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Friday, February 11, 2022

Vol. 71, No. 6

BANKING & FINANCE

ZELDIN, BLAKEMAN LEAD BACK THE BLUE RALLY

RENOVATED LANDMARK REOPENS

PAGES 27-30

PAGE 3

PAGE 23

Hochul lifts mask mandate No decision made for schools BY R OB E RT PELAEZ Gov. Kathy Hochul lifted a statewide mask mandate for indoor places, including restaurants, gyms and stores, on Wednesday. The mandate was to expire on Thursday after being in place since Dec. 13 as a result of a “winter surge” of coronavirus cases, Hochul said. It had been set to expire on Feb. 21. Hochul’s lifting of the mandate does not include indoor settings for school districts. On Tuesday, she said the mask mandate for schools will remain in eﬀect until at least Feb. 28. In the interim, she said, students will be sent home with COVID-19 test kits. “Keeping schools open has always been my top priority, and I want to thank the teachers, administrators, and parents who joined me today to hear directly from them,” Hochul said. “I want to also remind parents and guardians to please get their children vaccinated, and boosted if eligible.” Continued on Page 42

PHOTO COURTESY OF BRIAN DEVINE

Local officials throughout Nassau County denounced zoning plans rolled out by Gov. Kathy Hochul.

GOPers pan Hochul’s zoning plan County, town officials say additional dwelling units a threat to suburban living BY R OB E RT PELAEZ

plan introduced by Gov. Kathy Hochul that would require local municipalities to allow resiNassau County oﬃcials last dents to add a dwelling unit on Thursday denounced a statewide single-family properties. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jennifer DeSena, Town of Hempstead Supervisor Don Clavin and a handful of other local oﬃcials said

Hochul’s plan will destroy Nassau’s suburban areas. Oﬃcials also claimed that permitting so-called accessory dwelling units could negatively impact the quality of life, electric and water supply, emergency services and other elements of life on Long Island. “From overcrowding classrooms, endangering the safety of communities, straining pub-

lic safety, sanitation, traﬃc, and utility resources to destroying the environment and increasing the carbon footprint, Gov. Hochul’s policy directly threatens L.I.’s quality of life and will turn our neighborhoods into the overcrowded urban centers that most residents fled from in order to live here,” Blakeman said. Continued on Page 35

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The Williston Times, Friday, February 11, 2022

GOP-led lawsuit opposes new lines

NHP man charged in Capitol assault

Claims redistricting violates constitutional amendments Officials say Gerwatowski incited group BY R OB E RT PELAEZ A New Hyde Park man was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly leading a group of rioters inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Eric Gerwatowski, 31, allegedly pulled one of the doors open that Capitol Police had closed to try and keep rioters out last year, oﬃcials said. Once Gerwatowski opened the door, according to a press release from the department, he turned to the crowd behind him and yelled “Let’s go!” as he began to direct rioters inside the building. He was charged with civil disorder, entering and remaining in a restricted building or

grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, impeding passage through the Capitol grounds or buildings, and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building, according to Newday. Gerwatowski was scheduled to make his initial appearance in U.S. District Court on Tuesday, but efforts to reach law enforcement officials or Gerwatowski’s lawyer for comment were unavailing. More than 725 people from nearly every state have been arrested for crimes related to the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol building, officials said. On Friday, the Republican Party declared that the breach of the Capitol and the events leading up to it were “legitimate Continued on Page 35

COURTESY OF NEW YORK STATE’S TASK FORCE ON DEMOGRAPHIC RESEARCH AND REAPPORTIONMENT

Republican officials have filed a lawsuit in the state Supreme Court claiming the newly drawn congressional districts were gerrymandered. BY R OB E RT PELAEZ Following the approval of new congressional maps by state legislators last week, a Republican-led group filed a lawsuit claiming the Democrats gerrymandered the districts to retain control of the House. The lawsuit was filed last week in state Supreme Court in Steuben County, a predominantly Republican area, and claims that the newly drawn lines violated a 2014 amendment in the state constitution aimed at preventing party favoritism when redistricting. The plaintiﬀs, 14 Republican oﬃcials, are represented

by attorneys Misha Tseytlin and George Winner Jr. Winner previously served as a Republican state legislator for three decades. Political experts have suggested the Democrats could gain as many as three congressional seats with the newly drawn lines that were approved by Gov. Kathy Hochul last week. Hochul previously signed legislation that required county redistricting to follow guidelines that aim to promote fairness and not favor parties. The legislation states that district lines must consist of contiguous territory, be drawn nearly equal in population as is practicable, promote orderly and eﬃcient election administration

and not be drawn with the intent to deter certain minority groups from participating in elections. “As bad actors across the country work to undermine public faith in our electoral institutions, the importance of clear and uniform rules to govern political representation has never been more critical,” Hochul said. “This law will ensure the entirety of our state is governed by rules that are derived directly from the federal and state constitutions and ensure the right to equal participation in our political process.” According to the newly drawn lines, the 3rd Congressional District will include sevContinued on Page 42

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Eric Gerwatowski of New Hyde Park was arrested on Tuesday for his alleged role in the Capitol riots on Jan. 6.

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The Williston Times, Friday, February 11, 2022

GOP officials gather to honor police Zeldin, candidate for governor, attacks Hochul, saying she isn’t protecting people BY R OB E RT PE L A E Z Republican officials gathered at the Village Green in Great Neck on Sunday to support local law enforcement and honor those whose lives have been lost in the line of duty. Those in attendance included U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley), a gubernatorial candidate; Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman; Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder; Nassau County Legislator Mazi Melesa Pilip; Village of Great Neck Mayor Pedram Bral and others. Officials held a candlelight vigil to honor fallen officers, including NYPD officers Wilbert Mora and Jason Rivera, who were shot in the line of duty several weeks ago in Harlem. In a statement, Zeldin criticized Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, saying she was not prioritizing the well-being of law enforcement officers and protecting New Yorkers. “How many more police officers must be shot?” Zeldin said. “How many more innocent New Yorkers must be attacked on their own streets? How much longer are we going to put up with the governor who is supposed to be fighting for us, hanging us out to dry?” Blakeman touted the need for residents to honor the sacrifice police and first re-

Department to disclose if a person has been rearrested after being released without bail. He said the reports will be made available online. According to the executive order, approximately 20 percent of bail-related cases between July 2020 and June 2021 in New York resulted in an individual being rearrested for some offense. The order also claims more than 2,000 repeat offenders across the state were subsequently arrested for a violent felony while another case was pending. More than 400 of those repeat offenders were rearrested for a violent felony involving a firearm, according to the executive order, which took effect immediately. Although U.S. News & World Report PHOTO BY KAREN RUBIN ranked Nassau as the safest county in America last year, Blakeman said in a Newsday interview before November’s election that Village of Great Neck Mayor Pedram Bral (right) and County Executive the publication took “spoonfed” statistics Bruce Blakeman (left) spoke at an event that honored police officers on from the county and said they did not reflect Sunday. of what really happened over the past year due to the pandemic. Nassau County spends $1,148 per capsponders make to keep the public safe on a has been discussing policing strategies with District Attorney Anne Donnelly and Nassau ita on police and fire protection while the daily basis. “Events like this bring our communities County’s Police Benevolent Association Pres- national median is $359, U.S. News & World together and let the family and friends of the ident Tom Shevlin to keep Nassau residents Report said last year. Public safety professionals account for fallen officers know that we will never forget safe. Blakeman has also criticized the state’s 1.26 percent of the county’s population, them, or their service and sacrifice,” he said. bail reform laws. Blakeman signed an executive order in compared with the national median of 0.70 Aside from expressing his support for local law enforcement, Blakeman said he late January that permits the county Police percent.

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The Williston Times, Friday, February 11, 2022

Strauss calls on lawmakers for change Comments made at Board of Trustees meeting following NYPD burials of slain officers BY B R A N D ON DUFFY

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE NASSAU COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT

Officers line up for the funeral of NYPD Officer Wilbert Mora, who was killed weeks ago in the line of duty.

Mayor Scott Strauss called on state lawmakers for change last Wednesday at the Mineola Board of Trustees meeting following the burial of NYPD Officer Wilbert Mora, who was killed in Harlem in the line of duty alongside his partner, Jason Rivera. Strauss said in his 11 years serving Mineola, he has rarely brought anything up that didn’t have to do with the village before reading a prepared statement. “This morning, the NYPD buried another police officer who was killed in the line of duty,” Strauss said. “Six police officers have been shot in the last few weeks. How many more will be shot before our state lawmakers realize they need to change things? “How many more innocent people, people like you and me who for whatever reason take a chance and go into the city only to be robbed,

assaulted, pushed in front of a train or was slashed before our state lawmakers realize they need to change things? When will our state senators do what is right and change the laws to protect us, not the criminals? When will our state lawmakers stand up against crime and support our police oﬃcers?” Strauss did not specify what actions he would like to see from lawmakers, nor did he clarify which representatives he was referring to. In 2020, the Democraticled state Legislature passed bail reform laws that eliminated pretrial detention and monetary bail conditions for most misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies. Republicans have assailed the changes and said they endanger the public. Eﬀorts to reach Strauss for comment were unavailing. Strauss continued his statement, emphasizing the role of government. “It’s written in our Declaration of Independence. It

is our constitutional right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” Strauss said. “Governments were created to protect those rights. When are you, our state lawmakers, going to uphold your constitution and protect us? There are many more people than not on the right side of the law. You should join them. Thank you.” Strauss previously served as a detective with the Emergency Service Unit of the NYPD, where he earned the Medal of Honor, the department’s highest award, for his eﬀorts during the Sept. 11 attacks. Deputy Mayor Paul Pereira reiterated the comments on behalf of the board, saying it could not be said any better. “It does have everything to do with Mineola because it has everything to do with all of us,” he said. “We on this board stand with our police oﬃcers and security personnel who protect us.”

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Blank Slate Media Newspapers, Friday, February 11, 2022

Lafazan leads end of year funding Democratic legislator tops candidates in money raised during last quarter of ‘21 BY B R A N D ON DUFFY

Financial disclosure reports were submitted for congressional candidates to the Federal Election Commission, detailing funds raised from October to December.

Among the qualified candidates running in the 3rd Congressional District, County Legislator Joshua Lafazan (D-Woodbury) raised the most money in the fourth quarter of 2021, according to the Federal Election Commission. Since his campaign announcement in December, Lafazan raised over $452,548 and disbursed $46,290, leaving him with $406,257 cash on hand, according to FEC reports. Financial disclosures for the period, which were submitted by Jan. 31, track contributions, money spent and cash on hand from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31. Recently, Lafazan’s campaign announced the endorsement of mayors from 12 villages, including Old Westbury and North Hills, and also announced the endorsement of Assemblywoman Taylor Darling (D-Hempstead) Lafazan’s campaign said the fundraising totals are a sign of things to come.

“The strength of Legislator Lafazan’s fundraising total – raised in just 18 short days in December – shows just how strong a candidate he will be over the course of the next few months and how his message of youth, energy, and vision for the residents of the Third District has already begun to resonate,” Ross M. Wallenstein, a campaign spokesperson, said. Republican George Santos raised $210,484 in the fourth quarter, bringing his campaign total to $727,062, according to FEC reports. Since announcing his candidacy, Santos has disbursed $519,950, leaving him with $325,077 cash on hand. Democratic candidate Melanie D’Arrigo of Port Washington raised $77,954 in the last quarter of 2021. Throughout her campaign, D’Arrigo has raised $225,567 and disbursed $117,143, leaving her with $116,175. Recently, D’Arrigo’s campaign announced the endorsement of former New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. Regarding the fundraising, D’Arrigo said in a statement, “In

2020, we were able to get just under 30% of the vote in a three-way race, while being outspent 9-1 by an incumbent with the full power of the establishment behind him. This time there is no incumbent and it is a crowded field. We can, and will win, a plurality, and will likely need less votes than we had last time. “As a grassroots campaign, we expect to be outraised and outspent by establishment candidates. But campaigns are won on the ground, not in bank accounts, and we have something they don’t have: the trust of our community, the activists we’ve fought alongside, and the organizers we’ve worked with to bring about positive change. That’s how this campaign is going to win.” Kevin Surdi, a Republican candidate originally from Queens, raised $7,521 during the period. Democratic candidate Robert Zimmerman of Great Neck has raised over half a million dollars since announcing his candidacy a few weeks ago, his campaign said. Continued on Page 20

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Santos touts education in CD 3 run Queen Republican says students should be able to cross district lines to find better schools BY B R A N D ON DUFFY George Santos, a Republican running in the 3rd Congressional District, said he believes that education is a springboard out of poverty and he wants to empower families by allowing students to leave failing school districts and attend better schools in other districts. “My parents are both first-generation immigrants in this country,” he said. “Without education, I wouldn’t have the privilege of running for United States Congress.” One of the initiatives Santos supports is school choice, which can increase the options for students to attend diﬀerent school districts instead of being confined to the districts their parents or guardians bought a home in. “It essentially takes kids that are willing to learn out of failing school districts and put them in better school districts, providing them with free transportation, whether it’s a school bus, or in New York City, with a Metro card or whatever equivalent,” he said. “I’m a strong believer of allowing the parents to make the choice of schooling and

not school zoning, per se, being the only mechanism.” Additional moves Santos would make if elected are sponsoring legislation to secure infrastructure dollars in relation to education, accelerate the school voucher program and increase accessibility to specialized schools. “We need to invest more in trade school; not everyone is cut out for college,” Santos said. “It’s not fair to make college the hill everyone has to die on when you can provide yourself with a very nice quality of life through trade school.” Santos is running for the seat currently held by Congressman Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove), who is leaving his post to run for governor. The Queens native is seeking to represent the district previously held by Republican Peter King for two decades from 1993 to 2013. Santos said he believes that the November elections were possibly a sign of things to come. “That’s just very telling of what the Democrats have been doing for the last couple of years in Albany, D.C., and quite frankly, with this president in his first year,” Santos

cal grid and said he wants federal funding in the area to better reflect the taxes that Long Islanders pay. In addition, the candidate said that his salary for the first two years, which would be $174,000 yearly, would be donated to the Northport VA Medical Center and North Shore Animal League America. “I think people are tired of the run-of-the-mill politicians running for oﬃce,” Santos said. “And they want to see people who have actually made an impact in the world.” Santos is running for the Republican nomination against Kevin PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CANDIDATE Surdi. Democrats who are running Queens native George Santos is running for the Republican for their party’s nomination in the nomination in the 3rd Congressional District. 3rd Congressional District include Great Neck’s Robert Zimmerman, don’t care if you’re a Republican Nassau County Legislator Joshua said. Santos said his experience in or Democrat, if you’re going into Lafazan, Oyster Bay’s Reema Rathe private sector, where he works Congress with very little to add, but sool, former North Hempstead as an economist with 13 years of you’re becoming very wealthy in Supervisor Jon Kaiman, state Sen. financial experience, is something your time there, you’re part of the Alessandra Biaggi and Melanie that constituents want to see when problem.” D’Arrigo of Port Washington. If elected, Santos said, he will evaluating candidates. After a redistricting vote by “Experience in politics has ex- be fiscally conservative and focus the state Legislature last Wednesposed one very important thing, on issues that will benefit not only day, the 3rd Congressional District which is that politicians are argu- his constituents but the American includes parts of Nassau, Suﬀolk, ably the most self-serving breed people. Santos cited a need to ad- Queens, the Bronx and Westchesof humans alive,” Santos said. “I vocate for an update to the electri- ter.

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Kaiman challenges Dems on public safety BY B R A N D ON D U FF Y

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Jon Kaiman, the former North Hempstead Town Supervisor running for New York’s 3rd Congressional District, told Blank Slate Media extreme elements of the Democratic Party do not represent him and that they are compromising public safety. Kaiman, 59, of Great Neck, ran the town from 2004 through 2013 and is currently the deputy executive for Suffolk County, a position he has held since 2017. Congressman Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove), who has represented the district since 2016, is running for governor. Kaiman released a guidance document on public safety and police reform, stating his positions on a bevy of issues related to law enforcement. “The Manhattan District Attorney who declared he will no longer prosecute most crimes that are committed in his jurisdiction, including violent crimes (as long as there is no severe injury), has disgraced his office, failed the public he serves, and forfeited the banner of the party that put him there,” Kaiman said in a statement. Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg in January released a memo to staff that instructed prosecutors to avoid seeking jail time except for the most serious crimes, according to reports. The move prompted harsh criticism. On Friday, Bragg released another memo that backtracks some of his previous positions, calling for stricter policing, according to multiple reports. Kaiman said the initial memo in January, “told the world that he stands with those who violate the law and that he

will not protect the people of Manhattan, those who visit and those who do business there.” In regards to bail reform, Kaiman believes it is time for laws to change in order to provide better resources for judges. “Judges must have the discretion to impose bail in order to protect the public from an individual who poses a threat to the community or who is not likely to return to court,” Kaiman said. “That said, bail should not be imposed if an individual is not a threat to the public or a risk of flight. Immediate and ongoing auditing of bail determinations, as well as administrative oversight over the bail process, can be used to prevent unfair, improper, inappropriate or excessive bail.” The Deputy Executive also says police personnel needs to be more involved in reform on the behalf of community safety. “We must move forward with reform by working with advocates and experts, but also with the police command structure, police personnel, and their union representatives,” Kaiman said. “We need to stop making laws that aﬀect public safety without public safety personnel at the table.” Kaiman’s rivals for the Democratic nomination include Great Neck’s Robert Zimmerman, Nassau County Legislator Joshua Lafazan, Oyster Bay’s Reema Rasool and Melanie D’Arrigo of Port Washington. George Santos and Kevin Surdi are seeking the Republican nomination. After a redistricting vote held Wednesday, New York’s Third Congressional District includes parts of Nassau, Suﬀolk, Queens and Westchester Counties along with parts of The Bronx.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CANDIDATE

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (left) and Deputy County Executive Jon Kaiman (right) introduce Rodney Harrison, former New York City chief of department as the new Suffolk County police commissioner.

Blank Slate Media Newspapers, Friday, February 11, 2022

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12 The Williston Times, Friday, February 11, 2022

W.P. bakery thrives with vegan menu

Sweet to Lick gains national attention as cake named one of top 10 in country by PETA BY B R A N D ON D U FF Y

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Sweet to Lick’s Ginger ale crumb cake, which has been a staple with owner Michael Sabet for over a decade.

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Sweet to Lick on Hillside Avenue in Williston Park is a vegan bakery that has expanded over the years as quickly as its menu has, according to owner Michael Sabet. Without a proper culinary background, Sabet started making treats for his wife and that evolved into Long Island’s first vegan bakery, which opened in 2013. “More than just opening up a bakery, there was a risk,” Sabet said. “The risk was opening up this hyperniche bakery, but you can look around today and see tons of vegan options.” The move followed years of traveling to farmers markets throughout Long Island before settling in Williston Park, which Sabet said has been perfect. Sabet said it was too expensive to build a bakery and he opted to renovate a space that had a bakery. Sweet to Lick is the ninth bakery to operate at the storefront. Recently, PETA named Sweet to Lick’s strawberry dream cake one of the top 10 vegan sweet treats in the country. “Sweet To Lick’s Strawberry Dream Cake is a dream come true for celebrating love and kindness to animals,” said PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. Sabet said there are a number of reasons for the rise in vegan options, including

celebrities changing their diets and younger generations being more open to focusing on sustainability. “Beyonce I remember went vegan very quickly, but still it had an eﬀect,” Sabet said. Like other businesses, Sweet to Lick is still dealing with the eﬀects of the pandemic and supply chain issues. Sabet was able to stay open with a lot of customers opting for the lunch menu but he said he believes that some eateries can only hold for so long. “We may have the worst behind us, but the problems will still persist I believe,” Sabet said. The bakery has been returning to a sense of normalcy, which is a far cry from the barricaded doors and serving desserts through a small window, Sabet said. One of the events Sabet is returning to with the ease of restrictions is a cosplay Saturday on April 16, where he will provide themed desserts and giveaways for customers who are dressed up. In addition, the bakery held art shows before the pandemic. Sabet said he is happy with how his business has expanded and could not have foreseen this much success when starting out. “This grew merely out of a token to my wife and it’s become this thing that makes people happy,” Sabet said. “They tell me what they want me to make and I’ll make it.”

