Still With The Mirrors, But Hold The Smoke

Long Islanders Urged To Clear The Air: Great American Smokeout Is Thursday, November 15th

Sure, this is the land of governance by smoke and mirrors; where "approval" of government dysfunction means that more than 80% of registered voters don't bother to come out to the polls (the number is actually greater than that, when you include eligible -- but not registered -- voters).

What could be worse?

For one thing, second hand smoke and mirrors.

Bad enough we have to pay higher health insurance premiums to care for the folks who destroy their own bodies with tar and nicotine. [And 100% of the health insurance premiums of part-time government workers who pull down full-time benefits.] We have to breathe in their poisonous, stale air, as well.

What will it take to get LIers off their butts? [Heaven only knows. Certainly, we've tried!]

On Thursday, November 15th, we get to fight back against the ravages of tobacco -- if not the wrath of the smoker -- as Long Islanders are encouraged to participate in the annual event (can't we at least make it an entire month, like Breast Cancer Awareness or Black History?) known as The Great American Smokeout.

Here's some basic information from the American Cancer Society, and a few links to help you "kick the habit" -- and clear the air.

You take care of the smoke, Long Island, and we at The Community Alliance will continue to work on cleaning those mirrors!
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About The Great American Smokeout

On November 15, 2007, the American Cancer Society marks the 31st annual Great American Smokeout, nationally recognized as a platform to educate the public on the dangers associated with tobacco use and to encourage smokers to quit for a lifetime by starting with just one day.

In the Beginning
The idea for the Great American Smokeout grew out of a 1974 event when Lynn R. Smith, editor of the Monticello Times in Minnesota, spearheaded the state's first D-Day, or Don't Smoke Day. Previously, in 1971, Arthur P. Mullaney of Randolph, Massachusetts, had asked people to give up cigarettes for a day and donate the money they would have spent on cigarettes to a high school scholarship fund. The idea caught on, and on November 18, 1976, the California Division of the American Cancer Society succeeded in getting nearly one million smokers to quit for the day. That California event marked the first Great American Smokeout, which went nationwide in 1977.

Some of America's most popular celebrities joined the cause as event chairs, including Sammy Davis, Jr., Edward Asner, Natalie Cole, Larry Hagman, Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, Christy Turlington, and "spokespud" Mr. Potato Head, who gave up his pipe for the cause.

The Smokeout has been celebrated with rallies, parades, the distribution of quitting information, and even "cold turkey" menu items in schools, workplaces, military installations, and legislative halls throughout the US.

The Great American Smokeout Today
Now that many more Americans understand the dangers associated with tobacco use, cigarette smoking among adults aged 18 and older has declined by nearly half between 1965 and 2005 - from 42% to 21%. An estimated 45 million adults are now former smokers, and per-capita cigarette consumption is currently lower than at any point since the start of World War II. Nonetheless, roughly 1 in 4 adults and 1 in 5 teenagers in the U.S. are current smokers, and lung cancer remains the number one cancer killer among men and women. This year alone, approximately 213,380 new cases of lung cancer will be diagnosed in the US, and an estimated 160,390 people will die from the disease. Smoking is also associated with increased risk for cancers of the mouth, larynx, pharynx, esophagus, kidney, bladder, pancreas, and cervix and has more recently been associated with colorectal cancer, myeloid leukemia, as well as cancers of the liver, stomach, and nasal sinuses. Smoking is also a major cause of heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, chronic bronchitis, and emphysema.

Statistics illustrate what battles still must be fought, but we have won many important victories. In 1977, Berkeley, California, became the first community to limit smoking in restaurants and other public places. A federal smoking ban on all interstate buses and domestic flights of six hours or less was passed in 1990. And in 1999, the Department of Justice filed suit against cigarette manufacturers, charging the industry with defrauding the public by lying about the risks of smoking.

Also in 1999, the landmark Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) was passed, requiring tobacco companies to pay $206 billion to 45 states by the year 2025 to cover Medicaid costs for treating smokers. The MSA also closed the Tobacco Institute and ended cartoon advertising and tobacco billboards. In 2001, the Philip Morris Companies officially apologized for a study commissioned by an international affiliate that concluded the Czech Republic benefited financially from the premature deaths of smokers.

