Bethpage-Tribune_1969-01-30

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A ^ A 4477 PPOOVW.LELL. L- I*V*
Serving Bethpage - Plainview - Island Trees - Plainedge *> Seaford
Vol. 3 NO. 14 Thursday, January 30, 1969 10< per copy
V R ^ V f T
From
The Publisher's Desk
Enclosure At
Mid-Island
Plaza A Reality
i n *t
Living costs jumped over 4% in 1968 with
housing and food costs responsible for the boast.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that'
the cost of living rose more sharply in i968
than in any year since the Korean War. Not
only is the cost of living rising for the average
citizen but it is reflected >in the cost of gov­ernment
which in turn places an even greater
burden on the backs of the wage earners.
School districts will be the hardest hit as they
attempt to run a sound educational system for
the youngsters* and try to meet the mandated
costs imposed upon them by the State as well
as absorb the rising cost of living. The "Comedy
of Errors" called the Taylor Law has also im­posed
hardships upon Boards of Education and
taxpayers and this ..lias led to uneasiness in d e l ­ing
with the professional teaching staffs. Ihe
Taylor Law has caused and magnified distrust
between the people responsible for the school
and teaching staff. The end result the chil­dren
are the losers as they are critically hurt
by strikes and slow-downs and ill-will on part
of both. Meanwhile we lose as our tax dollars
go down the drain fighting useless battles.
Now we are faced with a reduction in state
(ConlhiiH'd on Paj>i> 2)
Mr. Franklin Frank, Vice
President of Mid-Island Plaza,
In., announced yesterday thajt
Wallen Contracting Corporation
of Hicksville was awarded the
general contract for the en­closure
of Mid-Island Shopping
Plaza. The two malls running
east-west and north-south, will be
fully enclosed by a steel span
covering with a suspended ceiling
and a clear story of -glass.The
total area enclosed will be ap­proximately
two acres.
Mr. Bert Johnson construction
manager for Wallen, is securing
bids for the various phases of
construction and refurbishing.
Mr. Frank indicated that the
decision to enclose the Shopping
Plaza was a result of the growth
of the Hicksville area and the
convenience of the choppers at
Mid-Island.
The concept of enclosing a
Regional Shopping Center,
having one or more major
department stores is no longer
theory, but a practical day to day
realism. Mid-Island Shopping
Plaza Will be among the family of
Shopping Centers on Long Island
that will have a comfort con­trolled
environment. Mr. Robert
A. Gring, Promotion Manager for
the Shopping Plaza, indicated
that there will be a gala
celebration highlighting the
opening. Completion is an­ticipated
by late spring. The two
major department stores are
Gertz and S. Klein.
Town Attorneys Argue
Bridge Proposal
Attorneys for the Town of Oys­ter
Bay today argued that the
Legislature violated the State
Constitution three times in cre­ating
the Metropolitan Transpor­tation
Authority and giving it
the power to construct the pro­posed
Oyster Bay-Ryebridge and
its access roads.
Appearing before State Su­preme
Court Justice Samuel
Gold, Deputy Town Attorney
Charles Lynch said the bill giv­ing
the MTA power to build the
bridge and roads "should have
been a special bill and not an
omnibus b a i . " He a*l«?*_l!25^
i s precisely the type orlogroU-ing
which Article m, section 15
of the Constitution was enacted
to prevent.
Lynch, along with . attorneys
for the City of Rye and eleven
North Shore villages, also con­tended
that the creation of the
MTA through a general law, the
1967 Mass Transportation Act,
was unconstitutional. He pointed
out that the MTA's predecessor,
the Metropolitan Commuter
Transportation Authority, was
created by a special legislative
act in 1965.
In a separate agreement, Lynch
maintained that the State violated
the Constitution's Home Rule
provisions in giving the MTA the
power to lay out, build or extend
access roads to the bridge. He
argued that no request for such
action or consultation with local
authorities occurred,although
the construction plans had "tre­mendous
local impact and should
have come under the Home Rule
provisions."
Senior Deputy Ttaiwm Attorney
SunU Wetnblot^ iMtao ««»««»•»-
ied Lynch, said Justice Gold
promised to hand down a de­cision
within a week On the mat­ter.
