Bethpage-Tribune_1972-08-03

              BEWAGE PB3UB U8RARY
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Island Trees
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Serving Bethpage Plainview - Island Trees
Vol. 6 No. 39
V ord Old Bethpage
Thursday, August 3, 10c per copy
6 6"
TOB Submits
Land Use" Proposals
The Town oITJysler Bay has submitted the following
recommendations for tbe scrutiny of the general
public.
Tbe "land use" ideas expressed here concern every
resident and t a x p a y e r of tbe community and should be
examined closely. Questions should be~tttrected to^tbe
Supervisor's office.
The operation of the Town's*
sanitary disposal facility is
divisible into several categories
for the purpose of land use
planning. The incinerators are
likely to remain in use, both
because they represent a very
substantial capital investment
and because of their central
location. The landfill area itself is
nearing its capacity and one or
more new sites will have to be
found, (Otm substitute -site was
recently announced at the in­tersection
of the Long Island
Expressway and Round Swamp
Road.) The present site should be
topped off with earth and, since
its bearing capacity will be
relatively low for some time, it
could perhaps be best made
available for recreational use.
The size of the site is such that
a wide variety of recreational
activities can be considered,
^JOj^Jfltejig^.teuga^s^^Tjiwm. 2:,£xmte.JLj&msM. shopping
Reappoiiionirient
vacant lands (a) at the library,
(b).at the northwest corner of
Stewart Avenue and Central
Avenue, (c) at the northeast
corner of Broadway and Powell,
and Id) any underutilized
Grumman lands, especially those
closest to Bethpage.
Planning Goals
1. Clarify traffic system by
(a), Eliminating on-street
parking where possible.
, (b) Eliminating through and
non-residential traffic from
residential streets.
(c) Making provision for
east-west, movement within
.the center. -
(d) Eliminating the
Stewart Avenue and
Broadway grade crossings of
the Long Island Railroad.
(e) Providing adequate off-street
commuter and shopper •
parking.
wide, and others more local
needs. The latter might best be
provided for in Battle Row Park,
a County facility which the plan
recommends be leased by the
Town. Recreational activities
intended to serve the needs of the
local community should be
planned with the participation of
residents. Because residential
areas are located some distance
away from the facility, it would
be entirely appropriate to con-environment
for pedestrians.
3. Concentrate and revitalize
business area through in­tensification
of commercial uses
and some minor residential
concentrations around the
business area.
Proposals
The plan recognizes the
probability of I^ong Island
Railroad grade separations at
Broadway and Stewart Avenue.
While this improvement has not
sider the provision here of op-' yet been scheduled, it is Clear
pprtunities for recreation ac­tivities
which are not appropriate
close to homes. One possible
recreation use for the sanitary
landfill area would be as a
shooting complex, since there has
been some expressed request for
such a facility. ^
BETHPAGE .
Planning Issues
1. Railroad grade crossings at
Stewart Avenue and Broadway.
2. Inadequate commuter and
shopper parking, with some
vacant unpaved lots and streets
being used for the purpose.
3. Poor east-west circulation,
which may become aggravated
should any changes in the
Grumman complex generate
significant employment in­creases.
.
4. Lack of recreation.
5. Poor drainage - parking lots
tend to flood.
6. Industrial traffic using
residential streets east of
Broadway and south of Powell
Avenue.
7. Lack of vitality of business
area makes revitalization more
difficult - competition from
shopping centers and the recent
decline in Grumman em­ployment
chiefly responsible.
8. The future uses of parcels
appearing ripe for change and
that the eventual goal of the MTA
and the Long Island Railroad is to
grade separate all crossings.
Some of the proposals for Beth­page
recommended as a part of
this plan are dependent on the
railroad grade separation; others
are not and can proceed sooner.
To grade separate the railroad,
the plan recommends that it be
elevated approximately eight
feet, and that Stewart Avenue
and Broadway be lowered by
about the same amount. This will
permit the least visual impact of
the railroad structure while at
the same time minimizing the
adverse effect op local businesses
that would result from either a
complete lowering or elevation of
the roadway. The recommended
solution attempts to achieve the
best possible balance between
these two factors.
The plan recommends the
following:
1. Elevating the railroad with
the change in grade taking place
from a point about 400 feet west of
Stewart Avenue to a point about
400 feet east of -Broadway.
2. Depressing Broadway ap­proximately
from Schneider
Lane to.just south of Baldwin
Place.
3. Depressing Stewart Avenue
(Continued on Page 1)
A proposal to reapportion the
Nassau Board of Supervisors will
be laid on the desk of the
-supervisors Aug- 14,-it was an­nounced
today by Hempstead
Town Presiding Supervisor
Francis T. Purcell.
Purcell, Vice Chairman and
Majority Leader of the Board,
said it is expected that the board
will set Aug. 28 at 11 a.m. at the
date of a public hearing on the
proposal.
The Board is under an order
from the New York State Court of
Appeals to reapportion itself in
accordance with the recent
federal census. The order results
frem-a-suit-fifetrby aiwrntber 6f"
county residents.
Purcell said that Attorney
George Pratt of Mineola, who
served as a consultant to the
board in its efforts to draw up a
plan acceptable to the courts, has
devised a system which will
enable the supervisors of
Nassau's three towns and two
cities to continue their historic
rpJtesjsjcnunLy-supervisors.
Under the proposed plan, the
Jat&L vPumbeE.-jrf,,- votes • ••ia-.-iha^.