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The Williston Times, Friday, February 11, 2022

Museum shows Viscardi honors advocates Greenvale shop’s for disabled around world ivory antiques BY B R A N D ON D U FF Y

BY B R A N D ON DUFFY East Hills’ Scott Defrin, who owns European Decorative Arts Co. in Greenvale, has some of the most prized antiques on Long Island, but can’t display some of them in his store. In 2014, New York enacted a law which says “no person shall sell, oﬀer for sale, purchase, trade barter or distribute an ivory article.” The law was passed to prevent the killing of ivory-bearing animals, such as elephants. Defrin said that the regulations, which prohibit the sale of objects with over 20% ivory in New York, have “been a hit for the antique community,” adding, “Ivory appears in so many ob-

jects throughout history.” According to the Wildlife Conservation Society, an estimated 96 elephants are killed each day in Africa, contributing to a 76 percent population decline since 2002. Defrin acknowledges that an elephant died for the antiques to be made, but described the context when the items were made centuries ago. “A lot of pieces, especially during the 17th century, were procured from elephants that died natural deaths,” he said. “It wasn’t so easy to take down an elephant back then, and the population was much more abundant. These objects should not be looked at from an animal cruelty point of view.” Continued on Page 43

The Viscardi Center in Albertson announced seven recipients of the 2021 Henry Viscardi Achievement Awards, which began in 2013 to honor the organization’s late founder. The awards honor advocates who enhance the quality of life for people with disabilities. This year, the seven recipients represent Argentina, India, Nepal and the United States after nominations came in from around the world. The recipients have backgrounds in entertainment, sports, technology, government and nonprofit groups. “Including our group today, Viscardi Awards have been bestowed upon nearly 90 recipients from over 20 countries worldwide,” said Sherwood “Woody” Goldberg, co-chair of the Henry Viscardi Achievement Awards Selection Committee. “The growth of this initiative is a testament to the diverse talent and contributions of the global disability community.” Recipients include Dani Bowman, who founded autism talent

development company DaniMotion Entertainment in California, Rebecca Cokley, disability rights advocate serving as a program oﬃcer in the president’s oﬃce at the Ford Foundation; Deepak KC, the accessibility consultant for World Bank Group Nepal’s Earthquake Housing Reconstruction Project who also

PHOTO BY AMELIA CAMURATI

The Viscardi Center hosted its second annual Virtual PitchFest Competition, offering up to $75,000 in grants to disabled founders, in November.

serves on the National Paralympic Committee; Lalit Kumar, chairperson of a disability rights organization, the Evara Foundation; Scott Michael Robinson, senior policy adviser for the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy; Paul W. Schroeder, vice president of government and community affairs with the American Printing House for the Blind; and Miguel Tomasín, leader and drummer in the Argentine rock band Reynols. Nominations for the 2022 Henry Viscardi Achievement Awards will open this spring, the center said. The Viscardi Center has been a pioneer in disability leadership around the world. Its original site was one of the first U.S. businesses to be staffed by people with disabilities when it was operating out of a garage in West Hempstead, helping disabled veterans become assembly and factory workers for several large companies, including Grumman, General Electric and IBM, and the Department of Defense. Continued on Page 43

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14 Blank Slate Media Newspapers, Friday, February 11, 2022

Opinion

OUR VIEWS

How about tweaking zoning in Nassau?

ov. Kathy Hochul announced a $25 billion, five-year housing plan last week intended to create and preserve 100,000 affordable homes in critically short New York, increase construction of new homes and tackle inequities in the housing market. Hochul’s plan included proposed legislation to require municipalities to allow a minimum of one accessory dwelling unit on all owner-occupied residential zoned lots. Also known as “granny flats” and “in-law units,” these are small homes located on the same lot as a primary residence, such as a modest apartment over a garage or a basement unit. Hochul’s press secretary, Hazel Crampton-Hays, said the legislation would “further the rights of individual homeowners to determine how best to use their property, provide homeowners on fixed incomes the opportunity to create additional rental income, helping them stay in their homes, or multi-generational housing to care for elderly relatives and allow municipalities to require necessary health and safety measures for new units.” Nassau County oﬃcials did not share Crampton-Hays’ enthusiasm. “This proposal that’s being made would actually end single-family housing in New York state,” said Democratic Congressman Tom Suozzi, a former Nassau County executive who is challenging Hochul for governor. Suozzi went on to call Hochul’s plan a “radical proposal that would take away zoning control from municipal govern-

ments, erode local government authority, and end single-family housing across New York.” Republican elected officials led by County Executive Bruce Blakeman were even less enthusiastic. “Gov. Hochul has declared war on the suburbs, the environment, local infrastructure, our schools, accessible parking and manageable traffic, among all of the other benefits that go along with the suburban quality of life that we enjoy on Long Island,” Hempstead Supervisor Don Clavin said. North Hempstead Town Supervisor Jen DeSena said the proposed legislation would “destroy Long Island suburbs” by effectively eliminating single-family zoning. The heated response to Hochul’s proposal assumes two things. The first is that there is, in fact, a great demand for affordable housing in Nassau County. The second is that many homeowners would want to add an apartment to their homes. Otherwise, why the great impact? The question as to whether this would destroy the suburban quality of life is another matter. The large number of adult children coming back to live in their parents’ homes – because they can’t afford their own homes – doesn’t seem to have been a problem up until now. The lack of affordability can be explained in part by data showing that between 2010 and 2018, Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester and Putnam counties each granted fewer building permits per capita than virtually any other suburban

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counties in the United States. This, in turn, can explain the shortage of homes for sale in Nassau and the soaring housing prices that former County Executive Laura Curran said required her to freeze assessments in Nassau for two straight years. Hence the face of the problem: children moving back into their parents’ homes and the diﬃculty older residents have moving into small homes in areas where they have lived for many years. Nassau County’s zoning policies have helped it remain the most segregated large county in the United States. The New York region has thesecond-highest levelof segregation between Black and white residents in the country, and thethird-highest level of segregation between Latino or Hispanic and white residents as well as between Asian-American and white residents. A recent study by the Furman

Center found this was not by accident, that New York has some of the most exclusionary zoning, particularly in Westchester and Long Island. A study by Newsday blamed Nassau segregation on mortgage redlining, school district boundaries, racial steering, blockbusting and, of course, zoning. The end product – as witnessed by the bipartisan opposition to Hochul’s proposal – has been very popular with residents. At least those with the wherewithal to live here. Suozzi was the lone oﬃcial to say that he supports ideas to tackle housing problems. He said he supported a blanket “amnesty” program for the tens of thousands of illegally converted houses in New York City – and pavingthe way for similar action in other communities across the state. But like Nassau Republicans, Suozzi has said nothing about

REPORTERS Robert Pelaez, Brandon Duffy COLUMNIST Karen Rubin ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Stacy Shaughnessy, Melissa Spitalnick, Wendy Kates, Linda Robinson, Steven Schoenfarber ART DIRECTOR Jewell Davis

zoning in the suburbs while expressing opposition to removing at least some zoning decisions from local governments – something that has been done in recent years in California, Massachusetts, Oregon and Utah. Suozzi and the Republicans are being selective in opposing the state making decisions for local governments and somewhat disingenuous in describing their authority. Under New York state’s constitution, the governor and the state Legislature can do pretty much what they want when it comes to making local decisions. This was often apparent in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s stepping on New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s toes throughout the last administration. Statewide this can be seen in the 2 percent tax cap that Cuomo imposed on every municipality in New York state. Continued on Page 20

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Blank Slate Media Newspapers, Friday, February 11, 2022

ON THE RIGHT

Hochul unlikely to crack down on DA Bragg

uring the funeral mass for murdered NYPD Oﬃcer Jason Rivera, his widow, Dominique, speaking from the sanctuary of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, charged Manhattan’s new district attorney, Alvin Bragg, with coddling criminals. “The system continues to fail us,” she said. “We are not safe anymore, not even the members of the service.” Looking down at her husband’s casket, she said to him, “I know you were tired of these laws, especially the ones from the new DA. I hope he’s watching you speak through me right now.” Reacting to those remarks, the men and women in blue sitting in the Cathedral’s pews, rose to their feet and gave Dominique a standing ovation as DA Bragg looked on. Police, as well as many civilians, object to the Day 1 Memo Bragg released shortly after being sworn in to uphold the law on Jan. 1, 2022. Frankly, I found the bulk of Bragg’s 11-page memo appalling. Here’s a few of the more salient organizational changes: • “Success and promotion will no longer be tied to conviction rates.”I guess that means assistant

district attorneys will be rewarded for losing cases or having criminal charges dismissed. • “…a new Pathways to Success Bureau will be instituted that will make clear throughout the District Attorney’s Office that alternatives to incarceration should be the norm, not the exception.” In other words, fewer and fewer convicted criminals will go to jail. • “The following charges will not be prosecuted under any circumstances”: marijuana misdemeanors, fare evasion (turnstile jumping), trespass, driving with a suspended license, consensual sex trade, resisting arrest for any noncriminal offense, and “outdated offenses such as obscenity.” The public uproar over these new felony guidelines forced Bragg to clarify several of his pronouncements. He insisted that “gun possession would be taken seriously” and “violence against police officers would not be tolerated.” But those clarifications do not go far enough. Bragg’s remaining policies effectively gut the Broken Windows Theory that has guided the NYPD since the 1990s. That theory, proposed by the

GEORGE J. MARLIN On The Right renown social scientists James Q. Wilson and Robert Kelling maintained that one broken window in a neighborhood “is a signal that no one cares and so breaking more windows cost nothing.” Hence, they concluded “serious street crime flourishes in areas in which disorderly behavior goes unchecked. The unchecked panhandler is in eﬀect the first broken window…. Muggers and robbers, whether opportunistic or professional, believe they reduce their chances of being caught or even identified if they operate on streets where potential victims are already intimidated by prevailing

conditions.” Safe and Clean Neighborhood programs, carried out by NYPD Commissioners Bill Bratton and Ray Kelly adopted “Broken Windows” and crime dropped to alltime lows. The repeal of those policies began under Mayor Bill de Blasio, who denounced the calls for “law and order” as racist. The result: Crime increased in nearly every category in 2020 and 2021. Murders in 2021 hit 500—a number not seen since 2011. And if DA Bragg’s soft-oncrime policies remain in force—expect crime to skyrocket in Manhattan. The one person who can do something about Bragg’s misguided plans is Gov. Kathy Hochul. She has the authority to remove a district attorney if he fails to carry out the duties of the oﬃce. At a recent New York Post Editorial Board meeting, Hochul said: “I have options, but I will be monitoring the situation very closely…. I’ll be having a conversation very shortly to convey, to let him tell me what his plans are and make sure that we’re all in alignment.” After the Rivera funeral, at a Hochul-Bragg tete-a-tete in the

governor’s New York City oﬃce, she reminded the embattled DA that “safety and justice must go hand-in-hand.” But will Hochul follow through? I doubt it. When she had her first opportunity to side with the victims of crime, she blew it. Hochul came out against Mayor Adams’ call to restore the “dangerous standard” that gives judges the discretion to deny bail to pre-trial suspects convicted earlier of major or violent crimes. Hochul’s opposition to Adam’s request is disgraceful. The one-time centrist Hochul has sold out to the far left in her quest to be elected to a full term in November. Hochul, Bragg, and their radical confreres, are more concerned with fantasyland, ideological formulas than dealing with the reality of crime in the streets. Should they continue their flawed “social justice” campaign, the quality of urban life will continue to decline and before long the Big Apple will be designated— as it was in the 1970s when Limousine Liberals governed—“Fear City.”

A LOOK ON THE LIGHTER SIDE

When you need a little help navigating life “I think you need an app,” the person told me. “A nap? Do I look sleepy?” I replied. “No, I mean an app on your phone. A navigation app — if you’re going to find the place in time.” The oddest thing about this advice was its source — not my husband or one of my kids, but a librarian. Specifically, one of the reference librarians at my wonderful Port Washington Public Library. I had been desperate to find a certain test-prep book to cram for an impending civil service exam. But the library was all out of copies — including the copies that were never supposed to leave the library. I was stumped, but my librarian was made of sterner stuﬀ. She checked something, made a phone call and told me there might be one way I could still get my hands on that book in time to use it over the weekend. “You might be able to purchase a copy from the publisher, because they’re located here on the Island. But only if you can get there in the

next 45 minutes before they close.” I started to panic. “Here’s what you do,” said the librarian. “Download this app. Like this. I’ve used it, and the key is — no matter how crazy a thing it tells you to do, just do it. It’s never failed me. If it tells you to turn right into a brick wall, then go ahead and turn into that brick wall. Somehow it will work out, but you have to trust it.” It sounded impossible, but I was out of options. “It says you have just enough time, so oﬀ you go! Carefully, of course.” It felt like I was holding an un-exploded bomb, blinking in the palm of my hand as I walked out of the library and got into my car. My first test of faith came seconds later at the exit onto Main Street. “Turn right,” the app told me. But I knew that was wrong. Left was the way to the Long Island Expressway. Then I heard my librarian’s voice: “If it tells you to turn right into a brick wall, do it.” With great trepidation, I

JUDY EPSTEIN

A Look on the Lighter Side turned right. It took me the long way around the block — a “block” that constituted half the town — before finally putting me on the road to the Expressway. Only then did I notice that I had been routed around some police cars and actual gridlock, on our little Main Street, just beyond my view from the library. If I had taken that “sure thing” left turn, I would still be stuck in that gridlock. Darned if the librarian — and the

app — hadn’t been right. The app spoke up. “There is a traffic camera ahead.” Really? I looked for it before deciding that I couldn’t pay attention to that right now. A few minutes later I was on the LIE. The app spoke again. “There is a car on the shoulder up ahead.” What is it talking about? There is nothing on the shoulder…oh, wait, I see something now. Indeed, there it is with its hood up and its blinkers on. How did they know? “There is construction work 500 feet ahead.” No, there isn’t… oh, yes, I guess there is. This app was uncannily accurate. “There is a downed tree on the side of the road ahead.” What? A traffic app is tracking trees now? Don’t they usually stay put? Oh, wow, a huge tree had blown down in a storm, blocking one lane of traffic. Luckily, I had changed lanes in time to go around. I was getting punchy. I wondered if the app might track deer near the highway as well. “There is a stag on the side of the road 500

feet ahead. He is deciding whether or not to jump in front of your car. He will block the left-hand lane.” What DIDN’T this app warn you about? “There will be a fork in the road for you one week ahead. Should you take this test and become a civil servant? Maybe not, considering you aren’t going to score very well.” It would have been so handy years ago. “Ditch this high-school boyfriend, he just wants to get your clothes off.” “Your roommate is going to bail on your plans for Mardi Gras in New Orleans; go anyway.” “They’re going to laugh you out of that interview with IBM, save your breath.” I finally got to the publishing house with seconds to spare, purchased the practice book and made it home dodging every traffic-cam and camouflaged cop-car in Nassau County. Never mind how I did on the test; learning about this app changed my life. But I think it confines its advice to traffic. Too bad!

16 Blank Slate Media Newspapers, Friday, February 11, 2022

THE BACK ROAD

Tweet on depression in few characters

witter is more than a political battlefield. It is a quick and easy source for trending news, sports and entertainment. If you’re into broadcast sports or the latest TV series, for example, Twitter is a place where you can read others’ reactions and opinions in real time. You can join in on the conversation if you wish. If you’re apprehensive because of online antagonists or bullies, trolls as they’re known, it’s easy to block them. For the uninitiated, Tweets are limited to 280 characters, which requires one to be concise. There is the option of creating threads, a series of connected Tweets, to expand one’s message. Although the dangers of social media should not be underestimated, for some individuals living with mental illness Twitter oﬀers a sounding

board and source of support. It can provide others with greater understanding about mental illness. Twitter users often identify themselves with pseudonyms to protect their privacy. Lost Girl is a Twitter user with a wild and uninhibited sense of humor. She is a mental health warrior who fights against stigma and discrimination and is transparent about her own ups and downs. In her bio she suggests that she is living with bipolar illness. Bipolar refers to a psychiatric diagnosis of someone experiencing intense mood changes, alternating episodes of severe depression and high energy that can severely disrupt their life without treatment. The bipolar experience is uniquely personal and varies from person to person. Lost Girl’s elegant tweet about what depression feels

ANDREW MALEKOFF The Back Road

like caught my eye and she consented to my sharing it: “Depression is not being able to do something as simple as getting out of bed. Sitting up and putting your feet on the floor feels impossible. And you wonder why you should even push yourself to attempt it. You’re not even worth the energy.” She struck a chord with

many others, with 42 characters to spare. AV reacted, “I feel this so much. Just the utter lack of desire to do anything, and the hopeless and listless feeling that goes with it.” Deeds weighed in: “True. Sadly, depression is suﬀered utterly alone, as most people do not have the…capacity to understand depression. ‘We didn’t know,’ says everyone. Yet the red flags were and are in front of you.” To which Lost Girl responded: “Very well said. And most people don’t, you are correct. And then the rest of the people don’t want to even try to understand it.” JB was grateful: “I really appreciate you and your posts like this about depression. It has definitely helped me understand it more and expanded my empathy.” Fire added: “Your ability

to put words to the feelings, whether high or low, is a gift. I hope you know how many people you help when you do.” The Dude tied it together: “Hugs friend. Reaching out and seeking solace in the Twitter world is an enormous support network ” I was in awe seeing this spontaneous mutual aid group come together. Many more contributed to the conversation. Although I use my real name on Twitter, I didn’t want to simply be a fly on the wall as I was moved by Lost Girl’s initial post and the ensuing discussion on depression. So, I joined in and tweeted: “I’m not sure if you know it or even care to, but you make a diﬀerence. You are the difference and your life matters. Maybe more than you know.” Lost Girl tweeted back: “❤ Thank you.”

FROM THE DESK OF RICHARD NICOLELLO

Hidden provision would destroy L.I. suburbs

eep within the thousands of pages of the governor’s budget is a proposed law that will essentially end single-family zoning in Nassau County and across the state. The proposal will overrule local zoning laws and will give every homeowner the right to create an apartment (“accessory dwelling unit”) in their home or on their property. By inserting the proposal in the budget, the governor and radical lawmakers seek to avoid public scrutiny, legislative debate and a vote on a stand-alone bill. Instead, the proposal would become law once the overall bud-

get passes. This fundamentally underhanded and undemocratic maneuver is exactly how former Governor Cuomo and the state legislature passed their disastrous cashless bail law Mandating that an apartment may be placed in every single-family home will increase the number of students in our schools. While the cost to educate a student diﬀers from district to district, according to the Empire Center for Public Policy the average budgeted per-pupil expenditure on Long Island is $32,969 per year. The increase in students will inevitably lead

RICHARD NICOLELLO Presiding Officer

to higher taxes, fewer programs or both. Ending single-family zoning

will also put additional stress on the environment, including the aquifers that provide our drinking water. It will create higher demand for sanitation, sewage treatment, our electrical and gas supply as well as emergency services. There will be more cars in our residential neighborhoods and more traﬃc congestion, with the environmental consequences that flow from that congestion. We all understand that there needs to be more aﬀordable housing on Long Island, especially for our seniors. However, this radical proposal will forever erode our suburban quality of life, which I believe is exactly

what some progressive urban lawmakers intend. We simply cannot stand by and allow this to happen. It is critically important for your voices to be heard. I encourage you to call the governor’s oﬃce and other state representatives to let them know that this irresponsible proposal must be removed from the governor’s budget and defeated. I urge you to contact Governor Kathy Hochul (518-4748390) and your state legislators to express your opposition. You can also visit: www.governor. ny.gov/content/governor-contact-form to submit comments.

Blank Slate Media Newspapers, Friday, February 11, 2022

VIEW POINT

No sympathy for GOP in N.Y. redistricting

have little sympathy for New York State Republicans – or the good-government Common Cause, for that matter – over the charges of Democratic gerrymandering in redistricting, when much of the redistricting was aimed at undoing decades of Republican gerrymandering. Democrats had to counter the Trump-Republican sabotage of the 2020 census which, for lack of 89 responses (based on April 1 residency, when New York was the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic), we lost a Congressional seat; and the shameless way Republicandominated legislatures around the nation are gerrymandering, suppressing votes and subverting elections while upholding sedition, insurrection and an attempted coup (fake electors from 7 states). Republicans were salivating at New York State’s loss of a Congressional seat, expecting this to be one more nail in the

coﬃn of a Democratic majority in Congress – ever. So until Republicans go along with the Voting Rights Act and Freedom to Vote Act which would end partisan gerrymandering and provide minimum, uniform federal standards for voters’ access to the ballot and protections for free and fair elections, and the Justice Department holds the coup plotters and insurrectionists to account, I see New York as an important bastion in preserving democracy, which is hanging by a thread. But Republicans have little incentive to adopt federal election protection standards because they count on Democrats to adhere to principles they ignore. Still, it is frankly pathetic how the so-called New York Independent Redistricting Commission – the state’s first attempt at a nonpartisan, public participation process — was set

KAREN RUBIN View Point

up to fail. “We are proud to have conducted a public-first process in which more than 4,000 New Yorkers made their voices heard,” the Democratic NYIRC commissioners stated. “This input had a major impact on our deliberations and line-drawing, and we changed more than 87% of the lines in our September maps to our January maps based upon extensive consider-

ation of this public comment. The Commission has conducted 24 public hearings both in-person and online where we listened to more than 51 hours of testimony from over 630 speakers. These hearings have had more than 12,000 views online. The Commission has received over 3300 written submissions, testimony and maps with nearly 4,500 pages of public input from New Yorkers.” Having listened in on several and attending the public hearing held at Nassau Community College, I can appreciate the complexity and diﬃculty of the task –speakers either wanted to keep their district intact or their community of interest intact which might have meant reaching into another district, but keep their border (not cross into Queens, or visa-versa, for example). And the districts had to work mathematically to reach that ideal of “one person, one vote.”

