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Tom Terrific May 21, 2013 at 06:17 pm
And if you think that just blindly approving budgets year after year is the correct course of…Read More action, then NO level of education will spare you from the curse of that ignorance.
glencove girl May 21, 2013 at 11:50 am
nice one Patch. Let's put this front and center on Budget Vote Day. Yuck on you.
John Rennhack April 8, 2013 at 09:38 pm
That's why a larger development around a new world-class venue would have been ideal.
The problem…Read More with always going for the "hi-tech, bio tech and pharam" is that you're looking at specialized advanced degree jobs. Nothing wrong with that but we need well paying blue collar jobs too. Bring back industry. Why aren't we a leader in next-gen products for automobile, home and aerospace? Have the white collar jobs but also many blue collar jobs in production.
And how about taking the empty commercial lots and vacant big box buildings and create jobs through vertical and greenhouse farming? Year-round agriculture and local access to fresh foods.
Again, instead of being a consumer suburb, become a producer suburb once again.
Frank April 8, 2013 at 07:26 pm
"hot dog and peanut vendors" are note my idea of well-paying permanent jobs.
When LI was…Read More the cradle of aviation, you had legions of scientists, engineers, machinists, mechanics, etc... REAL JOBS that pay REAL WELL...
That age is gone...
What Nassau needs is an industrial renaissance... Hi Tech, Bio Tech, Pharma... anything that will spur economic success.
BTW why hasn't Nassau explored the possibility of creating a food terminal in Uniondale? That alone would provide hundreds of jobs and reduce truck traffic!
sadeto April 4, 2013 at 03:06 am
National party platforms don't count for very much in local politics, nor should they. So forget…Read More about defining the GOP as the party of "limited government" and having that mantra apply to the Hub situation. As this morning's bipartisan arrests shaped, local politics is about money and access to the ballot. If the right palms had been greased, the right players involved, it would have happened.
Personally, I don't mind that Wang's plan failed, he has no development experience and he's a crook who relied on the statute of limitations to avoid jail. The fact is that his own firm turned around and tried to sue him after he stepped down.
By the way, the GOP is the party of massive government subsidies to industry. Exactly how do you reconcile that with this idea of limited government?
cc May 21, 2013 at 01:16 pm
To Fellow Glen Cove Residents:
It is your responsibility to vote today to fill 2 open seats on the…Read More School Board and to vote on the 2013-2014 School Budget. Polls open at 7am and close at 9pm.
Consider the following before casting your vote for the new budget.
If you've been attending the Board meetings you know by now that this budget is top heavy with teachers' salaries and pensions. Yet the Board voted to hire a second Assistant Principal in a school that already has one, with a salary budgeted at $180,000 when no such position was filled or needed for years. Does this sound like belt-tightening to you?
At a recent Board meeting, the President of the Board, disclosed that a new room costing approximately $100-150,000 was needed for the middle school orchestra. That is until a parent asked why we needed to construct a new room when an orchestra room in the high school was already available. Good question. More belt-tightening?
The boiler at one of our schools is in need of replacement. The Board has included the $400,000 cost of a new boiler in next year's budget, despite the fact that a "reserve" fund of about $3,000,000 sits waiting to be used for just such a capital improvement. This means that the $400,000 cost of the new boiler will be shouldered entirely by the taxpayer.
The message we send to this Board will depend on your vote. Your vote counts...use it.
The Shadow May 21, 2013 at 07:58 am
There is no reason for a tax increase this year. There is nearly $3 million in a reserve fund which…Read More should be used for the $400,000 Landing school boiler. No need to hire all the new people budgeted for either. No need to spend $100,000 on altering the wood shop for orchestra practice etc. etc. etc. A NO vote gives us a 0% tax increase for the first time ever this year!
Tom Terrific May 20, 2013 at 07:53 pm
It's not an easy thing, at least for me, to just say that I'm going to support the budget every…Read More year. Once approved, these things lock in ... and then compound year after year. Even relatively small increases have that effect. It's all built upon everything that has gone before. There are times that truly call for a zero percent tax increase. That means when a person opens his tax bill in August, it's *exactly* the same as the previous year. Property owners now have the power to see that this happens. All it takes is a majority 'no' vote in two voting sessions: May 21, and the date of the scheduled revote (TBD).
