Rent Guidelines Group Reestablished
The Freeport Board of Trustees has announced that
the Village will reestablish the Tenant-Landlord
Guidelines Committee, which will endeavor to set-tle
disputes and set rent guidelines on a cooper-ative,
voluntary basis. The committee, originally
set up in 1969, handled a total of 1,070 cases be-fore
becoming inactive in 1973 after the problems
were minimized. Composed of representatives of
landlords and tenants, the committee was success-ful
in holding rents down to Yj% increases on two-year
leases in 92? of the cases brought before it,
and down to 20j! on longer term leases. In addi-tion,
203 complaints of violations were forwarded
to the Building Department for investigation. The
uniqueness of the group brought inquiries from.
other Long Island communities and from Connecticut
and Massachusetts.
The Village Board's announcement followed the Feb-ruary
10 Public Hearing to consider the declara-tion
of a housing emergency in the Village which,
under the State's Emergency Tenant Protection Act
of 197^, would bring the setting of rentals on
some 5,000 Freeport apartments under the aegis of
the Nassau County Rent Guidelines Board. All
speakers at the Public Hearing, landlords and ten-ants,
opposed the move indicating their dissatis-faction
with the State legislation and requesting
that any controls should be negotiated on the Vil-lage
level. The Board reserved decision.
Mayor William White, who is presently asking in-dividuals
representing landlord and tenant groups
to serve on the reestablished committee, stated,
"It is our fervent hope that this committee will
prove to be the solution to a difficult situation
whereby our only other option may be to relin-quish
our control on not only a very important
sector of our economic base, but on the quality
of life of a sizeable portion of our population.
We have the utmost faith, that with the already
expressed support of the community, the committee,
weighing the many varying and complicated factors
involved in each individual case, will come up
with the fair and equitable solutions as was the
case in the past."
Those interested in the history of Freeport would
do well to obtain a copy of the new book, "Nassau
Suburbia, U.S.A.," by Edward Smits. Fifty-two of
of the book's 287 pages carry references or photo-graphs
of the Village beginning with page one:
"Freeport, incorporated in 1892, was the second
largest village in the county, with 2,612 resi-dents"
to page 238, in discussing 1970: "Party
boats leaving early in the morning from Freeport
docks afforded deep-sea fishing for tuna, blue-fish,
fluke and weakfish." In between are
stories such as the Long Island Rail Road's tout-ing
of Freeport in the early 1920s as "an ideal
home for New York businessmen — substantial
character, conservative," and the tale as to how,
during Prohibition, three men.,and $10,000 worth
of whiskey were seized when Freeporters seeing
a 60-foot motorboat aground off shore called
the Coast Guard. Discussing later days, the
book refers to Freeport's senior citizen housing
complex as "exemplary." The pictorial history
of the Village presented includes photos of bay-men's
houses on Freeport Creek, the horse-depend-ent
Fire Department, the "new" high school and
Village Hall of 1930 and the arrival of the first
trolley car.
Book Tells Of Old Freeport
"Nassau Suburbia, U.S.A." is available for circu-lation
through the Freeport Memorial Library.
Published by the Friends of Nassau County Museum
and distributed by Doubleday & Co., Inc., it may
be purchased for $12.95.
Fencing Champ
Sixteen-year-old Margaret Szabunia of the Rec-reation
Department's fecning program, having
won the LI championship, went on to take fourth
place in the national Junior Fencing Olympics
in Oregon. Congratulating her are Program Co-ordinator
Phyllis Pullman (left) and Assistant
Superintendent of Recreation Frank LeSueur.
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.
Village Eases Relocation Path MARCH, 1975
Trustee Thomas Lovelidge (center) and Director of Economic Development Robert J. Cohen, Jr., (2nd
from right) join members of the H.S. White Co., Inc. as they look over the new St. John's Place
headquarters of their Unaflex Rubber Corporation division. When The White Co., owned by Horace
White (3rd from left), a longtime resident of Lena Avenue, chose to relocate from Brooklyn, Mr.
Cohen coordinated the effort, easing the complicated process so that Unaflex would not suffer
even a loss of one day's operation.
Trip To Wine Country
The Freeport Recreation Department is sponsoring
an adult trip to the Hudson Valley Wine Village
in Highland, N.Y. on Thursday, April 2<». Partic-ipants
will be able to take part in the wine tast-ing
which is part of the tour which acquaints the
visitor with the age old art of winemaking from
the vine to the bottle. A buffet lunch of hot
dishes, beverage and dessert is planned before
the tour.
The fee of 57.50 includes transportation, lunch
and tour. The bus will leave the Recreation Cen-ter,
130 E. Merrick Road at 8:30am and return
about 6pn. All participants must have a Freeport
Recreation Activity Card. The trip is limited
on a first come, first served basis and advance
reservations may be phoned in to Mrs. Ruth Stern,
223-8000.
Trustees: George H. Fairberg, Ralph P. Franco, Thomas J. Lovelidge. Dorothy Storm
Village Clerk: Thomas DeVincenzo - Treasurer James J. Lyons - Counsel: Oakley Gentry Jr.