You knew from the get-go that Republicans weren’t interested in fairness – despite the fact that the state’s population (which was supposed to shrink but instead increased) saw the bulk of that increase in New York City and downstate while decreasing upstate, they wanted downstate to lose the Congressional seat – combining the seats now represented by Democrats Thomas Suozzi (running for Governor) and Kathleen Rice. So, although the NYIRC never oﬀered to explain or justify their maps in order to generate public consensus, it is important to see what in fact was produced was close to the ideal: Democrats in New York currently hold 19 Congressional seats, while Republicans control eight seats (27 in all). The new map, allowing one less seat as a result of population loss, would favor Democrats in 22 of the state’s 26 congressional districts. Continued on Page 39

OUR TOWN

Who’s watching the Winter Olympics?

n case you didn’t notice, they are holding the Winter Olympics in Beijing. Oh, what is that you say? You didn’t even notice. It’s OK, you’re not alone. This year’s Olympic viewership is down 43 percent from the last Olympics and, according to NBC, it’s the lowest viewing on record since they began broadcasting the games back in 1988. Long gone are the days of Eric Heiden, Apolo Anton Ohno, Peggy Fleming, Nancy Kerrigan, Michelle Kwan, Shaun White, Bode Miller, Dan Jansen, Tara Lapinski and Johnny Weir. Now we get to watch names like Chris Mazdzer, Jonny Gustafson, River Radamus, Abby Roque and Kallie Humphries. If you have not seen them on the Wheaties box yet, have no fear, for I am sure they will get there. After all, it seems evident that the thing that runs the show is corporate power. And this includes sponsors, media outlets and all those companies that advertise during the endless hours of Olympic airtime. Please don’t think I’m criticizing the commercial breaks. Up until now, they are by far the most entertaining part of the Olympics. Media savants have weighed

in as to why the winter Olympics are such a colossal turn-oﬀ this year. Most are suggesting that there are two major reasons for this. The first is the lack of crowds in attendance, thanks to the ever-present shadow of COVID. Without a noisy, frenzied partisan crowd, there is little feeling of excitement and try as he might, Mike Terico and the rest of those harried television commentators can’t seem to whip the viewing audience into caring. The second reason posited for the lack of viewership is because there has been growing international resentment about Chinese human rights violations. The latest one, which even got my attention, was the debacle concerning the Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai and the Chinese government. She accused the former vice premier of sexually assaulting her. Immediately following this accusation, Penn Shuai disappeared. This is like imagining Venus Williams accusing Vice President Mike Pence of sexually assaulting her and then having Ms. Williams disappear from sight for two weeks. In other words, this is a very big story. To give you

DR. TOM FERRARO Our Town

a sense of how serious this was, the Woman’s Tennis Association promptly canceled all its events in China. The Chinese government shut down all media mention of the sexual assault story and then two weeks later Ms. Shuai appeared via video tape oﬀering a stiﬀ, scripted reassurance to the world that she was just fine, so very fine. And then came public pressure for the International Olympic Committee to take a stand or to cancel the Olympics altogether. They did neither and the result is that there is a general feeling of creepiness that surrounds the games. But I think that these sad events that have tainted this

year’s Olympics are only part of the reason for the lack of interest in what used to be a globally inspiring event. My sense is that the viewing public is so overwhelmed with the detritus of shows, wonderful spectacles, and endless media exposure that we are all about to explode. COVID pandemic news, Trump shenanigans, Russian/Ukraine intrigue, Super Bowl extravaganza, et cetera. It goes on ad infinitum. And to make matters worse, it is impossible to keep up with all the new events in the Olympics, including monobob, freestyle skiing big air, mixed team short track and more. It seems a shame that there is waning in-

terest in the Olympics because the level of talent is remarkable and somehow gets better every year. I have worked with many of these athletes, and I know how much they sacrifice to entertain us. It seems that their talent, their stories and their glory gets lost in the tsunami of information and media images that we are all exposed to each day. I will be watching the events all week and will be wondering what happened to the crowds, the excitement and the good feeling that was once a given at the Olympics. We will see amazing athletes in their quest for perfection but without much applause. How sad is that?

18 Blank Slate Media Newspapers, Friday, February 11, 2022

E A R T H M AT T E R S

Corporations mislead on plastic recycling

oes Amazon.com care about the rainforest? Is TruGreen really good for our ecosystem? Are Shell and ExxonMobil really investing in renewables? Does TerraCycle “recycle everything?” Welcome to the world of greenwashing. Greenwashing is a term used to describe misleading statements made by corporations with the aim of deceiving consumers into believing their products are environmentally friendly. When I first heard about the New Jersey-based TerraCycle, I was truly smitten with it. My first thought was: “Wow, there is a magic bullet to the plastic problem.” Second observation while browsing the site online: “They really do seem to accept everything from dirty diapers to cigarette butts.” Doubtful, I pondered, so all I have to do is buy this really expensive box and ship my trash to TerraCycle? Fortunately, I have a tendency to research and by now I have learned that if something sounds too good to be true, it often is too good to be true. TerraCycle is indeed yet another form of greenwashing and wish-cycling. Wish-cycling is used to describe behaviors of throwing things into the blue or green recycling bin that really aren’t recyclable. On a practical note, here in the Town of North Hempstead only #1 (PET) and #2 (HDPE) plastics are accepted curbside. You’ll find the number for your product inside the chasing arrow triangle symbol, typically at the bottom of the container. And please rinse the yogurt container or risk that the entire load of re-

cyclables ends up in a landfill or what’s worse incinerators, releasing greenhouse gases that accelerate global warming. TONH recently started accepting #5 (PP) or polypropylene plastics, the type of hard plastics often used by restaurants for takeout, but you’ll have to drive and drop those oﬀ Sundays at 999 West Shore Road, Roslyn. Knowing this, when I’m at the grocery store I try to stick with only #1 and #2 plastics for my packaged goods, while also aware that recycling isn’t a real solution to the plastic problem. Sorting stations and recycling facilities can’t keep up with the waste stream. It’s estimated that more than 91 percent of the plastics we’ve made on Earth have not been recycled. Furthermore, less than 2 percent of plastic packaging is eﬀectively recycled. Most plastics are down-cycled, or lose their value upon recycling and end up in the natural landscape or in landfills as there’s a limited number of cycles for use. Incinerators or pyrolysis don’t solve the problem, as the burning or melting of plastics releases toxic fumes and pollutes the already aching biosphere. The average useful time of single-use plastics is typically a few minutes, while plastics’ lifetime is infinite in human years. Of the billions of tons of plastic made to date, it’s clear that it doesn’t break down, but rather breaks up into microscopic pieces that further disintegrate with time into nanosize particles. The bioaccumulation of nanoplastics and co-contaminants has opened up a new field of study where scientists

HILDUR PALSDOTTIR Earth Matters

are looking into the molecular effects and toxicity at the cellular level. It turns out many plastic additives are known endocrine disruptors, carcinogens and neurotoxins. Regardless, a million plastic bottles are sold a minute. Snapple recently redesigned its bottle and boastfully claim that the “new look is more sustainable.” The bottleneck is that its formerly glass bottled beverage is now sold in plastic. They attempt to sanitize their image by convincing the consumer that they’re eco-friendly in using “100 percent recycled plastic.” But how’s making more of this problematic product now a solution? Meanwhile, glass and metal are infinitely recyclable. If aluminum cans are more ecofriendly, why are we still stuck on plastic? Yes, you may have guessed it. It’s cheap to make plastics. It’s profitable for big business. But it’s definitely not worth it if you live near the polluting power plants or in the global South that has served as our dumping grounds for way too long. We’ve been shipping our

waste overseas for decades. It’s wishful thinking to imagine that less developed countries have the technology and infrastructure to recycle our non-recyclables. That’s why grassroots activists have been chanting “There is no away!” The inexcusable scam to rid wealthy countries of their waste at the cost of less aﬄuent nations which don’t have the infrastructure to process this trash must stop today. It’s criminal behavior. I’m not exaggerating here. Just read the recent Interpol report where it’s stated that illicit waste trade is worth $10-$12 billion per year. That’s equal to the profit made from human traﬃcking. Legal handlers are trusting bad actors and organized criminal networks with our trash, and they are dumping our waste illegally in regions that can’t protect themselves. In the documentary “Recycling Myth” well-intentioned consumers were shocked to find that the products they had diligently sorted out and sent to TerraCycle actually ended up as part of the transnational waste trade and were not “recycled” as promised, but illegally dumped in Bulgaria through organized crime networks or “eco-mafia.” Very little is done to enforce the laws against illegal dumping internationally and this must change. We must re-classify certain plastics as hazardous waste and tighten the reins on lawful export of waste. Lawsuits worked to shrink the tobacco industry. Just like cigarette makers were forced to accept the science and stop denying the fact that smoking causes cancer, the petrochemi-

cal industry must get the message through legislation and litigation that its products are harmful for public health. Jan Dell of the Last Beach Cleanup non-profit courageously singled out TerraCycle and the big corporations they cover for such as Coca-Cola, L’Oreal and Nestle in a recent lawsuit in California. It’s definitely a case of David vs. Goliath, but it’s a start! So what can we do? We can insist on legislative changes and enforcements that help reduce our reliance on single-use plastics. Ideally, we ban non-essential, single-use plastics. There’s real precedence for that, with India, Canada and the European Union way ahead of the United States with ambitious plans to ban certain single-use plastics. Here in New York we recently banned the plastic bag that we didn’t need in the first place, while San Francisco banned plastic water bottles years ago. Across the country, well-intentioned institutions, organizations, houses of worship and universities have proactively banned single-use plastic items. Here’s my call for action this month. Email or call your favorite beverage company and ask them to stop producing single-use plastic bottles. The Beyond Plastics Activist network is leading a social media campaign to highlight greenwashing and bad practices. Please follow them on Twitter @ BeyondPlastAct and retweet their posts. It turns out Coca-Cola, Nestle and the other main oﬀenders really care about their social ratings so calling them out on social media platforms makes a diﬀerence.

READERS WRITE

Dr. William A. Shine: A mentor, role model

was devastated when I heard the news of the passing of Dr. William A. Shine, the legendary educational leader of the Great Neck Public Schools and the primary mentor and role model of my 36-year educational career. Some worked more years and more closely with him than I did, but I am certain that no one revered Bill as much as I did. Personally, Bill meant the world to me. My father passed away in 1996 about the same time as I was being promoted to a district-wide administrative role as Great Neck’s first Technology Director. Working closely with Bill as we created that position and

implemented the district’s first technology plan definitely eased those painful personal times. He took me under his wing and created an incremental transition to the role, which helped me and, frankly, enabled him to evaluate my suitability for it. It was the first administrative position Bill added after years of reducing and consolidating other positions, and I was very appreciative of the opportunity. Together, over the years, we built a modern, robust, comprehensive, and innovative educational technology program that led to numerous advancements in the integration of technology to enhance and support instruction and learning

in the classroom. He trusted me, he supported me, and he cultivated me as a leader, something I will never forget. Professionally, the man engendered the utmost respect. Bill was brilliant, an outstanding and articulate extemporaneous speaker, a moral leader, and a caring human being with integrity. His example led the district in a golden age of education in which the Great Neck Public Schools firmly established itself as a lighthouse district. Bill believed in the philosophy of school-based management which, along with other innovations, has stood the test of time.

Bill impacted the lives of thousands of students, parents, and colleagues in multiple school districts in two states over many decades. Like the old E.F. Hutton commercials, when Bill spoke, people listened and learned. Meeting with Bill was like a master class of professional development. He always found a way to pass along pearls of wisdom such as anticipating the “unintended consequences” of any decision, and taking into account that “if a school district is not moving forward, it is standing still.” His impact on the Great Neck Public Schools was immeasurable and everlasting.

I send my deepest condolences to Bill’s family, friends, colleagues, and the entire Great Neck Public Schools community. I will remember him forever. He was a visionary leader who dented the future and enriched us all. Even though I always referred to him as Bill when speaking to others, I always addressed him directly as Dr. Shine. May Dr. William A. Shine rest in peace. His legacy will live on forever. Marc Epstein Former Great Neck Public Schools Technology Director Letters Continued on Page 36

The Williston Times, Friday, February 11, 2022

The Town of North Hempstead supervisor’s office and the Town Board are disputing a purported reduction to Supervisor Jennifer DeSena’s staff. Since DeSena took over in January, the supervisor’s office has claimed she has not had the same liberty to appoint staff as her predecessor, Judi Bosworth. In Town Board meetings, the issue of the staff that reports to DeSena, who ran as a Republican, has been brought up multiple times. In a statement to Blank Slate Media, Brian Devine, director of communications for the supervisor’s office, said it is a game of semantics. “Democrat Councilmembers have been hiding behind a game of semantics instead of admitting that they covertly stripped the Supervisor’s Office of over 75% of it’s allotted staff positions. The truth of the matter is that while former Supervisor Bosworth had 21 people reporting to her directly, Supervisor DeSena has only been given the ability to fill 5 positions, resulting in a huge loss of staff and resources. Of the remaining 16 positions, Supervisor DeSena’s authority over them has been effectively removed by the Democrat Councilmembers, despite the fact that these individuals are still being paid out of the Supervisor’s Office budget

line.” According to town law, unless otherwise stated employees serve at the pleasure of the Town Board, which is made up of four Democrats and three Republicans. DeSena is one member of the Town Board, which has power to conduct business with a quorum during public meetings. She cannot appoint staff of her choosing without a majority vote. Devine said that keeping certain employees on the supervisor’s budget allows Democrats to say that no changes have been made. Regarding a budget resolution in January that transferred personnel, Gordon Tepper, spokesman for the town, said there was a net-zero impact on the budget. The supervisor’s office agrees that by the numbers, the budget is unchanged despite previous claims. “Why are these individuals being paid out of the Supervisor’s budget if they don’t report to her,” Devine said in a statement. “It’s an easy answer, so the Councilmembers can say they didn’t cut her budget. Democrat Councilmembers didn’t cut her budget, they’re right in that fact, but what they did instead is they took her staff by refusing to work with her and blocking her ability to fill out her administration as she sees fit.” Continued on Page 42

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Continued from Page 6 “Since entering the race just over two weeks ago, we have been honored by the wonderful support from so many who have responded to our campaign,” Zimmerman said in a statement. “Our fundraising strength, together with endorsements from a broad coalition of prominent leaders from across our District and New York State, speak to the growing momentum behind our campaign and the resonance of our message with the voters of NY-03.” In the past week, Zimmerman’s campaign received recent endorsements from Rebecca Sanin, former candidate for Huntington supervisor, Glen Cove immigration activist Angel Reyes, Northeast Queens community leader Warren Schreiber, Assemblyman Ed Braunstein (D-Bayside) and JoAnn Smith, former CEO of Planned Parenthood of Nassau County. Jon Kaiman, the former supervisor of North Hempstead, did not have fundraising numbers available for the fourth quarter since his candidacy was announced in January. Fundraising totals for Reema Rasool of Oyster Bay were also unavailable, according to the FEC. On Monday, Democratic state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, a Mount Vernon native, announced her candidacy in the 3rd Congressional District.

“Our country doesn’t just need more Democrats in Washington, we need bolder ones,” Biaggi said in a statement. “I am running for Congress in NY-3 to bring progressive and honest leadership to the frontlines of our country’s most important fights. Hard working families of Westchester, Long Island, the Bronx, and Queens deserve an experienced, strong, and fearless leader in Washington. And that’s exactly what they can expect from me. “As the Representative of the Sound, I will work to combat climate change and protect our shorelines, expand voting rights, enact universal pre-K to support working parents, provide opportunity and relief for the middle class, protect abortion rights, ensure public safety and a fair criminal legal system, and deliver aﬀordable healthcare for all. Together, we delivered progressive change on these issues in Albany, and it is time to bring our energy and resolve to Washington.” Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove), who has represented the district since 2016, is giving up the seat to run for governor. After a redistricting vote in the state Legislature last week, the 3rd Congressional District includes the North Shore of Nassau County and parts of Suﬀolk, Queens, the Bronx and Westchester. The state’s new congressional district maps are being contested by Republicans.

How about tweaking zoning in Nassau? Continued from Page 14 In Nassau County, this use of state power to help dictate how much local governments can raise in taxes was widely applauded by officials often unwilling to say no to the desires of their constituents. Unlike Suozzi, the Republican officials did not acknowledge that changes need to be made. This is not unexpected. Nassau officials, both Democrats and Republicans, have acknowledged that few young people can afford to buy homes in the county but have often resisted developments that would provide the needed housing. Developers and architects have said they have been discouraged from building in the Town of North Hempstead by the lack of zoning that permits mixed-used development. Instead, the developers face the expense of trying to change the zoning on a case-by-case basis. This is an offer many have refused. When the developers have moved ahead with their proposals, officials have often cited the same arguments faced by

Hochul’s plan – the impact on local infrastructure, school population, accessible parking and traﬃc. Some residents have said essentially their communities are all full. All Nassau residents remember how the county lost its hockey team, the New York Islanders, 10 years ago when the Town of Hempstead would not approve a project to transform the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseumand the area surrounding it into a modern suburban area. There have been some successes with transit-oriented, mixed-use developments near train stations, including Mineola, where four large apartment buildings were built and the village reaped large financial benefits. But there needs to be more to change Nassau’s lack of housing, aﬀordable and otherwise. Lots more. We’d like to think that the opponents of Hochul’s plan share a commitment to downtown development and addressing the county’s housing needs. If so we’d like to hear their plan not to end the suburban lifestyle in Nassau but to at least change it for the better.

Blank Slate Media Newspapers, Friday, February 11, 2022

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22 Blank Slate Media Newspapers, Friday, February 11, 2022

COMMUNITY NEWS

Virtual talk on Add LIRR barriers: Lafazan Alzheimer’s care Legislator Siela A. Bynoe Partners with Long Island Alzheimer’s and Dementia Center to Present Upcoming Virtual ‘Sip & Talk’ Forum WHAT: Nassau County Legislator Siela A. Bynoe (D — Westbury) is partnering with the Long Island Alzheimer’s and Dementia Center to host a virtual “Sip & Talk” conversation at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 16 to raise awareness about Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. During the forum, presenters will discuss how to spot the warning signs of dementia; what to do if you identify those warning signs in yourself or a loved one, and resources and programs that are available to patients and families. The event is scheduled to include brain games, a question-and-answer session and discussion. Register online at https://www.nassaucountyny.gov/516/District-2—Siela-A-Bynoe. For additional information, contact Legislator Bynoe’s oﬃce at 516-571-6202 or sbynoe@nassaucountyny.gov. WHEN — Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022 TIME — 7 p.m. WHERE — Online forum: Register at https: //www.nassaucountyny.gov/516/District-2—Siela-A-Bynoe

Just a few weeks after New York City straphanger Michelle Go was pushed to her death on a subway track, Josh Lafazan, a Democratic candidate for Congress (NY-03), called on the MTA to install platform doors and barriers at the busiest Long Island Railroad stations throughout the system. Lafazan, a three-term Nassau County legislator who would be the youngest Democrat in Congress, stood at the Syosset station — one of the

busiest of the 124 throughout the system — to call on the MTA leadership to install barriers before anyone else is injured or killed. “This issue is of paramount importance for the millions of New Yorkers who ride the Long Island Railroad every single day,”said Lafazan. “Incidents like what we saw happen to Michelle Go could be prevented with enough political will and a little bit of capital, which the MTA has, thanks to the recent infusion from Washington. When I’m in Congress, I will work to make sure even more resources are available to the MTA and the LIRR to protect the hard-working men and women who rely on the system to get them to and from work without incident. What happened to Michelle should never happen to another New Yorker — and installing barriers will aid tremendously toward that end.” The MTA has looked at installing platform barriers and doors in NYC subway stations before for more than 30 years, but not at all LIRR stations. The LIRR saw more than 80 million annual rides prior to COVID-19 hitting in 2020.

For adults seeking Lunar New Year celebration higher education Minority Leader Abrahams, LIEOC and Nassau BOCES Present “It’s Time” — A Web Series for Adults Pursuing Higher Education WHAT — The office of Nassau County Legislator Kevan M. Abrahams (D — Freeport) is partnering with SUNY, the Long Island Educational Opportunity Commission (LIEOC) and Nassau BOCES to present “It’s Time” — a seven-week webinar series focused on delivering advice for adults who are returning to college, pursuing higher education for the very first time, or seeking to advance their careers. Each weekly installment of “It’s Time” will deliver expert guidance that is geared toward adults who are exploring new careers, entering vocational or workplace training programs, beginning a degree program, returning to school to finish a degree, or adding credentials to an existing degree. The first episode of this seven-week series airs on Zoom and Facebook Live at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 1. Scheduled topics include: March 1, 2022 — Careers March 8, 2022 — Financial Aid March 15, 2022 — Online Courses & Life Experience March 22, 2022 — LIEOC Offers… March 29, 2022 — BOCES Offers April 5, 2022 — SUNY Two-Year Degree April 12, 2022 — SUNY Four-Year Degree Residents who are interested in participating in this webinar series can register at https://app.nassaucountyny.gov/Leg/ forms/01/its_time.php or watch on Facebook Live at https://www. facebook.com/LegislatorKevanAbrahams. WHEN — Seven-week series starting on March 1, 2022. Every Tuesday night at 7 p.m. WHERE — Facebook Live — https://www.facebook.com/LegislatorKevanAbrahams REGISTER — Register online at https://app.nassaucountyny. gov/Leg/forms/01/its_time.php

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www.theislandnow.com

North Hempstead Supervisor Jennifer DeSena and the Town Board will be hosting a Lunar New Year Celebration to welcome the Year of the Tiger. The front of North Hempstead Town Hall will be lit up in red and gold. Festivities will also include a lion dance performance by the Herricks High School Asian American Culture Club, Guzheng (Chinese Zither) performance by Zhengming Guzheng, and a choral performance by the New York Chinese Chorus. The Great Neck Chinese Association will be distributing red envelopes with Chinese calligraphy writing and the Manhasset Association of Chinese Americans will provide festive photo opportunities. Community partners will include: the Chinese American Association of North Hempstead (CAANH), the Chinese Center for Long Island, Inc. (CCLI), the Grace Roslyn Association for Chinese Enrichment (GRACE), the Great Neck Chinese Association (GNCA), the Herricks Chinese Association (HCA), Herricks Korean Community (HKC), Manhasset Association of Chinese Americans (MACA), and WAC Lighting.

Town, county partner on grieving assessments Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jennifer DeSena and Receiver of Taxes Charles Berman are pleased to announce that the town will be partnering with the Nassau County Assessment Review Commission to host a virtual Grievance Workshop. During this workshop, residents will be able to learn how to grieve the assessed value of their homes as indicated on the 2023-2024 Tentative Notice of Assessment. The virtual workshop will be held on Thursday, Feb. 24 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., and it will be presented through the Microsoft Teams platform.

Residents who would like to attend the virtual workshop can do so by visiting the following link: https://bit.ly/3GjL0Fi.You do not need to pay a law firm or agency to file an “Application for Correction of Assessment” online or via mail. The 2022 property tax assessment grievance filing period takes place between January 3 and Tuesday, March 1. Residents who would like more information about their specific property can visit lrv.nassaucountyny.gov. Residents who would like to file a grievance should visit www.nassaucountyny.gov/ agencies/arc/forms.html for all forms and applications.

