Observer_1986-08-20; East Rockaway/Lynbrook Observer

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VOL. 33 NO. 34 Wednesday, ju^ AW, 300 PER COPY
Geier Sets The Record Straight
by Lynbrook Mayor William P. Geier
It has been the policy of my
a d m i n i s t r a t i o n not to
respond to letters to local
newspapers or editorial
comments either lauding or
criticizing my administra-tion.
This policy has been
followed under the belief
that the residents of our Vil-lage
have the right to com-ment
on the activities and
decisions of their elected
officials. However, a recent
article written by Messrs.
Scarpato and Smith has
compelled me to deviate
from this policy. To com-ment
on decisions made by
public officials is one thing;
however, to personally
defame and attack the integ-rity
of village officials is
quite another.
unequivocally and without
reservation that at no time
did I or any member of the
Good Government Party
hear the tape of the inter-view
of the candidates which
was openly conducted by the
Lynbrook Police Benevo-lent
Association. Let me
also state emphatically that
at no time did I in any
manner say to Mr. Scarpato
that I heard any tapes. Also,
Deputy Mayor Dreyer cate-gorically
denies ever telling
Mr. Smith that he spoke
with someone who heard the
tapes; his statement was that
he spoke with someone who
was present at the interview
when the statements were
made by the Independent
Party candidate.
Let me state categorically. One must really reflect on
why Messrs. Scarpato and
Smith some six months after
an alleged incident occurred
suddenly feel compelled that
they must disclose these
alleged activities to the resi-dents
of our Village. I must
question whether or not
such activities are politically
motivated by the gentlemen
who authored the article and
the party they represent.
I have personally known
Mr, Scarpato for over
twenty years and have
always respected him as a
dedicated member of our
Community. However, I
have searched my mind and
soul to come up with a rea-son
why Mr. Scarpato
would utter falsehoods with
regard to statements that I
allegedly made. The only
conclusion that I can arrive
Statue of Liberty Mural
by Carol Monaco
A mural representing
"America The Beautiful"
has been painted in East
Rock a way. commemorat-ing
the rclurbishnient of the
Statue of Liberty.
The colorful artwork is
located on the wall oi the
Pam Narrow Fabrics build-ing
on Main Street. The 77-
foot-long mural displays a
bald eagle soaring over
mountains and wheat lields
as the Statue of Liberty
stands with her torch lit next
to the New York City
skyline.
"1 think it looks very
pretty. They did a nice job
on it, "said Jerome Devere,
an employee at the building.
"The employees at the
Pam building were very
supportive of our project.
They were very encourag-ing,"
said PaulijieCasalaspro.
Mrs. Casalaspro, the
artisticdesigner of the mural
and project supervisor,
directed the painting by
Alice Colon, Vassa Halatas,
and Jennifer Guadagno of
Rhame Avenue School;
Heather Dunn of Centre
Avenue School; James Gil-more
of St. Raymond's
School; Lori Levonius and
Peter Racanelli of East
Rockaway High School;
and Carol Monaco.
The mural was based on
the student's drawings
chosen from a contest held
in the East Rockaway
schools. The contest was
sponsored by the East
Rockaway Liberty Centen-nial
Committee last year.
at is that he is either annoyed
that the residents of this Vil-lage
did not see fit to re-elect
him two years ago or he has
further political aspirations
which would motivate him
to utter phrases which
border on defamation.
I have been asked by
f r i e n d s and residents
whether or not 1 was
informed of what was said
by the Independent Party
candidate who was inter-viewed
by the Lynbrook
PBA. The answer to this
question is "Yes". The peo-ple
who attended the inter-view
were so utterly shocked
at the comments of the
Independent Party candi-date
that they felt that all the
residents should know what
was said. I would suggest to
Mr. Scarpato that this is the
real issue at hand. The can-didate
uttered statements
which can be categorized
plain and simply as ethnic
slurs. This is what he should
be concerned about for it is
this type language and polit-ical
tactics which would tend
to divide rather than unite
this great Village.
As to comments about
conflict of interest, I would
like to remind Mr. Scarpato
that he was on the Board of
Trustees when two of the
PBA contracts were voted
on and approved, and I must
remind him that he did so
without question or hesita-tion.
