A8 • THE HALF HOLLOW HILLS NEWSPAPER • JUNE 24, 2010
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Opinion
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d letters to The Editor, : Half Hollow 149 Main S Hills Newspaper, treet, Huntington , New York 11743 or e-m info@long ail us at islanderne ws.com
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Keep On Saving At their meeting last Tuesday, Hunting- general fund so that the tax levy is reduced ton Town Board members voted to move by that amount. That is what we would call more than $900,000 into contingency true savings, and if every taxing entity did budgets. By placing it into contingency ac- the same, might result in some real savings counts, town board approval is needed for for taxpayers. When every level of governthe money to be spent. ment does the same – from school boards, While the move reflects a nearlibrary boards and water districts, ly one-percent reduction in EDITORIAL to villages, towns and on up – taxspending, it is in fact somewhat payers may in fact begin to see retroactive in that it reflects money not savings. spent in the first half of the year. For true For taxpayers whose only experience is savings to occur, the money must remain seeing their tax bills go up, it would be a reunspent. There’s no guarantees on that one. freshing change. And in these economic We’d like to see those savings continue times, even the smallest savings can be sigand at the end of the year, returned to the nificant.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Real Issues Or Just Stunts? DEAR EDITOR: I would like to offer my perspective with regards to AvalonBay’s proposed development in Huntington Station and the current debate happening within our community about it, both online on two Facebook sites (Say No to Avalon Bay and Parents of Huntington), as well as what is printed in the newspapers and what is said at town board meetings. When I learned that a rally was being planned to march at Town Hall recently, I got on Facebook to find out why and was told that “corruption” was taking place in Town Hall with regards to the day the vote would occur on AvalonBay. Myself and another poster pointed out that the resolution was for “up to 90 days” and besides, how could one assume that the vote was going to take place on Sept. 5 when it was a Sunday? They chose to ignore these facts and proceeded with the march anyway. So I had to ask myself why and came to the conclusion that politics must have been the true motive! (Read: an antidemocratic political tactic.) As I continued to post on Facebook, I got attacked (read: political tactics on a community activist) whenever I offered facts about the AvalonBay project and other information, like that the MTA had identified the
piece of land for use as a rail yard. These facts can be found at www.mta.info/mta/planning/portj/index.html (click Huntington to Greenlawn) as well as under the East Side Access documents at www.mta.info/capconstr/esas/ (see pages S7 and S15 of the FEIS project document). I live in Huntington Station in Highview, an affordable housing complex, that is located right across the street from the Huntington train station. So I am a YIMBY for Avalon as I prefer that project to be built on that piece of land rather than taking a chance that a rail yard could end up there. In addition, I see many benefits to the Avalon project that will move the community forward with revitalization, but I won’t focus on those here. I have been actively involved with the revitalization efforts of Huntington Station since 2003 when I joined with the folks from Huntington Country Farms to fight the proposed rail yard when it was first presented to the community. Since then, my involvement in Huntington Station issues has included serving as a chartered member of a civic group called Friends of Huntington Train Station. We worked with the LIRR to renovate the interior of the station for its Centennial which occurred in 2009. We have also been the catalyst to get the town to address the improvements needed at the two parking garages (signs are post-
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ed there now showing that Federal Stimulus dollars were applied for to make this happen). Our group’s mission is to continue to improve the station. So I would just like to clear up one other piece of inaccurate piece of information going around, and that is that we accepted a $75,000 bribe to change our minds about Avalon. AvalonBay shares our mission to improve the aesthetics of the station, since the residents of its housing complex will be living near the station and using it as commuters. So Friends of Huntington Train Station has never opposed Avalon and I was not involved in any negotiations of what occurred between the Town of Huntington and Avalon to channel funds for the landscaping improvements that our group is still pushing for. The town leases the land from the MTA and that is why it falls to the town to fund these improvements and not the MTA. Another initiative that I am a charted member of is the formation of the Lost Neighborhood Committee. We recently served on the panel for the Historical Society’s opening reception for “From House Calls to Hospitals” which featured Dr. Samuel Teich’s office located in Huntington Station at 1090 New York Ave. At that event, we announced the launch of our website, www.portraitofalostneighborhood.org/index.html, and the fact that we are now working with the history teachers of
Letters to the editor are welcomed by Long Islander Newspapers. We reserve the right to edit in the interest of space and clarity. All letters must be handsigned and they must include an address and daytime telephone number for verification. Personal attacks and letters considered in poor taste will not be printed. We cannot publish every letter we receive due to space limitations. School District #3 to bring “local history” projects to the students to learn more about the Huntington Station community where their schools are located. So just to be clear, my present role in this Avalon debate is to ensure that facts and the merits of the project are being put forth for Town of Huntington residents to make up their own minds about where they stand on the issue, and to keep the politics out of it. KIM D’AMBROSIO
Huntington Station
Sinful Self-Promotion DEAR EDITOR: In my mailbox [yesterday] I received a four-page, four-color glossy mailer from Congressman Steve Israel entitled “Having troubles making ends meet.” It was “prepared published and mailed at taxpayer expense.” This was a blatant political mailer with no substance and no benefit to the taxpayer. It was a self-promotion of an incumbent who wants to get re-elected
Mike Koehler Danny Schrafel Sara-Megan Walsh Reporters
DENNIS GARETANO
Huntington Station
Correction The June 3 article, “Huntington Gets Its Close-Up,” incorrectly identified Bunny Hoest as the creator of “The Lockhorns” comic strip. Her late husband, Bill Hoest, is the creator, and she inherited rights to the strip when he died in November 1988. She continues to produce the strip in her Lloyd Neck home with artist John Reiner.
Michael Schenkler Publisher Luann Dallojacono Editor
at the taxpayers’ expense. Isn’t it the current Congress that is wasting our tax dollars and isn’t that why the middle class is having trouble making ends meet? Congressman Israel in this mailer is not “working to help Long Island families” with this expensive mailer. He is only introducing us to his Twitter, Facebook and YouTube accounts, at taxpayer expense. Why doesn’t he use his enormous campaign account for this type of self-promotion? I am again convinced that we need to rid ourselves of career politicians like Mr. Israel, who have no problem using our hardearned money while we are “having trouble making ends meet” to promote themselves and their self-serving future financial security at taxpayer expense. In the mailer it states that “Congressman Steve Israel is working to help Long Island families” but what this mailer is really doing is working to help Steve Israel get re-elected.
Robert Nieter Sheauwei Pidd Production/ Art Department
Peter Sloggatt Associate Publisher/Managing Editor
Linda Gilbert Office / Legals
David Viejo Michele Caro Susan Mandel Account Executives
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