Student Governmental Study Finished
The members of the Independent Study Course In
Village Government completed their study of
Freeport's government and submitted their re-port
to Mayor William White and the Village
Board of Trustees at a meeting of the Freeport
High School student group and the officials
held recently.
"In"their report the students recommended that
the Village replace the present part-time chief
executive with a full-time position, and that
the Village Board of Trustees be expanded from
its present five members to seven. The class
split evenly on whether the full-time chief
executive should be a mayor or manager.
The 13 high school seniors and one junior re-searched
various aspects of village and city
government in Freeport and elsewhere. Their
complete recommertdations and reports were com-piled
in a booklet which can be read in the
Village Clerk's office or borrowed from the
Freeport Memorial Library.
Also included in the booklet are the results of
a telephone public opinion questionnaire asked
of nearly *tOO of Freeport's registered voters
by the teenagers.
The questionnaire revealed that: (l) A major-ity
of those surveyed feel that the Village
government is reasonably responsive to public
needs, and two-thirds are quite satisfied with
the availability of Freeport's uniformed person-nel;
and (Z) While approximately two-thirds- of
those questioned feel positively towards part-time
Village leadership, a majority also felt
that a full-time chief executive would make a
difference for Freeport.
work provides us with the type of well re-searched,
documented and unbiased data which
would have cost the Village government a sub-stantial
sum if we had had to use the services
of a private research firm. They and all res-idents
may be assured that the study will be
in the forefront as we continue to seek to
. guide the future of our Village., W§ also . .
note with appreciation the 'tOO Freeporters
who gave of their time to answer the student's
telephone poll as well as the municipal officials
. throughout the County and State who aided in
this study. While the Village indeed benefits
from this project, it must be mentioned that
the students themselves have derived valuable
experience which will serve them as they enter
higher education and take their place in our
community as involved adult citizens."
Get Your Bags
The project had begun in September, 1973 at the
"suggestion of"Mayor'White and former Village
Trustee Berkeley Swezey. The students all com-pleted
individual and group projects, as well as
the questionnaire. They net as an independent
study course, outside of school on their own
time.
Commenting on the report, Mayor White stated,
"All members of the Freeport Board of Tpustees
join with me in expressing gratitude to the
students who took part in this study. Their
SSBs
Village Beautification Committee members Nancy
Lamb (left) and Martha OeSalvo are almost dwarf-ed
as they display one of the 55 gallon, heavy
duty plastic bags which are on sale at Village
Hall to aid residents in disposing of lawn cut-tings
and other debris from yard cleanups.
The bags, at 10 for $1.75, are available at
the counter adjacent to the Treasurer's Of-fice,
1st floor, every weekday between 8:30am
and 'trC
Village News
A PUBLIC INFORMATION BULLETIN OF THE VILLAGE OF FREEPORT
46 NORTH OCEAN AVENUE TELEPHONE FReeport 8-4000 WILLIAM H. WHITE, MAYOR
JULY, 1971*
Grant To Fund Study
Mayor William White (seated) signs contract with KRS Associates, Inc. as KRS President Patrick
Kane (2nd from right), KRS Project Manager Richard Howsley and State Office for Local Govern-ment
Regional Representative Joseph Giordano (left) look on.
KRS Associates, Inc. of Reston, Va., have been
retained by the Village to conduct a six-month
study dealing with the day-to-day operations
of the Village and the past utilization of
monies granted by various federal and state
agencies. The study is one of two being con-ducted
in New York. Serving as a model for
'municipalities, the project is being financed
through a $25,130 Federal-State Comprehensive
Planning and Management Assistance Program
Grant through the State's Office of Planning
Services and Office for Local Government.
KRS, which has in the past acted as consultants
in the Towns of Islip and Hempstead, will work
closely with various Department heads, and at
the conclusion of the study, will have de-veloped
a comprehensive list of priorities
which will give the Village guidelines under-which
to develop a five to ten-year capital
improvement program involving such areas as
streets, parks, housing, sewers and water sup-ply.
Such guidelines will be valuable in any
necessary improvement programs, but most
especially in the case of Special Revenue
Sharing now being considered by Congress.
Under that program, the Village will not, as
in the past, receive earmarked funds, but will
itself determine how best the monies can be
used.
Trustees: George H. Fairberg, Ralph P. Franco, Thomas J. Lovelidge, Dorothy Storm
Village Clerk: Thomas DeVincenzo - Treasurer: James J. Lyons - Counsel: Oakley Gentry Jr.
Based on the recommendation of Superintendent
of Recreation and Parks Stanley Brekne, the
Freeport Village Board decided not to open
the Village's new Recreation Center until
early September,
Superintendent Brekne reported that the Raynor
Rock Smith Building had been completed on
schedule and has housed his Department's staff
since May0 However, while it had been opti-mistically
thought that on-site construction,
which includes the outdoor training, diving
and Olymphic— size pools, would be completed
well ahead of the November, 197^ deadline
called for by contracts, to allow the Center
to operate this summer, the nationwide short-ages
of material which have plagued the pro-ject
from the beginning had proved it un-realistic
to open a truly operable facility.
