and architectural style befitting a traditional
new downtown. In the year 2000, the first four-teen
storefronts in the Church St/Merrick Road
area were rehabilitated with funds from the
Freeport Community Development Agency and
the private sector. Our long-term goal is to reha-bilitate
and restore as many of these buildings of
the past, where many of us shopped as children,
as is practicable.
New facades on storefronts on Church St. and Merrick Road
In December of 2000, the Board of Trustees
approved the Main Street Mews project, which
will be built by Time Equities Corp. on vacant
land oh the west side of South Main Street in the
heart of the Central Business District. The project
represents the first new construction in that area
in nearly fifty years, and construction is sched-uled
to begin sometime in the spring of 2003.
The project calls for the construction of a three-story
building with a restaurant/retail use on the
ground floor and professional offices and artists'
live/work space on the second and third floors. I
believe that this project will serve as the catalyst
for the revitalization of our entire downtown.
Where there is art, there is life.
In January of 2001, after an extensive com-petition
and review process, Time Equities Corp.
was selected as the developer of the Plaza West
site. The project calls for the restoration of the
old Meadowbrook Bank Building, and the devel-opment
of two hundred apartment units above
twenty-five thousand square feet of new retail
space and underground parking on the vacant
land adjacent to the bank building. Contractual
negotiations should be concluded very shortly,
and construction of this exciting
new project should begin during
the spring of 2003. The project
itself represents a major step for-ward
in our efforts to revitalize our
traditional downtown area, and is
expected to take approximately
eighteen (18) months from the
date of groundbreaking to com-plete.
- — In arJdrtronrvve-are continu-ing
our efforts to bring in a neigh-borhood
mbvie^ theater, a book-store
and new retail shops, while at
the same time working with exist-ing
commercial tenants and prop-erty
owners to strengthen their businesses. We
will also continue our efforts to beautify down-town
with antique lighting, brick pavers, and
better access to, and lighting of, our municipal
parking fields. All of this takes time and money,
but it is well worth the effort, for we are not
revitalizing our downtown just for ourselves, but
for our children and their children to enjoy.
The proposed budget for FY 2003/04 (March
1, 2003 - February 29, 2004) contains a small
amount of revenue from sales tax; that figure is
$24,000. After a long and hard fight, which I
waged over several years, the County Legislature
finally accepted the principle of revenue sharing
of sales tax revenues with the 64 villages of
Nassau County. Although the initial amount is
I.-ON
OZSU AN
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ais
small, it will grow in future years as Nassau
County becomes more financially stable, and the
sales tax revenue will eventually become a reli-able
alternative stream of revenue to the prop-erty
tax.
The proposed budget calls for
$44,656,329.00 in appropriations. In order to
balance the budget and meet these obligations,
it will be necessary to increase real property
taxes nine and three-tenths percent (9.3%)
based upon a total assessed valuation of
$77,059,908.00 and a tax rate of $35.62 per
$100.00 of assessed valuation. For the average
one-family residential property assessed at
$5,700.00, this represents an increase of approx-imately
$14.40 a month.
Of the foregoing total increase, eighty-one
and a half percent (i.e., 7.58%) is completely
beyond the Village's control. Specifically, state-imposed-
increases in.contributions.to the state -
retirement system account for 2.99%; increases
in hospital/medical costs account for 3.40%; the
loss of special state aid to distressed communities
amounts to 0.49%; and finally, the loss of
assessed valuation amounts to 0.70%.
Nearly six years ago, I knocked on your door
to ask for your support and pledged to you that,
if elected, the Glacken Team would end the fiscal
crisis and restore financial health to the Village. I
told you then that the road would be difficult,
but that if we stuck together, we would get the
job done. We did, and we are almost home, but
we still have a lot of work ahead of us.
Freeport has a proud history and a glorious
future ahead for our children and grandchildren,
if we lay the foundation today. This budget will
ensure that.
JANUARY, 2003 www.FreeportNY.com THE HOME OF CHAMPIONS
A Time to Glance Back, a Time to Look Forward
2002 was an eventful year for Freeport, and
this is a good time to look back and take stock of
how much has been accomplished in the almost
six years that the Glacken Administration has
been in office and also to look toward the
Nautical Mile. The renovations to Woodcleft
Ave., including raising the roadbed more than 2
feet, eliminated the persistent flooding prob-lems.
