upstanding member of our community who is dedicated to making a difference in our educational programs and our school district.

We met with Mr. Carozza for more than two hours to learn of his plans for the school board if elected.

Janice Talento, CEO, Drug Free Massapequa

Editorial: Pete Fornatale Signs Off

“There goes the last DJ/Who plays what he wants to play/And says what he wants to say, hey hey hey...” – Tom Petty “The Last DJ”

On April 26, a seminal voice that was an integral part of the local airwaves was silenced when Port Washington’s hometown hero Pete Fornatale died from a stroke at the age of 66. Part of the class of free-form rock DJs whose ranks included Dennis Elsas, Vince Scelsa and Carole Miller along with late lamented names like WNEW-FM icons Scott Muni, Fornatale mentor Rosko and Alison Steele, the former high school teacher was part of a vanguard of FM broadcasters who counterbalanced the condescending and infantilized manner in which the dominant AM stations of the ’60s and early’70s treated rock ’n’ roll. And while corporate radio monoliths eventually wrapped their rapacious tentacles around any semblance of creativity by way of narrow formatting, skeletal playlists and jocks who were essentially scripted if not automated, Fornatale was one of the dwindling group of Don Quixotes titling at the Clear Channel windmills of the world.

Letter: Booster Club Endorses Carozza

The Massapequa Chiefs Cheerleading Booster Club fully endorses Richard Carozza for the Massapequa School Board.

Carozza’s experience, expertise and accomplishments proves him to be the perfect candidate.

Valerie Sullivan, President,
Susan Galati, Treasurer

Letter: Let The Sun Shine In On SUNY Foundations

You would expect an organization created for public benefit that is largely led by government officials would be obligated to report to the public about its activities. Yet the Research Foundation of the State University of New York (SUNY) and its many campus foundations are not required to do so and apparently feel no such compulsion to share information with the public. Instead, these organizations often cloak their activities in secrecy.

As president of United University Professions – the union representing academic and professional faculty at SUNY’s state-operated campuses – I think it’s time to let the sun shine in. It’s time to require the SUNY Research Foundation and campus foundations to be held accountable and to be more transparent.

Letter: Summer Spraying Program is Needed

This is in response to an article in the Massapequa Observer’s April 6 issue. It was in the Home Garden Supplement and warned residents that as the weather warms, mosquitoes may breed wherever there is standing water. A list was given of outdoor places where pools of water may accumulate, and the danger of this was emphasized. In recent years, a number of deaths have occurred on Long Island due to mosquitoes carrying West Nile Virus. (“Buzz Off: Keeping Your Property Mosquito Free,” The Massapequa Observer, April 16.) While the article’s recommendation was entirely sensible, not that many people are likely to comply. What we really need is a spraying program.

From Long Island Wins: April 11, 2012

Dreaming Of College, Waiting For Access

Last year, my son decided to leave his bachelor life behind. He moved in with his longtime girlfriend – now fiancée! – packed up his apartment in New York City, and bought a house back in the Glen Head neighborhood where we raised him. I couldn’t have been happier.

As you know, he’s the exception. Hordes of young people are leaving Long Island and not coming back: a lack of jobs, affordable housing, and entertainment are luring them away: to Brooklyn and Queens, to other parts of the country, and to strange places like Manhattan.