The Future of the Great American Smokeout
Although there has been great progress, there is much more to accomplish to significantly reduce tobacco-related cancer diagnoses and deaths. Smoking is the most preventable cause of death in our society, yet there have been 12 million premature deaths attributable to smoking in the United States. Importantly, smoking prevalence varies by race and ethnicity, with American Indian/Alaska Native men and women having the highest rates (40.5% and 40.9%, respectively). Youth smoking prevalence in the US still remains high; in 2005, 23 percent of US high school students were smokers. In the absence of intervention, studies show that most adolescent smokers continue smoking as adults. To make the greatest impact on lung cancer in the shortest amount of time, the American Cancer Society will capitalize on three key areas of opportunity moving forward: influencing policy makers to increase the number of people who live and work in smoke-free environments; working to secure increased tobacco taxes and appropriations for comprehensive tobacco control programs; and increasing the number of smokers who have access to high quality, paid smoking cessation counseling and medications. Leveraging the brand recognition the Society has built for the last 31 years for this event, the Great American Smokeout provides a powerful media platform to help further our work in these areas.

For more information about how to get involved in the Great American Smokeout and to learn about tobacco cessation strategies, call 1-800-ACS-2345 or visit www.cancer.org.
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Links to help you save your life, save your money, and tell Big Tobacco where they can stick it:

Quit Smoking, New York

How To Quit Smoking -- And Quit For Keeps

NYS Department of Health

NorthShoreLIJ Center for Tobacco Control

Kate Murray's Helpline [NOTE: Kontacting Kate won't help you stop smoking. In fact, the Surgeon General warns that dealing with the Town of Hempstead will leave you fuming, and may lead to the use and abuse of hard core drugs, or even suicide (if you're lucky). Still, you can yell at Kate, or send her a wickedly insightful online message, which should make you feel better, anyway!]

Suffolk County Health Services

he New York State Smokers' Quitline 1-866-NY-QUITS (1-866-697-8487)

The Town Of Hempstead Is Closed Today

Homeowner Disposal And Trash Collection On Hold

We bet you didn't even know that the Town of Hempstead has a HOMEOWNER DISPOSAL AREA.

So that's where all the homeowners went!

From the Town of Hempstead website:

Holiday Schedule in Effect for Monday, November 12, 2007

In observance of Veterans Day, all Hempstead Town offices will be closed on Monday, November 12.

All communities serviced by Town of Hempstead Department of Sanitation should follow the holiday collection schedule. Communities serviced by Sanitary Districts should contact their sanitary district for pick-up information. On Monday, November 12, there will be no recycling pick up and the Homeowner Disposal Area will be closed.

The Receiver of Taxes Office will be closed on November 12. As the November 10 deadline for paying the first half 2007/2008 school taxes falls on a Saturday and the Hempstead Town Tax Office will be closed on Monday, November 12 in observance of Veterans Day, tax payments received through November 13 will be penalty-free.

All Senior Centers will be closed.

So take the day off, Hempstead Town residents. The Town Hallers did. Democracy is safe -- for the moment. Be advised, however, that come tomorrow, its business as unusual for Kate Murray & Kompany, and the disposal of homeowners will continue, unabated.

Honor America's Veterans By Giving Them What They've Fought For

PEACE

Pity The Poor Sign Thief

Maybe He Was Just Being A Good Citizen, Recycling Lawn Signs For 2009

All in the family. All on the payroll. All in all one stinking mess in the Nassau County GOP that no one -- certainly not the voters -- give a hoot about.

Perhaps a five-year "freeze" on the stealing of political signs is in order.

Now, if we could only get someone to take down the signs and placards posted around town by all of the candidates. The election was over nearly a week ago, after all!

We guess you can never have too much exposure. . .
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Accused sign thief is scion of political family
BY MATTHEW CHAYES
matthew.chayes@newsday.com

The Republican party political machine runs in the blood of 20-year-old Peter Guardino.

His grandfather, Joseph Colby, became a State Supreme Court justice after serving decades ago as the town supervisor of Oyster Bay. Guardino's father, A. Peter Guardino, was the town's deputy commissioner of human resources and later its labor director. The younger Guardino is a Republican committeeman in Oyster Bay, according to the Republican commissioner at the Nassau County Board of Elections, John DeGrace.

And early Tuesday morning, the scion found himself accused of practicing politics by other means: engaging in a dirty tricks campaign to steal hundreds of campaign signs belonging largely to Democrats.

Guardino makes $41,509 a year working for the Oyster Bay town parks department as an "Equipment Operator 1," according to Phyllis Barry, a town spokeswoman. Barry said Guardino began working for the town in January 2006. She said she did know if any disciplinary action would be taken against Guardino in light of the arrest.