The sidewalk now features a brick prome-nade
complete with antique-style streetlights,
The Noutid Mile at Night
OZS U AN
ueaDQ 'ON
future. Village residents and businesses can see
from the actual renovations and improvements
that have taken place that the vision we have for
this village is real and can be achieved through
the steady progress made each year. Many of the
improvements have been pro-found
and have made a drastic dif-ference.
In some cases, they were
desperately needed and long over-due,
such as the revitalization of
Woodcleft Ave. Other changes
have been more subtle, but just as
important in improving the sense
of well-being of residents and busi-nesses
in our village, as in the case
of adding curb trees and improving
the playgrounds, playing fields and
the basketball and tennis courts in
the parks.
During the past three sum-mers,
Freeport has had the opportunity to show-case
its unique working waterfront with the
Summer Festivals. These events have drawn new
visitors while encouraging old friends to visit the
planters, benches and litter receptacles. The
overhead wires on the west side of Woodcleft
Ave. were installed in underground conduits,
and the wood poles were removed which great-ly
enhanced the view from the top of Woodcleft
Ave. down to the Scenic Pier at the foot of the
Nautical Mile. In October of 2001, another major
milestone in the renovation of the Nautical Mile
was reached with the completion of the
Esplanade, which provides 200 feet of dock space
for visiting historic vessels and other ships includ-ing
the annual visit by the midshipmen from the
US Naval Academy.
Road repair is an ongoing project all around
the village, as residents can see from the
improvements taking place in their own neigh-borhoods.
The Glacken Administration began its
"Five Worst Streets" program in 1997, during its
first year in office, by repaying five streets in the
northwest which intersected at Brookside Ave.,
all of which were in dire need of repair:
Meadowbrook, Mayflower, Mayfair, Milburn,
and Maxson Courts. In the northeast that same
year, large sections of Rutland Road and
Sagamore St. were reconstructed.
In 1998, repaving work was completed on
several additional streets in the northeast,
including Commercial St. and Lakeview Ave.
from Rutland Road to Grand Ave., as well as a
portion of Parsons Ave. Also in 1998, the eleva-tion
and repaving of several streets in the south-ern
portion of the village took place. We began
by elevating and repaying sections of Miller Ave.,
south of Hamilton Ave., down to Manhattan
Ave., where residents had experienced frequent
flooding problems for years. Work also began in
late 1998 on the upgrading of Woodcleft Ave.
In 1999, we were able to elevate and repave
major sections of the Meister Beach area includ-ing
Meister Blvd., Florence Ave., and
Brunella St. The year 2000 saw the
completion of the elevation of
Lester and Stirling Avenues in the
Meister Beach area, together with
the repaving of the other streets in
that neighborhood, including
Jeanette Ave. and William Place.
During the fall of 1999, work
on North Long Beach Ave., long a
problem due to the lack of paved
gutters, which led to persistent
water accumulation in front of resi-dents'
homes, was completed. The
construction work included a new
roadbed, driveways, and drainage improve-ments,
much to the satisfaction of the people liv-ing
on that street. Two other streets in the north-west
that were in need of repair for years,
Brooklyn Ave. running just north of the Long
Island Railroad station, and Maxson Ave.
between North Long Beach and Pennsylvania
Avenues, were repaved at the same time. Also
completed that year was the repaving of
Colonial Ave. in the northeast section of the vil-lage,
from North Main St. to Babylon Turnpike.
In the fall of 2000, work began on the
reconstruction of South Brookside Ave. from
Sigmond St. to Southside Ave., and of South
Bayview Ave. from Casino St. to the southern
end of Bayview, with the installation of new
drains. Bryant Ave. and Noon Place were also
included in that project. The repaving of those
streets was completed by the end of spring of
2001. Also in 2001, Garfield Street was elevated
and reconstructed, as was West Second St.
Future plans in the southern section of the vil-lage"
incrude~fe~pavihg~Southside' 'Averr f rorrr
South Long Beach Ave. to Guy Lombardo Ave.,
and South Ocean Ave. from Archer St. to Atlantic
Ave. as soon as the redevelopment of the
Freeport Hospital property is completed.