Village To Fight Commercial Tax Reductions National Magazine Features Sewer Project
The Freeport Village Board has decided to "oppose
vigorously in court" any claims for tax assess-ment
reductions by commercial organizations, Mayor
William H. White declared.
The Mayor said it was becoming a common practice
for owners of business properties to appeal to
the County Board of Assessors or to the courts,
and obtain substantial reductions in their prop-erty's
assessed value based on "economic hard-ship."
This gives certain business enterprises
a tax deduction, and the resulting loss in rev-enue
must be made up by the Village homeowners
and apartment tenants who have tax escalator
clauses in their leases, the Mayor noted while
pointing out that the residents of the Village
do not enjoy the same privilege of getting lower
tax assessments on an economic hardship basis.
"This amounts to the equivalent of an oil deple-tion
allowance for certain business enterprises
in the Village at the expense of the rest of the
taxpaying public. We think there is a basic
injustice and we are going to fight it all the
way," he said.
The Board's decision was the result of a number
of notices of court claims filed with the Vil-lage
and School District that, if granted,
would call for a total reduction in assessed
value of 81.098,730. The Mayor said the Vil-lage
had rejected the initial requests for re-ductions
filed on Grievance Night by these com-merical
property owners.
"The extent of these claims has convinced the
Board that we can no longer rely solely on
County personnel to represent our interests
even though it will be a costly process for the
Village to take court action on each individual
claim," Mayor White said. "We have directed
Village Counsel to notify Nassau County that we
do not intend to enter into any settlement a-greements,
and the Village Clerk has been di-rected
to contact the School District to set up
a joint meeting of the Village Board and the
School Board for the .purpose of cooperating in
the tax fight and sharing court costs. We will
also ask the County to join with us in this ac-tive
opposition. The assessment reductions af-fect
all of. us,"
The Mayor pointed out that the Village Board has
been working closely with the County in attempts
to reject or minimize previous claims of this
type, but the precedents established by the
courts for granting relief to commercial firms
made it difficult to "knock down" the claims.
Mayor White said Village and School District
representatives had also met with state legisla-tors
in attempts to find a solution.
The current claims filed with the court on Vil-lage
properties are: 99 Randall Avenue, owned
by ,JgnJ. J)avidJeajjy Co., P.O. Box 108, Free-port,
assessed at $378,600, requesting reduction
of $138,600; 5 Broadway, owned by Raddock Con-sJTuction.-
C.orp., 5 Broadway, Freeport, assessed
at ftll^SOO, requesting reduction of ftl6.^00;
30 North Long Beach Avenue, owned by Sisa Realty
Corp.. 666 Fifth Avenue, New York City, assessed
at 3250,650, requesting reduction of $100.650;
255 West Sunrise Highway, owned by Eldee Realty.
Corp.. 338 Maryland Avenue, Freeport, assessed at
$17,600, requesting reduction of S7.6QO; 527
Atlantic Avenue, owned by Frances Af and Francis
J. Ceravolo. 53 South Grove Street, Freeport as-sessed
at $75,050, reauesting reduction of $55,-
05JU Town and Harbor Apartments, owned by the es-tate
of Marvin Lindnert 1161 Meadowbrook Road,
North Merrick, assessed at $823,650, requesting
reduction of $517,650; Long_I.sland Trust Co.. 60
Sunrise Highway, owned by Long Island Trust Co.,
82 7th Street, Garden City, assessed at $170,'t30,
requesting reduction of $90,^30 (assesed valua-tion
was $70,000 for 1970; 30 Brooklyn Avenue,
owned by Frances Ai Ceravolo. 53 South Grove
Street, Freeport, assessed at $2^,150, requesting
reduction of &13,1SO; Grove Theater, owned by
Century ManaoemerrLCorD.. 15 Verbena Avenue,
Floral Park, assessed at $168,050, requesting re-duction
of $118,050; 2 Claurome Place, owned by
Lim Rose Gardens Inc.. 53 South Grove Street,
Freeport, assessed at $^,380, requesting reduc-tion
of S2..380; 317 North Main Street, owned by
Lim Rose Gardens, Inc., 53 South Grove Street,
Freeport, assessed at $5»920, requesting reduc-tion
of $2.920; 315 North Main Street, owned by
Lim Rose^ Gardens.11 nc.. 53 South Grove Street,
assessed at $9,950, requesting reduction of
$^»25Q; and 23 East Merrick Road, owned by es-tate
of Marvin Lindner, 1161 Meadowbrook Road,
North Merrick, assessed at $5*t,900, requesting
reduction of $30,900.
The February issue of "The American City»" the nationally circulated periodical covering the fields
of management and engineering for municipalities and urban counties, featured Freeport's innovative
use of plastic pipe insertions to repair deteriorated sewer lines on its color cover and in a three
page feature article. In an editorial the monthly magazine wrote, "By lining the 18-year-old sewer
the Village saved 87? of the cost of conventional sewer rehabilitation. The project also cut
down on traffic disruptions and other headaches caused by direct burial type repairs." Shown are
Superintendent of Public Works Edwin Prefer (right) and George Hudson of DuPont at work on last
Summer's project to repair the sewer line on the east side of Woodcleft Canal. DuPont manufactures
the plastic lining.
