The-Leader_1972-03-23

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FREEPORT
Zl0 C«te 11820
36th YEAR, No. 48
BALDWIN MERRICK
Zlo Code 11S6e
FREEPORT, NEW YORK, THURSDAY. MARCH 23. 1972
ROOSEVELT
llo Ciodt I1»ft
Taxpayers
IPRICE: TEN CENTS PER COPY
White Speaks for
Environmentai Bond Issue
u,^J^^^rrK.J^^^^^y ^^^^^ example, it has become
WiUiam H. While, m a statement necessary for us to buUd our own
before the State Senate and pilot plant for sewage treatment
Assembly Conservation Com- with a view to extending existing
mittees Joint Hearing, urged the faciliUes to a tertiary treatment
Jam Meeting
legislators to approve a
referendum for a proposed 1.2
billion dollar environmental bond"
issue.
In Albany Wednesday the
Freeport.representative gave
testimcinyv{^dt!e^:tiief;€aEiiniltfee^
eariroafrKea t o r envirdriirielitai.
improvements.
The tegiiiTation that would
permit a Statewide referendum
on the guestion of the bond issue
was pivposed by Senate Con­servation
Committee Chairman
Bernard Smith and A^emWy
Conservation Chairman
Lawrence Lane.
Mr. White spoke for Mayor
Robert J. Sweeney and the
Village Board of Trustees of
Freeport.
"The Village of Freeport is a
small part of the Slate of New
York and perhaps our voice will
be considered too small to be
recognized among the many
powerful voices addressing the
Slate Legislature in behalf of one
cause or another." he said.
"But Freeport is more than a
Long Island Village of 40,000
persons. Freeport is an en­vironmental
proving ground. In
many respects Freeport is a
graphic illustration of the need
for a bold legislative move to
preserve and protect our en­vironment
right now.
"We can see the problems
clearer than many other com­munities,
because our own local
village government is charged
with solving environmental
jproblems. Unlike many other
villages, we in Freeport provide
all essential services to village
residents, including sanitation
pick-up and incineration, sewage
collection and treatment, electric
power generation and
distribution, municipal water
supply and distribution, parks
and recreation. In addition we
are continually cognizant of
water pollution problems
because we are a waterfront
community on the South Shore of
Long Island and we have many
canals and waterways within
village boundaries.
"1%e services we provide must
be constantly improved and
updated in order to overcome the
problems of Increased population
density and the ever rising
demands itf today's sodety. Ffv
process for the removal of
nitrates and phosphates. We have
gone alMUt as far as we can go
without federal and state aid
towards the expansion of our
sewer plant, a project that may
i^i8tvT|n;:rUie-i-«fea- " "'
of the garbage coU^tidn in
Freeport was being^-biiiriied or
burial in open pits l^cause the
incineration facilities were
practically defunct. We con­structed
and have maintained a
batch-fed incinerator that in
recent years has been burning
virtually 24 hours a day on three
shifts.
"We are at the point where a
new and larger facility must be
constructed, but again the ex­penditure
of millions of dollars is
more than can be reasonably
borne by the overburdened home
owners who pay the greater part
of the local taxes,
"We have recently found il
necessary to drill a ninth
municipal well, to keep abreast of
demands for fresh water, for
drinking, bathing, sprinkling and
swimming pools. To provide
open-space for today and future
generations. we recently
acquired 30 acres of watershed
property within our boundaries
thai was owned by the City of
New York.
We have been struggling over
the past decade to keep pace with
Iheecological pressures. Frankly
we feel that we cannot suc­cessfully
stay ahead in this very
real struggle unless we receive
meaningful assistance to sup­plement
our own limited
resources The proposed 12
billion dollar environmental bond
issue before the Senate and
Assembly Conservation Com
mittees can be the solution to our
environmental problems, as it
can be to municipahties large
and small throughout the slate
Our Mayor, Rot^rt J. Sweeney,
and the Village Board of Freeport
urge approval of the proposal to
place this bond issue before the
voters of the state in November.
We feel sure that our residents
will overwhelmingly support this
bond issue as will the millions of
oUiers in New York State who
have the same deep concern
about the quality of life in every
community."
Scenes at Village Hall Monday Night.
Block-Busting
The unique Village ordinance
in Freeport designed to combat
"block-busting" real estate
practices and amended to include
specific penalties, has been
adopted by the Village Board of
Trustees after a public hearing.
No one spoke in opposition.
It provides for fines of up to
$250 for each violation. This
means that any lime a salesman
or real estate dealer uses a
"blockbusting" approach to buy
or sell homes he may be fined
$250 for each sales talk, and may
be subject to imprisonment.
The ordinance states: Section 1
- "It shall be an unlawful
discriminatory practice for any
real estate broker, real estate
salesman or employee or agent
thereof or any othar Indlvlihial,
eorporalion, partnership or
organization for the purpose of
inducing a real estate transaction
from which any such person or
any of its stockholders or
members may benefit finan­cially,
to represent tliat a change
has occurrwl or will or may occur
in the composition with respect to
race, creed, color or national
origin of the owners or occupants
in the block, neighborhood or
area in which the real property is
located, and to represent,
directly or Indirectly, that this
change will or may result in
undesirable consequences in the
block, neighboiiiood or area in
which the real property is
located, including but not limited
to the lowering of property
(Conttiujed on Page 14)
Mayor Sweeney, the Vil-age
Board, and the Dunne
plan to rezone North Main
Street played to a packed
house Monday night as Free-port
taxpayers jammed the
Village Hall to have their
say on tMs vital Issue,
The meeting began at
8:55 P.M. The May6r laid
down^ the ground rules (S
of the evening and approxi­mately
3 hours later sixty
people had voiced their ap­proval
or disapproval of the
plan and (he meeting was
adjourned. TTie Board is to
study the comments and
suggestions of the speakers
and announce their decision
at a future date.
Most of those who spoke
did so a,s individuals but
some represented organiza­tions
such as NICHE.
TASCA, SOUTHWEST
CIVIC ASSN., NAACP,
FREEPORT DEMOCRATIC
CLUB and even Sweeney'.s
own VILLAGE PARTY
There were few outbursts
of temper and the meeting
was extremely orderly con­sidering
the interest gene­rated
during the past weeks.
Jomer Rand accused the
Mayor of "raising false
hopes" and "selling the plan
in person," Board member
Fairberg objected to Rand's
interpretation of the Mayor's
efforts.
Fred Howard, who op­poses
the plan, hinted at
the possibihty of conflict
of interest on the part of
board members with Main
Street developers.To a man,
the board boiled. Several
retorted sharply to Howard,
and Sweeney halted the pro­ceedings
to poll the Board
(Continued on Paga 16)
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