Guardino, of Chestnut Avenue in North Massapequa, was arrested Election Day morning on misdemeanor stolen-property charges after Nassau police officers found about 220 of the signs from different political races in his Chevrolet pickup truck, police say.

Hours earlier, two plainclothes officers said they saw Guardino's truck pull into a Plainview McDonald's with its headlights off at 4 a.m., then saw him yank a Democratic party sign off the restaurant's lawn, police say. Guardino is scheduled to answer the charge in First District Court in Hempstead next week, authorities said.

Before they arrested him, they spent five hours investigating whether Guardino was authorized to remove the signs.

Detectives visited the Plainview Diner on Old Country Road, asking the manager whether an $80 sign for the Nassau County Legislature's presiding officer, Judy Jacobs (D-Woodbury), was on diner property before Election Day and whether it was there the morning of Election Day, according to John Papavasilopoulos, the diner's owner.

"We said it wasn't there in the morning," said Papavasilopoulos, who stressed in an interview with Newsday that he supports candidates of all parties and never asked for Guardino to be arrested.

Approached Thursday afternoon outside his Massapequa home, Guardino declined to comment on the charges, referring inquiries to his attorney, whom he declined to name. No attorney for Guardino could be identified.

Copyright © 2007, Newsday Inc.

Democracy Dies On The Hempstead Plain

Marshal Law Declared. Murray Seizes Assets Of Registered Democrats. Resistance Is Futile!

8 minutes. That's all it took to kill off the last remnants of democracy at Hempstead Town Hall yesterday, where marauding Murray and the robber-barons that call themselves a Town Board turned "oversight" into "overlooked," as the supposed "review" of the special taxing district budgets became no more than a mockery.

8 minutes. Yes, that's more time than the Town clowns have spent looking over the shoulders of the special district commissioners in the last 100 years, but less time than the stalwarts of one-party drool take in bestowing citations upon Boy Scouts and basketball teams.

8 minutes. Barely enough time to summon the media, issue a Murraygram, or pose with Bernie Kerik for a photo op.

8 minutes. The Town’s equivalent of what it takes to reach political orgasm. Who would think the Town of Hempstead would devote even that much time to millions of taxpayer dollars, most of which are being flushed down the toilet at the water districts, or thrown out with the trash -- along with the Democrats' lawn signs -- by the sanitary districts.

The review of the local taxing authorities by the Hempstead Town Board amounted to little more than the Supervisor's query to the stunned audience, "Any questions?" Sure, we all read the proposed special taxing district budgets online. What more is there to know? Who are we to question?

But wait a minute -- or 8. Didn't Kate Murray win re-election by a resounding 68% of the vote? [Then again, Stalin used to pull down 100% of the vote.] Let's be honest here. This is not a mandate to Murray, so much as it is an acknowledgment that the Borg has total control over the goons who slither from under the floorboards and vote as they are told. As for the rest of us who certainly knew better? Tuesday's pathetic turnout by the electorate gives new meaning to the term, "silent majority."

Yes, it took but 8 minutes for democracy to fall in the Town of Hempstead, and but a moment's time for the Mondelloids to unfurl their "Mission Accomplished" banner, as if there is something to be proud of in proclaiming from the podium that what the people want in Elmont, in Oceanside, in Franklin Square, and in West Hempstead -- among other hovels that pass for hamlets in the Town's unincorporated areas -- doesn't amount to a room full of GOP committeemen.

8 minutes for every Town of Hempstead special taxing district budget to be rubber-stamped. 8 minutes to drive a deadly stake through the very heart of democracy. Frankly, we're surprised it took that long.

In a Town, as in a nation, governed by fear and intimidation, where dissent is taunted as disloyalty, to mock Murray and her ilk of the shallow gene pool is to court exile in the Gulag.

Then again, with the official designation of "blight" in Baldwin, "blight" in West Hempstead, and coming soon, "blight" in Elmont -- not to mention the undesignated and unofficial blight elsewhere in Hempstead Town (just a study waiting for a Victorian-style street lamp) - a few years in the vast wastelands of Siberia is looking pretty good right about now.

Democracy? You've got a better shot at representative government under Musharaff in Pakistan than you do under Murray in Hempstead Town. A government of the people? Don't tell Abe Lincoln, but "by the people" and "for the people" have drawn their last breath in America's largest township.

