LI Arts Council Awards Grants to
Freeport Artists
Among the recipients of the
2006 Nassau Grants for the Arts
were several local groups including
the Freeport Memorial Library, the
Freeport Community Concert
Association, the Hispanic
Latino Cultural Center, the
African Atlantic Genealogical
Society, and the Brewery Troupe,
Inc., led by puppeteer Brad Brewer
and featuring his star performer,
Martha.
March's Photo Contest Winner
The month of March lived up to its reputation of "coming in like
a lion and going out like a lamb." This photo of the first crocus to
appear in the courtyard behind Village Hall, was taken by Julie
O'Toole.
I 'ON l|UJJ9d
025 U AN aivd
>)|ng
VILLAGE OF FREEPORT
Mayor William F. Glacken 377-2252
BILLING: BUILDING
Electric 377-2263 DEPARTMENT:
Water 377-2265 Joseph Madigan
Tax 377-2212 Superintendent 377-2243
PERMITS:
Garage sales, tree removal,
sidewalk, birth/death certificates,
licensing
377-2250
licenses, plumbing, electrical,
construction
377-2242
EMERGENCIES:
Police... 378-0700
Fire. '. 378-0400
Sewer & Water 377-2379
ELECTRIC:
Mon.-Fri. (8:30 AM-4:30 PM)
377-2280
After 4:30 PM& Weekends
378-0146
GARBAGE:
Trash & Recycling 623-3919
Sanitation Schedules 377-2375
VILLAGE ASSESSOR:
Bernadine Quinton 377-2256
VILLAGE ATTORNEY:
Harrison J. Edwards 377-2248
VILLAGE CLERK:
Carolyn Thomas 377-2300
COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT
AGENCY:
Ellen Kelly, Exec. Director
377-2223
^VILLAGE COURT JUSTICE:
V. Roy Cacciatore .. 377-2329
FREEPORT ELECTRIC:
Hubert Bianco, Superintendent
377-2220
HUMAN
RELATIONS:
Raymond A. Straub 377-2267
PARKS & RECREATION:
John Jefferies, Manager
377-2267
PUBLIC WORKS:
Louis DiGrazia,
Superintendent
377-2375
VILLAGE
TREASURER:
Vilma Lancaster 377-2212
Mayor Joins State Officials in Call for
Financial Reforms
OZSLl AN %iodaajd
Mayor Bill Glacken recently joined other
mayors and municipal officials at the New
York State Conference of Mayors' Winter
Meeting in Albany
to address two specif-ic
issues affecting the
Village's financial out-look.
First, Mayor
Glacken strongly urged
his fellow mayors to join
together in petitioning
congressional represen-tatives
to protect the
current level of funding
through the Community
Development Block
Grant Program. Second,
the Mayor asked the
members to work togeth-er
to secure reforms in
the pension assessments
used by State Comp-troller
Alan Hevesi to
collect contributions
from the municipali-ties
to maintain the
State's pension fund for
retirees.
A recent presidential
proposal calls for addi-tional
reductions in the
funding level for CDBG
programs, which have
been subjected to several
reductions beginning with a 5% cut in the
federal budget for .the 2005 fiscal year,
another 10% in the federal 2006 FY and a
proposed 25% for 2007 FY. "This funding,"
explained Mayor Glacken, "is critical to local
governments, especially communities such as
Freeport, which depend on this money
to provide assistance to local charitable
agencies and to cover some of the costs of
our ongoing downtown revitalization
projects."
In regard to the pension fund, Freeport
Mayor Glacken speaks at the NYCOM meeting in Albany
has had to budget for drastic increases in its
contribution to the state pension fund since
2003. In 2002 the contribution required by
the state was $994,267. In December of 2003
that figure increased to $1,959,939 and in
2004 it was raised to $2,954,614. The figure
for 2005 was $3,499,959 and the projected
amount to comply with the 2006 contribu-tions
is expected to be $3,618,215. "These
amounts represent astronomical increases,"
said the Mayor, "and present an uncon-scionable
burden in maintaining the village's
fiscal well-being."
Mayor Glacken, along
with the other officials,
requested that Comp-troller
Hevesi reduce
the contribution require-ments
for municipalities,
especially in light of the
fact that the State
pension fund has grown
substantially in the past
several years as a result
of increases in the value
of equities, and the
subsequent upswing in
the stock market. The
State's pension fund
has now regained nearly
all of the losses it had
sustained during the 2000
to 2002 period, and
is expected to surpass the
$130 billion mark it real-ized
at its high point in
2000.