BLANK SLATE MEDIA February 11, 2022

YOUR GUIDE TO THE ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT AND DINING

RENOVATED LANDMARK REOPENS FOR BUSINESS While the past two years have been diﬃcult on the performing arts industry, Landmark on Main Street is pleased to share some good news. Landmark is excited to announce the completion of the first phase of renovations to the Jeanne Rimsky Theater. The improvements, which were initially announced in May of 2021, represent the largest redesign that Landmark has undergone in its 26-year history. More upgrades are planned for the near future. The front six rows of seats have been replaced with new seats which are larger and more comfortable. Importantly, the new seats are removable, allowing Landmark to open up the front area of the theatre for a variety of uses including General Admission shows. State-of-the-art acoustic panels have been placed over the windows which improve the aesthetics of the theater and add to the Jeanne Rimsky Theater’s sound quality. New LED stage lights and two additional bars will be added later in the season. The renovations come in time for the second half of the 2021/2022 season, which opens with Jarrod Spector & Kelli Barrett: Kings & Queens on Feb. 5 at 8 pm, and also will feature Lisa Fischer on February 11, Larry Campbell, Teresa Williams and Lucy Kaplansky on Feb. 12, and a Lunar New Year Celebration throughout the day on Feb. 13. The Landmark on Main Street building is one of particular historical significance in Port Washington. Built in 1908, the historic building was originally Main Street School where thousands of Port Washington students were educated. The preexisting seats in the theater were installed when the building was in use as a public school. “The past two years have brought unprecedented diﬃculties to performing arts organizations and the communities they serve,” says Executive Director Richard Mayer, who joined Landmark in September of 2021. “Landmark is ready for

a bright future. The theatre refresh has equipped Landmark to meet the changing needs of our community and to host a wider range of shows and events. Audiences can expect to see the new open area of the Jeanne Rimsky Theater used as a dance floor, for classes, and even for table seating for galas and fundraisers.” The project was funded thanks to a $250,000 fundraising campaign led by Landmark’s Board of Directors in 2021. Russ Burman, co-chair of Landmark’s Development Committee which headed the eﬀorts, says, “It’s very exciting to see

Landmark’s new theater come to life. It gives tremendous flexibility for diﬀerent types of performances, and I cannot thank our supporting donors enough for making this a reality.” Burman also credits the hard work of Landmark’s staﬀ and board, saying, “The entire team was fantastic.” Landmark on Main Street is a not-forprofit whose mission is to enhance the spirit and enrich the lives of the residents of Port Washington and the surrounding region by bringing the performing arts to the community and the commu-

nity to the performing arts. After being closed for 18 months due to Covid-19, The Jeanne Rimsky Theater reopened in September 2021. Landmark presents over 75 world-class performances and community events each year: www.Landmarkonmainstreet.org Our 2021-22 Season is made possible thanks to our Partners in Performing Arts: Peter & Jeri Dejana Family Foundation, Tri-State Cadillac Dealers, Harding Real Estate, Town of North Hempstead, and the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock.

24 Blank Slate Media Newspapers, Friday, February 11, 2022

Juried competition, exhibition at The Art Guild The Art Guild of Port Washington invites artists and community members to view our upcoming exhibition, Into the Light on view from Feb. 13 to March 5. As we emerge from a darker time, we hope to see the world around us in a new light. Some of us have traveled, while others have found new joys at home. Whether in color or in black and white, the show encourages the use of light to engage the viewer in a story of brighter visions. The Art Guild is proud to exhibit and congratulate the following photographers on their inclusion in Into the Light: Pratibha Agdern, Maya Almaliah, Eitan Beaulieu, Brooke Bellia, Brian Berkowitz, Madisen Carpentier, Hanqing Chen, Scout Chen, Emilia Chiu, Dan Cook, Charles Davis, Angela Diaferia-Vinciguerra, Caitlyn Dillon, Safia Fatimi, Judith Feinman, Simon Fenster, Richard Froman, Carol Goldstein, William Grabowski, Arianna He, Robert Hodson, Lexi Hugel, Randy Ilowite, Marc Josloﬀ, Tania Kapoor, Annette Kasle, Dan Kasle, Mako Kobayashi, Alexander Lau, Eamon Li, Ava Lucarelli, Grace Lucarelli, Mar-

vin Makofsky, Mark Mancher, John Michaels, Deanna Minotakis, Shaylee Moreno, Lauren Moschetta, Emily Naidoo, Toby Ozure, Angelina Palma, Ann Parry, Jonathan Pellow, Lorraine Rilling, Rozlyn Rodriguez, Howard Rose, Jeﬀrey Rothburd, Lisa Rutovsky, Hailey Sandorfi, Steve Silberstein, Susan Kozodoy Silkowitz, James Slezak,

Zara Soofizada, Barbara Spivak, Alan Stein, Susan Tiﬀen, Ginna Vecchio, David Wollin, Rick Xu, Ming Sheng Zhong, Kristina Zhou Our gallery, located at Nassau County’s Elderfields Preserve, was voted Best Art Gallery in Blank Slate Media’s “Best of Nassau County” contest for the 5th year in a row.

The exhibition will be on view in The Art Guild’s gallery at 200 Port Washington Blvd., Manhasset from Feb. 13 to March 5. Our gallery is open on Saturdays and Sunday from 1-5 p.m. Our juror of awards is the current professional photographer for the Bronx Opera Company, John Bruno. We invite art-

ists and community members to join us at our Artist’s Reception & Awards Ceremony on Sunday, February 13 from 3-5 p.m. The Art Guild’s Next Call to Artists: Figuratively Speaking, A Juried Competition and Exhibition- Works of art for consideration are due for submission by Tuesday, February 22, 2022. The exhibition will be on view from March 13 to April 2. This new year, we are oﬀering both adult and kids classes; in-person and online! From oil painting to drawing, to sculpture, to photoshop there is a medium and style for everybody! To view our class schedule for this winter, please visit www.theartguild.org. And don’t miss out on our upcoming workshops, including — Lighting for Dramatic Photography with Ethan Hill: March 19-20, 2022.— Embrace the Practice Daily Painting with Lisa Daria Kennedy: February 5, 2022.— A Master’s Guide to Better Paintings with David Peikon: March 12, 2022.— Urban Sketch to Finished Painting with Stacy Kamin: March 31 — April 3, 2022. Visit our website at www.theartguild.org to learn more about all we have to oﬀer!

On Sale Now!

‘22 Spring Season

David Broza & Trio /22 Havana 2/26/22

An Evening With Cowbo Junkies 3/3/22

Marc Cohn 3/4/22

And More!

The Weeklings 3/5 Flor de Toloache 3/6 David Bromberg 3/10 Quintet KT Tunstall 3/11 232 Main Street Port Washington, NY 11050 LandmarkOnMainStreet.org Box Office 516.767.6444

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Blank Slate Media Newspapers, Friday, February 11, 2022

11th annual All Kids Fair back in new location The All Kids Fair’s children’s expo will be taking place in person on Sunday, April 3, from 10-4:30, at Samanea New York Mall, formerly The Source Mall, at 1504 Old Country Road in Westbury. Since 2011, the All Kids Fair has been a fun day for kids and their families to spend time together while also learning about opportunities for Long Island-based companies and organizations of interest to them. In 2020, this was run as a virtual event, complete with exhibitors, many interactive classes, and even a virtual petting zoo, with kids “interacting” with the animals over a Zoom-like interface. According to Barbara Kaplan, director of the expo, “every year, this fabulous children’s expo has many draws for

Long Island families, and this year will be no diﬀerent.” The All Kids Fair will have over 60 vendors plus many kid-centered activities, including “cornhole” (beanbag toss) and soccer. Families can interact in person with exhibitors in a huge space, with vendors set further apart and with the activity areas in designated open areas rather than in breakout rooms. Attendee Kitty Chung raved, “You organized a wonderful event for families. We will be glad to return to have more fun!” Additional activities and attractions include three bounce houses, a petting zoo, face painters, balloon artists, a photo booth, and cotton candy, all included with admission.

This fun-filled event oﬀers exciting educational and leisure activities to interest kids and their families each year. The fair has choices for toddlers through high school, including kids who have special needs or are gifted. There will be information about places to play, camps, after-school activities, birthday party providers, and college planning. A charity drive to benefit The Book Fairies, a 501c3 that provides books to those in need, will return this year. Those who donate gently used or new books or money will receive raﬄe tickets to win great donated prizes.

Sponsors for the 2022 All Kids Fair to date are All in 1 SPOT with TheraTalk, Adam Holstein, Teach Me Wall Street, Clowns.com, Goldfish Swim School, Your Local Kids Source, Blank Slate Media, Herald Community Newspapers, and 516Ads.com/631Ads. com. Tickets purchased in advance at www.AllKidsFair.com are $5 for children ages 2 and up and adults. Tickets purchased at the door are $10 for children ages 2 and up and $5 for adults. Children under age 2 are admitted at no charge.

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26 Blank Slate Media Newspapers, Friday, February 11, 2022

Art exhibition to open at SUNY O. Westbury The Amelie A. Wallace Gallery at the State University of New York College at Old Westbury is excited to announce the opening of Sung Rok Choi: The Great Chain of Being, a solo exhibition of new media art. The exhibition is running from Feb. 7 – March 18. An artist talk will be held from Wednesday, Feb. 16 from 1:00 – 2:30 pm (New Academic Building 2117) Sung Rok Choi’s animations present spectacle on dynamic screens that resonate with our current media culture saturated with video games, cinema, and surveillance cameras. Choi’s art expresses his tragicomic worldview through images that explore the natural and human forces that have formed our society. Seeking the underlying causes of humanity’s problems, his work culminates in a critique of civilization. The Great Chain of Being consists of five major works that lie at the intersection of animation, video games, digital paintings, and drone camera views. Exhibiting these series for the first time in the U.S., Choi explores his earlier critiques of machines expressed in 2-D animation works compartmentalized into sections that indicate parts of the world. While Choi’s epic digital animation is imaginary, the viewer cannot escape a world ensnared in current and impending crises of climate change, technological singularity, and a global pandemic. Great Chain of Being (2019) and Great Chain of Being (2020) portray a giant cyclical system in which humans, animals, robots, and viruses multiply and conflict, ending in destruction and rebirth. Borrowing from an ancient philosophical concept that structures the relationships of the world in hierarchical strata, Choi interprets our current society as being populated by unforeseen elements set in a factory-like system. The god of the ancient belief is here replaced by a computer system operated by a scientist. The battle between a

robot and a monster, ending in the robot’s victory, suggests the hope that technology and science will prevail over the mutants. Operation Mole–Final Stand (2018) comments on a covert system in which humans appear as victims of weapons of war, leading to an apocalypse that returns Earth to an uncorrupted natural state, followed by civilization, only

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to end in worldwide fire. Sung Rok Choi (b. 1978, Korea; lives and works in Seoul) engages digital animation and video work to explore contemporary landscapes and narratives generated by technology. He is interested in understanding how relationships change in response to technological advancements. Choi has shown his work in Korea and abroad over the past ten years. He holds a BFA from Hong-Ik University, Seoul, Korea, and an MFA from the School of Art, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh. Career highlights include his participation in “Project 2” in Busan Biennial in 2016, Ars Electronica Festival, Deep Space 8K, Linz, Austria, and Gwangju Media Art Festival, Korea in 2017. His “Operation Mole / Final Stand” was exhibited in SeMA Bunker, Korea in 2018. His work was shown at AVS: Used Future, Soorim Cultural Foundation, Seoul, and at Viborg Animation Festival, Denmark in 2019. His “Great Chain of Being” was shown in a solo exhibition at Gallery Chosun, Seoul, after which Choi expanded the work and exhibited the updated version on the outdoor media façade during the 2020 Paradise Art Lab Festival in Incheon. His most recent media façade work, “Genesis Canyon,” was commissioned by Asia Culture Center and was exhibited outdoors in fall 2021. The first-place winner of the 8th AHL Foundation Visual Arts Competition in New York in 2011, Choi is a recipient of Hyundai Motorgroup’s 2nd VH Award (2017), Asia’s leading award for new media artists. Pandemic Protocol: Masks are required to enter the gallery. No drinks or food is allowed in the gallery. For more information, contact Gallery Director Hyewon Yi: YiH@oldwestbury.edu.(516) 876-2709 / 3056 Gallery Hours: Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays: 12pm – 5pm Tuesdays and Thursdays: 10am – 5pm And by appointment

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Guide to & Personal Finance A Blank Slate Media Special Section • F e b r u a r y 11, 2 0 2 2

28 Blank Slate Media Newspapers, Friday, February 11, 2022

L.I. property tax – Where are we? Tax cap has slowed increase in taxes, higher business rates reduce bite on residents BY D O U G L A S AT K I N S Long Islanders pay some of the highest property taxes in the nation, and most of that goes to fund our very strong school districts. After schools, the next biggest use of your tax funds is police, followed by a variety of other essential services: garbage, roads, parks and several others.

Douglas W. Atkins

Towns, counties and school Districts are municipal corporations with financial obligations, similar to an ongoing business. The most significant source of revenue for these government entities is the annual property tax levy. This is the amount of money that must be raised by taxing each and every property owner within its geographic district. Property owners do not only mean homeowners, but also

the owner of every parcel of commercial real estate. This includes your favorite shopping centers, movie theaters and gas stations. All properties contribute to the tax levy in proportion to their assessed value (more on that below). All of these taxing entities have one thing in common: since 2012, they have been subject to New York State’s Tax Cap Law.

In simple terms, the Tax Cap Law limits each district’s ability to raise its tax levy by the lessor 2% or the rate of inflation. In the years leading up to the Tax Cap Law, the average school tax increase was 3-6% per year. Since the Tax Cap Law has been implemented, the range of increase is .1% to 2%. On its face, this does not seem like a stark difference, but the numbers tell a whole different story. Take a $12,000 tax bill and escalate it 1% for five years straight. The result would be an aggregate increase of 5.1% and a tax bill of $12,612 in year five. Now take the same $12,000 tax bill and increase it 5% per year, again for five years. The result in year five is an astounding 27.6% increase, totaling $15,315! Consider what those trends mean over ten years or more. Thankfully, the Tax Cap Law worked. While it does not feel like it, taxes have actually become more affordable on Long Island. This does not mean our taxes are low. They are not, and they still greatly exceed the property tax in other parts of the country, particularly for commercial real estate. With the tax levy being one half of the calculus going into a tax bill, a property’s assessment (valuation) is the other half. A higher assessment means a larger property tax bill; a lower assessment is the opposite. On Long Island, the assessing is done either by Nassau County or by your local Town in Suffolk. Assessing is a difficult task: every piece of real estate is unique and its valuation changes each year. Assigning a fair assessment is more art than science. Making matters even more difficult was the pandemic, which resulted in uneven change in values among property segments. Industrial properties and homes increased significantly over the last two years. Meanwhile, office buildings and properties where crowds congregate (i.e., malls, cinemas, restaurants) were battered. A municipal tax assessor must accurately capture those market changes. It is often said, the three most important things in real estate are location, location and location. Assessment is no different. Because assessment laws vary by which county and town a parcel is in, commercial property

owners pay higher taxes in certain parts of Long Island. For example, Nassau County creates four classes of real estate: houses, apartments, utilities and finally, commercial real estate. Nassau commercial real estate can be taxed at rates almost three times higher than equally assessed houses. The Town of Islip is similar in that it classifies properties as either a home or business, and again, the latter has the heavier tax burden. This business hostility is actually the exception, not the norm. There are 13 towns on Long Island. In nine of those towns, businesses are taxed at the same level as homes. This means their share of the tax burden is the same, provided that their assessments are the same. In Hempstead, North Hempstead, Oyster Bay and Islip, business properties pay more, enabling homes to pay less. So, what can you do about your taxes? The first thing is to pay attention to your annual tax assessment. That assessed valuation is the sole item of your tax bill where the law allows you to contest it annually. You should talk to a property tax attorney to ensure that your valuation is fair and that you are not being over-charged. Secondly, we all have the right to vote for our school budgets and for our town and county representatives. Even if you think your taxes are fair, you should inform yourself on how your local government money is spent. Finally, you should be aware of any exemptions (tax discounts), particularly for senior citizens. Staying apprised your property tax burden is an active process that you should not leave on auto-pilot. Only by paying attention to your business (or house) finance along with your local government spending, can you minimize your annual property tax burden. Commercial real estate taxpayers, in particular, should be consulting with an attorney at least once per year. Douglas W. Atkins is a partner at Forchelli Deegan Terrana LLP in Uniondale, NY. He is a member of the firm’s Real Estate Tax Certiorari practice group.

Blank Slate Media Newspapers, Friday, February 11, 2022

Real estate financing options The decision to buy a home is significant. Real estate is the biggest investment the average person will make in his or her lifetime, which underscores just how significant the home buying decision can be. The real estate experts at Zillow recently reported that the national median price of a home in the United States is $272,446. However, since the National Association of Realtors reported a record low housing inventory late in 2020, the average house price has been rising rapidly nationwide. The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis estimates the median home sales price at $374,900, and certain states have much higher prices. WOWA, a real estate and finance technology company, says the average sale price of a home in Canada was $679,051 in July 2021. Most people do not have $300,000 to $600,000 in savings on hand to purchase a home in cash. That means they'll need to rely on financing to pay for their dream homes. Conventional lending Conventional lending refers to when a bank or another financial institution loans a home buyer money to buy a home. This is one of the most common ways to fund a home purchase. Personal credit score as well

as credit history help determine eligibility and interest rates for conventional loans. Availability of assets as well as income level are some additional determining factors. Conventional loans are traditionally 10-, 15or 30-year notes and will require a certain percentage as the down payment to secure the loan. The bank will determine the down payment requirement, which is typically somewhere between 3 and 20 percent. FHA loan A Federal Housing Administration loan is issued by an FHA-approved lender. These loans are designed for low-to-moderate-income borrowers, according to the financial guide Investopedia. FHA loans require lower minimum down payments and lower credit scores than many conventional loans. FHA loans also require mortage insurance up front, plus annually for 11 years or the life of the loan depending on the length of the loan. HELOC A Home Equity Line of Credit, commonly called a HELOC loan, borrows against the available equity in your home to create a line of credit, much like a cred-

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it card. These funds can be used for large expenses or to consolidate higher-interest rate debt on other loans, according to Bank of America. It may be possible to use a HELOC to secure funding to make improvements to a home for those who want to flip it as an investment property. Private money lenders Individuals investing in real estate who do not intend to use a property as a primary residence may turn to private money lenders. These investors can tap into capital from personal connections and lend at specified interest rates and payback periods, according to Fortune Builders, a real estate investing resource. Keep in mind the interest rate will likely be higher with a private lender than through a conventional

lender. The repayment term also will be shorter. VA-backed loan The U.S. Department of Veterans Aﬀairs has a program for acquiring loans through conventional lenders that will be partially guaranteed against loss through the VA. This enables a lender to give better loan terms, such as the option to pay no down payment. Interested parties need to qualify for a Certificate of Eligibility and then work with qualified lenders. People have several options to finance the purchase of a home. These loans can help make the dream of home ownership a reality. Potential buyers are urged to speak with mortgage professionals or financial planners to consider their options.

30 Blank Slate Media Newspapers, Friday, February 11, 2022

How to prepare for tax season April is synonymous with many things. Many people get their first glimpse of spring blooms in April, while families of faith look forward to gathering for Passover and Easter. Sports fans may welcome the return of professional baseball in April, while scholastic athletes may associate April with the return of spring sports. Though each of those things tends to be welcomed with open arms, one day in mid-April

may not be greeted so warmly. Each year in the United States, April 15 marks the oﬃcial deadline for taxpayers to file their tax returns. Taxpayers in the United States must file their returns by this day or face penalties. Though the filing deadline may be in mid-April, it’s wise for taxpayers to begin preparing to submit their returns much earlier than that. For those who have not done so in the first two months of the

year, March is a great time to begin preparations to ensure returns are accurate and filed on time. The Internal Revenue Service oﬀers the following advice to taxpayers who want to get a head start on their returns so they make sure they file on time in 2021. · Gather and organize your records. Many people rely on a professional to work on their returns, and April is such professionals’ busiest time of year. As a result, it’s

imperative that taxpayers have all their necessary documents ready prior to their appointments. Any delays could force appointments to be rescheduled, and there’s no guarantee tax professionals will have any open dates on their calendar as the filing deadline draws closer. The IRS notes taxpayers will need their W-2s from employers, forms 1099 from banks and other payers and other income documents and records of virtual currency transactions. In addition, people who received an Economic Impact Payment in 2020 should make sure they have Notice 1444, which includes the amount of the payment and how it was received, as they will need that to file their returns. It’s also important that people who received unemployment income recognize that such income is taxable, so they will need a record of that income, especially if they did not pay taxes on it when it was received. · Where applicable, confirm your Individual Taxpayer Identification Number has not expired. The IRS issues ITINs to individuals who are required to have a U.S. taxpayer identification number but who do not have, and are not eligible to obtain, a Social

Security number from the Social Security Administration. The IRS notes that all ITINs not used on a federal tax return at least once in the last three years expired on December 31, 2020. In addition, all ITINs issued prior to 2013 with middle digits of 88 expired at the end of 2020. ITINs with middle digits 90, 91, 92, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98 or 99 that were assigned before 2013 and have not already been renewed also expired at the end of 2020. Visit www.irs.gov to learn more about ITINs. · Contact your tax professional. 2020 was a complicated year, and that figures to create some unique challenges as people file their 2020 tax returns. So it pays to contact your tax preparation professional with any questions you have well in advance of April 15. That’s true for all taxpayers, but especially so for anyone who filed for unemployment, received an Economic Impact Payment or dealt with any other abnormal circumstances in 2020 that could aﬀect their tax returns. Taxpayers may face unique challenges as they begin to work on their 2020 tax returns. More information is available at www. irs.gov.