Democracy dies on the Hempstead Plain. The Eulogy was brief. The remains to be forever interred in the bowels of Town Hall at 1 Washington Street.

In lieu of voting, we hope you sent flowers.

Can You Hear Me Now? Hello? Is Anybody There?

In Hempstead Town, Receiver Is Off The Hook, And The Reception Is Lousy

Our friends in Franklin Square and neighboring West Hempstead are going back before the Town's Zoning Board -- AGAIN!!! -- come December 6th, asking the Town to "just say no" to yet another cell phone tower in the heart of a residential community.

How many times has this community been before the Zoning Board on this same issue? Three? Four? We've lost count.

And how much money do already cash-strapped homeowners have to pay out of their own pockets for experts and to "lawyer up" just so they can present evidence before the unappealing Zoning Board of Appeals to the effect that (a) cell towers detract from the aesthetics of the community, and (b) there could not possibly be a "need" for yet another cell phone tower in these parts?

On aesthetics -- well, duh! Dress 'em up as bloated flagpoles or mutant trees not indiginous to this planet, and they're still unsightly.

On need -- double duh! If the service hasn't improved with the multitude of cell towers we have on Long Island (so many, in fact, that the Town is considering the creation of a Special Cell Tower Taxing District so they can collect a fee for every cell call we make), maybe its time we all switched to "the network."

If, as counsel for those opposed to the Franklin Square cell tower portends, the only bases upon which the Zoning Board may deny the Application for a cell tower (based on federal pre-emption) are "aesthetics" and "need," well, then, quadruple duh!

How many hearings at Town Hall will it take to get these guys to wake up and vote "no"?

This isn't brain surgery. Nor is this something, at least on the aesthetics issue, that requires expert testimony.

Beauty may well be in the eye of the beholder, but is there anyone out there who thinks cell towers enhance the look of a residential community?

Perhaps those opposing the Franklin Square cell tower are going for a Guiness Book record -- the most appearances before a Town of Hempstead governing body on a single issue.

If so, forget about it.

West Hempstead, on the issue of securing the closure of the Courtesy Hotel, has got you beat by about a decade!

Then again, maybe Zoning Board members get per diem payments, making encore performances by community groups money in the pocket. Ca-ching!

Of course, the sad truth is that they hear you at Town Hall. In fact, they heard you the first time, the second time, and the umpteenth time you pled your case before them.

Simply put, they're just not listening. And as long as we, the people, stay under the covers on any given election day, blinds drawn, ear plugs firmly in place, the few deciding the fate of the many, we can look forward to that deaf ear for many years to come.

Good luck, Franklin Square! Remember to pick up your cell phones, and dial "M" for Murray. If anybody answers, we'd be most surprised.
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For more information, and to aid in the cause, visit the website of the Franklin Square United Neighborhood Association.
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Residents oppose plans for cell phone tower
BY EDEN LAIKIN
mailto:eden.laikin@newsday.com&subject=Residents

Hundreds of Franklin Square and West Hempstead residents have called on Town of Hempstead officials to block a plan by a local communications company to build a 65-foot-high cell tower in an area they say is too close to homes and unnecessary.

Neighbors near the proposed tower are taking turns displaying signs on their lawns that say: "Refuse to lose. Grow flowers, not cell towers near our homes and schools. Say no to T-Mobile."

The group, which has raised thousands of dollars through fundraisers and hired legal and industry experts, is set to continue the year-and-a-half-long fight next month when they appear before the town's Board of Zoning Appeals.

"We don't believe there's a need for the cell tower," said Ronald Lipsky, president of the Franklin Square United Neighborhood Association. "Aesthetically, it's out of character with the neighborhood. It's right across from homes."

An attorney for T-Mobile did not return a call for comment.

The residents' battle began in June 2006 when T-Mobile representatives proposed placing a six-story tower on Dogwood Avenue, in front of the Franklin Bridge Centre Shopping Plaza in Franklin Square. They said studies found a gap in the cell phone coverage there.

But an engineer hired by the residents disputed those findings. That study showed that while there may be a spike in coverage there during the night, there is no gap.

Group members said they conducted a test last year to show there is no gap in cell coverage in the area. "We tried 100 cell phone calls from inside buildings, on the street, in cars, in homes and they all went through," said Tom McKevitt, attorney for the group.

On Dec. 6 during the zoning hearing, attorneys for T-Mobile will question the group's expert. The group can also provide additional information to the board.