Town Board Majority Lead­er
Edmund At Ocker said that
he was hopeful that Justice Gold
would stay the State's plans for
further action. "1 feel we have a
strong case," said Ocker. 'lean
assure you that we intend to do all
in ourpowertoprotectthe Town's
interests."
Harwood Calls For Regional
Zoning Review Board
Max Zaslovsky (left) Coach and General Man­ager
of the New York Nets and Jim Ortiz, 1
Central Boulevard, Bethpage, discuss plans for
a Bethpage night.
Jim Ortiz is interested in getting a group to­gether
to sponsor a Bethpage night at L.I. Arena,
Commack to see the N.Y. Nets Basketball team
in action. . „.
Ortiz said, "This is real top notch pro Basket­ball.
The Net won and lost record is not very good,
but recent additions to the club make them a very
interesting team to watch and no doubt their rec­ord
will improve.
Anyone interested in going can call me at
GE 3-6443. Perhaps we can get enough people
together to hire a bus.
You w,p have an opportunity to meet Max
Zaslofsky and the players personally before the
game."
Old-Bethpage
Incinerator To Be
Ready By Spring
Oyster Bay Town Board
Majority Leader Edmund A.
Ocker said today that he ex­pected
the Town's second in­cinerator
to be operative by this
May or June.
"I have been told," said Ocker,
"that the technical difficulties
that have delayed the full-time
operation of Incinerator Number
Two in Old Bethpage have Wffen
identified and reports detailing
the necessary connections have
been forwarded to our Depart­ment
of Public Works. DPW
Commissioner (H. John) Plock
has told me that he will make his
recommendations based on the
reports shortly. Mr. Plock said it
looked as if the plant would be
fully operable in late spring,
perhaps May or June."
Ocker said the reports, by
William Cosulich and Morse
Boulger, Inc., Consulting
Engineers, were commissioned
to rectify overheating in the
incinerator and to bring the plant
up to new air-pollution standards
passed by Nassau County last
year, after the plant was com-
"We found that the affluent
(Continued on Page 2)
New York State Assemblyman
Stanley Harwood of Levittown an­nounced
today that he introduced
a bill this week that would give
to a county or regional planning
board* the authority to review
zoning actions on property lying
within one thousand feed of county
boundaries.
Harwood stated mat under
existing law, county planning a-gencies
only have the power to
review local zoning decisions in­volving
two or more municipal­ities
within the county. "At the
present time," Harwood said,
'•there is no agency with power
to review actions which might
affect property on the other side
of a county line."
Harwood added that the recent
Oyster Bay-Huntington conflict
was an example of misunder­standing
and non-cooperation be­tween
towns lying in adjoining
counties. "The Town of Oyster
Bay granted a special permit
for construction of a large shop­ping
center adjacent to the, Suf­folk
border," Harwood said. "But jj
all highway access was located
in the neighboring Town of
Huntington. Naturally, the. citi­zens
and town fathers in Suffolk
were irate." Harwood went on
to say that a .special committee
was formed to consider the prob­lem
but...«1t's a stalemate. This
is extremely unfortunate as both
counties agree the area calls for
a shopping center."
Harwood explained that if a
regional planning board had had
the legal authority to review the
zoning change at its inception,
frustrations and loss of time
and money would have been held
to a minimum. "And a solution
would have been arrived at,"
Harwood added. "Now, the citi­zens
of both townships must
suffer."
Harwood said he hoped his
proposed legislation would be en­acted
during the present legis­lative
session in the interest of
proper zoning and planning.
Town Beautilkatlon Program
Oyster . Bay town will kick off
its town-wide beautification
program at a special meeting on
Friday, February 7 at 8 p.m. at
Town Hall in Oyster Bay.
Councilman Ralph Diamond,
who conceived the program to
beautify the township, said
Commissioner John J. Burns, of
the, State Office for Local
Government and Charles C.
Morrison, State Director of the
Natural Beauty Cimmission, will
speak to those involved in this
new program.
Diamond explained that the
program calls for a three-pronged
approach, with a
beautification authority com-
(Continued on Page 2)