Pitfalls to avoid falling into debt High consumer debt can compromise individuals' financial futures and have an adverse effect on their overall health. Debt has long been an issue that threatens individuals' well-being, but the good news is that certain debts seem to be on the decline. According to the "Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit" that was released in May 2021 by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, credit card balances were $157 billion lower by the end of the first quarter of 2021 than they had been at the end of 2019. Authors of the report credit that decline to paydowns by buyers and reduced consumption opportunities related to the pandemic. Individuals who want to avoid debt can keep an eye open for these pitfalls. · Retail credit cards: Many retailers offer their own credit cards. Consumers may be enticed to sign up for such cards by the opportunity for instant, and often significant, savings. For example, a home improvement store may offer an im-

mediate 25 percent discount to customers who sign up for a store credit card and use the card to make a purchase. As enticing as such savings can be, consumers should recognize that a recent study by CreditCards.com found that the average retail credit card APR is 25.9 percent. That's more than 6 percent higher than a general purpose credit card. Consum-

ers who cannot pay balances in full each month could end up paying much more in interest if they use retail credit cards instead of general purpose cards. · Too many accounts: A 2019 study from the credit reporting agency Experian found that the average American has four credit cards. Though many consumers can eﬀectively manage that many cards,

the more cards an individual has, the easier it can be to lose track of spending. More cards also means a greater potential for more debt, as each card has its own limit that is unrelated to the limits on other cards. · Bonus hunting: Another pitfall to avoid is the temptation to use credit cards instead of cash in an eﬀort to accumulate more travel miles or

cash back bonuses. Consumers should aspire to use cash over credit whenever possible. Doing so ensures consumers are not spending money they don't have, which is one of the most common ways that individuals build significant consumer debt. · Failure to budget: A budget is the most eﬀective way for individuals to gain control of their spending. That lesson seems to resonate more with young people than older men and women. A 2019 poll from Debt.com found that 74 percent of consumers between the ages of 23 and 38 use a budget to govern their spending, while only 67 percent of consumers between the ages of 39 and 54 use a budget. A failure to budget can increase the risk of spending impulsively and make it hard for consumers to see what's coming in and what's going out. That's a recipe for accumulating debt. Avoiding certain pitfalls can help consumers avoid accumulating debt that can adversely aﬀect their financial futures.

Blank Slate Media Newspapers, Friday, February 11, 2022

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32 Blank Slate Media Newspapers, Friday, February 11, 2022

Temple presents music of Four Seasons On Sunday, Feb. 20 at 3:00 p.m., Stephen C. Widom Cultural Arts at Emanuel will present a virtual concert, featuring “The Four C Notes,” recreating the music of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. THE FOUR C NOTES are the Midwest’s ONLY tribute group recreating the iconic sounds of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons! THE FOUR C NOTES were created by John Michael Coppola best known for his appearance in Chicago’s longrunning production of the Broadway smash hit JERSEY BOYS! The 90-minute show features everyone’s favorite hits: “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Walk Like A Man,” “Can’t Take My Eyes Oﬀ Of You,” “Workin’ My Way Back To You (Babe),” “Let’s Hang On,” “Oh, What A Night (December 1963)” and many, many more! Dressed in matching vintage outfits, with smart 50s/60s-guy-groupinspired moves and Mr. Coppola’s legitimate, in-depth knowledge of this music, THE FOUR C NOTES give an authenticity to their performance that similar tribute groups simply cannot match ANYWHERE! This concert is funded by the Kisner-Levien Families in memory of Donna Levien. Registration for this virtual event is $10.For further information, to register and purchase a ticket online, go to: https://www.scwculturalarts.org/sundayseries After February 20th at 2:00 PM, call 516.482.5701 to purchase ticket. The show will be available for viewing through March 1, 2022. Call 516.482.5701 if you have questions.

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The Williston Times, Friday, February 11, 2022

Republicans pan Hochul zoning plan Continued from Page 1 Last month, Hochul rolled out a $25 billion five-year housing plan aimed at creating and preserving 100,000 affordable homes across New York, 10,000 of which would have support services for vulnerable populations. Hochul also called for changing zoning laws for accessory dwelling units, which include basements, attics and garages, among others. “Allowing accessory dwelling units on the property of homes that are currently zoned for single-family use is nothing short of a direct attack on our suburban communities and the quality of life we cherish,” DeSena said. “The legislation proposed in the governor’s budget cannot be allowed to go forward, and I will work tirelessly to defeat it on behalf of those who have elected me.” “People have moved to Long Island to enjoy a residential quality of life, and the governor has launched a fullscale assault on our family-friendly communities,” Clavin said. “We will not stand for it.” “Governor Hochul’s surreptitious inclusion of these proposals into the budget is intentionally designed to avoid democratic discussion. If the nature of our community is to change, shouldn’t we at least have a discussion about it,” Munsey Park Mayor Lawrence Ceriello said in a statement. “Our leaders in Albany hate our safe streets, our good schools and our suburban way of life.” A book released by by Hochul with her State of the State address said: “To permit these vital options and help reduce housing costs, Governor Hochul will propose legislation to require municipalities to allow a minimum of one ADU on owner-occupied residentially zoned lots. This legislation would allow municipalities to set minimum and maximum size requirements that both meet safety standards but will not prevent reasonable new construction.” Hochul also cited the financial hardships caused by the coronavirus pandemic as a reason she believes the legislation is vital.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE COUNTY EXECUTIVE’S OFFICE

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman gathered with local officials to oppose a housing plan from Gov. Kathy Hochul that they said would damage the suburbs. “In the wake of the pandemic, it’s crucial that we tackle the housing crisis and make New York a more affordable place for all,” she said. “These bold steps are a major step forward in transforming our housing market, protecting affordability and increasing the housing supply.” Establishing ADUs could aid senior citizens on fixed incomes remain in their homes, help younger people afford homes and be a new source of income for homeowners who live in high-cost areas. “We all understand that there needs to be more affordable housing on Long Island, especially for our seniors,” Richard Nicolello (R-New Hyde Park), presiding officer of the Nassau County Legislature, said. “However, this radical proposal will forever erode our suburban quality of life, which I believe is exactly what some progressive urban lawmakers intend.” For New York City, the legislation would require an amnesty program to legalize existing ADUs if they are brought into compliance with its building code. U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen

Cove), a candidate for governor, sent a letter to Democratic state senators urging them to oppose Hochul’s plans. “Governor Hochul’s radical housing proposal would ‘require’ all municipalities to allow Accessory Dwelling Units on all residential properties and would end single family housing as we know it,” Suozzi said. “I am calling upon our State Senators to fight the Governor’s misguided policy and protect the authority and decision-making ability of our local governments.” Hochul’s plans to modify zoning in local municipalities follow legislation proposed by Democratic state Sen. Brad Hoylman that also aims to limit the authorities of cities, villages and towns to impose certain zoning requirements. Hoylman’s legislation, which currently sits in the Senate’s Cities 2 Committee, would prohibit cities and villages from establishing a minimum lot size greater than 1,200 square feet. The legislation would also require towns to set a maximum lot size of 20,000 square feet, or 5,000 square feet if the lot has access to sewer or water infrastructure.

The legislation would also mandate cities and villages to not require the construction of off-street parking as a condition of permitting construction or prohibit the construction of occupation of a dwelling of six or fewer families on a single lot that is within one-quarter mile of a commuter rail station. Hoylman said New York’s “exclusionary zoning measures” have resulted in increased rents, segregation and carbon emissions along with a slower economy and fewer homes. “By reforming our zoning laws to allow for increased density, we can address these interconnected issues,” the legislation says. “This legislation ensures that reforms will be applied equally statewide, and no individual local government or neighborhood is required to shoulder the entire burden.” Brian Cunningham, chairperson of the Village of Williston Park’s Board of Zoning Appeals, acknowledged the need for affordable housing throughout the state and noted that transitoriented development along with mixed-use development are some of the resources local municipalities already possess to create affordable homes. “There are many tools available to local governments to add affordable housing options to their communities,” Cunningham said in a letter to Blank Slate Media. “Some have chosen high-density development around train stations or downtowns. Allowing 2nd and 3rd-floor apartments over stores in commercial districts is another available option.” Cunningham urged residents to contact their local senator or Assembly member to prevent the local zoning amendments from being implemented. “If Manhattan has its way with your community, bye-bye local zoning control,” Cunningham said. If Hoylman’s legislation is passed or Hochul’s plans remain intact, New York will join Connecticut, Massachusetts and California as states whose governing bodies dictate zoning laws in municipalities.

NHP man arrested for assault on Capitol Continued from Page 2 political discourse” while reprimanding Republican Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, who condemned the attack and the actions of former President Donald Trump leading up to it. A resolution passed by the party said Cheney and Kinzinger, who are members of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attacks, are actively “participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.”

Nassau County and state Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs said “every American citizen should be outraged” about the party’s resolution. “The Republican Party has just classified this violence on members of our nation’s law enforcement as ‘ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse,’” Jacobs said in a statement. “Apparently, the party that claims to be strongest on law and order finds violence against our law enforcement oﬃcers and the desecration of our Na-

tion’s Capital as ‘legitimate political discourse.’” Local Republican officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Assemblyman Ed Ra (R-Franklin Square) previously told Blank Slate Media that he agreed with Republican and Democratic officials that Trump’s actions incited the Capitol riots on Jan. 6. Ra also touted the need for bipartisanship and having public officials find common ground on issues rather than

harking on previous elections. “We can debate, discuss and disagree but once the votes are counted whether at the ballot box or in our legislative chambers we must respect one another and move forward as Americans,” Ra said. In an October interview with Blank Slate Media, Nassau County Presiding Oﬃcer Richard Nicolello (R-New Hyde Park) said he believed that President Joe Biden won a free and fair election over Trump.

36 Blank Slate Media Newspapers, Friday, February 11, 2022

READERS WRITE

Mayor Bral oversteps his authority, offends

his is in response to your article reporting on Mayor Bral’s speech at the inauguration of Legislator Mazi Melesa Pilip. News flash: “God-given conservative values” should not be discussed in a public school classroom. Discuss them in religious school classes, where they belong. Furthermore, as I wrote previously in a letter to the editor of this newspaper, Mayor Bral has no business making speeches about what should be included in Great Neck’s public school curriculum unless he wants to step down as mayor and run for the Board of Education.

And while you reported selectively on some of his speech, you neglected to include his offensive transphobic comment that he “believes in chromosomes,” and you omitted his blatant insult to a teacher when you wrote that he “reflected on an exchange with an educator.” The exact words Mayor Bral used were “so-called educator,” which just exemplifies his contempt for the dedicated teachers in the GN Public Schools. Please, if you’re going to quote him, quote him correctly so that everyone can read his outrageous comments. These insidious attempts to undermine our public schools in his

speeches and public statements go hand in hand with his enthusiastic support for continued overdevelopment in the village without consideration for the impact on our schools and infrastructure. This man is charged with running a village of 10,000 people and he can barely discharge his duties as required, yet he sticks his nose in Board of Education business as well as county, state and national politics, creating and furthering division and animosity among his constituents. If Mayor Bral really wants the communities with diverse groups to stand together, he

should start by checking himself – his Facebook page contained a Lunar New Year greeting on 2/1/2022 that is at best tonedeaf, and at worst microaggression against his Asian constituents. A quick Google search would have given him an appropriate greeting to share. Instead, he choose to adopt a Jewish quote attributed to Moses in Deuteronomy, and wished his readers “May you be the head of the tiger and not the tail.” He may have intended it to be humorous, but it just shows his ignorance and insensitivity to the diversity in his village. And to add insult to injury, he

repeated this comment at the village board of trustees meeting that evening, elaborating with “That’s a greeting from the new year celebration in our culture.” Indeed it may be, but this is another culture’s holiday, and respecting their traditions would be a good start towards standing together with diverse cultures. May there be no bloodbath in the next elections, but may a new, worthy mayor be elected to govern the Village of Great Neck after so many years of disrepair and conflicts. Nina Gordon Great Neck

Bral correct in invoking God in comments

did not realize that Whoopie Goldberg [a.k.a. Nina Gordon} would be so nonplussed and “triggered” by the benign comments of Dr. Bral at the swearing-in ceremony. Ms. Gordon is beside herself with righteous indignation because Dr. Bral mentioned G-d [G-d forbid]. She claims that this venal sin is an overstepping of mayoral “authority”. Although Dr. Bral, as mayor, has no power or “authority” to control the public schools, that does not vitiate his absolute right to express his views freely on any subject of his choosing. Ms. Gordon is also incensed that Dr. Bral “follows the science”re the gender-confused , and she refers to Dr. Bral as “transphobic. ” A “phobia is an irrational fear. I doubt the Dr. Bral cowers in fear over this nonsense. Ms. Gordon also waxes indignant because Dr. Bral referred critically to one teacher. You are gaslighting when you try to claim that remark was referring to all teachers. Finally, Ms. Gordon object

to the Mayor Bral calling the American value system “God given”. Mayor Bral is simply stating an unambiguous historical fact. Obviously, the founders would be giving the mayor a standing ovation. In fact, the following quotes from Wikipedia are just a sampling of the foundational basis of Americanism. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” — Declaration of Independence“Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.” — Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jeﬀerson; proposal for the Great Seal of the United States.[3]“God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever.” — Thomas Jeﬀerson, Notes on the State of Virginia, page 170[4]“The right to freedom being the gift of God Al-

mighty, it is not in the power of man to alienate this gift and voluntarily become a slave.” — Samuel Adams, The Rights of the Colonists, 1772[5]“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!” — Patrick Henry March 23, 1775 [6]“Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor—and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by aﬀording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”” — George Washington, Thanksgiving Proclamation, 3 Octo-

LETTERS POLICY Letters should be typed or neatly handwritten, and those longer than 750 words may be edited for brevity and clarity. All letters must include the writer’s name and phone number for verification. Anonymously sent letters will not be printed. Letters must be received by Monday noon to appear in the next week’s paper. All letters become the property of Blank Slate Media LLC and may be republished in any format. Letters can be e-mailed to news@theislandnow.com or mailed to Blank Slate Media, 22 Planting Field Road, Roslyn Heights, NY 11577.

ber 1789“Since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of heaven, can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which heaven itself has ordained: And since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the Republican model of Government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.” — George Washington, First Inaugural Address, April 30, 1789. Please add more. The list of less-known quotes “Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature.” — Benjamin Franklin“It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the bible.” — George Washington“The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and in the next. Continue therefore to read it and to regulate your life by its precepts.” — John Jay[7]“God’s hand was on me. God protected me and kept me through the battle.” — George Washington[8]“And may that Being who is supreme over all, the Patron of Order, the Fountain of Justice, and the Protector in all ages of the world of virtuous liberty, continue His

blessing upon this nation and its Government and give it all possible success and duration consistent with the ends of His providence.” — John Adams, Inaugural Address, 1797[9]“For my own part, I sincerely esteem it a system, which, without the finger of God, never could have been suggested and agreed upon by such a diversity of interests.” — Alexander Hamilton[10]“The fundamental source of all your errors, sophisms and false reasonings is a total ignorance of the natural rights of mankind. Were you once to become acquainted with these, you could never entertain a thought, that all men are not, by nature, entitled to a parity of privileges. You would be convinced, that natural liberty is a gift of the beneficent Creator to the whole human race, and that civil liberty is founded in that; and cannot be wrested from any people, without the most manifest violation of justice. Civil liberty, is only natural liberty, modified and secured by the sanctions of civil society. It is not a thing, in its own nature, precarious and dependent on human will and caprice; but is conformable to the constitution of man, as well as necessary to the wellbeing of society.” — Alexander Hamilton[11] Robert Unger Great Neck

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Blank Slate Media Newspapers, Friday, February 11, 2022

READERS WRITE

Village of G.N. Harming quality of life in Nassau celebrates 100th Congratulations to the Village of Great Neck and its over 10,000 residents. The Village was incorporated 100 years ago on January 25. Ralph J. Kreitzman Village of Great Neck

The coyotes To begin, I came to watch the pair of them. Wild creatures. Moving eﬀortlessly on quiet ground under an open sky. Out in the air we breathe, having no name to crowd them in, no door and no ceiling. They hid in the light they carry like blossoms dancing “we are here.” Freedom. The way creatures of the air unfurl waves of blessings in their element. I try to follow but cannot though walk fast. Hurrying. And try to pretend I’m free too, all the way back to the beginning— the epic light that isn’t divided. Reaching for what was lost before I knew it was lost, as if I had forgotten something amazing, hoping it might be enough to carry my burden: A diviner of existence taking nothing for granted. Their paradise grows oaks and maples deepened by stills of silence. And I, whose week had been desultory and sallow recovered my spirit. Beauty uninterrupted. Without prejudice or ignorance, no banality, misunderstandings or shifty misunderstandings. Even so, it is a long way oﬀ yet, as I watched them race over white ground on padded soles with no shadow. I saw coyotes in the thick woods realizing they belonged there. I watched. They vanished. And felt like the moment fast escaped, never forgetting I am only a visitor. Stephen Cipot Garden City Park

PHOTO BY LISA FILIPPI

want you to be aware of a number of proposals under consideration by our elected representatives in Albany which, if enacted into law, will erode the quality of life in Munsey Park. First, some basics on zoning law as it applies to our village. Under current law, the Village of Munsey Park enjoys “home rule.” In practice, “home rule” allows the Village, like many other Villages in Nassau County, to control zoning within its geographic boundaries. Thus, as a village, we get to decide whether to allow or prohibit two-family homes; allow or prohibit on-street overnight parking; determine the size of homes to be constructed in the village and determine the minimum lot size for new homes. In short, we control our own destiny when it comes to what the Village looks like. Now, under the guise of the state budget, Gov. Hochul has included leg-

islation which would gut “home rule” for every town, city and village in New York State. The state Senate is considering similar legislation (S.7574). These proposed new rules would allow every homeowner in New York State the ability to build a second home anywhere on their property (up to 4’ from the property line). These rules would allow garages and basements be converted to accessory apartments. On-street parking would be allowed if driveway space was insuﬃcient to handle the additional cars that the new second home required. Lot size requirements for homes would be outlawed. Any property owner could build a second home on their property and there is little that the Village of Munsey Park can do to prevent it from happening. Imagine the eﬀect that these

changes will have on the school population, the amount of traﬃc on our streets, and the cohesiveness of our neighborhoods when so much rental housing is added to our Village. Governor Hochul’s surreptitious inclusion of these proposals into the budget is intentionally designed to avoid democratic discussion. If the nature of our community is to change, shouldn’t we at least have a discussion about it? Our leaders in Albany hate our safe streets, our good schools and our suburban way of life. We need to let our elected oﬃcials know how we feel about their plans to destroy our Village. We owe this much to each other and to our children. In a separate email, the Village will provide contact information for our “leaders” in Albany. Please contact them as soon as possible. Lawrence A. Ceriello, Mayor Village of Munsey Park

Leadership needed to fight crime

he recent obsession with crime is a textbook example of our political and social dysfunction. It’s time to speak some plain truths. Every year, more toddlers are killed by firearms in this country than law enforcement oﬃcers. Read that back to yourself again. None of them even signed up to be toddlers.Conversely, over 1,200 civilians a year in the United States are killed in interactions with law enforcement. In the United Kingdom, it’s less than a dozen. Prior to 2020, crime rates in every category had plunged in this country, including the murder rate by 50 percent from 1990 levels. That’s quite an accomplishment. Property crime, assault and other categories also saw major decreases. Then COVID hit and crime rates spiked. As with our inflation story, remember the “soaring” crime levels start from a low base rate. A 10 percent increase from 2020 isn’t the same as a 10 percent increase from the 1990 level. Again, this is a NATIONAL trend, and rural areas have seen higher spikes than urban ones. You would never know it from the discourse being pushed. Only one major metro in America can lay claim for having the lowest murder rate. You’re living next to it. Like Miami? The murder rate is nearly four times as high as New York City’s. How about Texas, where people think nothing of keeping a loaded Glock in a glove compartment, the way we keep extra masks? The crime story in this country plays like this: Last week, a man in

Navarro County, Texas, shot four family members. Afterward, he turned the gun on himself. In San Antonio, an 11-year-old found a gun that was supposedly hidden and shot another 11-year-old. In Atlanta, a contractor was killed because he was making too much noise at a neighbor’s house. Didn’t hear about these incidents? Of course not. Because if ONE stabbing takes place in the New York subway system used by millions every day, everyone from Timbuktu to Tel Aviv knows about it. No one gives a damn about the 4-year-old shot dead in the back seat of their parent’s car last weekend if it doesn’t take place here. Absent from all this? Bail reform. Because it’s not your problem. Never was. But our degenerate political class is going to do its best to leverage a false equivalence to their own advantage to get your votes, because they can play to your worst fears and instincts and know it will work. You’re that gullible. Small wonder our newly elected county executive blew oﬀ his own municipality’s low crime rate the same way Trump blows oﬀ election results. Boy, are we in for a good time with this guy, or what? Same as they whipped up your hysteria over Critical Race Theory. Now school districts are tossing out Maya Angelou’s poetry and even Michelle Obama’s autobiography. What did you THINK the outrage was about, folks? The quality of children’s education? Oh, you poor saps. Let’s face another hard truth: law enforcement itself doesn’t have clean hands either. I have yet to see

any senior law enforcement authority speak out against the NRA, the lack of sound policy on gun control, or Second Amendment absolutists. Unfortunately, over the years, a cultural nexus has developed between authoritarian elements like militia groups and law enforcement, something of a bond of shared sentiments. This subject remains untouched. I believe those with the authority to speak are afraid of their own ”brothers” revolting against them. But someone has to have that talk. The two oﬃcers who gave their lives confronting that shooter showed true bravery. Now, the leadership has to match it. I don’t need anyone bellowing about “keeping illegal (sic) guns oﬀ our streets.” I need the law enforcement establishment in this country to start doing something about guns getting on the streets in the first place. Showing up after the fact doesn’t get it done. This is a country that is completely unable to reckon with its own reality. Pick an issue: health care, housing, media, education, anything. There are expatriate Americans and visitors from Europe who come here thinking they’ve entered into a rotting whale carcass. This isn’t a New York City problem or an “urban” one. It’s a uniquely American one and the people responsible need to lead instead trying to profit from the problem. Getting “tough on crime” isn’t a policy. Donald Davret Roslyn

