Village News 1980-06

              Once again, the Freeport
Chamber of Commerce, the Vil-lage,
government, Freeport Arts
Council and the new Woodcleft
Nautical Mile Association and
other individuals are working to
bring together an enjoyable and
eventful summer for residents
and the attraction of out-of-tpwjjers.
Events began on May
25 when a flotilla "of some 100
boats representing the Freeport,
Salty Bay, Nassau and Harbour
Point Yacht Clubs travelled up
their respective canals to con--
verge at Long Creek and on to
Reynolds Canal for the Blessing
of the Fleet, a tradition of over
20 years. An old Fashioned
Memorial Day Weekend of music,
exhibitions and demonstrations
on the Nautical Mile was then
sponsored by that area's new
association the weekend of
May 30-June 1. There's a lot
more coming:
OLD FASHIONED
FOURTH OF JULY PARADE
Both the Freeport Firemen's
Exempt Association and the Free-port
Chamber of Commerce are
scheduled to join in the gala pa-rade
the morning of the Fourth
which is part of the New York
Harbor Festival in Manhattan.
The two-mile long parade will
begin at Battery Park, travel
down Broadway and end at City
Hall Park. The Exempt's will be
parading in "Jumbo," their
award-winning antique fire en-gine.
The Chamber will be man-ning
a float depicting upcoming
summer events in the Village.
INTERNATIONAL FAIR
The Freeport Mall will be the
site of an International Fair of
ethnic foods, culture exhibits,
entertainment, etc. on July 5.
9 am to 6 pm, (Rain Date:
July 12). Profits realized by the
sale of food by'one group will go
towards a Cuban relief fund.
Ethnic groups not already signed
up for participation should call
378-0797. The event is co-sponsored
by the Mall merchants
and the Village's Stabilization
Committee.
SIXTH ANNUAL
GREAT CANOE RACES
Freeport's annual canoe races
• for amateur paddlers of all ages
will be held on Sunday, July 20
from 9:30 am to approximately
3 pm; Racers will take off from
Woodcleft Avenue and paddle
past Waterfront Park at the foot
of South Long Beach Avenue, the
spectator area where race com-mentary
will be given. A post-,
race clambake will be held on
Woodcleft Avenue. For further
information, call the Chamber at
FR 8-7402, 10 am to 2 pm, week-days.
" "THIRD ANNUAL OFFSHORE '
POWER BOAT RACES
The Town of Hempstead's Guy
Lombardo Marina in the Village
will again be the site of one race
in the nationwide circuit of off-shore
power boat races. While the
actual date of the race is Satu-day.
August 2, the boats and
racers will arrive on July 31 at the
Marina and the public is invited
to come down and view the
powerful boats and share in the
pre-race excitement. On Race
Day, ah area for a spectator fleet
will be designated while land-locked
spectators can see the
boats take off from the Marina at
10 am and then keep up with the
race at the communications tent.
For further information, please
call the Chamber.
FALL FESTIVAL WEEKEND
The Long Island Tourism Com-mission,
working with the New
York State Department of Com-merce,
has designated Freeport
as a "Fall Festival" site the
weekend of September 5-7.
Events lined up thus far include a
boat tour for prospective house
buyers of Freeport's residential
canals followed by a reception
at the Freeport Recreation Cen-ter.
The Center that weekend will
be the site of the Freeport Arts
Council's Annual Creative Fair
which is co-sponsored by the
Freeport Recreation Department.
Other groups wishing to sponsor
an event during the "Fall Fest-ival
Weekend" should contact the
Village at FR8-4000.
FIFTHANNUAL
EN-THE-WATER BOAT SHOW
The Marine Trades Association
will again sponsor their massive
show of ocean-going yachts,
outboards, sailing crafts and
marine accessories at the Guy
Lombardo Marina on September
21-23 and 28-30. This event is
often tied in with a visit by a
"tall ship" to the Marina. For.
further information, call the
Chamber.