The Mayor strongly
believes that Comptroller
Hevesi acted much too
hastily in imposing so
drastic an increase in the
pension fund contribu-tions
required of the municipalities. "It
would have been much more fiscally prudent
if the Comptroller had chosen to impose only
a modest increase, or simply waited for the
inevitable rebound in the stock market,
which fully occurred within four years, and
which was already well underway by the
time the Comptroller took office in January
of 2003," he said.
A MESSAGE FROM THE MAYOR Freeport is a Musical Feast
In the February issue of the Freeport
Report, I discussed my efforts to prevent
plans by the federal government to further
reduce funding of the Community
Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. I
attended the United States Conference of
Mayors Midwinter meeting in Washington in
January, and along with a number of other
mayors, discussed ways to preserve this criti-cal
funding to local programs.
These grants assist Freeport in funding
our ongoing downtown revitalization pro-gram,
as well as to provide help to local
organizations and charities which offer assis-tance
to people in need, such as the elderly,
the handicapped and individuals lacking sus-tenance.
A recent proposal by President
George W. Bush recommended further cuts
in these grants.
Last month, I represented Freeport at
the New York State Conference of Mayors,
where I had an opportunity to bring up the
two critical fiscal problems facing Freeport:
first, the potential reductions in the CDBG
program and second, the continuing manda-tory
increases in the State Comptroller's
assessment for the state pension fund, the
system that provides income to retired
employees.
In regard to the proposed further
decreases in CDBG funding, I have written to
our four congressional representatives,
Senators Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer
and Congressman Peter King and
Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy, concern-ing
the serious hardships any further cuts in
the CDBG program would cause Freeport. As
the keynote speaker at the February NYCOM
Albany meeting, Senator Clinton publicly
acknowledged my correspondence, and
pledged to work with NYCOM to protect the
funding at its current level.
Concerning the pension funding assess-ment,
since the middle of 2003 the Glacken
Administration has been in contact with
Comptroller Alan Hevesi's office in an effort
to revise the method employed by the state
to collect funds to cover benefits for retired
employees. The state pension fund has been
invested, for the most part (70%), in equi-ties,
and suffered a substantial loss to its
total balance when the stock market experi-enced
a major downturn from early 2000
through most of 2002. In an effort to make
up for the shortfall, the Comptroller's office,
beginning in 2003, drastically increased the
required contributions from the municipali-ties,
which include all villages, towns, coun-ties,
and cities, with the exception of New
York City, which manages its own pension
funds, and has maintained them at very high
levels ever since.
At the NYCOM meeting, many of the
officials representing communities through-out
the state explained that the mandatory
increases in their contributions to the pen-sion
fund forced them into steep tax hikes,
sharp reductions in municipal services and
serious financial problems. In the case of
Freeport, the Village's total contribution for
all employees has gone from $994,267 in
December of 2002, just prior to Comptroller
Hevesi's taking office, to $3,618,215 due in
February of 2007. That is an unconscionable
burden for any municipality to bear.
In my judgment, these sharp, drastic
increases in the village's pension fund contri-bution
were neither necessary nor prudent.
They present an unnecessary hardship for all
municipalities, and especially Freeport. In
fact, the state's pension fund has, on its own,,
made up nearly all of the funds lost for the
most part as a direct result of the subsequent
upturn in the stock market, which began in
2002, a perfectly predictable occurrence
familiar to any student of economics.
I will continue to fight for reforms in
the current method of assessing municipali-ties
for pension contributions, and to
demand that the program be revised so that
it more accurately reflects the genuine needs
of the pension fund. Municipalities should
not be charged more than is reasonably
required to meet their legitimate obligations
to preserve the solvency of the fund.
Last month I asked you to write to our
federal representatives to urge them to pre-serve
the CDBG program, and even to tell
them that you want to see the funding
increased. This month, I am asking you to
contact Comptroller Hevesi and our state
legislators, remind them that it is an election
year, and tell them you want a significant
reduction in the amount of contributions to
the state pension system by municipalities.
Their addresses are as follows:
Comptroller Alan Hevesi
633 Third Ave., 31st Floor
New York, NY 10017 (212) 681-4491
webmaster@osc.state.ny.us
Assemblywoman Earlene Hooper
80 No. Franklin St., Suite 304
Hempstead, NY11550 (516)489-6610
webmaster@assembly.state.ny.us
Senator Charles Fuschillo, Jr.