Further, the Superintendent told the Board
that while all pools were virtually finished
and could probably hgve been put in operation
this summer, based on his experience in open-ing
many such municipal recreational facilities
on Long Island, it would be unfair to resi-dents
buying yearly or summer season discount
tickets to do so with a high risk factor,
"As any home pool owner knows," Mr0 Brekne
said, "the complex mechanisms science has de-veloped
to protect the swimmer's health and
comfort today are delicate and even though we
are using the very best, they are prone to
flaws that can almost predictably cause break-downs
in their early operational stages."
The Freeport Board of Trustees, noting that the
Village is not immune to the graffiti phenome-non
which has plagued more urban areas for the
past several years, has announced a stepped" up
drive by the Freeport Police to bring to prose-cution
all persons found defacing or in any way
vandalizing Village or private property.
Trustee Dorothy Storm, who brought the matter
before the Board, stated that parents should be
particularly concerned with the problem. "In
the great majority of cases, it is our young-sters
who are tempted to be 'artistic1 so it
must be the responsibility of parents to point
Mayor William White stated that he and other
members of the Board of Trustees had to re-luctantly
concur with the Superintendent's
recommendation to postpone the Center's open-ing
until the fall. "While it is a disappoint-ment,"
he said, "we are aware of the severe
shortages of materials faced by contractors
and are extremely gratified that they were
able to overcome that difficulty to such an
extent that we have a completed Center ahead
of schedule — a feat not often accomplished
with recreational facilities in even more nor-mal
times.
"We must, however, acknowledge Superintendent
Brekne's expertise and agree that it would be
unfair to residents to open the pools for the
necessary operating fee when there is the very
strong likelihood that there would be periodic,
and perhaps lengthy, shutdowns. We have prom-ised
the finest recreational center in the
northeast. Those Freeporters who have toured
the facility say that's what we've built. We
can not open operation on any lesser scale."
Superintendent Brekne explained that the Cen-ter's
pools, including that within the Raynor
Rock Smith Building for year-round swimming
would be periodically filled and tested during
the summer so that any weaknesses in the sys-tems
can be discovered and corrected before
becoming fully operational.
out to their children the serious legal conse-quences
under Village ordinances if caught de-facing
property."
Reporting that painting recently done at a
neighborhood park, as well as equipment set up,
had been completely destroyed overnight, Trustee
Storm said, "Such acts are costly — both in
taxpayers' monies and in time taken away from
residents to enjoy our parks. Such vandals
must be stopped and all witnessing the deface-ment
or malicious destruction of private or
Village property are urged to immediately con-tact
the Freeport police."
Some of the men who worked on the Liberty Park Apartments urban renewal project when it was
only a dream 12 years ago, were on hand when the 100-unit complex was dedicated recently. They
are (left to right) Seymour Jarmul architect; Rev. S. Frank Emmanuel, first President of Sun-rise
Park Housing Development Fund Co., Inc., the sponsoring developer; Rabbi Reuben Katz, 1st
Vice President of Sunrise and President on the Non-Profit Interfaith Clergy Housing Enterprises,
founders of the corporation; former Mayor Robert Sweeney; James Dunne, Freeport Director of
Planning and Urban Renewal; Jay Raddock, President of Raddock Organization, Ltd., builders; and
Daniel Mandel, Sunrise attorney.
The Liberty Park Apartments, the urban renewal
project located off Sunrise Highway immediately
east of Liberty Avenue, were formally dedicated
on June 9.
Liberty Park constitutes the first phase of the
Bennington Park Urban Renewal program, the re-development
of the 75-year-old neighborhood
which formerly consisted of unsightly and aged
wooden frame structures and cement block fac-tories.
Developed on a 6.5 acre site purchased
by the Village from New York City as vacant
land, the 100-unit, middle-income Liberty Park
apartments were primarily designed to house
former tenants of the Bennington Park area
whose homes were acquired by the Freeport Urban
Renewal Agency and demolished to allow the
second phase, 200 middle-income units, to rise
on that 18.5 acre site in the future.
Families have already moved into the six, two-story,
brick facade structures. Containing
from one to four bedrooms, each apartment has
its own entrance to the grounds. The site
also contains parking for 125 cars, several
children's play areas and a community build-ing.
All utilities are underground with an
abundance of trees and landscaping adding to
the attractiveness of the area0
The total estimated project cost of the Lib-erty
Park and Bennington Park complexes, ex-clusive
of development, is SB.*! million, three
quarters of which is federally funded with the
State and Village taking on shares of one-eighth
each. Development costs for Liberty
are slightly over $2.5 million. According to
Freeport Director of Planning and Urban Renew-al,
James Dunne, the Village's actual cost is
much less because it is given credit towards
its contribution in capital improvements and
facilities which service the areas, as well
as previous improvements.