JAZZ CONCERTS •
For the second year in a row,
famed jazz pianist Marion
McPhartland and her group will
perform for dancing and listen-ing
' pleasure at the Freeport
Recreation Center in an event
sponsored' by the Village's
Alcohol and Substance Control
Center as part of "It's OK Not To
"Drink Month." The event will be
held the evening of September 27
and there will be a slight ad-mission
charge. Drinks based on
Freeport's famed water and
homemade foods will be served.
Tentatively scheduled for a
September Sunday evening is a
performance by Lionel Hampton
sponsored by Lydia E. Hall
Hospital for the benefit of the vol-unteer
Freeport Fire Depart-ment's
new ambulance.
OTHER EVENTS
The Freeport Mall merchants,
the new Woodcleft Nautical Mile
Association, the Freeport Arts
Council, the Freeport Recreation
Department and the Village's
various fishing clubs and marinas
will hold other events throughout
the summer and early fall. Please
consult the local media for
details.
The Freeport Board of Trustees
has adopted a local law whereby
owners of all houses and other
buildings within the Village must
prominently display the numeri-.
cal address of the building so that
it can be easily seen from the
street.
Affected under the law are
all commercial, industrial, institu-tional
and business buildings as
well as one-family homes and
apartment residences.
Those not adhering to the law
are liable for summoning to
Village Court where a fine may be
imposed. The primary purpose
of the legislation is to assist fire,
police and other emergency
services in responding to calls for
aid as quickly as possible. An
<:easily seen address is also ac-commodating
to visitors and
eases the delivery of mail and
(packages. ..
JUNE1
I
A Public Information Bulletin
of The Village Of Freeport
46 North Ocean Avenue
Telephone FReeport 8-4000
William H. White, Mayor
-PubliC'Meetingsorvthe=1st. and 3rd. Mondays of the-Month, at 8:00 P:.M.
Left to right, Ginnie Courtney holds Mark, Melissa Lawless holds Conor, Kevin Courtney: backs up Michael.
Studer and Mary Studer cradles Kathy during a recent "cousinly" visit at the Courtney's new Roosevelt
Avenue home. They are all members of a family totaling 46 current Freeport residents of four generations
in their clan. At a time when much of Long Island is losing young families who can not afford housing in the
communities where they grew up, Freeport offers two unique programs. Steven and Ginnie Courtney
found their house through the' Village's Homefinder Service, which charges no commission to either
buyer or seller. Mary and Michael Studer as well as Melissa arid Thomas Lawless, all New York City-apart-ment
dwellers after their marriages, came home through the Freeport Homesteading program, which
offers completely rehabilitated houses to qualified persons at a top price of $15,000, with a down payment
of $200 and a low-interest mortgage. Information on both programs, available to residents and non-residents,
can be obtained from Ramona Crook at Village Hall, FR 8-4000, ext. 296. Homefinders is also
soliciting houses on the market for its list of prospective buyers.
-
Trustees: Dorothy Storm, Alfred Sirlin, James Clark, Timothy Peternana
Village Clerk: Thomas DeVincenzo; Treasurer: James J. Lyons; Counsel: Michael Solomon
Garbage Disposal Proposal: An Explanation From The Freeport Fire Department
The Village of Freeport is
considering a proposal for the
sale of the municipal incinerator
21A acre site on Albany Avenu o
BW Energy Systems Inc. of Mai
hatian. BW. would ' construct a
garbage disposal unit on the site.
Due to recent events, such as the
Love Canal problem, some news
reports of the proposal before the
Board of Trustees have tended to
be dramatic, less than accurate
.and constituted of half-truths. -
The foregoing is in no way an
attempt to go into the highly
technical material involved. That
will be gone into in the future
if the Board takes a step which
will make the project more a
reality. For now, the Village's'
concern is that residents be in-formed
as to why consideration is
being given to BWs proposal.
•.. ;• *-*' * * *
Q. Just where does the BW
proposal stand now?
A. The Village Attorney has
been directed to begin nego-tiations
on a letter of intent for the
sale of the land preparatory to the
drawing up of a contract. The
attorney begins negotiations with
a directive from the Board as to
nine major and restrictive points.
They may or may not prove to be
agreeable to BW. Negotiations
are expected to be lengthy.