30 So. Ocean Ave., Room 305
Freeport, NY 11520 (516)546-4100
fuschill@senate.state.ny.us
Assemblyman David McDonough
3000 Hempstead Tpke., Suite 110
Levittown, NY 11756 (516) 731-8830
mcdond@assembly.state.ny.us
Freeport cannot afford to lose its
current level of Community Development
Block Grant funding, nor to have its
assessment for the state pension fund
maintained at the current level. Please join
in the fight and contact your lawmakers
today.
Long Island Junior Soccer League's
Volunteer of the Year
Village Trustee Don Miller was on hand recently to congratulate
Estaban Marquez, who was named by the Long Island Junior Soccer League
as a 2006 Club Volunteer of the Year in recognition of his efforts on behalf
of the Freeport PAL Soccer Club. The group holds tryouts all year round and
began its Spring season in March.
PbtuiBd in the photo aie: Jody Hurtey, the official Registrar for the dub, Estaban Marquez and Trustee Don Miter
The Freeport United
Methodist Church played host to
the widely acclaimed Morehouse
College Glee Club on Sunday,
March 12th with a full house
eager to hear the performance,
which included classical and con-temporary
works, traditional
spirituals, along with African
compositions, and even a few
favorites from Broadway. The
Rev. Steed V. Davidson, pastor of
the United Methodist Church,
and Freeport's Mayor Bill
Glacken, welcomed the Glee
Club to Freeport.
The weekend before, on March 4th, former
Freeport High School students who had been active
members of the Select Chorale staged a "Star-
Studded Gala" to pay tribute to their mentor, the
high school's choral director Stephen Pagano, and
to thank the community for its long term support.
The night began with a collection of songs
Mayor Bill Glacken, joined by the Rev. Steed Davidson and Hempstead Councitwoman Dorothy Goosby, with the members of
the Morehouse College Glee Club, thanks Director David Morrow for its outstanding performance.
by the current members of the High School
Select Chorale, followed by a breath-taking
rendition of O Mio Babbino Caro sung by
Samantha Geraci-Yee, a recent graduate who
is now attending the Cleveland Institute of
Music. Other highlights included three pieces
by Adam Carman, a performance each by the
three Mahon sisters: Sarah,
Kimberly and Kristen, and
Quando M'en Vo from La
Boheme, sung by Erin
Brittain. Alumni Jennifer
Caruana and Melissa Fogarty
sang selections from Debussy
and Handel respectively.
The audience was brought
to its feet by the
astounding efforts of Pamela
and Victor Simonson, a
brother-sister duo who sang
Bess, You is My Woman
Now. Pamela closed their
portion of the program with
a solo of He's Got the Whole World in His
Hands, accompanied on the piano by her
brother. The program was an impressive
look at the success achieved by many of
the graduates who began their study of
music at Freeport High School.
Dive Squad
Celebrates 20 Years of
Saving Lives
The squad's members, Diver Lee Tucholsld. Chief Tender Oliver Carman, Hi, Tender Casey Weltner,
Captain Scott Braua posed for a photo with Freeport Trustee Don Mauersbeiger and Fire Chief
Joseph Koestner, 1 st Assistant Chief Allan Grosser. 2nd Assistant Chief Joseph Stallone, and 3rd
Assistant Chief Kevin Muldowney.
Overturned and sinking boats, cars that go into a canal,
people lost overboard, these are all situations that call for
the special expertise of the Freeport Fire Department's Dive
Squad. Recently the group celebrated its 20th anniversary
with a special dinner held at the Hose #3 Firehouse on
Bayview Ave. The dive team, which handles the bulk of the
emergency calls in the waters off Freeport's shore, responds
to 5 to 10 rescue calls each year.
Deputy Mayor Renaire Frierson is among the students and faculty members positioned on the left of the photo with High
School Art Facilitator Cathy Rode standing between Hempstead Town Councilwomen Angle Cullin and Dorothy Goosby.
Freeport High School Principal Kimberle Pierre and School Superintendent Eric Eversley
are standing behind the councilwomen.
Wall of Art Displays
High School Talent
Freeport High School dedicated the month of March to celebrating
the artistic endeavors of its students and erected a portable Art Wall fea-turing
their work in the lobby of the school. Deputy Mayor Renaire
Frierson was among the many local officials who participated in the ded-ication
ceremony. Ms. Frierson, a Freeport High School graduate, encour-aged
the students to continue to recognize and celebrate art in all its
forms.
"By providing this occasion to celebrate the visual arts," explained
the high school's Art Facilitator Cathy Rode, "we are encouraging our
students to develop creativity and sensitivity to beauty, order, and other
expressive qualities." She added, "Art education also helps young people
learn critical thinking skills and have a deeper understanding of multi-cultural
values and beliefs."