"This is a unique community that has banded together to get together the tools they need to fight the fight,"McKevitt said.

Lipsky said that more than 700 people attended a rally last September in protest of the tower. He said the proposed site is down the block from a nursery school and around the corner from an elementary school.

"Health is not a defense in litigation before zoning boards, but it is a personal concern," said Lipsky, who lives behind the shopping center. "People don't want to take chances."

In the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Congress prohibited zoning boards from looking into the health effects of cell towers, McKevitt said. So there are only two grounds on which you can fight cell towers: aesthetics and need.

Lipsky said the group spent $21,500 last year on items such as signs, flyers and expert fees. That included $7,500 Lipsky put in himself. This year will cost about $15,000, he said.

Assemb. Tom Alfano (R-North Valley Stream), whose district includes the site, said the cell tower doesn't belong in a residential area."There's no doubt in my mind that the value of their homes would be adversely affected by the placement of this tower," he said. "It's aesthetically unpleasing."

Copyright © 2007, Newsday Inc.

Contented As Cows In Nassau County

Oblivious To The Long, Tortured March Toward The Slaughterhouse

If apathy and indifference have a home, call it Nassau County. And if Nassau County politics has a God, call him Mediocrites.

A sad night for those of us who've been hankering for relief from the status quo, and if hanging on by the skin of one's teeth is good news, we'd hate to read the bad news.

The outcome of yesterday’s election, of course, was as most of us expected, but the foreshadowing it portends for the future is peculiarly frightening. It is as if Nassau is stuck in some kind of a time warp. A holding pattern of sorts, somewhere in the 1950s -- or is it 1776, where Nassau's residents cling to the crown, believing that taxation without representation is a good thing. Surely, no better argument for term limits than "same old, same old," again and again and again.

One ponders, is it apathy and indifference that keep voters from the polls, where turnout was somewhere in the neighborhood of 50% less than the paltry vote of 2005, the last "off" year? Are we simply so frustrated, nothing seeming to change whether or not we vote, and without regard for whom we cast our votes, that we just stay home? Did we think we'd melt in the rain? Or are we really happy with the way things are, across the board, contented as cows in the pasture, oblivious to the fact that we are moving precariously closer to the slaughterhouse.

Perhaps most troubling, looking forward, are the prospects for 2008, when every seat in the State Legislature is again up for grabs.

If the pundits are correct, the State Senate will, for the first time many of us can recall, go Democratic. If history is a guide and the numbers hold up -- supposed shifts in demographics and voter registration aside -- Long Island's Senate delegation will remain predominantly Republican.

What happens to Nassau County then? Even with a Democrat at the helm as County Exec, and, presuming David Mejias holds on in Nassau's 14th LD, a slim 10-9 Democratic margin in the local Legislature, without the clout in Albany that the delegation presently holds – where, notwithstanding, Long Island is viewed as an ugly stepchild, unworthy of stipend, hand out, or hand up -- we are in trouble.

Elect Long Island Democrats to the State Senate? Sure. If only the Dems had candidates of a caliber that might stir the spirit and an agenda that could move the masses. If only the reasoned and the rational would vote. A landslide in the presidential race, sweeping the Democratic hopefuls into the State House? It could happen, but don't hold your breath.

With an electorate more resistant to change than the MRSA Staph infection is to treatment, it looks like "same old, same old" for many years to come.

For Long Islanders, where progressive change is a must if we are to meet the challenges of a century in its infancy, that's a real shame.

For those of us who see time running out on the clock that ticks away at our very quality of life, counting down the final seconds of what we once dreamed of as suburbia, its darned near depressing.

Onward and, er, ah... well, onward!

If A Budget Hearing Is Held In Hempstead And No One Is There To Be Heard. . .

. . .Will Anyone Figure Out That The Only Thing "Frozen" At Town Hall Is Democracy?

A do-over on the Town of Hempstead's "amended" preliminary budget for 2008 (the rubber-stamping comes later), as the Town Board holds a "public" hearing this Thursday, November 8, 2007, at 10:30 AM, in the Nathan L.H. Bennett Pavilion, adjacent to Hempstead Town Hall, One Washington Street, Hempstead.

Of course, with the budget hearing scheduled for 10:30 in the morning -- when most of us have to work so we can support the special district commissioners (together with their extended families), and pay those outrageous property taxes -- about the only "public" you could expect to be present are Town of Hempstead employees.