Q. The Village owns an incin-erator.
Why do we have to look
for another way to dispose of our
garbage?
A. The incinerator was built in
the 1920's. For all its repair and
updating of equipment, it could
not keep up with today's en-vironmental'
standards, "just 'one
problem being the storage of raw
garbage in an open pit before
burning. On the mandate of fed-eral
and state agencies it was shut
down three years ago as have
other such municipal facilities
before and after. It should be
noted that during its many years
of operation, neither the Freeport
incinerator, nor the sewage plant
in the same area, gave rise to
odor complaints. They are both
located in the Village's industrial
park, interestingly enough a
former garbage dump, 'and be-fore
that a turkey farm. The site is •
across from both the Town of
Hempstead's incinerator and
landfill area in Merrick.
Freeport now has a contract
.with the Town of Hempstead for:
the disposal of its garbage
@$15.50 a ton, a cost borne by
• the private carter.
Q. If the private carter is re-sponsible
for garbage disposal at
a contracted price, why should
we worry?
A.', One, for economical rea-sons.
The Village's contract
with the carter is for three
years. One year is up and thought
has to be given., to-.-rebidding. .
Carters set their price with the
costs of disposal paramount. That
cost includes not only the "tip-ping"
fee, i.e. the $15.50 per ton,
but also gasoline, vehicle main-tenance
and depreciation, man
hours, etc. These are costs,
ultimately borne by the taxpayer
beit through a private carter or a.
municipal sanitation department.
Q. What reason beyond
economics should concern us?
A. The BIG reason and the
"double-edged" sword that now
faces Freeport — the environ-ment.
The headlines are full of en-vironmental
problems. Little
notice, outside of that by munici-pal
governments throughout the
nation, is taken of the problem of
the disposal of solid waste.
We are running out of places to
put it and it obviously can't stay
around without detrimental ef-fects.
Freeport, on an average, gen-erates
80 tons of garbage a day.
That garbage had been going to
the Hempstead recycling plant.
At this writing, the future of that
facility is uncertain and- our
alternative is 'going'' to "jammed"
landfill areas in Oceanside and
Merrick. Long Island is just about
out of such landfill space. New
Jersey has gone to court be-cause
it, undrstandably, doesn't
want our leavings. Pennsylvania,
a long-haul-, 'would' be -economic-"
ally unfeasible, as a place to take
Freeport garbage.
Q. If solid waste disposal is a
nationwide problem, why does
Freeport have to be among the
"first" in solving it?
A. Even if the current BW pro-posal
is accepted, Freeport would
not be a "first". Major U.S.
cities are, or about to be, involved
in the new technology of solid
waste' disposal with the hopeful
added advantage of garbage-generated
energy. BW's system
may also produce enough fuel to/
provide energy to 25% of the-
Village's homes.
Q. The Town of Hempstead's
recycling plant has caused odor,
smoke and possible harmful emis-sions.
Couldn't the Village end up
in the same dilemma?
A. Freeport has learned from
the Town's experience with the
Black Clawson plant. Among the
-many points to'be-negotiated far
the proposed contract with BW
is that the Village Board of
Trustees reserves the right to
order the shutdown and dis-mantling
of the facility on short
notice regardless of any findings
that might be forthcoming over a
long period of time from federal
and state environmental agen-cies.
Q. Would the plant in Freeport
be different from the Town of
Hempstead's?
A. Absolutely. For one, under
.the terms of the contract, it could
dispose of no more than 150 tons
a day — only Freeport refuse, by
the way. Hempstead's handles
2,000 tons a day.
BW's facility would be housed
in a stackless one story building
which could be converted to any
industrial use (another point in
the proposed contract).
There are two methods of
"solid waste to energy" systems
now in use in various forms. One
is the American and the other the
European system. Hempstead's
is the former while Freeport's
proposal concerns the latter
which has met with success
abroad in such areas as Munich,
Germany where a plant has
operated with no complaint since
1975. Basically, the Town of
Hempstead's disposal facility
necessitates the wetting down of
garbage, high temperature burn-ing
"and a waste'' by'-p'ro'duct of
pulp. Freeport's proposal con-cerns
low-temperature burning in
an oxygen-starved atmosphere
with a waste by-product of char.
