1977-08-04

              THE L. I.
PIERRPONT & CL
BBOOBfcYW % t u. y.
€ 8
A Prize Winning Weekly Serving The Greater Farmingdale Area Since 1920 Afff\
An Official Newspaper far the Village of Farmingdale
Vol. 58 No. 41 Second Class Postage Paid
in Farminodale, N. Y. 11735 Thursday, August 4, 1977 Copyright 1977 by
The Farmingdale Post price 15c - $ 5 per year
WHAT'S THE PITCH? Trying her luck at the recent penny carnival at
the Florgate Park Recreation Center is Allison Passible. The penny
carnival was one of ( he events scheduled this past week by the Far­mingdale
Youth Council. [ Photo by Robert Bisberg]
Seek Tri- State
Labeling it the " planned
destruction of the suburbs and
the annexation of Nassau County
to New York City," Oyster Bay
Town Supervisor Joseph Colby in
consultation with Hempstead
Town Presiding Supervisor
Francis T. Purcell has called for
a meeting of Nassau's Super­visors
to form a battle plan aimed
at stopping the Tri- State
Regional Plan from obtaining
official recognition.
" The proposal which Tri- State
is intent on turning oyer to the
U. S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development ( HUD) is
nothing more than a plan to force
this County and probably every
other suburban county in the tri-state
region into becoming a
continuation of the center cities,"
Colby charged.
According to Colby, the housing
element of the planning proposal
of Tri- State contains " the exact
form of blackmail currently
being practiced by HUD and even
goes further in that it suggests
that ultimately the over- riding of
local zoning powers must be
considered a viable alternative if
we refuse to cave in to the black­mail
by following the guidelines
for housing being established by
this appointed body."
Both Purcell and Colby pointed
out that the Tri- State plan, which
is expected to be submitted to
HUD by August 22, sets low-income
family housing
requirements that are not only
unrealistic for Nassau County's
needs but seek to force true high
rise development in every area of
the County.
" The plan calls for the required
construction in Nassau of low-income
housing projects totaling
almost 1,900 units per year for the
next 25 years or the cutting off of
federal grants in other programs
to all municipalities not showing
evidence that this goal is actively
being achieved," Colby said.
[ Continued on page 8]
Main St. Fire Guts Deli,
Damages Capt. Andy's
Fire of undetermined origin gutted Jo
Jo's Italian Delicatessen and partially
damaged Captain Andy's Restaurant on
Main Street, Farmingdale, early last
Thursday morning.
The blaze, first reported at 3: 02 a. m.,
burned out of control for over an hour as
the efforts of the Farmingdale volunteer
firemen were hampered by burning gas
from the ruptured gas meters in the
building. Ken Martin, a village fire
commissioner, told the Post that firemen
had to delay extinguishing the fire
burning from the gas meters until the
Long Island Lighting Company turned
oft the gas at the street. Otherwise, he
said, the escaping gas would build up
and be touched off again and we could
lose the whole block. The gas was
allowed to burn off as it escaped from the
meters until LILCO was able to turn it
off.
LIL£ 0 crews were hampered, on the
other hand, because the gas valves were
paved over during a street widening
project. The crew had to search for the
gas valves, digging up the sidewalk with
a jackhammer, while firemen fought the
blaze around them.
The volunteer firemen from the
Village of Farmingdale, South Far­mingdale
and East Farmingdale fought
the fire, while Bethpage was on stan< J* by
call at the Main Street Firehouse.
The firemen were commended for
their fine work in containing the blaze
and saving the main dining area of
Captain Andy's Restaurant and the Sch­midt
Hardware Store, which is adjacent
to Jo Jo's Deli on the other side. Charles
Schmidt, proprietor of the hardware
store, wrote a special letter of com­mendation
thanking all involved for
their efforts. Schmidt said he expects to
find a loss of about $ 10,000 to $ 15,000 in
smoke and water damaged mer­chandise.
Fire Marshal James Holmes of South
Farmingdale told the Post that they
have not yet been able to determine the
cause of the fire because it is too
dangerous to work inside the damaged
building. The burned and weakened floor
of the deli is sagging and there is a
danger that it could collapse, even
though attempts were made to brace it.
We'll have to wait until we can bring in a
crane to remove some of the debris, he
said.
Holmes said the fire apparently
started in the basement, shared in
common by the deli and Capt. Andy's.
He told the Post that it seems to have
started in the area under Capt. Andy's
party room that was used mostly for
storage.
Although we don't know yet what did
start the fire, we have all but completely
ruled out the possibility that it was
electrical.
The main restaurant area of Capt.
Andy's suffered only smoke damage and
was reopened yesterday after a clean- up
to eliminate the odor.
Town Seeks New Funding
ForSr. Citizen Housing
Oyster Bay Town Supervisor
Joseph Colby announced that he
has assigned his executive
assistant, Patricia McGuire, to
work with the Oyster Bay Town
Housing Authority to develop
alternative means of financing
and constructing senior citizen
housing without federal aid.
" Although we have in effect
been cut off from any financial
assistance from the federal
government because we refused
to abdicate our zoning authority
to HUD ( Department of Housing
and Urban Development),"
Colby said, " we must still find a
way to provide the much needed
housing for our seniors.
" I have asked Miss McGuire,
who has considerable planning
experience, to develop with the
Housing Authority a feasibility
plan whereby the Town and the
Housing Authority can undertake
the construction of senior housing
complexes as soon as possible."
Such housing is one of the
Town's most pressing needs,
Colby noted, as evidenced by the
Housing Authority's current
waiting list of over 1,200 names of
seniors needing apartments. The
Supervisor also cited the recently
released " Population Sup­plement"
prepared by the
Nassau County Planning Com­mission.
" The report projects a sub­stantial
increase in the Town of
Oyster Bay's elderly
population," Colby said. " Ac­cording
to this study, in 1070 there
were 20,846 persons aged 65 and
over in the Town, representing
5.81 percent of the total
population. By 1985, this age
group is predicted to increase by
18,354 or 88 percenUo 39,200. We
must be prepared to meet this
challenge."
The Town has been forced to
seek other means of financing
senior citizen housing because of
a change in HUD's housing policy
that would have required the
t Continued on page 8]