Service Request Forms Successful
Since June, 1973, when the Municipal Service
Request form began to appear periodically
in this publication, 810 have been filled out
and returned to Mayor William White.
The comments, pointing out where the services
of some Village department are needed, are for-warded
'to Mayor White, and thenceforth referred
to the appropriate department for immediate fol-lowup.
Residents who give their nans and ad-dress
are contacted and told what will be done
and when the matter will be corrected.
Typical complaints concern loose or barking dogs,
littered yards, pot holes, parking violations,
boat and auto speeders, traffic lights, dirty
lots and low-hanging branches.
Aside from informing the Village government of
problems, the Municipal Service Request form
has an educational value. Many resident have
learned for the first tine that the quickest
way to get rid of loose dogs is to call the Town
of Hempstead Dog Warden and that the maintenance
of curbs and trees is the homeowner's responsi-bility.
* * *
Do you have a specific problem that needs the
attention of a Village Department?
If so, please use this Service Request form to
bring it to the attention of your Village ad-ministration.
SERVICE REQUEST
TO: Mayor William H. White, Municipal Building, Freeport, N.Y. 11520
Action Requested or Nature of Problem
Address or Location
For Referral to: Sanitation Highway Building Department Code Enforcement
Electric Water Sewer Narcotics Guidance Parking Meters
Parking Fields Vacant Lot Clearance Police Fire Recreation and Parks_
Stadium Sign Shop Other
Your Name
Address Phone
Village News
A PUBLIC INFORMATION BULLETIN OF THE VILLAGE OF FREEPORT
46 NORTH OCEAN AVENUE TELEPHONE FReeport 8-4000 WILLIAM H. WHITE. MAYOR
Public Meetings On The 1st and 3rd Mondays Of The Month, At 9:00 P.M.
DECEMBER, 197*»
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At this joyous season, we wish the best of everything
for each and every one of you.
Mayor William H. White
Village Board of Trustees
Municipal Staff
d.
Film
Every Saturday is go-to-the-movies day at Free-port
Memorial Library. Each week a full length
feature film for the entire family is shown at
2:15pm. Among the outstanding attractions
scheduled are "Brian's Song" and "Seven Brides
for Seven Brothers." It's back to the good old
"serial" days when episodes of "The Phantom
Creeps" with Bela Lugosi are shown over three
succesive Saturdays.
See the films uncut, with no commercials and at
a really popular price - free. Pick up the
Fun
complete listing of Saturday Matinee Movies at
the Library.
Show Your Number
For the aid of your visitors, postman, delivery
men, taxi drivers and police, please be sure
that your house number is of sufficient size to
be easily visible from the street.
Illumination of the number at night is also sug-gested
as well as the cutting back of any shrub-bery
which may obscure it.
Trustees: George H. Fairberg, Ralph P. Franco, Thomas J. Lovelidge, Dorothy Storm
Village Clerk: Thomas DeVincenzo - Treasurer: James J. Lyons - Counsel: Oakley Gentry Jr.
d
Downtown Plan Released
Mayor William White and the Board of Trustees
have released to various Village civic organiza-
-tions, the report and recommendations of Walter
Thabit, planning consultants. The report, "A
Way to Modernize Downtown FreeportJ is a result
of nine months of study and was financed entire-ly
by federal and state funds under the Compre-hensive
Planning and Management Assistance Pro-gram,
In releasing the report, Mayor White said, "This
.study, and others now under way and in the plan-ning,
are one facet of our continuing program
to determine the best avenues for improving our
community. In our administration we wish to
call upon the greatest possible citizen partici-pation,
to-achieve goa-1-s-desir-ed-by-the-great—
majority of Freeporters. Your comments and
opinions will always be welcome."
The report recommends a two-phase plan toward
revitalization of the central business district.