In January of 2003, we will begin the next
phase of our flood elimination program, the
largest in the Village's history, with the elevation
and reconstruction of those streets situated in
the so-called "flood bowl", where flooding reg-ularly
occurs. It is an area in the south-central
portion of the Village that is roughly bounded by
Atlantic Ave. on the north, Westside Ave. on the
west, South Long Beach Ave. on the east, and
Casino St. on the south. It also includes that por-tion
of Roosevelt Ave. from Casino St. to South
Long Beach Ave. The project is estimated to
take approximately sixteen (16) months to com-plete,
at an estimated cost of $4.2 million. Of
that figure, $l.l million will be paid for by a grant
from FEMA, with the balance to be bonded by
the Village. With the completion of that pro-ject,
'we~wilhhave -eliminated^approximately
ninety (90%) percent of the flooding
in the Village. Also in 2003, we will
be returning to the southeast corner
of the Village to reconstruct Ann
Drive, Laurette Lane, Jeffrey Court
and Gladys Lane.
In the northwest, repaving
work on Wilson Place from
Pennsylvania Ave. west to North
Bayview Ave. was complete in the
summer of 2002. In 2003, we will be
repaving Willowbrook Lane,
Tanglewood Lane, the upper portion
of Delaware Ave., Moore Circle and
Delaware Circle.
In the northeast, we are in the process of
completing the reconstruction of Jesse Street
from Lakeview Ave. to Frederick Ave.; Lillian Ave.
from North Main St. to Union Ave.; Charlick Place
from Forest Ave. to Woodside Ave., and all of
Pershing Place. In the southwest, the recon-struction
of Madison Ave. from Merrick Road to
Sunrise Highway is also nearing completion. In
2004, we will be returning to the northeast to
reconstruct Stevens St., Independence Ave., East
Dean Street, Weberfield Ave., and portion of
North Columbus Ave. Ultimately, the Glacken
Administration anticipates a time when there no
longer are potholes or flooding problems on the
streets and roads in our Village.
Municipal parking field no. 10, located on
South Ocean Ave. just south of Sunrise Highway
has been repaved with careful attention to aes-thetics
during the design phase. Antique-type
lighting replaced the existing cobra head street-lights,
repeating the theme used on the Nautical
Mile, South Main St. and the Village Hall court-yard.
Brick pavers were also used on the side-walks
in keeping with the look of other new pro-jects
in the Village:— - • •
Freeport's outstanding
efforts by its Emergency
Management Team in devel-oping
a pro-active response to
storm and hurricane related
disasters earned the Village
the designation of a Project
Impact community by the
Federal Emergency
Management Agency. The
designation recognized the
combined efforts of the vil-lage's
Public Works, Building,
Police and Fire departments,
along with the Water and
Electric Utilities, all of which are represented on
the Emergency Management Team. Under the
Project Impact program, Freeport qualified for
federal funding to assist 22 residents with homes
in low-lying flood zones which had sustained fre-quent
water damage. Construction work to ele-vate-
these-houses"began'in-earlytspring-of4999-
Avenue elevation project.
In all sections of the village, particularly the
northwest, we have grown accustomed to enjoy-ing
the cooling shade trees. Keeping those state-ly,
older trees healthy and thriving has required
a major commitment on the part of the village.
We hired a certified arborist to examine the trees
and make recommendations on how best to pre-serve
these valuable assets, while protecting
local homes and vehicles in the event of storms
that threatened to topple them. Unfortunately,
many had to be trimmed or, in severe cases,
removed. But for every tree that was removed,
we have replaced it with a new tree as part of
our '1,000 Trees A Year' program. By the time
you read this report, we will have planted near-ly
6,000 new curb trees in six years.
Many people believe that you can tell a
great-deal-about-a community by the condition
One of the many new trees planted in the Village
and was completed in the fall of 2000. Recently,
the Village received an additional grant of
approximately $600,000.00 which will be used to
elevate another eight homes during the next
year. Project Impact funds were also used to pay
for most of the cost of the Lester and Stirling
The rebuilt Tennis Courts at Northeast Park
of its parks. Much has been accomplished in
almost six years. Residents in the neighborhood
surrounding Northeast Park say the renovations
there have made an incredible difference. In
1999, the baseball field, once in a terrible state
of disrepair, was refurbished with a new home-run
fence, a newbackstop.and-player-dugouts.:A*
sprinkler system was installed and the
infield was completely resodded. The
playground and picnic areas, along with
the basketball courts, all have new, mod-ern
lighting, making them accessible to
our young people for evening activities.
In addition, the basketball court was
resurfaced. In the year 2000, a score-board
was installed, and in the spring of
2001, lighting for the baseball field was
added. In 2002, the tennis courts have
been completely rebuilt, and new light-ing
installed.
