1972-03-23

              FARMINGDALE OB!
WHERE THE HISTORY OF YOUR COMMUNITY IS REi
r — 10c S F * J l Ll!; R* fiV
I NY I I7
An Official Newspaper of the Incorporated Village of Farmingdale — Serving Greater Farmingdalc, Bethpage and Melville
Vol. 9 No. 31 Second Class Postage has been paid at Farmingdale, N. Y. 11735 • Published by THE OBSERVER, INC., Box 146, Farmingdale, N. Y. Thursday, March 23,1972
Chernomas
Wants to Run
For Congress
Fred Chernomas, a physics
teacher at the State University of
Farmingdale and resident of
Plainview, was guest of the
Farmingdale Democratic Club
last week. Having announced his
candidacy for congressman of
the new third congressional
district a few weeks ago he
presented his program to the
Farmingdale Democrats.
Chernomas, 29, has been active
as president of the Committee for
Full Employment, and has
developed a comprehensive
program with the following
major points: creating full
employment at socially useful
jobs - closing the tax loopholes of
the super rich and the great
corporations - decreasing the tax
burden on poor and middle in­come
people - stopping inflation
at its roots by strict price controls
on major corporations - reducing
the welfare rolls by providing
decent jobs at decent pay - ending
US government support for
corrupt do- nothing foreign dic­tatorships
- controling American
investment overseas to prevent
unemployment at home and to
immediately withdraw all
military support from Southeast
Asia.
Chernomas had no illusions
about the odds against him: He
probably will not be chosen as the
candidate of the Democratic
party. " I will run as a
Democratic candidate of the
people in the primary," he
stated.
Residents Resist
608 Apartments
" Having trouble getting onto Melville Road now? 608
apartments at the " City of Glass" won't make it any
easier!" This was ( and still is) the rallying cry of the
Woodlands Civic Association in drumming up support
in their battle against the proposed down- zoning of the
" City of Glass" site on Melville Road from " residential
A and B" to " multiple residence".
TRAFFIC JAM: The scene above shows Melville Road at rush hour
time. Cars are backing up all the way from Main Street in Far­mingdale,
eight blocks away. The Woodlands Civic Association
claims, 608 new apartments will make matters even worse.
This large area would, ac­cording
to the civic association,
result in the second largest
apartment complex on Long
Island. Melville Road used to be a
quiet country drive with pleasant
homes on one side and wide open
spaces on the other. The nice
homes are still there but the quiet
School Budget Revision II Shows
Cuts - Overall Increases Remain
The school board of the Farmingdale School District met Wednesday night at
Senior High School's Guilford Hall to discuss Revision II of the new school budget
with the residents. As usual, preliminary budget hearings donot present any star
attraction to the people who were represented by a " gi and total" of 26.
Weathers also noted that all
estimates of coming ex­penditures
were made without
knowing what the outcome of the
present contract talks with the
teachers' union would be.
Teachers are presently
negotiating for a new two- year
contract. Any increases in
teachers' salaries or other
benefits would again raise the
total costs of running the Far­mingdale
schools.
" We are facing one of the
toughest jobs in the history of the
school board," Weathers con­ceded.
" We are still working very
hard on the budget and we are
doing the best we can to keep
expenses down."
There was some progress made
in comparison to Revision I: by
cutting down on a number of
items such a BOCES ($ 118,352),
capital building improvement
( 109,430) and instructional
equipment ($ 64,000) the board
was able to trim a total of $ 259,081
from Revision I.
The increases in expenditures
for the budget for 1972- 73 total
$ 724,966 as compared to the
decreases of $ 311,261. This results
in an overall increase of about
$ 449,600 as stated above.
The major increase of the
coming year comes from the area
of retirement benefits, social
security and health insurance
($ 361,000). This, however, is
partially absorbed by the
decrease in teachers' salaries
( 210,000).
There were ' a number of
questions from the floor. Class
size and sabbaticals for teachers
were two areas in question.