38 Blank Slate Media Newspapers, Friday, February 11, 2022

READERS WRITE

Another civil war would destroy America

or the year 2021, 23 American companies had profits for the year that exceeded $10 billion. In the previous year of 2020, there were 25 such companies. In 2021, hundreds of American companies had profits over $1 billion. These companies employ a major percentage of the 130 million full-time workers in private industry and yield a great deal of power that allows them to influence politicians to act in their best interests. This is best exemplified by the Citizens United decision in which the Supreme Court ruled that corporate spending was protected speech, allowing corporations and other outside groups to spend unlimited funds on elections, thus giving them outsized influence on elections. It eroded the public’s faith in the integrity of our democracy. These corporations donated millions to lawmakers who voted to overthrow

election results, perhaps not realizing the negative repercussions it could have on democracy. What could be the repercussions? Two words keep popping up: civil war! Can you imagine what that war would look like? In our original Civil War, the North vs. the South, the Blue vs. the Gray, each side knew who their enemy was and who to kill. A new civil war would create mass chaos; fighting by opposing sides within each state, perhaps not even knowing the enemy, resulting in the death and maiming of millions. And do you think businesses would not be aﬀected by such mass destruction? Realistically, if businesses managed to survive, earnings, if any, would virtually disappear and their stock prices would plummet. Earnings per share? Are you kidding? Little or no earnings would force businesses to close or cut back, causing tens of millions of jobs, even more, to

be lost or disappear forever. Without jobs, what will people do to survive? What about people, like retirees who depend on Social Security, pensions and investments? That, too, would be gone. And those who were working could no longer count on 401Ks, pensions and investments that they wanted to accumulate for their days of retirement, assuming they remained alive. Health plans will be gone too. America, the land of opportunity, would be no more. No businesses! No work! No money! No future! Everybody loses, except the Russians and Chinese, who would be rooting on the sidelines for more of the same. To summarize: This civil war will not only cause people to die but also corporations, leading to mass unemployment, the destruction of the stock market and financial institutions, leaving everything that people worked for to be no more. The

only hope would be survival. For what? An Emperor, the King of Lies, to take over. He played on the anger of people and look where it has taken us and to where it could lead. What a promising outlook. Is there a solution? Now is the time for corporations and all good people to come to their senses. In America, it’s really all about money and the influence it has on everything. It’s up to the corporations; to use their power and influence,to save our country and our democracy. It can be doneby threatening those politicians who support the BIG LIE that is responsible for this craziness, by cutting oﬀ funds to them and to convince people that keeping up hostilities will only cause them to lose everything and possibly die. Why should the corporations do it? There’s over a billion reasons why. Alvin Goldberg Great Neck

Redrawn lines for 3rd District a travesty

ew boundaries for our 3rd Congressional District are the most egregious case of gerrymandering I have ever seen in downstate New York. “Redistricting proposal shakes up L.I. Amendments to map see 3rd Congressional District extending into Westchester, Bronx” (Feb. 4). Up until the 1962 reapportionment, congressional boundaries in NYC and Long Island seldom crossed borough or county lines. The 3rd Congressional District, currently represented by Democrat Congress member Tom Suozzi, can be traced back to the last Queens Republican Congress member Seymour Halperin. After the 1972 reapportionment, he declined to run against Democrat Lester Wolff of Great Neck, when both seats were merged into one Queens/Nassau district. Democratic Congressman member Wolff defeated long-term Republican Congressman Steven Derounian in 1964 on the coattails of Democrat Lyndon Johnson’s landslide. LBJ soundly trounced Republican Barry Goldwater for President. In 1972, Wolff faced a strong chal-

lenge from Queens Republican State Assemblyman Jack Gallagher. Republican President Richard Nixon won in a landslide against South Dakota Democratic Sen. George McGovern. Wolﬀ ran as a Democrat in the Nassau County portion of the district, while playing down his party aﬃliation in the Queens County portion of the district to avoid being drowned by McGovern. The Nassau County GOP did not run one of their own. As a result, they did little to help Queens Republican candidate Gallagher, contributing to his defeat. In 1980, GOP Congressman John LeBoutellier briefly recaptured this seat for one term. He won on the coattails of Republican Ronald Reagan’s landslide over Democrat President Jimmy Carter who lost his quest for a second term. Democrat Gary Ackerman reclaimed this seat in the 1982 November general election. defeating Republican Alan E. Binder. At the 11th hour in 2012 before any candidate not sponsored by either the Queens or Nassau County Democratic Party clubhouse could find the time to

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raise necessary funding and organize a petition campaign to enter the June 26 Democratic primary for the 5th District, Gary Ackerman decided to call it quits. It was his parting gift to the Democratic Party machine, so that they, instead of the voters, could determine his successor. Democrat Steve Israel inherited the seat, going on to win the November 2012 election by defeating Republican Stephen Labate. He served until 2016. He was replaced by Democrat Tom Suozzi ,who went on to win the 2016 general election, defeating Republican State Sen. Jack Martins. This district has been gerrymandered with the help of Democratic Assembly speakers under several reapportionments. Boundaries were extended west to Queens and east into Suﬀolk County. Adding the Bronx and Westchester to the district under the latest reapportionment represents the very worst in gerrymandering. Placing Larchmont, Mamaroneck, Pelham, Pelham Manor, Port Chester, New Rochelle and Rye in Westchester County

(which could have been placed in 16th CD represented by Jamaal Bowman), the eastern-most Bronx waterfront neighborhoods (which would have been a better fit with 14th CD Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez), northeast corner of Queens (which could have been part of 6th CD Grace Meng), North Hempstead, Oyster Bay and Glen Cove in Nassau County along Huntington and Smithtown in Suﬀolk County within the same congressional district boundaries makes no sense. The next member of Congress from the newly designed district will need a speed boat to travel across and around Long Island Sound to visit all his or her new constituents. It illustrates the pitfalls of reapportionment when you have vetoproof, one-party control of both the state Assembly and Senate. Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Gov. Kathy Hochul — all Democrats —should be ashamed of this travesty. Larry Penner Great Neck (3rd CD)

Republican cult a threat to democracy

he Republican cult has now loudly announced it hates America, democracy and the Constitution. The terrorists of 1/6 are not being persecuted. They wanted to assassinate members of Congress and spent hours trying to kill police. There was no discourse of any kind.

The Cult would easily win a Nobel prize in gaslighting. The Cult needs to be totally, completely destroyed before they turn this place I love into a SH****LE country. Madness! MaryEllen Scherer New Hyde Park

Blank Slate Media Newspapers, Friday, February 11, 2022

READERS WRITE

Dems plans pre-empt local zoning control

tate Sen. Brad Hoylman, a Manhattan Democrat, is leading a charge to ban single-family zoning, limit local control over zoning codes and mandate extreme density requirements on local governments. Sen. Hoylman has introduced bill S.7574 that would severely impact suburban communities, especially those in densely developed areas like Long Island. That, of course, is the point. Hoylman’s bill would mandate that incorporated villages such as Williston Park (where I reside and am a member of the Board of Zoning Appeals) shall not: 1) establish a minimum lot size of more than 1,200 square feet (imagine a 30’ x 40’ building lot); 2) require the construction of oﬀ-street parking as a condition of permitting construction, or impose restrictions on height, setbacks, floor area that “eﬀectively prevent construction” in a residential district; 3) prohibit the construction or occupation of a dwelling for six or fewer fami-

lies on a single lot (remember that 30’x 40’ lot now with up to six families on it and no oﬀ-street parking) if such lot is within onequarter mile of any commuter rail station. One-quarter mile equals 1,320 feet. A standard Williston Park lot is 100’ deep. Two lots back-to-back measuring 200 feet. The bill would extend this highdensity zone approximately six and a half blocks westward from the East Williston train station. This high-density, highimpact development would be allowed “as of right” meaning village oﬃcials can do nothing to stop it. As of right! urbanists, house flippers, absentee landlords are salivating. The Williston Park you know no longer exists. Hoylman relies on an NYU Furman Center study wherein local zoning laws are condemned as “exclusionary.” In developed villages such as Williston Park, single-family homes hardly constitute a weapon of exclusion. As a Board of Zoning Appeals’

member, I often hear testimony from former residents of Queens and Brooklyn who sought their escape from crowded NYC neighborhoods. They are often the most protective of the suburban quality of life that attracted them to Long Island. Many represent the wide breadth of diverse demographics evident throughout our neighborhoods. Unfortunately, Gov. Hochul has bought into a state takeover of local zoning. In her recent State of the State document, “A New Era for New York”, the Governor states, “To spur transit-oriented development, Gov. Hochul will propose legislation to foster multi-family construction in zones drawn by municipalities around rail transit stops within commuting distance to New York City.” She also states that “This action will expand housing options and job access for New Yorkers while reducing the need to own a car and minimizing traﬃc impacts.” Whoever wrote this for her

clearly does not live on Long Island. Hochul proposes erasing local zoning control in favor of state mandates to permit “affordable dwelling units” in areas zoned for single-family homes. For example, turning garages into second homes on a single-family lot. More congestion. Affordable housing is undeniably a serious issue. There are many tools available to local governments to add affordable housing options to their communities. Some have chosen high-density development around train stations or downtowns (although affordability is debatable). Allowing 2nd and 3rd floor apartments over stores in commercial districts is another available option. These, however, reflect conversations and choices made locally. Gov. Hochul, Sen. Hoylman and progressive urbanists show contempt for local government and opt for centralized power and decision-making unresponsive to local residents. Slamming “as of right” 6 fam-

ily homes on 30×40’ lots with no oﬀ-street parking, setbacks or height restrictions is absurd. The reality of New York politics in 2022 is that there is no progressive policy that is too progressive. Governor Hochul wants to be elected and is showing a willingness to bend to the progressive wing at the expense of suburban neighborhoods. Long Island Democrats in the New York Senate and Assembly might want to remember how popular bail reform was in the last election. As a final note, Sen. Hoylman objected to an upzoning proposal for Soho/Noho (in his Manhattan district) because he said larger buildings would change the character of the area. Yup. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss Call your senator or assemblyperson. If Manhattan has its way with your community, byebye local zoning control. Brian Cunningham Village of Williston Park

VIEW POINT

No sympathy for GOP over N.Y. redistricting Continued from Page 17 In comparison, according to Steven Stowitts Elliott, a retired state worker, the NYIRC, who analyzed the NYIRC maps, Congress A (Democratic) plan would have created 18 districts leaning Democratic, two leaning Republican and six in the 45-55% competitive range; 9 majority-minority districts, five with two or more incumbents. The NYIRC Congress B (Republican) would have created two districts leaning Republican, 17 leaning Democratic and 7 falling in the 45-55% competitive range; 10 majority-minority districts and three with two or more incumbents. The map for the State Senate – essentially undid the Republican gerrymandering of 10, 20 and 30 years ago – cements Democrats hold, currently 4320 advantage, while the Assembly, which Democrats have controlled for decades, is seeing relatively minor changes to district boundaries, according to Newsday’s Yancey Roy. “For instance, no longer

do all 9 Senate districts contained on Long Island feature a majority of white residents. Two districts, going forward, will be ‘minority majority’ districts. (https://www.newsday. com/news/region-state/newyork-state-legislature-redistricting-1.50499770) In comparison, Elliott’s analysis shows that under the NYIRC’s Senate A plan (Democratic), 6 districts lean Republican, 44 lean Democratic and 13 fall in the 45-55% competitive range; 24 would be majorityminority districts and 10 with two or more incumbents. While, under the NYIRC’s Senate B plan (Republican): 6 districts lean Republican, 41 lean Democratic and 16 fall in the 45-55% competitive range; 23 majority-minority districts and nine with two or more incumbents. Assembly A (Democratic plan) would have 15 districts lean Republican, 96 lean Democratic and 39 falling in the 4555% competitive range; 55 majority-minority districts, 20 with

two or more incumbents. Assembly B (Republican plan) would have 17 districts lean Republican, 95 lean Democratic and 38 fall in the 45-55% competitive range; 55 majorityminority districts, 20 with two or more incumbents. But the Republican NYIRC commissioners refused to compromise or support the Democratic map, knowing full well redistricting would then go to the Legislature, where the Democrats had a two-thirds supermajority in both houses, plus the Governor, suﬃcient to pass their own map. But then, the Republicans knew they could sue to overturn the map, and cry alligator tears over being disenfranchised, to get a Republican-dominated court (the Supreme Court, perhaps, even though, in Rucho v. Common Cause in 2019, the conservative majority gave its blessing to gerrymandering electoral districts to favor entrenched political interests). And sue they have. I suspect this was NYIRC Republi-

can Chair Jack Martins’ plan all along. As for the maps the Legislature produced, David Imamura, the Democratic NYIRC Chair, told the New York Times the maps “clearly incorporate” input his panel received in public hearings across the state. “These maps reflect communities of interest across the state. I think New Yorkers will have their communities well represented in the maps the Legislature has come up with.” (https://www. nytimes.com/2022/02/04/ nyregion/redistricting-lawsuitgerrymandering-ny.html) Long Island probably has the district most salamanderlike, with the 3rd District wrapping around the Long Island Sound, from Suﬀolk through Nassau County, Queens, up to Bronx and Westchester – the new Sound District. But interestingly, I heard public comments in which these waterfront communities said they had similar interests and should be together. “The way to stop gerry-

mandering is if every state in the nation steps up and agrees to stop the partisan drawing,” said Robert Zimmerman, candidate for the new Congressional 3rd district..”You can’t just have some states play by one set of rules and other states not, because if you have some that do, and others that don’t, enormous inequity.” The response from Republicans was sure, they gerrymandered for 30 years, “but two wrongs don’t make a right.” That remains to be seen in how the Republicans redistrict Nassau County – despite a new law requiring county lines be drawn so districts are as nearly equal in population as is practicable; districts are not drawn with the intent or result of denying equal opportunity of racial or language minority groups to participate in the political process; districts be contiguous; districts are not drawn to favor incumbents or any particular party or candidate, and form to promote orderly and eﬃcient administration of elections.

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40 Blank Slate Media Newspapers, Friday, February 11, 2022

Business&RealEstate

A tough choice: to sell or to stay? I am currently working with several clients who are still trying to decide whether they want to stay put in their homes for the long term or possibly consider putting their places on the market. One couple is in generally good health and enjoys their current surroundings and the other client is in somewhat fair condition. The first couple complains about the expenses of owning as their income, although fairly good, is being reduced yearly s inflation has been ramping up lately. Real Estate taxes, heating costs, snow removal, repairs, landscaping and upkeep are starting to wear on them financially and mentally. The second situation is a woman whose husband passed away a few years ago, and as she is getting older, her children are concerned about her health and feel moving closer to them would be to everyone’s advantage and in her best interest. The couple feels very comfortable where they live and have a few friends who still reside on Long Island, although others whom they miss, have gone south to warmer cli-

mates. Although their health is excellent, they are attempting to figure out what to do. They have a tremendous amount of equity in their home as they have lived there for over 50 years. They are curious as to what their tax ramifications would be when selling. I told them they are allowed $500,000, plus their original purchase price and any capital improvements that they had made over the years (one needs to have receipts in case of an audit). At the point of sale, they would subtract those amounts and the costs of closing from the sale price. Their income and tax bracket for that year that would determine their capital gains. This percentage for a few could be as little as 0 percent up to a maximum of 20 percent. They should have a plan to determine the time that they need to reduce their accumulations over the years and get rid of the clutter and have a tag or garage sale. In the end packing to move is a lot to handle. Advising and guiding them through this time- consuming process is a job for a caring and expert broker to make it as simple and stress-

PHILIP A. RAICES Real Estate Watch

free as possible. It’s not always just about putting a home on the market to sell but the immense preparation leading up to it and in getting it done. Having a checklist is always a prudent and smart way to begin and your agent can assist you in getting started. However, the couple wants to stay, and they have to plan for the future in the event one or both become disabled or have a very serious illness. Retrofitting the home to make it more livable going forward should be a consideration. Whether it is changing countertop heights for a wheel-

chair to get under or a stair lift to be installed for second-floor access or creating an owner’s suite on the first floor or other pertinent items to make life easier. For some moving to an independent, assisted-living or nursing home facility may be another option. Those homeowners who might prefer to stay in their own home might consider another option in hiring a healthcare aid, part or full time. The second client has to make a decision to either stay by creating a living environment that will be safe and comfortable by doing similar upgrades. In making those decisions and asking for advice from me and family members, it enables her to at least begin thinking about what to do. She has some options, but that final act in coming to a solution is the toughest to make and it is never easy. Telling a homeowner not to wait until the last minute and fall into the “Monday morning quarterback” syndrome will never be to anyone’s advantage, but human beings are procrastinators at heart. The three realities of

life are we are born, we pay taxes and we eventually pass on. But life is similar to the seasons as we have spring, summer, fall and winter. We try to enjoy each and every season to the fullest as best we can, but as we grow older life can throw us many curveballs that aren’t necessarily anticipated. Some of us have contingency plans, but I believe most do not. When deciding to stay in your home or consider selling, take your time and look at the pros and cons, (or call me for help) so your final decision will make the most sense. Philip A. Raices is the owner/Broker of Turn Key Real Estate at 3 Grace Ave Suite 180 in Great Neck. He has 40 years of experience in the Real Estate industry and has earned designations as a Graduate of the Realtor Institute (G.R.I.) and also as a Certified International Property Specialist (C.I.P.S). For a “FREE” 15 minute consultation, a value analysis of your home, or to answer any of your questions or concerns he can be reached by cell: (516) 6474289 or by email: Phil@TurnKeyRealEstate.Com

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The Williston Times, Friday, February 11, 2022

Recent Real Estate Sales in the

Willistons

42 Weybridge Road, Mineola

455 Garfield Avenue, Mineola

5 bd, 3 ba, Sold On: 12/8/21, Sold Price: $690,000 Type: Single Family, Schools: Mineola

5 bd, 2 ba, 1,772 sqft, Sold On: 12/13/21, Sold Price: $670,000 Type: Single Family, Schools: Mineola

340 McNeil Place, Mineola

33 Meritoria Drive, Williston Park

4 bd, 3 ba, 1,652 sqft, Sold On: 12/15/21, Sold Price: $667,000 Type: Single Family, Schools: Mineola

5 bd, 4 ba, 3,300 sqft, Sold On: 11/5/21, Sold Price: $1,549,000 Type: Single Family, Schools: East Williston

Editor’s note: Homes shown here were recently sold in New Hyde Park, the Willistons, Mineola and surrounding areas by a variety of real estate agencies. This information about the home and the photos were obtained through the Zillow.com. The homes are presented solely based on the fact that they were recently sold in New Hyde Park, the Willistons, Mineola and are believed by Blank Slate Media to be of interest to our readers.

Mike Fink

Licensed Associate Broker 193 Hillside Avenue, Williston Park, NY 11596 Office: 516-743-9953 | Cell: 516-647-3737 mfink@bhhslaffey.com !"#$%$&$'(")*" !"#$%&'#(%)*#+,#-&''*./0$#0+,/*1#2+/(#3.%/(*'#4'%5*'6#/(+,#+,#.%/#)*3./#3,#3#,%0+-+/3/+%.#%"#/(3/#0+,/+.78#900#:7&'*,#3;;'%<+)3/*8#900#+."%')3/+%.#"&'.+,(*1#'*73'1+.7#,%0*#;'%;*'/$#,30*6#'*./30#%'#:.3.-+.7#+,#"%')#,%&'-*,#1**)*1#'*,;%.,+40*8#=%#'*;'*,*./3/+%.#+,#)31*#/%#/(*#3-> -&'3-$#/(*'*%"#3.1#+/#+,#,&4)+//*1#,&4?*-/#/%#*''%',6%)+,,+%.,6#-(3.7*#%"#;'+-*6#'*./308#-%))+,,+%.#%'#%/(*'#-%.1+/+%.,6#;'+%'#,30*6#0*3,*#%'#:.3.-+.7#%'#2+/(1'3230#2+/(%&/#.%/+-*8

42 The Williston Times, Friday, February 11, 2022

Hochul lifts indoor Supervisor’s office, mask requirements board dispute budget Continued from Page 1 Hochul, a Democrat, said she has been in constant contact with education oﬃcials throughout the state on when the mandate should be lifted. “The governor, like school board members, must balance many diﬀerent concerns and ultimately decide based on what’s best for our students,” New York School Boards Association Executive Director Robert S. Schneider said.

“The governor’s receptivity to the viewpoints of the education community will undoubtedly result in an informed position and hopefully place us all in a better position to move forward.” Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, prior to Hochul’s lifting of the indoor mandate, called for the governor to end the school mask mandate. “Let children be children again,” Blakeman said

PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Gov. Kathy Hochul lifted a statewide indoor mask mandate on Wednesday.

in a statement. “That’s my message to Gov. Hochul. She must lift student mask mandates this week, return personal decision-making and restore childhoods.” Blakeman, a Republican, received backlash from Democratic officials throughout the state for an executive order he signed in mid-January aimed at providing school districts with a choice to enforce mask mandates or not. Officials said the mandate for masks in schools can stay in effect until at least March 2, the deadline for the state to file documents for an appeal of a lawsuit filed by a group of 14 parents. The lawsuit claimed Hochul’s mask mandate was unconstitutional. On Jan. 24, Justice Thomas Rademaker of State Supreme Court in Nassau County ruled that the mandates violated the state Constitution, resulting in a handful of school districts on Long Island making masks optional on Tuesday, Jan. 25. The next day, a ruling by Appellate Judge Robert J. Miller forced the school districts that chose to make maskwearing optional to go back to following Hochul’s guidelines.

