The-Leader_1987-10-15

              f'H
OIlKlal .
Newspaper
Village of
Freeport
•
. Freeport
School District •
Baldwin
THE
FREEPORT f E ^ J l J f JI
School District 53rd YEAR, NO. 25 FREEPORT, NEW YORK October 15. 1987 PRICE 2 5 * PER COPY
"looking back: Gala parade to kick off Freeport's AnniversarY
On this Sunday, October 18,
some 40 floats and inarclung
units will step off at 2 p.m. to the
. soundsofiunebandstobeginthe
• Village of Freeport's celebration
of the 95th anniversary of
incorporation.
Sponsored by the Freeport
Historical Sodety, itself celebrat­ing
its 2Sth anniversary, the event'
is being called a "Parade of His- .
tory". Appropriately, Nassau
County Historian Edwtird Smits
is Grand Marsha] and both .the
ViHey Stream Historical Society
and the Historical Society of the
Merrickt will participate as a
saliite to the community which
was actually settled in 1659 by
cow herder Edward Raynor. .
A descendant of Freeport^
founder, Robert Raynqr, servvs
as coordinator of the parade,
which will assemble just east of
South Brookside A\wue and
travel east along Merrick Road
and north oti South Main Street
to pais the reviewing stand out­side
of Cilantz Travel Agency.
Expected on the reviening stand
are Mayor Dorothy Storm and
the memben of the Board of
Trustees, Nassau County Execu­tive
Thomas Oulotta, State Sena­tor
Norman Levy, Asiemblytnan
Charles CShea and Town of
Hempstead CouncilwoDjan
Anpe CuUin. HistorioU Sodety
President Edward Yamia will be
Master of Ceremonies.
Participants in the parade to
date ate: the Enrico Fermi I^odge
of the sons of Italy, the Ruth
Floyd Woodhull Chapter of the
Daughters of the American
Freeport Exempt Firemen's
'Association, Long Island Scan­dinavian
Society, Dicterson Per-forming
Arts Center, Freeport
Fire Department, Freeport
Qiambet <if Commerce, Free-port
9Slh Anniversary Historical
Mural Committee, Business
Women of Freeport, Brass Ring
Realty, First Baptist Church, Al
Crover Marine, Cub Scout
Packs #lg and »2I2. Boy Scout
Troop ttlS, Girl Scouts, Freeport
Sea Clam Company, Arts Coun­cil
At Freeport, Athena Qub,
Freeport Rcpublicainaub, Forty
and Eight of the American
Legion Honor Society, Veteratu
of Fortigii Wars, William Clin­ton
Story Post of the American
Legion, Henry Monisoa Delo-ney
Post of the American ' Le.
gion, Freeport Historical
Sodety, Freeport United Meth­odist
' Church, the Arrows
Hockey team, Willis Company of
the New York Volunteers Histor­ical
AssociaUbn, the Lioness
Qub, Freeport Community Cho­rale,
the Freeport School District
and PTA Council, the Dean
Street Chapel, South of Sunrise
Civic Association, the Stella
Maris Court of the Catholic
Daughters of America, Atlantic
Harsery, and the Nassau County
Police IJepartment with antique
poUcecats.
' The bands will be fromlhe Fire
Department, School District
along with the Commanche
Raiders, Minutemen Drum
Corps, Maritime Band, The
Street Band Preservation Society
and the Redcoat Grenadiers.
Following the. parade, . the
South Miin Street merchants are
sponsoring an ethnic food festini
on the block between Sunrise
Highway and Merrick Road. On
hand ynH be hot dog and ham-^
burgers, popcorn, hoiiie baked
goc^, sausage and peppers,
shrimp gumbo, stuffed pita
bread, barbecued chicken and
pork, clams and beverages.
Special Sectfon
celebrating
Freeport's
history
inside
(pages 1-12 A)
J Lobking aliead : What vyill Freeport be like in five years?
by John Wittlant
Freeport at age 100 will look
younger and feel better than at
95.
