The-Leader_1981-12-03

              Olliclal
Newspaper
Vilfage of
Free port
•
Freeport
School District
•
Baldwin .
School District
FREEFORT MEUORIAL HBRART
,8 MERRICK m
FRFT NT U520
.<-%
FREEPORT, NEW YORK, DECEMBERS, 1981
46th YEAR. No. 32
PRICE 2 5 * PER COPY
Grant's Store Sole Unresolved
Village Btard ^ final Okof Bf County
^SiK*"* '* De/ayed 8y Moraforium
FEEEPORT - The- Village
Board of Trustees has approved
a new set of guidelines for
applicants for Homestead bouses,
an of which are in the village's
northeast section.
The new guidelines were
drawn up by the village's Onn-munity
Development Agency
and approved by the Board at
its regular Monday night
meeting, Novemb« 30. "flje
guidelines were requested by
-^ —; ^_ ^ Hiro. following complaints
MUSICMAKERS.AspartoflWcommunllyiefvlcoprooram.tljeFrB*- ^S^^r^^ ^^^^^^"^^ '"R;^rinB*'to*is?-mon*irinm
F^^^'5'*^is^»b!^f^r^^«^is^^ -^^M^^
FREEPORT - Adcnowledging that fte Nassau County Board of
Supervisorsliasoontiiined t o t e the snag boldiog np ti>e sale cf the old
Grant's store on the north end of The Freeport Mall, Village Mayor
William H. WWte told THE LEADER this week that he U "frustrated
as hell" with the situation.
White pointed out that village,
county, state and New Yak Cty
agencies, as well as private
property owners, had all agreed
to various pieces needed to make
the sale go through and that as
far back as January of this year,
the County Board of Assessors
had agreed to a reduction of
taxes on the property.
MUSIC insirucxor Siepnen ragoiio v'eauniu m iiiiuiu), iranjimcu
variety of numtiers aitRa tuncAaon held at At B. wtiUa's restaurant.
Baldwin Boaid Attempts
To Ftnalize Bond Issue
byJoaxDtkuuy
BALDWIN - In an attempt to finalize the bond issue, the Baldwu
Board of. Education met Monday evening, November 23. In informal
agreeraeht. Board members DeUer, Ryan, Kttinsl^ and luiie directed
Adminbttation to'^rtpSre figures for a SS.5 nullion bond issue with
priorities in energy savings {toafs and heating), secondary level site
improvements and mandatory fire
and safety renovations. Board
member victor Rohe, who had
given a presentation on possible
cost cuts and who had expressed
his concern over a defeated bond,
stressed that he^felt that $4
million would be a more accept­able
final fieure.
Superintendent RoUand Jones
emphastzea tnat the real ^emma
existed between the quantity of
the necessary repurs and the
willingness^of the community to
pay for these needs. It was .noted
that there was no magic number
which could be called the
"tipping point" and that it was
difficult for the Board to project
what kind of final figure would be
acceptable to the commumty,..
One of the problems'^tressed
by the Board was the need to
make the conununity aware of the
critical needs in the district as
well as the specifics of the best
financial process to accomplish
these improvements.
As a resuh of his prior objec­tions
to the escalating costs. Rohe
had tjcen astea to give a pre­sentation
of possible bond cuts.
He wem over the individual
sections of the bond survey and
applied them to Harbor Elemen­tary
School <nerar District Oflices>.
With the Board. Administration
and the few audience members
present, Rohe conducted a
building tour noting possible
.Although Qtizens Alliance
had suggested Hut future s^
provals be g^ven to white and
(Cent. On Page 6)
Vlfantag^ Chamber
Invites School
Chorus To Smr
on certiorari- mattetsr WUte
said: "I never ''^—•n-Tl tlul one
<^stade would be the fteddisg
Supervisor of the Town of
Hempstead." The Mayor pointed
out that Freeport is the second
largest village in the Hempstead
Town.
In late August, THE LEADER
learned about the moratorium,
which was dedaied months
after the Nassau County Board
of Assessors had agreed to a
FREEPORT - The Columbus
Avenue School Chorus has been „, ^^sscssou ««. «...>.^ .- _
invited by the Wantagh Chamber _ ^^ abatement if the property
areas to he cut. Many of his
suggestions had already been
included in the Administrative
cuts. Rohe stressed that only the
most essential items, such as
roofs and some heating, should
be included. He said the rest
should be accomplished through
regular budget allocations over
the years. He also suggested the
repairing rather than the re­placing
of certain items.
Other Board members stressed
that any bond must be enough to
adequately correct the problems
and time and again Deller said,
"What will we be. getting for our
money?" She emphasized that
whatever the final figure, it must
—bc-fu£Bcient to correct the major
problems so that the community
will know it got its money's
worth.