Continued from Page 19 Democratic Councilwoman Veronica Lurvey said in a statement to Blank Slate Media: “The Town Board has bent over backwards to acclimate and accommodate Supervisor DeSena. There was outreach in a spirit of collaboration even before the new administration took oﬃce, with meetings and even a tour of Town Hall. Once in oﬃce, the Town Board voted to approve all of her hand-picked hires, including her personal press per-

son, a first in Town history. The Supervisor has never before employed a Director of Communications who reports directly to the Supervisor alone. “Supervisor has claimed that the Town Board cut her budget, a statement that the Town Board has repeatedly denied. Today, I hear that she has finally conceded that this tale about her budget being cut was pure fiction. I hope we can move on with the business of governing now that this distraction is

behind us. “A Supervisor is not a dictator. The Town Board consists of seven individuals, each with one vote. Supervisor DeSena is simply one of those seven. The Supervisor has never had unilateral authority to issue decrees that circumvent the rest of her colleagues on the Town Board. We’re supposed to function as a legislative body – as a team. I understand that she’s new and still learning how Town government runs, but that’s the way it is.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE TOWN OF NORTH HEMPSTEAD

A comparison of the budget approved under former Supervisor Judi Bosworth in October and the current budget following resolutions in January.

GOP lawsuit opposes gerrymandered lines Continued from Page 2 eral areas in Westchester County and the Bronx along with Manhasset, Roslyn, Port Washington, Great Neck, Floral Park, and Whitestone, Queens, among other areas, and stretches to Kings Park in Suﬀolk County. Melanie D’Arrigo, a candidate for the Democratic nomination in the district,

criticized the layout of the new district in a statement and claimed the proposed lines are an example of “extreme” gerrymandering. D’Arrigo, a Port Washington resident, ran against U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) in 2020, ultimately losing. D’Arrigo said voters should not be used as “political pawns,” advocating for

“real representation” in each district in the state. Nassau County’s redistricting process is set to begin next month, with the establishment of an advisory commission tasked with drawing new lines that can be submitted to the Legislature. The membership, according to the county charter, consists of 11 unpaid members,

five of whom are appointed by the presiding oﬃcer, five by the minority leader and one nonvoting member appointed by the county executive. The county has a May 7 deadline to establish the committee so it can make recommendations to the County Legislature for how the 19 districts should be ordered ahead of Jan. 1.

CHECK US OUT ON FACEBOOK AT FACEBOOK.COM/THEISLANDNOW AND TWITTER: @THE ISLANDNOW

The Williston Times, Friday, February 11, 2022

Museum can display ivory, but not his store Continued from Page 13 For now, two of Defrin’s ivory pieces are on loan to the Nassau County Museum of Art until March 6 for “The Art of Music” exhibition. Specifically, Defrin has a 19th-century ivory figure of a bagpiper and an ivory German tankard from the 17th century on display, alongside a 19th-century Viennese enamel harp timepiece. Defrin can sell ivory to customers in other states because of federal law, but finds diﬃculty in doing so since he faces a possible felony if he displays it in his shop. “It’s there to teach people and open people’s eyes up to the objects that were made by mankind,” Defrin said. “I think it’s important that we keep on showing items like this to show how they were

crafted and the wonderful things people did with the material.” Defrin, a specialist in antique European ivory carvings, ran a gallery in Manhattan for 18 years before relocating closer to home. He began his formal study of the history of decorative arts at Sotheby’s and Christie’s auction houses in London before returning to New York where he interned at Sotheby’s and earned his master’s degree at the Cooper Hewitt Museum. In 1996, he started his company and has seen changes in the antique market, for better or worse. Defrin has been on the board of the Art and Antique Dealers League of America for over 10 years. The group is suing the state Department of Environmental Conservation

over the law alongside the National Antique and Art Dealers Association of America. Alan Sash, an attorney for the league, said that federal law, which allows the sale of ivory, prevails over state law when the two contradict each other. In addition, restricting the display of ivory, Sash said, violates the First Amendment. “It makes possibly any antique ivory sale impossible,” Sash said. The suit, which was filed in 2018, is currently in the appeal process with oral arguments set for March after a federal court rejected the league’s claims last year. “It’s really important for people to see these things,” Defrin said of ivory antiques. “They are and always will be part of the history of the decorative arts and sculpture.”

PHOTO BY TERI WEST

Scott Defrin, owner the European Decorative Arts Co. on Glen Cove Road, with a shelf of Barbedienne bronzes.

Viscardi honors advocates for disabled Continued from Page 13 Today the school in Viscardi Center enrolls more than 180

students with disabilities with nearly an 86 percent graduation and college acceptance rate. For

adults and adolescents, transition planning services are available for testing and job place-

Joanne’s Gourmet Pizza CATERING SPECIALISTS

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44 Blank Slate Media Newspapers, Friday, February 11, 2022

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Director Vision Long Island

Dr. Anthony Boutin

President/CEO/ Chief Medical Officer Nassau University Medical Center

Lee J. Brodsky CEO BEB Capital

Phillip Eng

Matt Cohen, Esq.

President MTA/Long Island Railroad

President/CEO Long Island Association KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Steven A. Fangmann, P.E., BCEE

Dominic Coluccio

President/CEO Officer Flushing Financial Corporation and Flushing Bank

Michelle Byrne, CPA CFO Long Island Association

Brad C. Calhoun

President/CEO Teachers Federal Credit Union

Franklin Camarano, Jr.

Business Banking Market Executive for Long Island Bank of America

Henry C. “Hank” Foley, PhD.

Ann Conroy

President New York Institute of Technology

A. Thomas Levin

CEO Long Island Division Douglas Elliman

Jason Friedman

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CEO Costello’s Ace Hardware

Nancy Costopoulos

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President Long Island University

Peter Goldsmith Chairman LISTnet

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President/CEO Northwell Health

Kimberly R. Cline

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Harry Coghlan

Kathleen Caputi

Partner ZE Creative

Sarah (Rudi) Friedman

President/CEO Old Westbury Gardens

District Superintendent Nassau BOCES

David Chauvin

Robert Isaksen

President D&B Engineers and Architects

President Nassau Council of Chambers of Commerce

Sr. Vice President Epoch 5 Public Relations

President/CEO Bethpage Federal Credit Union

Chief Leasing & Marketing Officer Samanea New York

Michael Costello

John Buran

Wayne N. Grossé

William L. Gordon

Michael Dowling

Sr. Advisor Palumbo Wealth

Dr. Joseph Greco

Michael Dubb

Founder/CEO The Beechwood Organization

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President Local 338 RWDSU/UFCW & LI Federation of Labor

Sr. Vice President/ Chief of Operations NYU Langone HospitalLong Island

Elaine Gross, MSW Founder/President ERASE Racism

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Anthony (Tony) Piscopio

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President-Elect Nassau County Medical Society

Gunjan Rastogi

Founder/Executive Director UniversaCare

Charles A. Riley II, PhD

Director Nassau County Museum of Art

Theresa E. Sanders

President/CEO Urban League of Long Island

Dr. Adhi Sharma

President Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital

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Manager of Community and Customer Management for Long Island National Grid

Blank Slate Media Newspapers, Friday, February 11, 2022

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To advertise, call 516.307.1045 or fax 516.307.1046

• Residential • Commercial Construction Sites

Kitchens • Bathrooms Clean-Ups • Attics Basements Flood/Fire

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ALL SIZE DUMPSTERS Same Day Service, Fully Insured Bob Cat Service

Blank Slate Media Newspapers, Friday, February 11, 2022

BUYER’S GUIDE ▼ MASONRY

HOME IMPROVEMENT

LAMPS FIXED $ 65 In Home Service Handy Howard 646-996-7628

MOVING

FREE ESTIMATES LOU: 516 850-4886

FAMILY OWNED & OPERATED

DRIVEWAYS & PARKING LOTS RETAINING WALLS FOUNDATIONS DRYWELL WATER DRAINAGE WATER PROOFING

SIDEWALKS PATIOS / PAVERS BRICK / BLOCK BLUE STONE STEPS / STOOPS BELGIUM BLOCK CULTURED STONE

Contracting LLC

MASONRY • PAVING • CONCRETE

FULLY INSURED

PAINTING

LIC: #H2219010000

N.Y.D.O.T.#10405

MOVING & STORAGE INC.

Long Island and New York State Specialists

• Residential • Commercial • Piano & Organ Experts • Boxes Available FREE ESTIMATES www.ajmoving.com

516-741-2657

114 Jericho Tpke. Mineola, NY 11501

ROOFING

est. 1978

Interior and Exterior • Plaster/Spackle Light Carpentry • Decorative Moldings Power Washing www.MpaintingCo.com

ROOFING

516-983-0860

• Slate Roof Repairs • Shingle Roof Repair • Copper Flashing Replacements • Caulking/Roof Maintenance • Silicone Coatings • Snow Guards/Roof Ventilation

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516-328-7499 Licensed & Insured

PLACE YOUR AD

ADVERTISE WITH US To advertise, call 516.307.1045 or fax 516.307.1046

Licensed & Insured Nassau Lic #H1859520000

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• INTERIOR / EXTERIOR • B. Moore Paints • Power Washing • Dustless Sanding Vacuum System • Taping • Spackling • Plaster Removed • New Drywall

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PAINTING & WALLPAPER

516-385-3132 New Hyde Park

PAINTING, POWERWASHING

WINDOW REPAIRS

631-385-7975

WINDOW REPAIRS & RESTORATIONS

Outdated Hardware • Skylights •Andersen Sashes • New Storm Windows • Wood Windows • Chain/Rope Repairs • Falling Windows • Fogged Panes • Mechanical Repairs • Wood Repairs

ALL BRANDS

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Lic. # H080600000 Nassau

TREE SERVICE

WINDOW TREATMENTS

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Member L.I. Arborist Assoc.

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nassau

48 Blank Slate Media Newspapers, Friday, February 11, 2022

COMMUNITY CLASSIFIEDS To advertise here call:516.307.1045

▼ EMPLOYMENT To Place Your Ad Call

EMPLOYMENT

CAREER TRAINING

Phone:

516.307.1045 x 218

Fax:

516.307.1046

e-mail:

DFlynn@theislandnow.com

In Person:

22 Planting Field Road Roslyn Heights, NY 11577

We’re Open:

Mon–Thurs: 9am-5:30pm Fri: 9am-6pm

,-./,&'(()(

Deadlines

Monday 2:00pm: Classified Advertising Tuesday 1:00pm: Legal Notices/ Name Changes Friday 5:00pm Buyers’s Guide Error Responsibility All ads placed by telephone are read back for verification of copy context. In the event of an error of Blank Slate Media LLC we are not responsible for the first incorrect insertion. We assume no responsiblity for an error in and beyond the cost of the ad. Cancellation Policy Ads must be cancelled the Monday before the first Thursday publication. All cancellations must be received in writing by fax at: 516.307.1046 Any verbal cancellations must be approved by a supervisor. There are no refunds on cancelled advertising. An advertising credit only will be issued.

• Great Neck News • Williston Times • New Hyde Park Herald Courier • Manhasset Times • Roslyn Times • Port Washington Times • Garden City News • Bethpage Newsgram • Jericho Syosset News Journal • Mid Island Times • Syosset Advance

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FREE CDL TRAINING *Attendance Bonus Included

• 25 Hrs. Week Minimum FULL BENEFIT PACKAGE

HUNTINGTON COACH 631-271-8931

NASSAU COUNTY NEEDS CERTIFIED HHA’S, COMPANIONS AND HOMEMAKERS. ★★★ HIRING IMMEDIATELY★★★ “A Special thank you to all the Nurse Aides and all who Save Lives.” • Competitive Pay Rate • Flexible Scheduling • All Shifts & Locations available

718-850-3400

CERTIFIED HOME HEALTH AIDE FULL TIME ATRIA LYNBROOK Up to $1,000 sign on bonus. An Atria Home Health Aide will be asked to: Provide care to residents in a community, observe, report and document resident status, maintain a clean safe environment, assure adequate nutrition and fluid intake, safely transfer and ambulate resident, maintain the resident’s physical and mental well-being. Charlene Lindsay-Jorgensen 516-596-2700

LIST YOUR SITUATION WANTED CALL NOW! 516.307.1045

RECEPTIONIST needed for P/T eves & weekends. Will train. Also VET/TECH KENNEL ASST. Duties include helping doctors with appointments/treatments. Cleaning cages/offices/equipment. Must like animals, be reliable, dependable & work well with others. Pay negotiable for both positions. Please call to schedule interview. Port Washington Animal Hospital: 516-883-2005

LIST YOUR NEW JOB OPENINGS, HERE CALL: 516.307.1045

KLCMNLOMCDLL HELP WANTED

CAREER TRAINING

HOUSEKEEPER WANTED in Garden City Home. Looking for 2 days a week with possibility of other hours during the week. Must have own transportation and speak fluent English and Spanish. Flexible and willing to work with your schedule. Job includes: food shopping, laundry, running errands, organizing household, restocking and keeping house in order, house and pet sitting when needed. Must be able to work with existing cleaning person in the home. Looking for somebody trustworthy to become part of our family.Interested applicants please text 516-526-8353 for an interview. Position available immediately.

COMPUTER & IT TRAINING PROGRAM! Train ONLINE to get the skills to become a Computer & Help Desk Professional now! Grants and Scholarships available for certain programs for qualified applicants. Call CTI for details! (844) 947-0192 (M-F 8am-6pm ET)

DELI CLERK SANSONE MARKET Garden City Park • RELIABLE • Minimum 2-years experience • FT/PT Apply at store or online @ sansonemarket gardencity.com/careers

CAREER TRAINING TRAIN AT HOME TO DO MEDICAL BILLING Become a Medical Office Professional online at CTI! Get trained, certified & ready to work in months! Call 855-543-6440 (M-F 8am-6pm ET)

SITUATION WANTED

Certified HHA

• Experienced • Excellent references.

We will provide you the best caregivers in America. Filipino men and women. Kind, loving and caring at this very difficult time.

Call Gertrude

347–444–0960 ELDER CAREExperienced woman seeks position to care for the elderly live in or live out. Certified HHA. Excellent references. Please call 516-800-6442 COMPANION, HHA, PCA Seeking position Monday through Friday, overnight or day shift, live in/live out. 20 years experience with Parkinsons, Alzheimers, Dementia, Cancer Patients. References available upon request. Call Miss Browne 516-302-7564

ANNOUNCEMENTS GET DIRECTV ! ONLY $69.99/ month. 155 Channels & 1000s of Shows/Movies on Demand (w/SELECT All Included Package). PLUS Stream on UP to FIVE Screens Simultaneously at No Additional Cost. Call DIRECTV 1-888-534-6918 LOCAL NY GIANTS FAN SEEKING TYPE O KIDNEY DONOR to help celebrate more terrible seasons. Cowboys fans need not apply. Save a life: kidneytouchdown@gmail.com

NOVENAS/PRAYERS PRAYER TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN (Never known to fail). Oh Most Beautiful Flower of Mount Carmel, fruitful vine of Splendor of Heaven, Blessed Mother of the Son of God, Immaculate Virgin assist me in this necessity. Oh Star of the Sea help me and show herein you are my Mother. Oh Mary Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and Earth I beseech thee from the bottom of my heart to succor me this necessity (make request). There are none that can withstand your power. Oh show me herein you are my Mother. Oh Mary conceived without sin pray for us who have recourse to Thee (three times). Oh Holy Mary I place this cause in your hands (three times). Thank you for your mercy to me and mine. Amen. This prayer must be said for three days and after three days your request will be granted. The prayer must be published. Grateful thanks. (YV)

SHARE YOUR NOVENAS CALL NOW 516.307.1045

Blank Slate Media Newspapers, Friday, February 11, 2022

▼ EMPLOYMENT, MARKETPLACE, R.E., HOME IMPROVEMENT

• Private Duty Nurse • Professional Home Health Aides Home Companions • Housekeeping Let us do all the work so you and your family can enjoy the white-glove service, VIP Solutions for all your needs. Our services cover a wide range of needs and are fully customized from Private Duty Nurse, to Housekeeping, to Event Planning, to Luxury Travel and much more. Apex Concierge Services promises to deliver top-tier, luxury concierge services to sophisticated clientele in Long Island and the Greater New York City Metropolitan Area. We offer a wide range of premium concierge services, 24 Hours a Day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year. Services are offered through exclusive membership or single-service and event needs. We offer quality services when you need it, every time and all the time! Contact us for more details.

Also, inquire about Apex Concierge Services as a Corporate Employee benefit package or Employee rewards program. Contact Us Now! 1-866-VIP-APEX (1-866-847-2739)

1010 Northern Boulevard, Suite 424, Great Neck, New York 11021 apexconciergeservices.com | Email: VIP@apexconciergeservices.com MARKETPLACE A.T. STEWART EXCHANGE CONSIGNMENT SHOP 516-746-8900 Antiques-FurnitureJewelry-Silver-Mirrors-Lamps-Artwork Come to Consign & Stay to Shop Visit.... Our Shop 109 Eleventh St. Garden City Mon-Fri 10-4 (Wed till 6) Saturday 12-4 Shop Our Online Store ATStewartExchange. org Items to Consign? Email photos (with sizing info) to: store@atstewartexchange.org All proceeds benefit The Garden City Historical Society Like us on Facebook & Instagram INVITED ESTATE SALES BY TRACY JORDAN is doing VIRTUAL TAG SALES and ONLINE AUCTIONS now! Sell the contents of an entire house or sell just a few things! You can host your own sale on invitedsales.com and Facebook and Instagram or we can do it for you. We can photograph, advertise and handle the winning pickups for you within a week! Don’t worry about your closing date, we can get your house ready on time! We are a one stop service for all your needs when you are moving or selling a property! Selling, donating, discarding and cleaning out services can be done to meet your time frame with minimal stress. Contact info@invitedsales.com for more information or call 516-279-6378 to schedule a consultation or receive more information. Visit us at www. invitedsales.com for a listing of our upcoming Virtual Tag Sales and Weekly Auctions! FURNITURE FOR SALE GARDEN CITY Brand new furniture: Raymour & Flanigan Couch6’ (grey) 2 Custom Made Arm Chairs (floral design) EXCELLENT CONDITION MUST SEE!! Best Offer Call: 516-248-0105

WANTED TO BUY LOOKING TO BUY! Estates, Oriental items, Gold, Silver, Costume Jewelry, Dishes, Flatware, Watches, Clothing, Old Photos, Coins, Stamps, Records, Toys, Action Figures, Comics, Art and Furniture. Immediate Cash Paid Call George 917-775-3048 or 718-386-1104 TOP CASH PAID: ESTATE CONTENTSALL OBJECTS OF ART JEWELRY, ETC. Please call 718-598-3045 or 516-270-2128 www.antiqueassets.com

AUTOMOTIVE

One time use only. Cannot be used in conjunction with any other coupon or offer. Coupon offer good until December 31, 2022. Valid for any new service except subscription fees. Must mention coupon at time of sale.

AUTOS WANTED

JUNK CARS BOUGHT

REAL ESTATE FOR RENT

Auto Wrecking Frank & Sons

APARTMENT FOR RENT

516-997-5736

APARTMENT FOR RENT Floral Park, Plainfield Ave. 2BR, 2nd FL. Parking 1 car. 1 Block to LIRR. $2,250- per month. Credit check & references required. Available March 1st Call 516-508-8469

***AAA*** AUTO BUYERS $Highest$ Ca$h Paid$ All Years /Conditions! WE VISIT YOU! Or Donate, Tax Deduct Ca$h. DMV 10#1303199 Call LUKE 516-VANCARS 516-297-2277 DRIVE OUT BREAST CANCER: Donate a car today! The benefits of donating your car or boat: Fast Free Pickup24hr response Tax deductionEasy to do! Call 24/7: 855-905-4755

REAL ESTATE FOR RENT

APARTMENT FOR RENT GARDEN CITY Large 1 Bed, Updated Kitchen & Bath. Elevator, Parking. $3,100 Garden City Properties 516-746-1563

CONDO/CO-OP FOR RENT GARDEN CITY WYNDHAM EAST Mint 1 Bedroom, Rooftop Terrace, Pool, Health Club, Gym, Concierge, Valet. Electric cars welcome. $4,600/month Carmel Quill, Broker 516-732-6049

SERVICES BEST SATELLITE TV with 2 Year Price Guarantee! $59.99/mo with 190 channels and 3 months free premium movie channels! Free next day installation! CALL 888-508-5313 LIST YOUR SERVICES HERE. CALL 516.307.1045

SERVICES JACK’S CUSTOM FRAMING We can frame anything! Quality Care & Workmanship Thousands of frames to choose from!! Over 30 years in business! 92 Covert Ave, Stewart Manor 516-775-9495

ATTORNEY STEPHANIE A. D’ANGELO, ESQ. Elder Law, Wills & Trusts Asset Preservation, Estate Planning, Probate & Estate Administration/Litigation 901 Stewart Ave, Ste 230 Garden City, NY 11530 516-222-1122 www.dangelolawassociates.com

HOME IMPROVEMENTS CHIMNEY KING ENT. INC. FREE ESTIMATES Stainless steel liners cleaning & repair specialists. Masonry specialist. FULLY licensed & insured. NYC NASSAU SUFFOLK 516-766-1666 or 631-225-2600 Since 1982 chimneykinginc.com FREE ESTIMATES Extensions, Kitchens, Baths, Basements, Carpentry Work, Porticos, Siding, Dormers, Stone, New Construction & Conversions, Mason Work, Stone. Insured. Please Call 516-581-9146

Didi Hutt, Esq. Specializing in personal injury litigation including car accidents, slip/trip and all injuries, construction accident cases and medical malpractice. Call 212-323-7443 or email: dh@huttlawpc.com

MADE IN THE SHADE CUSTOM WINDOW TREATMENTS Blinds, Shades, Shutters, Draperies Top Brands at Discount Prices! Family owned & operated www.madeintheshadensli.com 516-426-2890

COMPUTERS

MASONRY All types of stonework Pavers, Retaining Walls, Belgium Block Patios, Foundations, Seal coating, Concrete and Asphalt driveways, Sidewalks, Steps. Free Estimates Fully Licensed & Insured #H2219010000 Boceski Masonry Louie 516-850-4886

TDS COMPUTER SERVICE Mac and Windows Repairs/Data Recovery/Virus Removal/Network Support/IT Security 516-944-5193

NEVER PAY FOR COVERED HOME REPAIRS AGAIN! Complete Care Home Warranty COVERS ALL MAJOR SYSTEMS AND APPLIANCES. 30 DAY RISK FREE. $200.00 OFF + 2 FREE MONTHS! 866-440-6501 THE GENERAC PWRcell a solar plus battery storage system. SAVE money, reduce your reliance on the grid, prepare for power outages and power your home. Full installation services available. $0 Down Financing Option. Request a FREE, no obligation, quote today. Call 1-888-871-0194 WIREMAN/CABLEMAN Flat TVs mounted, Phone, TVs & Computer wiring installed & serviced, camera & stereos, HDTVAntennasFREE TV www.davewireman.com 516433-WIRE (9473 631-667-WIRE (9473) or TEXT516-353-1118

PAINTING & PAPERHANGING MICHELANGELO PAINTING & WALLPAPER Interior, Exterior, Plaster/Spackle, Light Carpentry, Decorative Moldings & Power Washing. Call: 516-328-7499

50 Blank Slate Media Newspapers, Friday, February 11, 2022

▼ CLEANING, SERVICES, HEALTH, TUTORING Saving a Life EVERY 11 MINUTES

Prepare for Power Outages & Save Money

alone I’m never

PWRcell, Generac’s fully-integrated solar + battery storage system, stores solar energy that can power your whole home during utility power outages and save you money on your electric bill.