In 1999, additional lighting was added
to the handball and basketball courts at
Martin Luther King Park and the basketball court
was resurfaced. In the year 2000, new play-ground
equipment was installed. Over the past
few years, Glacken Park has become a show-place.
The baseball field was completely
restored, and a new Scoreboard installed. We
,„„,„>,„., MIK .... win ..(light lights installed atRandall? ark •••"
also upgraded the lighting on the basketball and
handball courts. In late 2002, new lighting was
added to the baseball field at Glacken Park.
Resurfacing was also completed on the basket-ball
courts at Glacken Park.
In 1997, new dugouts were added, the
infields were resodded and the outfields reseed-ed
at Randall Park. In 1999 a new sprinkler sys-tem
was installed at Randall to keep its fre-quently
used ballfields in good condition. We
have just completed the installation of new
lighting on all four ballfields at Randall. Our vil-lage
residents depend heavily on our parks for
recreation, sports and relaxation, and we are
determined to make them the best on Long
Island.
The modern exercise equipment in the Health Wing
Freeport's Recreation Center is one of the
village's most valuable assets. Under the Glacken
Administration, it has undergone a major reno-vation.
The Health Wing now offers state-of-the-art
exercise equipment, including Universal
weight machines, Landice treadmills and Aero
bicycles. Players on the basketball, volleyball and
handball courts are enjoying the new gym floor.
Since the summer of 1999, we
have continued to upgrade
the HVAC system, with new
air conditioners installed in
the Program Wing, and four
(4) new roof-mounted units
added to ensure that the
gymnasium, along with the
entire building, remains com-fortable
year round. In addi-tion,
we replaced the
entrance doors to the
Recreation Center to make
them more accessible to per-sons
with disabilities. By the
spring of 2002, we completed
the replacement of the roofs
over the gymnasium, lobby
and lounge. By the end of
July of 2002;'the"in'dbo'r'p6bT
was completely refurbished,
and now opens at 6:15 a.m. on weekdays to
accommodate almost everyone's busy schedule.
Residents who have visited Village Hall since
1999 have seen major renovations to our historic
building and grounds. Modeled after
Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Village Hall
has a proud history, and the building should
reflect its heritage. The Village Court and Main
Conference Room have been replastered and
repainted using authentic colors in keeping with
the federal architecture of the building while the
benches in both rooms were sanded, stained and
polished. The carpeting was replaced in the Main
Conference Room and new flooring was
installed in the Village Court. Finally, the Grand
Rotunda has been repainted,
restoring the main entrance
to its original grandeur. We
are in the process of replacing
all of the windows in the
'building" w'itrr'ene'rgy-'efficiefrt'
and historically accurate ones.
Our Village Hall
courtyard, located on North
Grove Street, was another
area that had fallen into dis-repair
over the years. The old
fountain, which had not been
working for a decade, was
turned into a trellised season-al
garden. A new irrigation
system was installed and the
slate surrounding the flowerbeds was replaced
with brick pavers, while sod was added to com-plete
the grassy area.
The Freeport Community Development
Agency acquired the former Freeport Hospital
property for a net purchase price of approxi-mately
$650,000 as a result of the bankruptcy
action against the former owners of the site. The
Village will benefit from the collection of back
property taxes due and the real estate taxes gen-
The New AC unit being installed at the Recreation Center
erated once the property is redeveloped and
returned to the tax rolls. In 2002, the Board of
Trustees unanimously approved the selection of
the plan submitted by Anray Custom Builders to
develop a Victorian-style complex which will pro-vide
16 condominium units designed to appeal
to owners typically described as empty-nesters.
One of the first projects we began after tak-ing
office was to overhaul completely the
500,000-gallon water tank in the northeast well
field:rtAlong'with'-repairihg ana1'repainting the'
tank, we added the address of our website:
www.FreeportNY.com.
It is important to recognize that while we
are a village that honors and respects its past and
the vast diversity of its residents representing 64
distinct cultures, we are also focused on the
future, and eager to enter the next millennium
fluent in all the technological advances it has to
offer.
We are in the process of rebuilding our tra-ditional
downtown, and we are determined to
bring the same commitment and effort to that
task as was applied to the revitalization of our
waterfront. In January of 1998, the Village
adopted a local law requiring businesses to
remove their exterior security gates not later
than January of 2002. Unsafe buildings which
were beyond repair have been demolished, and
the land cleared for redevelopment in a scale