Board president Robert Camp­bell
replied that class sizes could
not be changed substantially
since Farmingdale schools rank
already quite low in the list of
pupils per class. He did, however,
indicate that the board is
determined to take the class size
issue out of the teachers' con­tract.
Campbell also stated that
the board is also opposed to
sabbaticals at the present state of
fiscal emergency.
The next public budget hearing
will take place in May. The date
will be announced at the regular
board meeting on May 1. The vote
on the budget as well as on the^
school board candidates is
scheduled for Wednesday, June
14. The next regular board
meeting is scheduled for Tuesday,
April 11, at Weldon E. Howitt Jr.
High School.
The budget proposal as it
stands after Revision II envisions
total expenditures of $ 23,565,583
as compared to $ 23,115,928 in
1971- 72. This would constitute an
i n c r e a s e of $ 450,000and a
decrease in teaching staff of 21.
A. Terry Weathers, member of
the school board and chief
spokesman Wednesday night,
made sure that people did not
take these figures as final con­clusions.
He added more points of
concern in stating that any loss in
revenue such as the dropping of
the high tax aid of $ 321,000 would
certainly raise the increase even
more.
WINNING SMILE: Mrs. Lucille Goulding, a long time resident
and member of the Farmingdale school board, announced on
Monday that she will seek election as assemblywomen for the 10th
district in the Fall. More details and the text of her formal an­nouncement
on page 12.
Liberty's Victory Never in Doubt
Their victory was never in doubt. In an election that could only
be called quiet and orderly, the Liberty Party slate of John
Hallahan for a four year term as mayor of the Village of Far­mingdale,
Norman Krasnow and Owen Drugan as trustees for a
four year term, and Rocco Posillico as trustee for two ^ ears
coasted to an easy and uncontested victory.
A total of 130 votes were cast in a turnout that never taxed the
polling place's facility in village hall. Of this total Hallahan
received 127, Posillico 124, Krasnow 120 and Drugan 119 votes.
country road has long since fallen
victim to progress and has turned
into a traffic nightmare at rush
hour time.
Estimates have it that 16,000
cars travel on Melville Road
every day. The civic association
claims that the 608 apartments
would increase that number by
7,000 additional cars.
The association made its point
at the recent hearing at Babylon
Town Hall on Tuesday, March 14.
Over a hundred people attended
that meeting and they listened to
civic association president Ann
Byrom and other representatives
making their points*
" I think we made as effective a
presentation as possible." Mrs.
Byron told the OBSERVER.
" Now it is completely up t< the
town board."
A check with Town Hall did not
shed any light on the question
when a decision will be for­thcoming.
It was confirmed
there, however, that the Babylon
planning board was against
downzoning as well as the Suffolk
County Planning Commission
The largest part of the area in
question is in Suffolk County, the
rest is located in Nassau County
and under the jurisdiction of the
Town of Oyster Bay. The OB­SERVER
learned from Oyster
Bay town officials that a hearing
for downzoning of that particular
piece of real estate has not been
put on the town calendar yet.
The petition of down zoning was
made by " Bethpage Greens
Apartments", the names of the
petitioners are Herbert Langer,
Michael Salomon and Leonard
Haskell. The property originally
belonged to Henry Stimpfle.
Although the Woodlands Civic
Association has its base of
operation in Suffolk County, the
adjoining Farmingdale residents
supported the association by
submitting petitions.
Objections were not only made
to the tremendous increase in
traffic on an already over­burdened
road. According to
Mrs. Byrom, the East Far­mingdale
Fire District has also
gone on record in opposing the
downzoning because so many
streets are so difficult to reach
and because of extremely low
water pressure in this area.
The Old Bethpage- Plainview
School District 4 is also opposed
to the downzoning, because the
Nassau portion is completely cut
off from the district by Bethpage
State Park. The nearest school
would be four miles away.
When former US secretary of
the interior, Stewart Udall, had
concluded an extensive study of
Long Island, he was quoted as
saying: " It's time tor Long
Island to stop growing." It
seems, the Woodlands Civic
Association thinks so too.