And speaking of Town employees, the only people voting for Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray today will be those who are on the Town's payroll -- which, by sheer numbers, should put kate over the top well before the polls close!

If you haven't voted, remember, the polls in New York are open until 9 PM. Put your finger where your money is -- VOTE!
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Also on the Town Board's agenda for November 8th ---

Hempstead's Town Board will hold a formal meeting to discuss actions to improve oversight and accountability of the special taxing districts. Nassau County Comptroller Howard Weitzman recently sent a letter to the Town of Hempstead urging them to carefully review the 2008 proposed budgets of the special taxing districts. The letter to Supervisor Murray follows a number of recent special taxing district audits that found incidents of commissioners committing violations of state law involving waste, fraud, and abuse.

The Town of Hempstead has agreed for the first time that it has the authority to review the 2008 proposed special taxing district budgets.

Residents for Efficient Special Districts (RESD) advises that the meeting will be held during the aforementioned public session on Thursday November 8, 2007, at Town Hall (1 Washington St. in Hempstead) at 10:30 a.m.

Our friends at RESD ask that everyone attending should wear something that is kelly green to show the Town Board that the community supports increased oversight and accountability. [And we thought St. Patrick's Day was in March!]

The question of the day -- in this instance, that day is November 8th: Will this review be anything more than, "looks good to us," amounting to no more than the old wink and nod denial of control that the Town has adhered to ab initio vis-a-vis the special taxing districts?

Time, and the willingness of the Town Board to do more than green light the budgets of district commissioners, will tell.

A Simple Act ~ A World Of Difference

November 6, 2005
Freakonomics

Why Vote?
By STEPHEN J. DUBNER and STEVEN D. LEVITT

A Swiss Turnout-Boosting Experiment

Within the economics departments at certain universities, there is a famous but probably apocryphal story about two world-class economists who run into each other at the voting booth.

"What are you doing here?" one asks.

"My wife made me come," the other says.

The first economist gives a confirming nod. "The same."

After a mutually sheepish moment, one of them hatches a plan: "If you promise never to tell anyone you saw me here, I'll never tell anyone I saw you." They shake hands, finish their polling business and scurry off.

Why would an economist be embarrassed to be seen at the voting booth? Because voting exacts a cost - in time, effort, lost productivity - with no discernible payoff except perhaps some vague sense of having done your "civic duty." As the economist Patricia Funk wrote in a recent paper, "A rational individual should abstain from voting."

The odds that your vote will actually affect the outcome of a given election are very, very, very slim. This was documented by the economists Casey Mulligan and Charles Hunter, who analyzed more than 56,000 Congressional and state-legislative elections since 1898. For all the attention paid in the media to close elections, it turns out that they are exceedingly rare. The median margin of victory in the Congressional elections was 22 percent; in the state-legislature elections, it was 25 percent.

Even in the closest elections, it is almost never the case that a single vote is pivotal. Of the more than 40,000 elections for state legislator that Mulligan and Hunter analyzed, comprising nearly 1 billion votes, only 7 elections were decided by a single vote, with 2 others tied. Of the more than 16,000 Congressional elections, in which many more people vote, only one election in the past 100 years - a 1910 race in Buffalo - was decided by a single vote.

But there is a more important point: the closer an election is, the more likely that its outcome will be taken out of the voters' hands - most vividly exemplified, of course, by the 2000 presidential race. It is true that the outcome of that election came down to a handful of voters; but their names were Kennedy, O'Connor, Rehnquist, Scalia and Thomas. And it was only the votes they cast while wearing their robes that mattered, not the ones they may have cast in their home precincts.

Still, people do continue to vote, in the millions. Why? Here are three possibilities:

1. Perhaps we are just not very bright and therefore wrongly believe that our votes will affect the outcome.

2. Perhaps we vote in the same spirit in which we buy lottery tickets. After all, your chances of winning a lottery and of affecting an election are pretty similar. From a financial perspective, playing the lottery is a bad investment. But it's fun and relatively cheap: for the price of a ticket, you buy the right to fantasize how you'd spend the winnings - much as you get to fantasize that your vote will have some impact on policy.

3. Perhaps we have been socialized into the voting-as-civic-duty idea, believing that it's a good thing for society if people vote, even if it's not particularly good for the individual. And thus we feel guilty for not voting.

But wait a minute, you say. If everyone thought about voting the way economists do, we might have no elections at all. No voter goes to the polls actually believing that her single vote will affect the outcome, does she? And isn't it cruel to even suggest that her vote is not worth casting?