Kttinsky kept referring to the
need for on-going maintenance
and expressed concern that if
many of the items were not
corrected in a bond issue, they
may never get included in a
regular maintenance budget. He
said that based on the ibstrict's
history, there is always the
temptation to cut budget by
cutting maintenance.
A plan- presented by Ryan
focused on the ma]OT problems of
energy, site improvements and
(Cent, on Page 16)
ot Commerce to perform in its
Third Aimual Holiday Music-A-Thon.
The 60 third and fourth grade
Freeporters, directed by Co­lumbus
Avenue School Music
teacher Kariil Mertins, will be
pinging on December 4, be­ginning
at 12:30 pm. The musical
program, in recognition and
celebration of the Chanukah and
Christmas holiday season, will
taie place on the Town of
Hempstead's Showmobile which
will be located in Wantagh, on the.
west side of Wantagh. Avenue/
two and one-half b l o ^ nortkjjf
Sunrise Highway.
The Hrfiday Music-A-Thon is
coordinated and sponsored by the
Wantagh Chamber jjf Commerce
in cooperation with the Town of
Hempstead Department of Parks
and Recreation, Department of
Industry and Commerce, and
Burger King.
Freeporters who cannot hear
the Columbus Avenue Sdiool
Chorus in Wantagh will have the
opportunity to hear them sing at
Columbus's Wmter CoiKcrt to be
held on Wednesday, December
16, at 8 pro, in the school's
auditorium.
Also invited to perform at the.
Mnsic-A-Thon is Freeport HiglT
School's choral students, directed
by" Choral Music Instructor
Stephen Pagano. The 120 high
schoci vocalists will be singing on
December 3.
was sold to Binder. At that time,
THE LEADER was led to believe
that the County would tike
definitive action fiAowing the
New York State Legistlrturc's
spedal session on reassessment.
However, the leg^Ia^e ac&m,
followed by Governor Carey's
veto, has led to no changes in
the situation here in Nassau
County.
Aconding to Hempstead
Town Presiding Sapervisor
Tom Gulotta, he is waiting .for
a court decisioQ on a case present­ly
before it. White, towever,
said that the case offers "no
legal impediihents" to granting
the previously agreed upon tax
abatement on the prxtperty.
Both White and representa­tives
ot The Freeport Mall
mertiiants caH the development
of the Grant's sttn« important
for the future of The Man.
"There is no question in any­body's
mind," said White,
that "this development wtmld
bring added traffic, people and
stores to The Man."
tarry Grebinar of Irving's
Men's Store, co-chairman of
the Retail Division of the Freeport
Chamber of Commerce, said a
: store that siic "would anchor,
attracting many potential cus­tomers."
Grebinar and his co-chairman.
Ira Bryi of Barasch'i,
have written Gulotta and County
Eieoitive Fran Purcefl asking
for quick action and completioo
of the transaction.
The bnHding which boosed
the Grant store is owned by
South Nassau. Communities
Hospital. -It has been vacant
since 1974 when the national
cfaaiti <rf W.T. Grant's went
bankrupt.
.Jerry finder-of Jade Kahn
Music' Studios has offeied to
pUTdiase ' tt>e--property -.-and "
Tcdevebv it^ not -oecessatUy .
as "ii"ate"ii» one ^ his-mnsic
stores; but in a way — he says —
to tntng quality enterprises into
Vkx vniage. Consideied by mcst
to be an imaginative and agres-sive
succesdiil businessman.
Binder has continually expressed
great faith in Freeport's economic '
fiiture.
.According to. the village's
former Business Development
Director Martin Silberg, sensitive
and lengthy negotiations «^th
several govenunetttal bodies
had' to be successfully concluded
for the sale. Included in these
were the grantings irf easements
bom both New York City and
New York State, and appK»v»l
of a loan from HUD to Binder.
Mayta Vflute, in fact, men-,
tioned-one of diem this week.
Noting the hard work that had
gone into brtn^g the deal
along to' its almost saccesriol
conclusion, WUte remembered
how Silberg bad called one state
official in the hospital in ord«r to
be certain to get his agency's
approval of a small, but vitally
needed piece of the whole pie.
The contract was to have to
been signed on August 20, but
that date was cancelled iust
days prior because of the Board
ot 2>npervtsor's failure to act
opoa the Boatd of Assessors'
recommendations for tax ,abste-ment
on the property.
The building is still empty.
"Tbe Board rt Supervisors is
apparently waiting for some
court decision or legal opinion
or more definite legislative
action. But. no one can tell
how long any of that will take.
Mayor White, seeing the
empty store in the heart of his
village's Ceotril Business
District, and aware that its
redevelopment could pump rci
fife into flie 4«a, mose
am begiaiung to wonder ii the
Presidiig Supervisor b waiting
for the building to go for tares.'"
:'{