Board Authorizes $ 50,000 Petito Gives Reason For Opposition
For Dredging
Town Councilman Philip B.
Healey said the Town Board approved
authorization of a $ 50,000
bond issue to dredge 18 entrances
of publicly - owned shoaled canals
in Great South Bay, Massapequa.
Healey pointed out that wind
and tide action has clogged these
canal entrances with sediment
making it extremely difficult for
boat passage in and out of the
canals.
" As soon as the Board authorizes
the bond issue for this
job," Healey said, " the Department
of Public Works will call
for bids on the project." He
added, ' ' If favorable bids are r e ceived
I am advised by the Town
Engineer that the job of clearing
these canal entrances can be accomplished
in approximately sixty
days. Preliminary plans have
been prepared by Town Engineer
Francis E. O'Connor and funds
for the project will come from
the Town's Capital Budget."
Dog Rescue Ends In
Chain Reaction
Nine year old David Rauch,
of 62 Wenwood Drive, Massape-qua
Park, made an attempt on
Tuesday afternoon to rescue a dog
who had broken through the ice
on Jones Creek at the John Burns
Park launching ramp. The ice
broke. Gerald Presta, 58, of
Brooklyn, a housepainter, who
was painting a nearby house, went
to the youngster's rescue.
Patrolman Salvatore Sciarrino
of the Seventh Precinct of
the Nassau : ounty police arrived
on the scene and also went to the
rescue. Several minutes later
the Massapequa Fire Departments
members Karl Thuge,
Liegh Anderson and Harold Cornelius
also joined in the rescue
of the policeman, the painter, the
boy and the dog. All except Anderson
were taken to Mid Island
Hospital and treated for exposure.
While all the rescue was going
on the dog swam safely to shore.
Call Hearing To Air
Eel Grass Problem
Town Councilman Philip B.
Healey has called for a meeting
on Friday, March 15th at the
Marjorie Post Park, Community
Room at 8: 30 p. m. to discuss eel
grass as it effects the Massapequa
area.
At the meeting Healey will
present a plan the Town feels
will effectively reduce the
nuisance of eel grass. Members
of the Beach and Marine Division
will be present, along with officials
of the Department of Public
Works and Engineering Department.
Interested persons are invited
to attend so that they may participate
in the discussion.
School Offers New Information
Service On Choosing Career
Leonard C. Marino, Director
of Guidance, announced that
Farmingdale Senior High School
has been invited to participate
in a new occupational information
service to aid students in
choosing an occupation or a
career.
Under the direction of the newly
formed Board of Cooperative
Educational Services of Nassau
County, the New York State Department
of Labor has written
approximately ?.{) 0 occupational
guides of interest to students
in the Nassau - Suffolk I^ abor
Market. The guides will contain
national and local information
about job descriptions, requirements
and job outlook.
The occupational information
ser\ ice is a demonstration project
designed by the New York
State Education Department to
test the effectiveness of specially
prepared / occupation i information
materials for use in career guidance.
For the students at Farming-dale
High School a microfilm
reader has been provided that enables
the student to read on a
screen any occupational brief
that interests him. He may also
receive a printed copy of this
brief to take with him for study
or for discussion with parents
and counselors. The entire cost
for the project will be funded
under the Federal Vocational Education
Act of 1963. Students
also will be given the opportunity
to rate the usefulness of
these guides in helping them
make adequate career plans. At
the conclusion of the project,
counselors will evaluate the occupational
guides and their use.
Police Offer Free Film
xToo Late For Regrets'
Nassau Police Commissioner
Francis B, l. ooney reported that
the count-, police has a new film,
" Too Late for Regrets" which
will be available for showing in
the Department's public information
programs.
" Too Late For Regrets" is a
15- minute color sound film depicting
the act and consequences
of nonprofessional auto theft
committed by voung people. It
underlines the seriousness of
joy riding and the efficiency of
modern police methods of apprehension
during a fast- moving
simple, straightforward dramatization.
Last year the county police
public information lecture and
film programs went before 1,862
audiences totalling more than
Page 2
To JFK Cultural Center
Oyster Bay Town Supervisor
Michael N. Petito continued his
opposition to an expanded cultural
center at Mitchel Field, claiming
that the overall cost of such a project
is growing daily and now approaches
a quarter of a billion
dollars in cost when debt service
is included. Petito, who is chairman
of the standing committee on
Public Safety for the County
Board of Supervisors, pointed to *
figures which have almost doubled
in the past few years concerning
the cost estimates of the
entire John F. Kennedy Edu-cultural
complex. While voicing
support for a County coliseum
which gives indication of being
self- supporting, Petito warned
that he would give close study to
any cost figures for even the
single building.
" When this was first proposed
many months ago," stated the
Supervisor, " it was estimated
that the overall cost would be just
over 10- million dollars. Then it
began to grow and now we have
an estimate of some 22 million
dollars. I have asked the Board
to try and settle at a figure closer
to 15 million dollars for theCol-iseum."
Petito went on to point to other
aspects of the total Cultural Center
proposal which would present
a hardship to taxpayers in the
county. He cited the impending
costs of a new county sewer system
and an expanded County medical
building, stating that appi oval
of the entire J- F- K Cultural
Center would raise county taxes
50 percent in die next few years.