As the five-jquare-mjle village
celebrates iu 9Sth anniversary
this week, its leaders and dtizens
may be excused far enga^ng in
the tricky exerdse of what lies
ahead in 1992. They agree that
this microcosm of big dty beauty
and blight, stresses and pleasures
will be different.
But the predicting is perilous
because of two law suits by a nti-zen
group and a developer
against the village. "J feel some
way, somehow the law itdts will
be behind us and pending pro­jects
will be developed," Mayor
Dorothy Storm told The Leader.
"There will be an exriting new.
Freeport blending with the old."
And Roy N. Cacdatore, a
long-time resident,,added in a
sejaraie interview:' "Freeport,
wluch had been stagnating, is
now on the right track and in five
yean will have t completely tevi-ulized
central area.* He is
commissioner of Nassau Coun­ty's
department of cofflmeroeand
industry. —
Ennifeconomists'predictions
of a Mtionwide business down­turn
wthin the next few years
come true, those interviewed
agreed, Freeport isn't apt to feel it
fuUy because it hasn't shared in
the explosive growth of the past
five yean. Developers, who once
swept aroiind Freeport to build
in areas to the east are returning
to this pocket and even fighting
for the right to invest here.
What will central Freeport
likely look like in 19927 The old
1400-seat long-vacant movie
bouse and nearby rows of time-warped
small stores south of the
Long Island Rail Road station'
will be gone. Theyll be replaced
by two sew office buildiiip, small
by modem scales, with" wide
expanses of parking spices.
: OnthewestedgeoftheviUage,
,the present vandal-scarred
Brooklyn Water Works building,
vacant since 1976, win be restor^
as a quality coi^dominium. Tln-rell
fikely be stores on the present
greeaswsrd of Firemaa% Reld. -
And the face and heart of North
and South Main Street wQl be
rejuvenated. The future of the
'empty Mtinidpa! Stadium and
the bustjing waterfront are
harder to fcnsee, bat theyVe
beaded for cfaangt,
' A groiip of Tttidents, headed.
by Vince Campion, is seeking ta
enjo'in the village from sellinj; the
i3-«cre fflunidpal stadiucntite to •
a developer who would build two
wasf houses there. Mr. Campion,
unsuccessful 19g5 candidate for -
mayor and founder'of the Future
Party of Freeport, told The
Leader. "I'm afraid of what the
future for Freeport wffl be. I see
everything knocked dosvn and no
places fbr family recreation."
The mayor leaponds that there
are many parks in the area plus '
the recreation center where evtry-thing
from arts'and crafts and
basketball to swimming and jTai
Chi (a Chinese exerdse) are
offered.'
The stadium was vacated sev­eral
years ago after village kaders ~
(cantlntnd on pegs 21
Freeport's. Future Profited
Currtnt 1992 XInerMta
Population
Job*
Avaragf OltpoMbI*
ineomt p%r houtthold
Houalng unit*
Stores
Manufacturara
NYcommutar*
Studtnta
39.000
13.300
*26.000
13,000
400 .
74
2.000
6,300
43.000
'14,000
*30,000
14.000
476
90 .
2,800
6,300
10
B
. 20
8
19
22
40
•
FREEPORT PLAZA OFFICE BUILOINO, • ttiltMi, four-story itnietura which WW b* part of th*
Vniaga't n«w Sunria* Hlghwty "akyOn*", vMI b« 4r*ettd by PhiOpt Ataoehtat on th« 2.4 acre
pareal In thf Mock atHtCf nt to th« tit* of th« lomwr roovl* th»at». Arehhact for tbt moiim
buttdlng, which will tvantually b« oeeuplad by auch tenants as.inauranc* and raal astat*
conipanl«a and pfofaaatonala. la D»algn C^pwatlv* of New Hyda Park. '^
,ssssssssssssssmfsssssssss=sss^ssssssssissasssm
Rouqh •ttlmatat by Frttport Uadar baaad on tntarviawt with
vOUQt govammant and bualnaaa Itadar*.