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12 The Manhasset Times, Friday, March 3, 2017

LIE crash kills local resident BY M A X Z A H N

Lawrence Ceriello, who is running unopposed for a position on the Munsey Park Board of Trustees on March 21.

Second run in Munsey

PHOTO COURTESY OF SAVE THE BAXTER HOUSE FACEBOOK GROUP

The Baxter House’s owner, Sabrina Wu, has not yet decided the future of the home after a fire ripped through it on Feb. 1.

BY M A X Z A H N Lawrence Ceriello, who is running for a position on the Munsey Park Board of Trustees, has sought village office before. In 1991, Ceriello was part of a community effort to prevent the development of the Bonwit Teller Building site, near the corner of Port Washington Boulevard and Northern Boulevard, which now hosts a Whole Foods. A developer proposed to demolish the buildings and “build a largescale shopping center,” Ceriello said. “I thought the proposal was unwise and would have a deleterious effect on life in Munsey Park,” he said. Ceriello sued the village over its approval of the development and challenged the incumbent mayor, Arthur Schulteiss, in “a spirited election,” he said. “I lost the election but ultimately prevailed on the development,” he added. On March 21, Ceriello will run unopposed for the trustee seat vacated by Frank DeMento, who is running unopposed for mayor. Sean Haggerty, the current mayor, chose not to run for reelection. Ceriello, and his wife Jeanne, moved to Munsey Park in 1987. “Like many of our neighbors and friends, we moved here from Manhattan to start our family,” Ceriello said. Ceriello commutes to work in Manhattan at Morrison & Foerster LLP, an international law firm where his practice focuses on commercial Continued on Page 55

Baxter House owner unsure of home’s future BY ST E P H E N R OM A N O The owner of the historic Baxter House, who withdrew her application to demolish and rebuild the home one day after a fire ripped through the building, has not yet decided the future of the partly destroyed structure, according to Village of Baxter Estates Trustee Chris Ficalora. The village’s Landmarks Preservation Commission was set to review the application on Wednesday, but would now only listen to public comment, Ficalora said. Sabrina Wu, the home’s owner, told the village days before the Feb. 1 fire that she would withdraw the application and instead renovate the home. Ficalora said he spoke with Wu’s attorney, A. Thomas Levin, last Wednesday and he said Wu is unsure of the home’s future after the fire that heavily damaged the antiquated house. Separately, in a letter to the editor, Ficalora defended the way the Board of Trustees has handled the matter and said it had been subjected to a smear campaign. Wu allowed village trustees, the village building inspector and an independent engineer hired by the village to inspect the home last Wednesday, along with her architect. The engineer has not yet submitted his report, Ficalora said, “but the main

section of the house is completely burnt through.” Ficalora said there have been discussions about saving walls on the exterior of the far south side of the home. The home, at 15 Shore Road, was built in the 1700s and once stood on the Baxter Homestead, which dates back to 1673. Controversy surrounded the home months before the ﬁre when residents and village oﬃcials said they were upset with how Wu maintained the property, the only landmarked one in the village. The village issued Wu three Order to Remedy violations — the most recent to clean up the lawn and a blue tarp, which covered the windows, from her lawn and neighboring properties. There are currently bags of garbage on the lawn, and Ficalora said he asked Levin to ask Wu about removing them. “He said ‘there’s no OTR saying we have to remove the garbage,’” Ficalora said. Ficalora said Wu will probably be issued a violation for the bags of garbage on Monday. Wu purchased the house in 2003 for $990,000. In a letter to the editor sent to the Port Washington Times, Ficalora said, “I have to say how disheartening it is to read the local papers, view the news, and hear the comments at the Village of BaxContinued on Page 66

A 19-year-old Manhasset man, Gianfranco Peralta, was the man killed in a multivehicle crash on the Long Island Expressway in Woodbury last week, Nassau County police said Sunday. During the accident, which occurred last Thursday at 11:48 p.m., one of the vehicles struck a guard rail and ejected Peralta, who was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Peralta was sitting in the back of a BMW being driven by Jonathan Santos, 20, of Manhasset, who has been charged with second-degree vehicular manslaughter and driving while impaired in connection with the incident, police said. After striking the guard rail, the BMW continued to spin out of control and struck a Toyota pickup truck, Newsday reported. Santos was arraigned Friday in First District Court in Hempstead and was being held on bail of $50,000 bond or $25,000 cash, according to Newsday. Areefeen Hirji, 19, of Muttontown, was also charged with leaving the scene of an accident with death in relation to the incident, police said. He was arraigned on Sunday in First District Court in Hempstead.

Areefeen Hirji, 19, of Muttontown, who has been charged with leaving the scene of an accident with death in relation to a car crash on the Long Island Expressway last Thursday.

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