" I'm not prepared to give my
approval to any project that is
going to put our local residents'
backs to the wall, and I think
that's what's happening right now
on some of these proposals,"
Petito said. He cited costs of as
much as 25- cents per $ 100 in
increased taxes for the principal
and interest for the Cultural Center,
plus another 12 to 13- cents
per $ 100 for maintenance of the
expanded buildings.
T h e S u p e r v i s o r also stated
these figures .
When the J- F- K Center was
first announced several years
ago, the project cost was estimated
at 43 million dollars.
A second statement some
months later raised that figure
to 48 million dollars and it continued
spiralling until an estimate
given to the Board a week ago
was placed at 74 million dollars.
It is now generally conceded that
the costs will exceed 100 million
dollars, and when debt service
and other costs are brought in,
the amount is staggering to the
county homeowner.
In a further reference to the
expanding costs of the Cultural
Center, the Supervisor showed
that expense estimates from a
report by Booz, Allen and Hamilton
Associates placed the cost
of a coliseum at 17.7 million
dollars while the architect later
estimated those costs at approximately
21.6 million dollars. The
entire proposed cultural complex
as proposed by the County Executive
would include a Concert
Hall, Forum Theatre, Social Center,
Fine Arts Museum, Science
and Technology Museum and Central
Reference Library in addition
to die Coliseum.
Petito also pointed to an impending
tax impact from the new
Seaford Sewer District on the
communities of Massapequa,
North Massapequa, Wantagh,
Seaford, Levittown, Farmingdale
and. Plainedge which was estimated
to be $ 1.54 per $ 100 of
assessed valuation.
Award Contract For Oyster Bay
Expressway Improvement
Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller
this week announced the
award of a contract for $ 408,000
to Sturi Corporation of New York,
for safely improvement of the
Wantagh- Oyster Bay Expressway
in the Towns of Hempstead and
Oyster Bay, Nassau County. The
work will include installation of
a box- beam type median barrier
for a total of 8.98 miles.
The firm submitted the lowest
of eight bids to the State Department
of Transportation.
The existing corrugated beam
barrier will be removed and the
improved barrier installed from
Jerusalem Avenue northerly to
Jericho Turnpike.
Scheduled for completion by
December 18, 1968, all work will
be under the supervision of Austin
M. Sarr, District Engineer in
charge of the Transportation Department's
District Office at
Babylon.
Expert Describes Proposed
Transportation Facilities
A comprehensive program for
boosting the attractiveness and
efficiency of the Long Island
Railroad and transpdrtation-facilities
throughout the New
York metropolitan region was
described this week by an official
of the agency charged with
making the innovations.
The program, which will open
next fall, will feature 620 new
cars for the Long Island Railroad,
Sidney Frigand, community
relations director for the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority,
told the monthly meeting
of the Nassau South Shore chapter
of the Long Island Real
Estate Board.
The cars will be soundproofed,
and designed to travel 100 miles
an hour. They will contain special
lighting, doubly protected windows,
carpeting, contoured seats,
and a bar- cafe car.
Frigand noted that transportation
problems were now being
tackled as regional problems,
instead . of strictly local ones.
Improvement of the Railroad, he
said, would allow the labor
market of New York City itself
to expand into industries on the
Island. It would also facilitate
" i n t e r n a l travel between
Nassau and Suffolk counties.
Frigand said the expansion of
rail facilities was the only way
of solving Long Island's transportation
problems. " We figure
it would take 26 more lanes of
highway to accommodate all the
people who use the LIRR, if we
were to look in that direction,"
he said. He urged local residents
to o v e r c o m e their " auto-orientated'
psychology." " We
willingly pay taxes for more
highways," he said. " But we
are unwillingly supporting the
railroad which is the backbone
of this entire region."
* * P ^
2OU. 00O persons. The subjects
included narcotics; bicycle and
pedestrian safety; warning to women;
burglary prevention; first
aid; community relations; scientific
crime detection; forgery;'
child molestation; the law and
you and police careers.
" Too Late for Regrets" and
other public information prog,
can be obtained by school, civic
or church groups by writing
to Commissioner Francis
B, Looney, Nassau County Police
Headquarters, Mineola, giving
the name of the orpaniza*
tion, date, time and Place of.
meeting. At least two weeks notice,
an alternate date, and the
telephone number where someone
In authority can be contacted
should also be included.
George V. 0* Haire, Town of
Oyster Bay deputy supervisor,
will serve as aide to the Grand
Marshall at the annual St.
Patrick's D; iy Parade in New
York City on Saturday, March
16.
Joins New Staff
Theresa Napolitano of 189
Syracuse Avenue, North Massapequa,
has joined the news stall
of the Mineola American.
Mrs. Napolitano is a member
of the Farmingdale Writers Club,
and is a part time student at
Nassau Community College, Garden
City.
Congratulating the Massapequa Elks for winning
the George Washington Honor Medal from the Freedoms
Foundation of Valley Forge for their community
projects on Americanism is Supervisor
of the Town of Oyster Bay, Michael N. Petito
( center). Receiving the best wishes are Elk An-gelo
D. Honcallo ( right), and Thomas Earey,
Chairman of the Americanism Committee and Past
Exhalted Huler. Petito was the featured speaker
at the ceremony.
Farmingdale OBSERVER, Thursday, February 29, 1968