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*Offer value when purchased at retail. **Financing available through authorized Generac partners. Solar panels sold separately.

DENTAL Insurance

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Guaranteed to Last a Lifetime! LIMITED TIME OFFER

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YOUR INSTALLATION

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Limited time offer. Expires 3.31.22

From Dimensional Shingles to classic styles reminiscent of Cedar Shake and Spanish Tile, an architectural roofing system by Erie Metal Roofs can enhance the beauty of your home while protecting your family and property for a lifetime.

Warranty- Limited Lifetime. Transferable to 1 subsequent owner from original purchaser. Terms and conditions apply. Hail up to 2.5”, Appearance of the surface coating beyond normal wear and tear.

Call today to schedule your

FREE ESTIMATE 1-855-492-6084 Made in the USA

New orders only. Does not include material costs. Cannot be combined with any other offer. Minimum purchase required. Other restrictions may apply. This is an advertisement placed on behalf of Erie Construction Mid-West, Inc (“Erie”). Offer terms and conditions may apply and the offer may not be available in your area. Offer expires March 31, 2022. If you call the number provided, you consent to being contacted by telephone, SMS text message, email, pre-recorded messages by Erie or its affiliates and service providers using automated technologies notwithstanding if you are on a DO NOT CALL list or register. Please review our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use on homeservicescompliance.com. All rights reserved.

from Physicians Mutual Insurance Company

Call to get your FREE Information Kit

1-855-225-1434 Dental50Plus.com/nypress

Product not available in all states. Includes the Participating (in GA: Designated) Providers and Preventive Benefits Rider. Acceptance guaranteed for one insurance policy/certificate of this type. Contact us for complete details about this insurance solicitation. This specific offer is not available in CO, NY; call 1-800-969-4781 or respond for similar offer. Certificate C250A (ID: C250E; PA: C250Q); Insurance Policy P150 (GA: P150GA; NY: P150NY; OK: P150OK; TN: P150TN). Rider kinds: B438, B439 (GA: B439B).

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SERVICES

TUTORING

LEAK REPAIRS Plumbing Repairs Bathrooms, Showers, Kitchens 24 HOUR SERVICE Call 516-668-5624

Port Tutoring Academic success Test Prep/All subjects/ All Grades /All Levels. Individual and Small Group Tutoring. 516-767-1342 info@portturtoring.com

NEED EXTRA MEDICAL ASSISTANCE. PRIVATE PAY MEDICAL CARE. Personal Concierge Services including Private Medical Care, Companions, Therapy & Housekeeping. Apex Concierge Services 866-VIP-APEX

Limited Time Offer - Call for Details

Special Financing Available Subject to Credit Approval

*To qualify, consumers must request a quote, purchase, install and activate the generator with a participating dealer. Call for a full list of terms and conditions.

CLEANING

SERVICES

CLEANING AVAILABLE EXPERIENCED POLISH HOUSE CLEANER Good references, ability. Very honest, reliable, responsible and hard working. Own transportation. English speaking. Flexible days and hours. Reasonable rates. I will do a good job! Call or text 516-589-5640

HOUSE CLEANING Excellent service Great References Reliable, Own transportation, English speaking. Call Selma 516-690-3550

A & J MOVING & STORAGE: Established 1971. Long Island and New York State specialists. Residential, Commercial, Piano & Organ experts. Boxes available. Free estimates. www.ajmoving .com 516-741-2657 114 Jericho Tpk, Mineola NYDOT# 10405

DISH TV $64.99 for 190 Channels + $14.95 High Speed Internet. Free Installation, Smart HD DVR Included, Free Voice Remote. Some restrictions apply. Promo expires 1/21/22 Call 1-888-609-9405

LIST YOUR SERVICES HERE. CALL NOW: 516.307.1045

!"##$%&$'()$*$%()$$+(,-"%.&/.0

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Passion for Seniors Certified HHAs, companions & Homemakers. 24 hour care available. Also Nassau locations. Trained in Dementia and Alzheimer’s care. Call 718-850-3400

HEALTH SERVICES FAMILY CARE CONNECTIONS, LLC Dr. Ann Marie D’Angelo PMHCNS-BC Doctor of Nursing Practice Advanced Practice Nurse Care Manager Assistance with Aging at Home/Care Coordintion Nursing Home & Assisted Living Placement PRI / Screens / Mini Mental Status Exams Medicaid Eligibility and Apllications 516-248-9323 www. familycareconnections.com 901 Stewart Ave, Ste 230 Garden City, NY 11530

TO LIST YOUR TUTORING SERVICES HERE, CALL NOW 516.307.1045

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*150 Gallons or more

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Blank Slate Media Newspapers, Friday, February 11, 2022

ATTENTION JOURNALISM STUDENTS

Opportunity is Knockin’! ARE YOU A COLLEGE STUDENT ?

DO YOU KNOW A COLLEGE STUDENT WHO WANTS TO EARN $2,600 THIS SUMMER?

Paid Summer Internship Positions Available The New York Press Association Foundation is sponsoring a paid summer internship at this newspaper for a qualified journalism student.

Any student currently enrolled in a recognized journalism program is eligible to compete for an internship with a net $2,600 stipend provided by NYPA. Applicants must attend college during the 2022-2023 academic year. New York Press Association

F O U N DAT I O N

Don’t delay! Application deadline is March 1, 2022. Application forms available online at:

www.nynewspapers.com click on NYPA

click on Internships

Sport Psychology Dr. Tom Ferraro

has specialized in sport psychology for 20 years and works in the fields of golf, tennis, soccer, baseball, football, wrestling, lacrosse, figure skating, gymnastics, softball, fencing and more. He has helped professional teams, Olympians and elite young athletes learn how to manage the intense pressure of competitive sports. He appears on both TV and radio and has sport psychology columns in 5 different newspapers and has been featured in The New York Times, Wall street Journal and the London Times. Golf Digest includes him in their list of top mental game gurus in America. For a consultation see below: Williston Park Professional Center 2 Hillside Ave, Suite E. Williston Park NY 11596 (building parallel to E. Williston railroad station)

drtomferraro.com drtferraro@aol.com

(516) 248-7189

!"#$%&'()*&"%+#"&,(-.$%&(*&//0& ,(-.$%&.,&#&1"#,2&3"#-%&4%5.#&6#6%*

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N E W H Y D E PA R K

Herald Courier Great Neck News

Roslyn Times Manhasset Times

Williston Times Port WashingtonTimes

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52 The Williston Times, Friday, February 11, 2022

COMMUNITY NEWS 5V[PJL VM -VYTH[PVU VM 5. .96<7 (:;690( 33* (Y[PJSLZ VM 6YNHUPaH[PVU MPSLK ^P[O :LJYL[HY` VM :[H[L VM 5@ ::5@ VU 6MMPJL SVJH[PVU! 5HZZH\ *V\U[` ::5@ KLZPNUH[LK HZ HNLU[ VM \WVU ^OVT WYVJLZZ HNHPUZ[ P[ TH` IL ZLY]LK ::5@ ZOV\SK THPS WYVJLZZ [V 5(5*@ 5.! 76 )6? 5,> /@+, 7(92 5@ 7\YWVZL! (U` SH^M\S W\YWVZL

NYIT leads L.I. for return on investments In a Jan. 24, 2022 report issued by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce, New York Institute of Technology ranked among the top 2 percent of U.S. colleges for return on investment for low-income students. New York Institute of Technology, one of the most aﬀordable private universities in the state, tied at No. 72 among 3,410 U.S. institutions, including public and private, non- and for-profit institutions offering primarily certificate, associate, or bachelor’s degrees. Among private nonprofit bachelor’s degree institutions with at least the median share of Pell Grant recipients, New York Tech ranked No. 3 for the highest ROIs for lowincome students. It also had the strongest ROI showing among all Long Island colleges and ranked

No. 9 among 216 New York State colleges included in the report. The Georgetown CEW’s 2022 “Colleges Where Low-Income Students Get the Highest ROI” report utilized U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard data from December 2020 to compute a net present value (NPV) for each college included in the survey. The NPV for each college was calculated using the net price of the college’s cost and the average (mean) earnings of its students from lowincome families (students with a family income of $30,000 or less) at six and 10 years after attendance. The findings showed that low-income students who attend New York Tech achieve high salary potential after graduation. While public institutions generally had

the highest ROI for low-income students over a 40-year period, New York Tech outperformed both private and public peers in a number of categories. On Long Island, the next highest-ranked institution is Veeb Nassau County School of Practical Nursing, ranked at No. 161, followed by Stony Brook University (165), Molloy (169), Adelphi (185), Farmingdale (242), Long Island University (282), and Hofstra (346). The report noted, “there are also surprising values among private colleges, particularly colleges that specialize in lucrative and high-demand fields, such as nursing and technology.” “Access to education is a key determinant of social mobility. That’s why we’re proud to not only

oﬀer one of the lowest private college tuitions in New York State but also a high-quality education that graduates students into good-paying jobs,” said New York Tech President Henry C. “Hank” Foley. “Outcompeting many of the nation’s public institutions, our ranking bucks conventional wisdom and demonstrates that a degree from a private institution can indeed yield high earnings for low-income students.” New York Tech outranked most New York State public and private colleges in the report. The only other colleges that ranked above New York Tech (No. 72) were: Cornell (10), Columbia (13), Albany College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences (17), Yeshiva (22), University of Rochester (36), Union (38), RPI (49), and SUNY Maritime (54).

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North Hempstead Supervisor Jennifer DeSena and the Town Board are pleased to announce the Town will be sponsoring a free Transportation Innovation Series to help residents reduce car dependency and try greener modes of travel. The three-part series focuses on public transportation, active transportation, and electric vehicles. It is part of North Hempstead’s Climate Smart Communities work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to a changing climate. “Our environment is our most precious resource, and I urge resi-

dents to do their part to cut down on harmful emissions created by our vehicles,” DeSena said. “The Transportation Innovation Series is a great way for our residents to learn about what they can do to reduce car dependency.” The first workshop “Don’t ‘drive’ yourself crazy BINGO” is virtual on Wednesday, February 16 at 7 p.m. and will be facilitated by Transit Solutions, a federally funded program to reduce traﬃc and improve air quality on Long Island. It will highlight the Town’s local train, bus, shuttles, paratransit and more, through a fun game

of BINGO. Winners will receive a $50 gift card to a local restaurant sponsored by Transit Solutions. The second workshop “Walk or Bike North Hempstead!” is virtual on Wednesday, March 23 at 7 p.m. and will be facilitated by Let’s Move LI, an active transportation initiative of the US Green Building Council LI’s Sustainable Transportation Committee. Residents will learn about the many health, environmental, social, and economic benefits of walking and biking as well as North Hempstead’s shop and stroll opportunities, trails, and routes for all levels of walking

and biking. The third workshop “Electric Vehicles 101” will be in person at Clinton G. Martin Park on Tuesday, April 12 at 2 p.m. and is facilitated by Drive Electric LI. It will explain the basics about electric vehicles with a panel of experienced EV owners and conclude with an EV show and tell so residents can see and learn about these vehicles in person. All workshops are free and open to the public. Visit NorthHempsteadNY.gov/ClimateAction to register.

Sisterhood celebrates Rosh Chodesh WRJ Sisterhood of Temple Judea, led by Phyllis Wininger, President, and Stacey Needleman, Executive Board member, invited Temple Judea’s Cantor, Deborah Jacobson to lead a program to celebrate Rosh Chodesh, focusing on “How Joy Increases in the Company of Women.” Each month, Jewish women all over the world celebrate the holiday of Rosh Chodesh in honor of the new moon. The Jewish calendar follows the cycles of the moon when the first sliver of the new moon appears after the period of darkness. Each month has characteristics that may be linked to Jewish holidays, seasons or historical events. The Jewish month of Adar is associated with blessings and good for-

tune. Women celebrate in diﬀerent ways, including abstaining from work or household chores, studying Torah, and gathering together to explore commonality among themselves. The women of WRJ Sisterhood of Temple Judea met on this Rosh Chodesh to explore their feelings, thoughts and goals, combining songs and meditation, references to Torah (Bible) and Midrash (commentaries) and guided discussions. They identified some of the shared traits of women, such as nurturing, empathy, caring, mentoring, multi-tasking, listening, consoling, valuing friendships, and the responsibility for teaching the traditions and culture of our society. Participants shared their ex-

periences and stories about their role models or heroines. They shared spirited, stimulating and supportive conversation and found strength, comfort and love in those shared experiences. The sensitivity and insights of the evening allowed those gathered on zoom to feel an emotion-

al security to reveal themselves to each other. All who attended agreed that they had new insights and understandings of being women, the roles of women in today’s world, and recognizing those who have inspired or shaped the women they are today. WRJ Sisterhood hopes to continue this version of the Rosh Chodesh celebration and looks forward to welcoming more Temple Judea sisters, their families and friends. Temple Judea welcomes new members and families who have an interest in a vibrant community founded on Jewish values and practices. Temple Judea is located at 333 Searingtown Road, Manhasset, NY 11030; Exit 36N oﬀ the LIE;516621-8049; www.temple-judea.com

The Williston Times, Friday, February 11, 2022

COMMUNITY & SCHOOL NEWS

Adult ed program Valentines for veterans registration open Registration for the Spring Adult Education Program is now open to all residents of the Roslyn, Herricks, and East Williston school districts. All classes will be virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic and will be held via Zoom. Most courses begin the week of March 7, 2022. Catalogs have been mailed to the community and are available online at www.roslynschools.org under the Community/Adult Education tab. Registration is by mail or online only. There will be no in-person or phone registration. To register online, visit our Adult Education Web Store at https://RoslynSchools.Revtrak.net. It accepts Visa, MasterCard, Amex, Discover

and e-checks. If you need help navigating the store, please review our Online Registration Guide at https://bit.ly/3hHMSeN. If you prefer to mail or fax in your registration form, please print it out from our website via the following link: https://bit.ly/2ZIbIoE The Roslyn School District offers an Adult Education program with classes in exercise, health and wellness, virtual cultural trips, and more. We are pleased to carry on the tradition of oﬀering a resident rate to all three districts, and providing discounts for senior citizens. For additional information, please call the Adult Education office at (516) 801-5091.

Sharing history of Lunar New Year On Feb. 2, members of The Wheatley School Intercultural Unity Club, in the East Williston School District, visited the North Side Elementary School to share their knowledge about the Lunar New Year with the school’s thirdgrade students. As the students arrived at North Side, they were warmly greeted by the third-grade teachers who marveled at how the students had grown and matured. They were equally impressed with the students’ desire to give back to their community and their willingness to share their knowledge with the younger students. The Wheatley School students spoke about the history of the Lunar New Year, its significance in many cultures across the world, and the celebratory traditions shared as part of the Lunar New Year celebration. As a culminating event to these 40-minute presenta-

tions, they worked with the third graders to complete arts and crafts activities related to this year’s Lunar New Year celebrating the Year of the Tiger. “The students did a terrific job presenting to these younger students. I was impressed by their knowledge and proud of their work,” stated The Wheatley School teacher and Intercultural Unity Club Advisor Mr. Fitzko. The North Side Elementary School would like to express their appreciation to the following students who participated in the presentation: Audrey Chen, Joyce Chen, Ophelia Ching, Morgan Doan, Aribeth Gu, Charlotte Iannone, JT Iannone, Anika Kaur, Ritika Kaur, Azelle Kim, Hitasha Kasliwal, Emma Liu, Nike Oshodi, Lauren Shin, Jessica Tu, Kristin Zachariah, Charles Zhang, Alex Zhao, and Ella Zhong.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE EAST WILLISTON SCHOOL DISTRICT

Members of The Wheatley School Intercultural Unity Club shared their knowledge about the Lunar New Year with third-grade students at North Side Elementary School.

Mineola Middle School held its annual Valentine for Veterans project to show the veterans who served our country that they are appreciated and supported. Fifth through seventh-graders signed up to volunteer their free time to create one-ofa-kind valentines to share with these heroes. Students and staﬀ were also able to show their support through donations of new items such as sweatshirts, winter accessories, socks, toothbrushes, toiletries and other items to benefit local veterans this winter.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MINEOLA UNION FREE SCHOOL DISTRICT

Williston Park Library news The library will be distributing Covid-19 selftest kits while supplies last. We are no longer accepting donations at this time. We hope to begin in late Spring, but the date is still to be determined. Please DO NOT put donations in the outdoor book bins. New titles added to the collection: Call Us What We Carry: Poems— Amanda Gorman For Times Such as This—Kayleigh McEnany Dinner on Primrose Hill—Jodi Thomas Honor—Thrity Umrigar How to Book a Murderer—Cynthia Kuhn Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth and the Trials of American Democracy—Jamie Raskin Final Case—David Guterson Something to Hide—Elizabeth George When You are Mine—Michael Robotham May Darling Husband—Kimberly Belle Anthem—Noah Hawley Starless Crown—James Rollins School for Good Mothers—Jessamine Chan Our Daily Hours Are: Browsing & Vestibule Pick-Up: Monday-Friday: 10am-5:30pm and Saturday: 10am-4pm “Open for Browsing” means you can come inside, walk around the Library, and look for books and other items. Please limit your time to 1 hour. Only one family at a time will be permitted in the Children’s Room. Items requested over the phone can be picked up in the Library vestibule. Please maintain social distancing practices while in the Library. All customers and staﬀ are required to wear face coverings at all times while in the Library, per Executive Order 202.17. Face coverings must cover both your mouth and nose. Congregating is not permitted. Three computers are available for public use for a limit of 30 minutes. Library items may now be returned inside the library Adult Programs Reiki—Thursdays—February 17; March 17 & 31—6 pm in the Assembly Room of Village Hall. $10 p/person.

Knitting Circle—Thursday—February 17; March 3/17 & 31 —11:30 am-1:30 pm in the Assembly Room of Village Hall. Book Club—March 2—7pm via Zoom. Copies of Nature of Fragile Things will be at the Circulation Desk. Author Susan Meissner will join the discussion via Zoom. Irish Heritage Cooking with Barbara Sheridan—Tuesday—March 8—6 pm in the Assembly Room of Village Hall. Limited to 25 participants. Masks are required. Call the library (742-1820) or email willistonparkprograms@gmail.com to register. Empire Safety Driving Course—Wednesday—March 30—10 am-4 pm in the Assembly Room of Village Hall for drivers of all ages. $30 p/person with check payable to Empire Safety Council. Limited to 25 participants. Masks are required. Children’s Programs Storytime—Tuesdays—February 8, 15, 23 (Wednesday); March 1, 8, 16 (Wednesday), 22, & 29—11-11:45 am in the Assembly Room of Village Hall for children ages 1-4. Limited to 10 children plus caregiver. Masks required for everyone over 2 years old. Please call the library to register. No walk-ins. Lego Tower Challenge—Thursday—February 24—11 am-12 pm in the Assembly Room of Village Hall for children of all ages. Masks are required. Limited to 12 participants. Register at willistonparkprograms@gmail.com Sensational Playtime: OT for Kids—Thursday—March 10—10:30 am-11:30 am in the Assembly Room of Village Hall for children 18-36 months. Led by 2 occupational therapists, this program emphasizes learning and developmental motor skills. Limited to 15 participants. Call, stop by or email (willistonparkprograms@ gmail) to register. Tie Dye T-shirt workshop—Tuesday—April 19—11:30 am-12:30 pm in the Assembly Room of Village Hall for children ages 4+. Limited to 15 participants. $15 material fee (includes tshirt) Register at willistonparkprograms@gmail. com or call the library at 742-1820. Please specify shirt size. Masks are required. Come into the Library for a free children’s craft every Monday for Take and Make Mondays.

54 Blank Slate Media Newspapers, Friday, February 11, 2022

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The Williston Times, Friday, February 11, 2022

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