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WHEN WILL THIS WINTER END?!
As the days creep towards St. Patrick's Day (my unofficial end to
winter) I was struck that Mother Nature let us see and feel her
Wintry Side for the past four months. Many marveled on how
beautiful the Point is during this winter wonderland. The legions
of ornithologists at the ball field; the crystal clear view of the
N.Y.C. skyline from the Loop Pkwy; and people cross country skiing
up and down our streets. Unfortunately, this Civic President
doesn't share that stalwart love of winter so the Ryan's packed up
and headed on our first cruise to the Southern Caribbean. What an
escape! We cruised on the Constellation, Celebrity Cruise Lines
newest ship. Leaving San Juan, we spent seven marvelous days
with my brother Gerry and his family gorging ourselves on numerous
culinary delights. We swam with the Dolphins on St. John, Antigua
and witnessed my daughter Taylor and Shayne "partying"
with Jaime Lynn- Sigler of Sopranos and
Broadway Fame, on the island of St. Thomas. What did we miss? Just
25.5 inches of snow and frigid temperatures!! As my sister Alanna
(who with Kelsey Brennan & Mark Walsh nobly cared for our
cats) remarked, you picked a GREAT time to be away!
As magnificent as this getaway was I still had a profound
appreciation upon our return on how beautiful our island peninsula
really is. Running the beach on Magens Bay or viewing the sunsets
from the deck of the Constellation were great, yet I still
marveled our own great expanse of beach from the Point to the Lido
Hotel. It measures up quite well with any beach we visited.
This welcomed respite only renewed my belief that few places in
the world can match the natural beauty of Point Lookout. As great
as it was to get away - it's always good to get home!
BEACH UPDATE - INFORMATIONAL
MEETINGS
Our Beach Committee Chairman Gerry Ottavino continues to educate,
inform and provide the essential points regarding the Federal
Storm Protection Project now scheduled for 2005. An informational
meeting was held on March 1st at the Town of Hempstead Offices
near the West Marina. Commissioner Ron Masters provided an
impressive and comprehensive history of our Civic Beach and the
need for this all important project. It was gratifying that even
those who had their doubts regarding the efficacy of this project
came away with a heightened awareness of how fragile our barrier
beach is and recognized the importance in keeping this project
alive. The pictorial overview was particularly compelling in
illustrating the ever changing shape and contour of our shoreline.
It was evident that without the Jones Beach Jetty (built in 1960)
the community of Point Lookout as we currently know it would not
exist. It was emphasized that this Federal Project will
continue to provide the necessary resources to continue to
replenish and support our most precious resource for many years to
come.
Our next scheduled
meeting is scheduled for April 12 at 1:00 p.m. at the West Marina.
Please consider joining us.
EARTH DAY 2003
Our annual Earth Day /Beach Clean Events will commence with our
inaugural activity on Saturday, April 26th at 9:00 am at Civic
Beach. What better way to get rid of the winter doldrums than by
dedicating some "sweat equity" and lending a hand with
this worthy endeavor. We hope to have enough participants to
work Civic Beach and the Ball Field/Cove area. Gerry Ottavino is
looking for some stalwart volunteers if you would like to
participate please drop him line at 431-7984.
CIVIC COMMITTEE
STREETSCAPES / RICHARD KESSEL MEETING
As the Civic confers with the Town of Hempstead in developing
plans for Streetscapes, Bill Waite, our Civic Chair has written to
L.I.P.A. Chairman Richard Kessel to explore the feasibility
regarding the Town's overhead electric service and street lighting
in the context of appearance, energy efficiency and system
reliability. The meeting has been set with Chairman Kessel for the
last Thursday in April. If you have any questions, please contact
Bill Waite or myself.
Bill also continues his
due diligence on ever increasing the awareness for the need to get
the TOH to implement more traffic calming measures for Lido Blvd.
We are expecting a response from the T.O.H. on a N.Y.S. Dept. of
Transportation Grant which could assist with this effort. Bill
often quotes Dana Conklin of the Village Gardner's regarding that
one goal of Streetscapes would be that motorists would
automatically "slow down to observe the beauty of our main
street with it's decorative lighting and floral arrangements
lining the thoroughfare." We are extremely hopeful that
Dana's wish will become a reality.
TAX ISSUE - KEEP THE
PRESSURE ON OUR OFFICIALS
As has been stated before, the circumstances that have been
perpetrated on the Point Lookout residents as a result of the
County Reassessment is unconscionable! Our emphasis has been that
each homeowner should have challenged their assessment either
through filing with the Nassau County Dept of Assessment or
through legally challenging the blatant violation of the 6% Cap
rule outlined in Article 18 of the Real Property Tax Law.
We were pleased that the
N.Y.S. Legislature finally passed a measure addressing our vacant
lot issue. Thanks to many Civic members and residents who assisted
in informing Sen. Skelos and Assemblyman Weisenberg that something
had to be done and to their credit this measure was passed that
will address this inequity affecting our vacant parcels.
At our General Civic Meeting in March we heard firsthand from our
Long Beach School Superintendent and Patrick Gallagher our elected
school board member. Dr. Friedman was most impressive on extolling
the virtues of a Long Beach Island School District. He indicated
how the School Superintendent Association is advocating a need to
reform the methodology on how school districts are funded.
He advocated that using property taxes as the monetary approach
was wrong and that a regional income tax should be assessed to
each county resident thereby creating more equity on how schools
are funded. He pledged to write to the Governor and our
elected officials seeking answers on why the equalization rate was
changed and supporting the goal that there needs to be a fairer
manner on funding education without using the property taxes as
the major revenue source.
The Civic will continue to provide a forum and will continue to
push our elected officials that solution need to found. Our
"new " County Legislator Mike Zapson and "new"
Town Supervisor, Kate Murray will be asked for their views on what
they will be doing to help right this wrong.
PETER ZACCARIA- NEW FIRE
COMMISIONER
We like to extend hearty congratulations to our new Fire
Commissioner, Pete Zaccaria on his recent election. In addition to
his new duties, Pete's boundless energy still has him playing
Softball three days a week. This writer remembers Pete and Howie
Meny some 35 years ago knocking balls over the dunes on Middle
Beach where we all played softball in the summer without gloves!!!
We wish Pete all the best with his new endeavors.
MAKE A DIFFERENCE - GIVE
SOMETHING BACK
Board Member Claire Curtin has been involved with an organization
whose prime purpose is to ensure our aging population stays
connected. Claire has asked if you know anyone in town who needs a
reassuring call or a friendly visit they can contact her or the
Faith in Action Program in Long Beach at 897-5099. Thank you
Clare.
MEMBERSHIP
There are presently 425 members, some of you who were members last
year have yet to renew. If you do so soon I'll throw in a Historic
Calendar and a Civic pen.
Thanks for your continued support and efforts in all we do.
Respectfully submitted,
Francis X.Ryan
President
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