This is indeed a slippery slope - the seemingly meaningless behavior of an individual, which, in aggregate, becomes quite meaningful. Here's a similar example in reverse. Imagine that you and your 8-year-old daughter are taking a walk through a botanical garden when she suddenly pulls a bright blossom off a tree.

"You shouldn't do that," you find yourself saying.

"Why not?" she asks.

"Well," you reason, "because if everyone picked one, there wouldn't be any flowers left at all."

"Yeah, but everybody isn't picking them," she says with a look. "Only me."
In the old days, there were more pragmatic incentives to vote. Political parties regularly paid voters $5 or $10 to cast the proper ballot; sometimes payment came in the form of a keg of whiskey, a barrel of flour or, in the case of an 1890 New Hampshire Congressional race, a live pig.

Now as then, many people worry about low voter turnout - only slightly more than half of eligible voters participated in the last presidential election - but it might be more worthwhile to stand this problem on its head and instead ask a different question: considering that an individual's vote almost never matters, why do so many people bother to vote at all?

The answer may lie in Switzerland. That's where Patricia Funk discovered a wonderful natural experiment that allowed her to take an acute measure of voter behavior.

The Swiss love to vote - on parliamentary elections, on plebiscites, on whatever may arise. But voter participation had begun to slip over the years (maybe they stopped handing out live pigs there too), so a new option was introduced: the mail-in ballot. Whereas each voter in the U.S. must register, that isn't the case in Switzerland. Every eligible Swiss citizen began to automatically receive a ballot in the mail, which could then be completed and returned by mail.

From a social scientist's perspective, there was beauty in the setup of this postal voting scheme: because it was introduced in different cantons (the 26 statelike districts that make up Switzerland) in different years, it allowed for a sophisticated measurement of its effects over time.

Never again would any Swiss voter have to tromp to the polls during a rainstorm; the cost of casting a ballot had been lowered significantly. An economic model would therefore predict voter turnout to increase substantially. Is that what happened?

Not at all. In fact, voter turnout often decreased, especially in smaller cantons and in the smaller communities within cantons. This finding may have serious implications for advocates of Internet voting - which, it has long been argued, would make voting easier and therefore increase turnout. But the Swiss model indicates that the exact opposite might hold true.

But why is this the case? Why on earth would fewer people vote when the cost of doing so is lowered?

It goes back to the incentives behind voting. If a given citizen doesn't stand a chance of having her vote affect the outcome, why does she bother? In Switzerland, as in the U.S., "there exists a fairly strong social norm that a good citizen should go to the polls," Funk writes. "As long as poll-voting was the only option, there was an incentive (or pressure) to go to the polls only to be seen handing in the vote. The motivation could be hope for social esteem, benefits from being perceived as a cooperator or just the avoidance of informal sanctions. Since in small communities, people know each other better and gossip about who fulfills civic duties and who doesn't, the benefits of norm adherence were particularly high in this type of community."

In other words, we do vote out of self-interest - a conclusion that will satisfy economists - but not necessarily the same self-interest as indicated by our actual ballot choice. For all the talk of how people "vote their pocketbooks," the Swiss study suggests that we may be driven to vote less by a financial incentive than a social one. It may be that the most valuable payoff of voting is simply being seen at the polling place by your friends or co-workers.

Unless, of course, you happen to be an economist.

Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt are the authors of "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything." More information on the academic research behind this column is at www.freakonomics.com.

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

Lives Of Quiet Desperation

Its Time To Make Some Noise

Do we go quietly into that dark, still night, or, despite the stiff wind in our faces -- and the odds squarely against us -- do we go out there and raise a raucous?

The 2007 election season is drawing to a close, thankfully. The lit drops. The phone banks. The mailings at taxpayer expense. The political drudgery and skullduggery.

Throw the bums out or stay the course? Send the message that we need a change, or all's well with the way things are. These are the questions that each of us will be called upon to answer tomorrow, November 6th.

What you should be asking yourself is, "What has my legislator, councilmember, town supervisor, or other elected official done for our community?"

If the answer is "not much," or worse yet, "absolutely nothing," then clearly, its time to give the other fella -- or gal -- a chance.

Has he (or she) been responsive, responsible, accountable, and more than just visible via photo op? Have you gotten what you paid for, or only what you voted for?