So, again I must ques-tion
his comments and
motives for trying to cast
aspersions on both myself
and Lynbrook's fine Police
Department.
Finally, let me state that I
know, Mr. Scarpato knows,
and God knows that I did
not make any statements
regarding the listening to
any tapes. I urge him and
members of his party to
refrain from activities which
would tend to divide this
Community and urge them
to join with me to partici-pate
in constructive dia-logue
and activities which
would continue to make
Lynbrook the great Village
that it is today.
William P. Geier,
Mayor
Inc. Village of Lynbrook
Editor's Note: The following
is a response to a recent news
release issued by Lynbrook
Independent Party officials.
Senior Housing Dofeated In Lynbrook
A capacity crowd turned
out to attend the Lynbrook
Board of Trustees Meeting
held at Village Hall on
Monday, Aug. 4, 1986 at 8
p.m. The subject on the
agenda that interested them
was the proposal of the Dio-cese
of Rockville Centre to
the Village of Lynbrook to
erect a 75 unit Senior Citi-zens
facility on land near the
baseball diamond at Greis
Veterans Memorial Park
and close to the Long Island
Railroad. The Lynbrook
Board has been carefully
considering the proposed
project for the past two
months.
Mayor Geier mentioned
that this had been one of the
most difficult issues to come
before him in the last three
and a half years. The shor-tage
of adequate housing for
Seniors and the plight of
many Seniors forced to hold
on to their large homes with
rising costs and scarcity of
available apartments etc.,
was carefully considered by
the Mayor and Board. He
further stated that it had
by Annette Ling
been made quite clear that
Lynbrook residents did not
want this particular prop-osal
adopted by the Board.
The proposal would require
20,000 square ft. of park
land, and the zoning would
have to be changed to resi-dential
from parkland. It
would be a HUD project
and the Mayor wanted to
know who would control the
Board of Directors of the
proposed project. Mayor
Geier offered a resolution:
"That we will cease further
negotiations with the Dio-cese
of Rockville Centre and
all activities to develop a
Senior Citizens Housing
Complex and notify the
Diocese forth with." This
resolution was passed to
great applause by those
present.
Mrs. Ann Pellegrino had
turned into the Village Hall
a special petition signed by
850 residents opposing the
proposed housing project.
Don and Gerry Matzen
reported that the fund for
Peter Henry, the Lynbrook
youngster with Leukemia
had risen to $14,880 and a
donation was accepted from
Ed Montgomery from the
Lynbrook Elks Club of
$250.
A public hearing was held
on a Zoning Change
r e q u e s t e d by Summit
Enterprises for 639 Merrick
Rd., the former sight of
Reddi-Wip, Inc. This had
been a subsidiary of Hunt-
Wesson Foods. The location
is currently zoned for light
manufacturing and one por-tion
of it residential. Sum-mit
Enterprises petitioned
the Board to change the
Zoning to Commercial to
permit the construction of a
60 ft. four story office build-ing
with accomodation for
175 cars on the site. Resi-dents
of Vine St. and Mar-shall
Ave. were present to
voice their concern over
traffic safety, general traffic
conditions and already con-gested
parking in the area.
The Board reserved decision
on this matter to a later date.
(Continued on Page 12)
Ann J. Conway To Serve
On Epilepsy Foundation
Above (left to right) Lori Levonius, Peter Racanelli,
James Gilmore, Pauline Casalaspro, Alice Colon,
Vassa Halatas,
Anna J. Conway, a resi-dent
of Lynbrook for over
23 years, has recently been
elected to the Epilepsy
Foundation of Nassau
County's Board of Direc-tors.
She has been appointed
Co-Chairperson of the
Legislative and Public Pol-icy
Committee.
The Epilepsy Foundation
of Nassau County is a not-for-
profit health and human
services agency which has
been helping, for over thirty
years. Long Island residents
who have epilepsy, seizure
disorders, developmental
disabilities and associated
conditions. The Founda-tion's
services include a med-ically-
supervised Clinic, a
Day Treatment Program, a
Work and Activity Pro-gram,
four Residences, and
Community Education and
Outreach Services. The Epi-lespy
Foundation of Nassau
County is an affiliate of the
(Continued on Page 12)