Saturday, October 31, 2009

Trick Or Trickle In Hempstead Town

The Golden Age Of Tricks, Pranks, And Freezes Continues In America's Largest Township
And Town Residents Are Left Out In The Cold Once Again, Holding The Kate-O-Lantern
Take off that terrifying mask, Kate Murray. You're frightening the children -- not to mention, Town of Hempstead taxpayers.

All right. It's Halloween. Keep on the scary mask. Just lose that false bravado; that "freezing never felt so good..."

Yes, "Kate Murray is freezing..." Downright frigid, if you ask us. Even that smile upon her face has frozen.

We have to ask, though, can you really fool all of the people all of the time?

Apparently, there are as many fools in Hempstead Town as there are relatives and lackies on the Town payroll, allowing Kate Murray and her ilk (or was that, elk?) to roll to easy, almost unchallenged victory at the polls.

Will it be any different this Election Day -- Tuesday, November 3?

Probably not.

We see the smile. We buy into the phony tax freeze, the "trusted on Main Street" credo, the silliness of ILIKEKATE.com.

Forget the Lighthouse project, the blight, the misnomer of the planning board cum zoning board, the broken promises of revitalized downtowns. Yes, Kate & Kompany would like us to forget all of that, indeed.

Just look at your Tax Statements for two out of the last three years, during which time Supervisor Kate Murray swears, up and down, that she has "held the line on taxes."

Between 2006 and 2009, here's what Kate Murray has done to hold that line on your Town taxes:

Town General Purposes -- +3.47%
Town Highways -- +16.96%
Town Building/Zoning -- +11.65%
Town Lighting District -- +13.85%
Town Park District -- +$16.05%
Town Parking District -- +136.09% (this is not a typo)
Town Refuse Disposal District -- +15.89%

And these "freezes" don't include the Town's Special taxing Districts, over which Kate Murray avers absolutely no control.

Collectively, the Special District (fire, sanitation, water) taxes increased by 43.79% between 2006 and 2009.

The old "fake a freeze" during an election year, and "stoke the fires" under enormous tax hikes in off years, when few(er) are actually paying attention.

Of course, it's not only about property taxes. folks. You kinda enjoy paying more, as Senior Town Councilman Tony Santino often tells us, right?

It's all of those other quality of life perks we get from the Town, like affordable housing.

And speaking of seniors, and affordable housing, those self-laudatory press releases continue to flow out of the basement at Town Hall, much like they did out of Baghdad during the first Gulf War.

The latest, the affordable Golden Age home lottery in Elmont.

Just what are the Townies offering the thousands of seniors being driven out (or is that "frozen" out?) of their homes by outrageous property taxes?

Thirty (count 'em, 30) housing units.

Don't get us wrong. Thirty affordable housing units is a decent start. It is barely enough, however, to keep up with the demand. A crisis in housing that calls for more than a handful of single-family homes or townhouse-style co-ops.

And what of housing units for the Town's fleeing young workforce? Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

Well, at least the Nigerian goats, Point Lookout clams, and the Town's feral cats will be happy -- if not entirely warmed by Kate Murray's "freeze" -- this Halloween.

Trick or treat, Town of Hempstead taxpayers! Prepare yourselves for a long, cold -- more like, freezing -- winter on Kate Murray's frozen Hempstead Plain.
- - -
Election Day is Tuesday, November 3. Be bold, or be frozen. VOTE!
Cue the Victorian streetlights...

3 comments:

  1. To my utter dismay, Newsday has now endorsed Murray. Despite acknowledging the "extensive patronage" that exists in the Town (you think?) and glossing over the trainwreck that has been her legacy when it comes to the Lighthouse project and economic development in general, Newsday picks Murray once again "trusting that she will make the right decisions for her town and county". Since she has shown scant evidence of leading in this manner up until now, I'm sure I don't understand this statement.

    This is actually a deja vu moment. Although I don't have it handy, I seem to recall that when Newsday endorsed Murray in the previous election cycle, it made reference to the special district problem and her lack of leadership in that arena. Apparently, just prior to her endorsement at that time, she made some comments indicating support for special district consolidation. Newsday took this to mean that she would be more willing to actively support consolidation, in part justifying their endorsement at that time. Now ask yourself this: in the intevening years, how much has Murray actually done to clean up the special district mess?

    This time around Murray apparently made some comments to the Newsday editorial board concerning Lighthouse, indicating confidence that the project "in some form" would go forward. Newsday seems once again inclined to grab at a straw, in the interest of justifying their endorsement of Murray.

    Anybody with half a brain can see the con game that have going on in Hempstead. How the Newsday editorial board could be so patently asleep at the wheel escapes me.

    One thing a good newspaper should NOT be is gullible.

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  2. Those 2006-09 numbers are sickening. Based on those numbers, how can anyone possibly vote for Kate again?

    We have to march to the polls Tuesday and vote for change in the Town of Hempstead.

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  3. Murray "noises" - your memory is correct
    when the Schmitt hit the fan just before the 'lection
    last time, she made some noises on SD's ..
    knowing that come Nov 4 she could faggetaboutit
    besides her voters work there .. (kids, wives, in-laws,
    parents, cousins .. each "job" is prob worth about 8-10 votes
    and they inspect the rolls afterwards ... )

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