Standard #53 low

Page 1

SPECIAL PASSOVER SECTION!

ABRAHAM ROOFING

Food, Drink, Judaica and Recipes Galore Pages B1-B5

Ask About our Affordable Annual Maintenance Plan! “The Neighborhood Leader in Roofing Service!”

1-800-347-0913 Abrahamroofing.com

ROOFING GUTTERS LEADERS SIDING

59

5

DAYS UNTIL MEMORIAL DAY!

DAYS UNTIL BASEBALL SEASON!

Vol. II No. LIII | www.StandardLI.com | News@standardli.com | Ph.# 516-341-0445

MARCH 30 - APRIL 5, 2012

FREE EVERY FRIDAY

YOUR FIVE TOWNS HOMETOWN PAPER

District 14 Proposes $106 Million Budget TREES ARE BLOOMING! The Five Towns is awash in delicate white flowers on all the newly budding trees, in some places cherry and pair trees side by side for a pink and white palette.

SEEKING 1.91% HIKE IN PROPERTY TAXES By Scott P. Moore

Standard Staff Reporter

Photo by Scott P. Moore

School District 14 announced a $106 million proposed budget for the 2012-2013 school year which includes a 1.91 percent property tax increase. The Hewlett-Woodmere Union Free School District released its tentative budget at a meeting on Thursday, March 22, which included a 2.7 percent overall increase from the previous year’s final total and the elimination of 15 positions as well as the use of reserve funds to balance the budget. Other school-related activities and

Bankruptcy Trustee Closing Peninsula Hospital By Scott P. Moore

Standard Staff Reporter

After spending months teetering on the edge of bankruptcy and having sections of the hospital shut down for failing state health department tests, the new Chapter 11 trustee of Peninsula Hospital wrote a letter to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court stating her intention to submit a closure plan for the hospital. The closing of the hospital leaves Five Towns residents with the next closest hospitals as St. John’s Episcopal in Far Rockaway, Franklin Hospital Medical Center in Valley Stream, South Nassau Hospital in Oceanside and Mercy Medical Center in

Rockville Centre. Lori Lapin Jones, an attorney based out of Great Neck, was named the hospital’s new trustee and placed in charge of the health center last week by the Department of Health, replacing chief executive Todd Miller. Miller had been running the hospital since its operations were taken over by Revival Health Care in early September after months of rumors surrounding an imminent shutdown. Jones stated in her letter that she had been hopeful that efforts taken by both the hospital’s management and professional staff would have helped to clear up laboratory deficiencies that left many of the hospital’s de-

partments closed and the hospital unable to admit new patients at the end of February. The state Department of Health, though, found that “substantial additional time, effort and expense would be required before the laboratory would eligible for recertification” and the entire process could take several months. “The Hospital does not have sufficient working capital to keep the Hospital one for such a prolonged period,” Jones wrote. “Accordingly, the Trustee has made the decision to submit a closure plan for the Hospital to the DOH.”

By Jonathan Walter

By Jonathan Walter

Standard Staff Reporter

CONTINUED ON P. A3

CONTINUED ON P. A2

Lawrence’s Charles Zrihen: New King of Car Cleaning

H-W LIBRARY BUDGET VOTE SET FOR TUES. The Hewlett Woodmere Public Library will be holding their annual budget vote on Tuesday, April 3rd from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. The proposed expenditures budget will total $5,962,624, which is $73,221 more than last year’s budget or an increase of 1.2 percent on expenditures. The increase in the budget’s appropriation totaled $125,821 over last year’s budget, or 2.2 percent. The library faced some questions over what the max increase could be due to the New York State tax cap. “This is a little different this year because there were procedural changes with the allowable tax levy limit, so we had to figure out what that is. It’s not a flat two percent limit.” Hewlett Woodmere Library Director Susan De Sciora said. “This is probably around the average increase of the past five years. We are looking forward to a reduction in those retirement payments.” While the totals for salary payments decreased by over $14,000 from last year’s budget, employee benefits increased by around $90,000. There was a $16,000 increase in library

CONTINUED ON P. A2

sports are not expected to be affected by the presented changes. The district’s budget is proposed to total $106,025,017, a nearly $3 million increase from last year’s budget. In order to make up for unfunded state mandates, the school will have to put in over $2 million more of its own funds to meet this year’s budgetary constraints. “We have a very different challenge now,” said Dr. Peter Weber, the district’s assistant superintendent of business. “We really don’t think anymore in one-year terms. We’re looking at the implications continuously up to four years.” Weber noted during the meeting the district will not top the New York State tax levy limitation cap of two percent per year. The budget anticipates a 1.91 percent increase on their tax levy this year, which will allow for $93.78 million to be collected before state aid. “This is one of the lowest increases in a long time,” said Weber to those in attendance. Even with projected state aid topping $6 million, the school district expects to fall short of their budget by $3,844,482. The gap will be

Standard Staff Reporter

A modeled rendering of what HAFTR’s new sports complex will look like.

Courtesy of HAFTR

New Sports Complex Being Built by HAFTR By Jonathan Walter

Standard Staff Reporter

School spirit and the student athletes of the Hebrew Academy of The Five Town and Far Rockaway won big this week as the school announced plans to build a new sports complex at the site of their Lower School between Washington Avenue and Frost Lane in Lawrence. The new building, along with renovations to the current gym next door, will cost close to $2 million, all supported by generous donations. The project will not affect the school’s budget. The school broke ground on the project two weeks ago and it is projected to be completed by September. “The new HAFTR sports complex will be more than a new gym, it will be a home of its own that HAFTR never had,”

Just a few months ago, Charles Zrihen was running his own real estate company in Woodmere. A year and a half before that, he was a working for a Wall Street hedge fund, doing a lot of international travel. Now, Zrihen is the proud owner of the Valley Stream Car Wash. It’s quite a career change for someone used to working with high powered brokers, now dealing with a rainbow of customers, all wanting their cars cleaned, but Zrihen is relishing it.

“I was sick and tired of getting jet lag all of the time and the crazy hours,” Zrihen said of leaving the hedge fund. While running his real estate company, one of the investments he was looking at was a car wash. “It looked very attractive,” Zrihen said. He did his due diligence, and after looking at 20 different car washes, eventually settled on Valley Stream Car Wash, which also happened to be for sale and very near to his home in Lawrence. One of the biggest decisions he had to

CONTINUED ON P. A3

HAFTR Athletic Director Joe Hoenig said. “It will seat over 400 fans to come out and watch HAFTR play basketball, hockey, volleyball and soccer. It’s going to have state of the art equipment, 6 baskets, 2 full locker rooms and an authentic wood floor that is used by NBA teams.” Hoenig has been the Athletic Director since the late 80’s, and he has heard plans of a new gym since his arrival at the school but it wasn’t until recently that there has been a push to get the project done. “There was a much larger version of this spearheaded a few years ago by the hard work of Josh Gindea and Stephen Wallack, along with so many others who put their time effort and money into this,” Hoenig said. “They were the Charles Zrihen, newly minted owner of Valley Stream Car Wash.

CONTINUED ON P. A3

Photo by Jonathan Walter

C l a s s i f i e d s B 1 2 • C r o s s w o r d B 7 • E d i t o r i a l s A 1 0 • M o v i e s B 7 • P a s s o v e r B 1 • S p o r t s A 8 • We a t h e r A 7


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.