1971-07-01

              FARMINGDALE OBSERVER WHERE THE HISTORY OF YOUR COMMUNITY IS RECORDED WEEKLY
An Offictaf Newspaper of The Incorporated Village of Farmingdale — Serving Greater FarminKdalc. Bethpage and Melville
V O L . 8 N O . 4 5 Second Class Postage has been paid at Farmingdale, N. Y. 11735 • Published by THE OBSERVER, INC., Box 146, Farmingdale, N. Y. Thursday, July 1,1971
PEOPLE IN THE NEWS
NEW TRUSTEE: Rocco Posillico, left, new trustee of the Village of
Farmingdale, is sworn into office by Judge Willis B. Carman.
Viewing the ceremony are, left to right, trustee Owen W. Drugan,
Mayor John T. Ha Ha ha it and trustee Norman Krasnow.
Photo: Jack Pokress
RARE AWARD: Mr. John Guarino of 247 Poplar St. , better known
by most children as " Mr. John", was awarded " The Best Bus Driver
lit the World" award from " the Children on Beech Street". Mr. John
has been a bus driver for four years with the County School Service.
Bus Co.
ACCIDENT VICTIM Donna Bontivegro, 12, receives first aid from
Capt. Josepf Leyes ( center) of the South Farmingdale Fire
Department Rescue Squad after being struck in front of her house 7
Fourth Ave. by car in background.
Photo: Robert Greco
INAUGURATION DAY: Mayor John llallahan ( 1) and Postmaster
Leo J. Morgan point to July 1, 1 » 71 inauguration day of the New U. S
Postal Service. Mayor llallahait was on hand to wish the Postmaster
and all his employees continued success in the new endeavor.
Schools on
What Realh,
l l 1 +
M « M i N G 0 H t PUBLIC L » e * H J - | -
274 MAIN ST
f A R M . N G 0 * i e Hi I 1735 Q
School Budget Defeated Again 2243 - 2108 - Resubmission Unlikely
Unless there is a change of heart or a petition drive of
major proportions, the Farmingdale Board of
Education is not going to resubmit the twice defeated
or any budget. As of today, July 1, the Farmingdale
school district operates under state mandated
austerity, although no one on the board or within the
administration apparently knows for sure what this
means. The margin of defeat in Saturday's voting was
135 votes. 2243 ballots were cast in opposion and 2108 in
favor of the resubmitted budget.
At the board meeting on
Monday evening trustee Terry
Weathers stated that it was the
" board consensus that it was not
feasible or desirable to make
budget at this time." He also
stated that " there are differences
among board members about
what to cut and when to resub­mit."
another presentation of the Some of these differences were
Main St. Parking Plan
Viewed Favorably
By the standards of the Village of Farmingdale last Monday
night's board meeting was a huge success. Every chair in the board
room was occupied and some residents even had to stand along the
walls - whi.- h means that more then 30 taxpayers were confronting
their government eyeball to eyeball.
The proposed change of the
traffic and parking pattern in
Main Street brought about this
confrontation between governors
and governees - which was which
should be added posthaste, quite
friendly and constructive.
After a thorough study of the
traffic in Main Street and the
problems it creates in this
narrow thoroughfare - the narrow
- west Main Street in all of
Nassau County, according to
Mrs. Nancy Gillies-, and after
consultation with the street's
merchants, the Nassau County
Police Department recom­mended
alternate side of the
street parking for Main Street
between Richard Street and
Melville Road.
Farmingdale mayor John
Ha 11ahan and his fellow trustees,
which now include Rocco
Posillico, tend to favor this
recommendation. And so did
most of the residents attending
Monday night's meeting,
provided some flexibility is
exhibited by the village board.
This flexibility would mean
adopting only part of the police
proposal, as far as the extent of
the alternate parking goes.
