1977-10-06

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PIERROT & CLli*
TOQQBt. tH 8. « • Y. 0
Fall Festival Sidewalk Sale Saturday -
A Prize Winning Weekly Serving The Greater Farmingdale Area Since 1920 ^ f9k
An Official Newspaper for the Village of Farmingdale
Vol. 58 No. 50 Second Class Postage Paid
in Farmingdale, N. Y. 11735 Thursday, October 6,1977 Copyright 1977 by
The Farmingdale Post price 15c - $ 5 per year
B. of E. Sells Main St. School
High Bid ' 883,250
By Ray Milan Corp.
AN EARLY MORNING FIRE gutted the Farmingdale Meat Market at fit Mate Street. Faritagdilr.
Wednesday. Police report the burglar alarm sounded at 2: 28 a. m. and the blaze was then discovered.
An explosion rocked the building and scattered glass from the front windows across Main Street. Two
empty gasoline cans were discovered at the rear of the building. The Nassau County Arson Squad is
conducting an investigation. [ Post photo by Bob Starrett]
Sidewalk Sale This Saturday
The fburth annual Fall Festival
of Values and Sidewalk Sale will
be held in downtown Far­mingdale
this weekend, with the
Sidewalk Sale being featured on
Saturday, October 8. The sale will
begin today and continue through 0 _ _
Monday, Columbus Day, October W p U * w x I I A V
to the Hardscrabble Fair but
without the booths and games of
annual May event.
A special supplement in this
week's edition of the Post will
show the stores to visit for
Only twice a year does the
Village of Farmingdale close
Main Street to vehicle traffic for
special events; Hardscrabble in
May and for this Saturday's Fall
Festival. The two block Main
Street shopping area from
Prospect Street to Front Street at
the Railroad Tracks will be
blocked to traffic from 10 a. m. to
6 p. m. Saturday and will become
a giant open- air walking mall for
shoppers.
Downtown merchants will
display sale merchandise on the
sidewalks in front of their stores
and offer discount! on goods
inside the stores. A carnival type
atmosphere will prevail, similar
Rate Set
bargains on Main Street, but
watch closely, some of the best
buys require coupons from the
merchant's ads.
Members of the Farmingdale
Auxiliary Police will join Eighth
Precinct Police Officers and
assist in crowd control. They will
also assist the village by setting
up the street barriers and
removing them at the end of the
festivities.
Federal Energy
The Board of Education at its
regular meeting on October 3 set
the tax rate for the 1977/ 78 school
year. The total school budget was .
finalized at $ 28,643,350. The tax flmwit AnnrOVed
rate for the Town of Oyster Bay * * r u n i Sippruvvu
has been set at $ 17,777 per hun­dred
dollars of assessed
valuation and the tax rate for
that portion of the school district
lying in the Town of Babylon has
been set at $ 27,459 per hundred
dollars of assessed valuation.
This represents a decrease in
the tax rate for the Town of
Oyster Bay of -. 113 and an in­crease
in the tax rate for the
Town of Babylon of 4; .672.
Approval was received October
3rd for the Farmingdale Public
Schools E. D. A. public works
project. The federal grant was
approved in the amount of
$ 113,000 for a project which will
center on energy conservation in
the Woodward Parkway School
and the Farmingdale Senior High
School.
Work on the project will begin
within 90 days.
There has been much
discussion in the community and
particularly in the press in
regard to the proposed sale of
Main Street School in recent
weeks. Monday night the Board
of Education authorized the
signing of a contract by its
president with Ray Milan Corp.
for the sale of that property at
$ 883,250.
We are fully aware of the
debate regarding the merits of a
shopping center on the site of the
Main Street School and the many
alternate proposals which have
beer discussed", the board
stated. " However, we must bring
Man Rescued
From Sewer
A cesspool cleaning service
employee is in critical condition
in Mid- Island Hospital after
being overcome by fumes while
attempting to clean a blocked
storm drain. An attempted
rescuer who was also overcome
was treated and released from
the hospital.
Employees of the Immediate
Cesspool Service of Lindenhurst
were attempting to clean and
clear a blocked storm drain in the
parking lot of Merlin Printing Co.
Tuesday afternoon. Victor
Rodriguez, 35, entered the drain
after it had been pumped dry of
liquid and was directing the
removal of sludge at the bottom
when he was overcome by fumes.
Eric Bumgarten, a pressman
for Merlin, allowed himself to be
lowered into the drain in an at­tempt
to rescue Rodriguez. He
was also overcome by the fumes.
Anthony Luther, also a
pressman at Merlin, operated the
winch controls on the cesspool
company's sludge truck, and
assisted another Immediate
employee Gregory Nutter, in
Bumgarten's rescue. Luther
worked to restore Bumgarten's
breathing while a passing 8th
Precinct patrol car was flagged
down and provided oxygen
breathing equipment, reviving
him.
South Farmingdale Fire Chief
Joe Leyes was the first to respond
to the emergency call and don­ning
his emergency breathing
gear, entered the storm drain and
brought Rodriguez out.
to mind the fact that the voters of
this school district approved sale
of that building on June 17, 1975
by a very large majority.
" The issue of how the property
is to be used does not really lie in
the hands of the Board of
Education," they said. " Trustees
of the Village of Farmingdale are
legally responsible for
authorizing use of the site in
terms of its size and purpose. We
are sure that the trustees of the
Village will give fair hearing to
all concerned parties in their
consideration of proposals for the
Site."
" In regard to the actual sale of
the property, we feel that certain
things should be pointed out at
this time. The sale price for the
5.7 acres represents a cost to the
purchasers well in excess of
$ 154,929. an acre. The developer
will be responsible for demolition
and removal of the existing
building from the site. This
removes the responsibility as
well as the cost of the demolition
from the hands of the Board of
Education.
" Operating costs for that
building, although empty, are
presently adding to our budget
well over $ 50,000 a year for
heating, lighting, security and
other incidental items. Of course,
there must be consideration of
uie return of the property to the
tax rolls. The return to the
school district at the present tax
rate would run between $ 35,000
and $ 40,000 a year. There are
several other items which
require our attention. The con­tract
calls for the continued
existence of the World War I and
World War II Veterans'
Memorials on that site.
" In summary, we feel that the
contract which we have accepted
represents the best possible offer
that the School District has
received over the# ast two years.
We have come a long way from
initial offers of the present
brokers involved and a very long
way from some of the offers
which have been made. We know
that several people will be
disappointed with the Board's
signing this contract, but we
must remember that we are
fulfilling the stated wishes of the
school district's residents in a
1975 vote."
Members of the Board of
Education are satisfied that they
have fulfilled the wishes of the
public and in good conscience
cast their vote Monday evening.