2011-12-22

              Ma$ you and your jamily enjoy
a Happy d?anukab and a
Merry Christmas!
www.freeportbaldwinleader.com
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76th Year, No. 51 Freeport, N.Y. 11520 Community Newspaper Thursday, December 22, 2011 750
Baldwin
Christmas
House
CHRISTINE AND HOWIE FRISCH have
been decorating their Baldwin house at
Christmastime for years. After their gold-en
retreiver was treated for lymphoma
nine years ago, they started collecting
money for the Animal Cancer Foundation
to benefit other animals with cancer.
Their house is at 958 Adams Street, just
west of Milburn Avenue, about four
blocks south of Atlantic Avenue.
Village Board approves $1.5 million certiorari bond
by Jim Golding
At a highly contentious village board
meeting on Monday, trustees authorized
$1.5 million in bonds to settle nearly 50 tax
certiorari judgments, awarded several con-tracts,
including one of $1.13 million for
solid waste and recyclables disposal, and
set a public he,aring for next year's budget.
Lengthy discussions also took place
during public comment by several resi-dents
connected with the Police Activity
League strongly complaining about
Mayor Andrew Hardwick's comments at
the last Village board meeting relating to
the PAL's financial situation, and relating
to the North Main Street traffic safety
issue that has beleaguered the community
for several months in the wake of fatali-ties
at certain intersections.
The board's action to authorize the
bond sale drew sharp criticism from sev-eral
residents, including former Deputy
Village Attorney Stephen Malone, who
reminded trustees about the state comp-troller's
recent audit that criticized the
practice of issuing bonds to pay for tax
judgments.
"Why are you doing it again?" he
demanded.
But Village Attorney Howard Colton
responded that "the state comptroller says
that of every municipality. It's still a good
accounting practice and noted that the
board had included about $800,000 in the
current year's budget to "wean the village
off bonding."
Mr. Malone pressed trustees about
what is being done to avoid "borrowing
from taxpayers" for future tax settle-ments.
Mr. Colton stated that next year's pro-posed
budget includes more funds to pay
for such settlements.
The board also approved up to
$175,000 in bonds for radio equipment
required by the federal government for
use in emergencies, which the Federal
Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA) is to reimburse.
Action on North Main
The board voted to prohibit parking or
stopping near four critical intersections
on North Main Street: up to 20 feet north
along the northerly curb line from
Colonial Avenue; up to 55 feet south
along the southern curb line of East Dean;
and no stopping or standing from the
southerly curb line on the east side of
Woodside to Colonial; along the souther-ly
curb line of the east side of East-Milton
south for 68 feet; and along the southerly
curb line of East Dean south for 55 feet.
One resident did not think the actions
go far enough to ensure pedestrian and
motorist safety. Toni McCullough, whose
daughter was killed on September 3 in a
collision between her car and another
vehicle, demanded further action.
"How many more people have to lose
their lives?" she asked. "Do something
about it. Don't wait until the next person
gets killed or injured."
Mayor Hardwick had recommended
several months ago that some of the
above named streets be made one-way to
eliminate potential fatal collisions
between vehicles pulling onto North
Main with fast-moving vehicles not easi-ly
seen by their drivers.
The majority of trustees, however,
urged that traffic and engineering studies
be done to determine the best course of
action. • .
Trustee Robert Kennedy said the board
has been involved in studying the situa-tion
on North Main and had been waiting
for traffic study reports from the
Department of Public Works and the
Police Department.
"We needed to hear from the experts so
we can determine what's in the best inter-est
of the entire community," added
Trustee Carmen Pineyro.
Mayor Hardwick added there is no
requirement for a study to be made, but
that the configuration of North Main
could change as a result of the rehabilita-tion
program planned for the thorough-fare.
Resident Douglas Mayers commented
on the danger at Woodside Avenue and
that "60 feet is not a lot." He asked that
further action be taken to ensure traffic
safety.
The mayor replied that "the best way to
ensure that no traffic is coming out [to
North Main] is to make it one-way."
Another resident, Earlene Skaites, said
she was "not happy with 'no parking'
.signs" and urged mat the county install
traffic lights at the dangerous intersec-tions.
The mayor replied that an official
request was made to have traffic lights
installed, but that no action has taken
place yet.
continued on page 3
NAMES MAKE THE NEWS: Read about your neighbors! 63 local people's names were in your community newspaper this past week. Maybe yours is in this week! See inside.
A Baldwin unsung hero
page 2
A Holiday message
page 6
Denenberg: Investigate
privatization
page 7