There are certainly good arguments on both sides of this issue. We frequently hear the 'pro' arguments; oftentimes couched in a lot of emotional language regarding the kids' after-school programs and other extracurricular activities. Less often, and frequently with a lot less attention, we hear the 'no' arguments; equally sincere and valid. Gloria Mathey's excellent post (above) is a very good example.
I'm not going to say how I'll vote in tomorrow's election, but I will say this much: At some point in time, the brakes are going to have to be applied to the spending increases that take place in Long Island's public school system. And that, unfortunately, includes Glen Cove.
cc May 21, 2013 at 12:28 pm
To Fellow Glen Cove Residents:
It is your responsibility to vote today to fill 2 open seats on the…Read More School Board and to vote on the 2013-2014 School Budget. Polls open at 7am and close at 9pm.
Consider the following before casting your vote for the new budget.
If you've been attending the Board meetings you know by now that this budget is top heavy with teachers' salaries and pensions. Yet the Board voted to hire a second Assistant Principal in a school that already has one, with a salary budgeted at $180,000 when no such position was filled or needed for years. Does this sound like belt-tightening to you?
At a recent Board meeting, the President of the Board, disclosed that a new room costing approximately $100-150,000 was needed for the middle school orchestra. That is until a parent asked why we needed to construct a new room when an orchestra room in the high school was already available. Good question. More belt-tightening?
The boiler at one of our schools is in need of replacement. The Board has included the $400,000 cost of a new boiler in next year's budget, despite the fact that a "reserve" fund of about $3,000,000 sits waiting to be used for just such a capital improvement. This means that the $400,000 cost of the new boiler will be shouldered entirely by the taxpayer.
The message we send to this Board will depend on your vote. Your vote counts...use it.
Victor May 20, 2013 at 10:10 am
Micah Danney laid off in Patch "restructuring". What a shame. I will miss his writing.
Nancy May 19, 2013 at 11:44 pm
I was confused when I saw the headline Jay Back figuring it must be Jay Black. Great artist.
Maureen Pappachristou May 21, 2013 at 11:38 am
Just want to people to know that the Maureen above is not me in case any one is thinking that it is.…Read More I always put my whole name, no hiding for me.
Tom Terrific May 19, 2013 at 10:06 pm
Unlike you, Rick - excuse me, I mean "The Shadow", I don't believe it is correct or…Read More right, in any sense, to loosely throw around terms like "lawbreaker" when no law has been broken. That's what I mean when I tell you to give it a rest. You might consider it to be a charitable mission of mine to try to prevent you from continuing to sound a wee bit foolish on this.
On the issue of Kevin Wurtz, it seems to me that once you get locked on a train of thought, there is just no way anyone is going to convince you of anything else. It doesn't matter to you one bit that the new superintendent strongly indicated her desire to assume the functions of the business superintendent along with her other central administrative duties. No, in your obvious dislike toward Dr. Laria, you just dismiss that very important point as if it doesn't mean a damn thing. Well guess what? It means a lot!
Finally, regarding your invitation to come to Monday night's meeting to hear about a "REAL scandal," no thanks, Rick. I don't waste my valuable time listening to a bunch of obstreperous people, filled with a whole bunch of acrimony and baseless accusations, impeding upon my opportunity to garner *factual* information from people who actually know something.
As to your charge that I'm long-winded, hmmm, you might have a point there. It's something I could probably work on a little bit. So, unless something new is brought up -- something of substance and fact -- that's all I'll say on the matter.
The Shadow May 19, 2013 at 11:02 am
Sounding like the GCTA president DOES make me sound good, and more people agree with me and Karen…Read More than you, I'm sure. Give it a rest? You, Tom, by your long winded statements seem to have a lot more to say than do I. The real issue in not so much Laria's lawbreaking or lack of judgment in this case but his longer term evisceration of the school district by a litany of bad deeds, culminating with the firing of our best and by far longest serving administrator, Kevin Wurtz. Without him I wonder how we are going to get through the mess with which Laria is leaving us. Perhaps Louis Zocchia, Laria's hand picked successor can be of some help, but I doubt it. He's no Kevin. And come to this coming Monday night's meeting if you want to hear about a REAL scandal. The Shadow knows. . .
Glen Cove School Budget Passes by Slim Margin
3 1 Recommend Adina Genn (Editor)