Wetting down would not be re-quired,
a step which seems to be
an important element in Hemp-stead's
odor problem.
Q. What exactly would the Vil-lage's
financial obligation be to..
BW under this proposal?
A. There would be no financial
(Continued on next page, 1st col.)
Apartment dwellers are re-
^minded that a Village ordinance
^prohibits barbecuing on terraces
"whether by charcoal or gas. This
law was passed because of the
danger of fire and smoke condi-tions
which are annoying to other
tenants. Several parks in the
Village have barbecue pits avail-able
for use by Freeport resi-dents.
*** . •
The volunteer Freeport Fire
Department -solicits' funds once a^
year and by mail. A person claim-
SHOPPING
IS GREAT
IN FREEPORT
(Continued from preceding page)
investment whatsoever. The $10
million facility would be built and
maintained through investments
gathered by the Oppenheimer
Fund. Freeport's only obligation
is to provide 80 tons of garbage
per day. The Village will also
receive a percentage of the pro-fits
derived from the sale of fuel.
Q. It is realized the Village
needs the taxes generated by the
sale and development of the in-cinerator
site, but the govern-ment
• should also be concerned
about the health and welfare of
the residents. Couldn't we sell
the land for another use?
A. The land could perhaps be
sold for other uses and taxes
realized. More important is the
"possible oppr rtunity,"once again;
for Freeport to solve a critical
problem for the near future — the
disposal of our garbage — as we
solved another problem with our
own electric power plants. .
The decision before the Board
in the months ahead involves a
perhaps long-term economical
and environmentally sound solu-tion.
As Mayor William White
stated at a" public meeting,. "We
will tread lightly — very, very
lightly."
ing to represent the Freeport Fire
Chiefs Association has approach-ed
several persons asking for
donations. There is no such
Association and no one has been
authorized to conduct fund rais-ing
for the Department. Any one
being approached in such a
manner should report it to Deputy
Chief John Provenzano at FR 8-
4000 or the Freeport Police
Department.
»**
Fireworks are illegal and
dangerous. Residents are urged
to call Chief Provenzano or the
police if they have knowledge of
persons selling fireworks.
! CLIP & SAVE I
No Trash During Holiday Week]
Violators Will Receive Summonses
It is important to all,prpperty values in Freepqrt.that
the'Village streets remain free of trash. ForThatYeason/
the ordinance forbidding the placement of trash at
curbside other than on the scheduled collection day will
be strictly enforced. There is a change in collection
when a holiday occurs and for this reason it is important
that the residents keep the information below for refer-ence.
It should be noted that prior to contracting out for
private sanitation service, when a holiday occured trash
was not collected anywhere in the Village that week.
Under the present system; only one-third of the Village
is effected.
Trash will not be picked up from the curb in a week
when a holiday falls on either of the normally scheduled
collection days for your area of the Village.
FOR EXAMPLE: If you live in the northern section of
the Village, garbage is normally picked up from the
rear on Mondays. On Thursdays, garbage is picked up
from the rear and trash from the curb.
If a holiday occurs on a Monday, garbage will not be
picked up that day. On that Thursday, garbage only will
be collected. Trash will not be collected.
If-a holiday occurs on a-Thursday, garbage will be col-lected
as usual on Monday. On Thursday, however,
neither garbage nor trash will be collected.
In both the above instances, trash will be collected from
the curb on Thursday of the following week.
Persons putting trash at the curb on a non-collection
day'wiirb'e'nbtifie'd to rembve'it im'rnediatelyTRe'p'eatecf ~
violators can be summoned to Village Court where they
will be liable for fines up to $250. x
Village holidays in 1980 are as follows:
Independence Day
Labor Day
Columbus Day
Election Day
Veterans Day
Thanksgiving Day
Christmas Day
Fri.,'July 4
Mon., Sept.:.1
Mon., Oct. 13
. Tues., Nov. 4
fues., Nov. 11
Thurs., Nov. 27
Thurs., Dec; 25