Merchants from the part of
Main Street between Richard
Street and Grant Avenue pointed
out that in this stretch no alter­native
to on- the- street parking
exists, such as the off- street
parking behind the stores on the
rest of Main Street. The board
was visibly impressed with this
argument and also listened at­tentively
to the suggestion of
looking into the status of the
property on which the burned- out
building known as Handtuch's
hall is situated. This property, as
was suggested further, might be
suitable for another off- street
parking field.
Having received a generally
favorable response to the idea of
alternate side parking in Main
Street, as well as the en­dorsement
of the Farmingdale
Fire Department, which was
delivered in person by chief
Murphy, the board will now study
this matter in detail with the view
( Continued on Page 7)
US. Post Office ( s Dead -
Long Live Postal Service
The United States Post Office
Department faded into history
this Thursday after nearly 200
years of service to the American
people. Its place will be officially
taken by a new organization, the
United States Postal Service, an
independent establishment of the
government formed to meet the
changing needs of our growing
society. It has come into being in
response to an overwhelming
need- the need to move the
largest volume of mail the world
has ever known over great
distances more swiftly and more
efficiently.
To inaugurate this new service,
the Farmingdale post office
decorated the lobbies with
banners and posters. Freeulst
day covers" are to be given out as
long as they last and a new
commemorate stamp was issued
in all post offices of the United
States on July 1st.
A " mod" poster, measuring
30x40 inches, depicting historic
events may be purchased. The
poster is suitable for a den, office
or child's bedroom, postmastei
Leo J. Morgan said.
Stamp collectors will be par­ticularly
interested in the new
stamp. For non- collectors, this is
a perfect time to start, since July
1st signals the brand new postal
service.
most apparent in a heated ex­change
between trustees Tom
La van and Roy Spinetta. Lavan
said he would not support sub­stantial
cuts and wanted
resubmission. Spinetta argued
that it was not democratic to
have the budget resubmitted
again and again because it
disregarded the 3500 people who
voted against it initially.
It was also announced that the
administration of the school
district was sending delegates to
Albany to find out the detailed
rules and regulations for
austerity.
Trustee Weathers suggested
that public petitions would sway
the board to have another budget
vote: The board attorney said
that it would take more than 7000
signatures to force a revote. But
board members said they would
consider any petition and 3520
names, the number equal to the
largest number of negative votes,
would certainly be adequate.
There were a number of public
comments about resubmission.
Lloyd Kiernan commented that
the 135 vote margin was b clear
mandate to the board to cut a
little and resubmit the budget.
Joan Stuart of the Dolphin Civic
Association commented that they
did not want austerity but voted
against the budget to give the
board a clear indication that cuts
were needed. She said if $ 200,000
to $ 300,000 were cut, the budget
would easily pass.
M a r i Hameta
Library Back
On Old Budget
For better or worse the Far­mingdale
Public Library is going
to be operated within the
financial confines of the library
budget of 1967/ 68. This ac­cording
to state law, since the
proposed budget for 1971/ 72 was
defeated again last Saturday and
the library board, at its meeting
Tuesday night, exhibited no
enthusiasm for a third round of
balloting.
The 1967 68 budget authorized
tax revenues of $ 352,865, to which
some $ 37,000 will be added,
representing an estimate of
monies coming in from fines as
well as the balance on hand. This
then gives the library not quite
$ 390,000 with which to operate
during the next twelve months
starting July 1.
A new schedule of library hours
announced Tuesday night will
assure access to at least one of
the two buildings four nights a
week.
Opening hours at the South
Farmingdale branch are 9 a. m.
to 9 p. m. on Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday; 9 a. m. to 6 p. m. on
Thursday and 9 a. m. to 5 p. m. on
Friday. At the main branch on
Main and Conklin Sts. the hours
are 9 a. m. to 6 p. rrv on Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday; 1 to 9 p. m.
On Thursday and 9 a. m. to 5 p. m.
on tViday. Both buildings are
closed on Saturday during the
summer months