Phase I would include the creation of a land-scaped
pedestrian mall on South Main Street be-tween
Sunrise Highway and Merrick Road and New-ton
Boulevard from South Main to Henry Street;
the demolition of one store on each side of
South Main to allow easier access for shoppers
using the Church Street and Henry Street park-ing
lots; the encouragement of landlords and
merchants to improve and modernize the appear-ance
of stores; the addition of convenient park-ing
spaces; and the attraction of newer and
larger stores on Newton Boulevard. The planners
feel these moves would go a long way toward ac-complishing
three basic objectives: (l) the
creation-of a more-attractive shopping environ-ment
including a start toward the development
of larger stores, (2) the addition of convenient
parking space and (3) the reduction of conges-tion
and easing of access.
The initial Phase I Plan is the first step en-visioned
in'the longer range plan to improve
the downtown area. The report goes into a
series of alternate Phase II plans which center
around attracting a department store or other
large store ranging from 100,000 to 200,000
square feet.
It is pointed out that a department store would
require other substanial changes. It is pro-jected
that some 750 additional parking spaces
'would be needed with lack of space determining
the need for multi-tiered parking structures.
Also considered is supporting uses near the
department store such as newer and larger re-tail
stores, office space, motel or hotel and .
entertainment centers. The scope of the devel-opment
and the direction and siting of such fa-cilities
are both subject to further study and
discussion with the community and government.
With respect to competition, the report states
that the Village's downtown is considered a ma-jor
center with almost a million square feet of
retail, office and automotive uses and is advan-tageously
located between major competing shopping
centers. While 7.5? of the store space is empty,
the planners-say -this is not alarming since most —
vacancies are in smaller stores.
In transportation, the report indicates the pro-posed
improvements by the TOPICS program to major
thoroughfares in the Village would benefit the
downtown as would improved public transportation.
Off street parking supply and demand analysis re-vealed
that there is presently 5,100 spaces
serving the study area. Of these, 2,200 are pub-lic
parking field spaces, 1,150 curb side spaces
(metered and unmetered) and 1,750 spaces located
in private lots or areas.
Assessment of the parking supply and demand was
looked at from two directions — peak occupancy
rate and needs based .on land use. Current data
shows a peak occupancy rate slightly above 85?
which represents capacity use. Based on this
finding, an additional 50 to 75 convenient spaces
could be justified. Applying accepted standards •
for parking demand based on square foot usage,
a theoretical demand for 150 spaces exists. The
difference between the occupancy rate and demand
by use result from the fact that downtown stores
are doing less business and drawing less custo-mers
than what is normal for the accepted stand-ards
that were applied to create the theoretical
demand. These findings suggest that insufficient
parking is not the only reason for lagging down-town
sales. The study stresses that the whole
shopping environment needs upgrading, congestion
must be eased and accessibility improved. Cor-rections
in these areas could result in increased
sales per square foot and increased parking de-mand.
Success Sailed In With Sloop
Freeport Superintendent of Schools Donald Costlow and Village Trustee Dorothy Storm were among
the 8,000 South Shore residents who boarded the 96-foot long Hudson River sloop, "The Clearwater."
during her stay at Cow Meadow Park last month. The sloop's first visit to the South Shore was
arranged by the Freeport Arts Council which is equally financed by the School District and the
Village. A sellout concert by folksingers Pete Seeger and Rev. Frederick Kirkpatrick and an edu-cational
sail by 50 Freeport High School students rounded out the weekend.
Apply Wow For Summer Jobs
Applications are now being accepted for sjjmmer
positions with the Village of Freeport. Openings
to be filled include those of life guard, recre-ation
attendants and leaders and seasonal labor-ers.
be considered.
Those interested may apply at the Office of the
Village Clerk, ^6 North Ocean Avenue, between
8:30am and '»:00pm, or in writing. No telephone
inquiries will be accepted.
Only Freeport residents over the age of 18 will Deadline for applications is May 1, 1975.
Newspaper Pickup Cancelled
The lack of demand by paper mills for newspapers
to recycle fo^d Superintendent of Public Works
Edwin Prefer to recommend to the Board of Trus-tees
that the every-Wednesday curbside pickup
of newspapers by an outside contractor be aban-doned.
In concurring with the recommendation, the
Board stated that residents wishing to have
their papers recycle'd should deposit them in
the special dumpster at South Ocean Avenue and
Sunrise Highway. The Trustees further directed
Superintendent Prefer to set up similar disposal
spots in all areas of the Village.