Board of Supervisors will be 130
with 71 required for passage of
most measures. The vote will be
apportioned as follows:
Presiding Supervisor - of
Hempstead Town 35
Supervisor of Hempstead
Town: 35.
Supervisor of _0_ys'ter JBay
Town: 3 2 :"
Supervisor of North Hemp­stead
Town: 23. .
Supervisor of the City of Long
Beach: 3.
Supervisor of the City of Glen
CoVe: ••2„,
Under the present system,
Hempstead Town, with a
population of approximately 56
per "cent of Nassau County, can
cast no more than 50 per cent of
the total vote. Under the new
system, in which "voting power"
is the key consideration, Hemp­stead
Town will have a voting
power of '55.6~'per cent, nearly
equal to its population per­centage.
The courts have'insisted that
each member of the board must
be able to exercise "voting
power" roughly equivalent to the
population he represents. Voting
power is defined as the
"mathematical possibility of (a
supervisor) casting a decisive
vote on a particular'matter." :„,'.
'Assisted by a computer, Pratt
developed a distribution of votes
that will insure, for instance, that
the supervisor of the City of Gten
Cove has the mathematical
possibility of casting a decisive
vote 5.6 per cent of the time.
While voting power is supposed
to roughly approximate the
percentage of the county
population represented by the
supervisor, the system is actually
'weighted slightly in favor of the
smaller voting-members.
would need the support of any one
of the other voting members.
In submitting the proposal on
behalf of all the supervisors- -
Republican ^ Democratic- -
Purcell quoted from the
legislation's preamble:
"The structure of county
government in Nassau County,
which permits the supervisors
from the towns and cities to act
as the county's legislative body,
provides. . . a form of govern­ment
which is efficient,
economical, and responsive to
the electorate (and which). . .
facilitates and promotes coor-dlMUlMJ_
Anil.£ao|>ffl^iiii>nvl!~..-^>i-.
In addition, Purcell noted that
a change to any other system; of
county representation would
increase the cost" of the
legislatlv» branch : of;icounty
government.
"The form of county govern­ment
which exists today is a
model for the country and the
supervisors are pleased that it
has been preserved intact in this
proposal," Purcell said.
Assuming that the B o ^ of
For instance, Glen Cove will
have a voting power of 5.6 per
cent while Gler^Cove's population
is only 1.8 per cent of Nassau
County's population.
For Long Beach, the plan
assigns a voting power of 5.6 per
cent to an area whose population
is only 2.3 per centof the total
county population,
v. Hempstead's voting power and
population percentage are almost
identical: 55.6 and 56 per cent
respectively. At the. same time,,
however, Hempstead ' Town,
alone, will not be able to com­mand
enough votes to pass any
measure. In order to muster the
required; 71 votes, Hempstead
Supervisors adopts the proposal
following the Aug. 28 hearing, the
law will then be submitted to the
Nassau Supreme Court for its
review. The plan will then be
submitted to the voters at the
next general election following
the approval of the court.
The Republican members of
the Nassau Board of Supervisors
are Purcell and Supervisors
Alfonse M. D'Amato of Hemp­stead,
John W. Burke of Oyster
Bay and Michael J. Tully of
North Hempstead. The
Democratic members are
Supervisors Andrew J. DiPaola
of Glen Cove and George B.
Costigan of Long Beach^-^
Wydler Examines Problems ojLAged
On Friday, August llth, the
Town Hall in Hempstead will be
the scene of ^ an official
Congressional hearing which
usually is held on Capitol Hill in
Washington. Congressman John
W. Wydler (R-Nassau County)
announced that on that date a
hearing will be held by the
Special Subcommittee on Aging
of the House Government
Operations Committee to look
into the particular problems of
the older Americans in the
suburbs.
"The Town" of Hempstead is a
typical suburb and our senior
citizens suffer from many par­ticular
and severe problems,"
Wydler said. "This hearing is
being held at my request and will
cover two main topics of special
interest to our area. First, is the
problem of adequate, senior
. citizen housing and second, is the
problem of adequate and safe
nursing • home facilities."
adequate and safe nursing home
facilities."
People and officials from the
town' and county will have an
opportunity to testify and to hear
the Committee in action. The
Committee will start the hearings
at 10:00 a.m. in the Town Hall of
Hempstead and the morning
session will deal with the shor­tage
of senior citizen housing in
the Town of Hempstead. At
present, no senior citizen housing
is being built in the town because
of the refusal of the Department
of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD) to approve
it until other low income housing
is built. "The result is a senior
citizen housing shortage and the
only losers are our senior citizens
who need adequate housing. I am
hopeful our Committee will
resolve the problem," Wydler
commented. "It is shameful to
hold our* senior citizens
hostage." •
Witness at the morning session
will include Francis T. Purcell,
Presiding Supervisor of the Town
of. Hempstead, and S. William
Green, Regional Administrator
for HUD in the New York area.
There will also be representative
senior citizens interested in the
housing field.
' The afternoon session will be
concerned with the problem of
adequate and safe nursing
homes. The Committee had held
hearings on thhis topic earlier
this year in Washington, but this
hearing will be directed
specifically to suburban aging
problems. On July 17th, the State
Board*of Welfare ordered the
immediate closing of twelve
facilities in the state for failure to
install adequate smoke detection
systems. Two of these facilities
were in Nassau County. This.is
another matter which will be
(Covtinued on Page 7)