Do you ride the wave, hoping it doesn't wipe you out, or set sail on a new course, even if its into yet uncharted waters?

Some say, "the enemy we know is better than the enemy we don't know." Quite possibly. Then again, what became of those friends of community we so optimistically voted into office way back when?

Once a year (more than that, if you include the school budget and special district elections), you get the opportunity to choose, to consider alternatives, to vent, and, ultimately, to decide your community's own fate.

Not something to be undertaken lightly, but something that must be done.

On Tuesday, take a respite from your life of quiet desperation, and get out there and make some noise. VOTE!
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Polls will be open in New York from 6 AM to 9 PM.

Our Passion Is Community

What's Yours?

Rarely a day passes that someone doesn't ask, "Why do you guys keep on writing? Where do you find the energy? Does any of this really make a difference?"

The answer to "why" is simple. We write because we care about community -- its people, its prospects, its potential. We write to explore the issues, to examine the solutions, and to ponder the seemingly imponderable. We write to illuminate, to enlighten, and, yes, to provoke your reaction -- whether that reaction is a grin, a grimace, or a rush over to the Board of Elections to register to vote.

We write, because that's what we do. It is a trumpet call to action; a boistrous prayer for relief; a curse at that darned candle that burns our hand as we stumble our way in the darkness.

Where do we find the energy? Well, some of us sleep at night. Others, blog. Besides, it takes a lot more energy to frown than it does to smile, and just sitting there, taking it, is not our style.

Does any of this make a difference? Perhaps not, in the overall scheme of things. After all, the same issues we railed about on Day One continue to confound us. [And no one is rushing to nominate us for the Town's Make A Difference Award.] And yet, clearly, we are making a difference, if only one person, one mind, one perspective, one vote, at a time.

One more person thinking. One more person questioning. One more person getting involved in community.

We are reminded of the story of the little girl standing on a beach amidst hundreds of washed up starfish. A passerby sees her throwing one of the starfish back into the sea and asks, "What are you doing?"

"I'm saving the life of this starfish," replied the little girl.

"But there are so many starfish washed up on the sand," retorted the passerby. "Surely, tossing one of them back in the water won't make a difference."

Picking up another starfish and gently lofting it into the waves, the little girl responded, "Well, it made a difference to that one!"

Yes. we're irreverant -- downright over-the-top, at times -- but would you be paying attention otherwise?

No, this isn't journalism (not even yellow). We are more National Lampoon than Wall Street Journal. Want news -- or at least editorial passing itself off as objective reporting? Pick up your local paper (or all of them, as we do). Want to make a difference in your hometown? Then start by reading these blog posts, and pass the message along that each of us, in his or her own way, can contribute to the many causes of community.

Imagine what a difference we all could make if only we were all engaged in the day-to-day life of community.

An elected official, upon reading one of our more lighthearted (if not off-the-wall) missives, commented, "You have way too much time on your hands!"

As we see it, we have way too little time.

As our quality of life slips into the abyss, taxes continue to stream into the stratosphere, our children move away because they can no longer afford to live here, we wonder just what legacy, if any, we, as community advocates and activists, will leave for the next generation of Long Islanders.

At The Community Alliance, we believe that, despite the drawbacks of inefficient and ineffective government -- local and otherwise -- and the apparent malaise of the populace, the outlook for the future is bright, and the promise of tomorrow remains for us to fulfill.

When the last blog is written and posted, left to the annals of cyberspace should some Googler of tomorrow chance upon it, let them say that those who saw community as their mission -- who embraced it as their passion -- made a difference; that our suburban way of life is just a little bit better, and that much sweeter, because of those who dared to speak out, take a stand, and stay involved.

Yes, community is our passion. Dare to make it yours!

The Great Debate, Long Island Style

D'Amato Versus Damato

No, Al is not getting divorced -- again -- but we thought it could be fun if, just days before the November 6th elections, the former United States Senator (and Town of Hempstead Supervisor cum husband of Hempstead Town Zoning Board member, Katuria D'Amato) would jump back into the limelight to take up the issues of the day -- or night (you choose).

And so, as only The Community Alliance could do, we have arranged for a debate between Alphonse D'Amato and none other than Junior Damato.

The latter a columnist for Newsday and an expert on machines. The former, appearing regularly in Newsday and, er, well, an expert on machines.

Watch the Great Debate, never on cable but only online [the webcast will be restricted to viewers who are registered vegetarians -- sorry], at http://rageagainstthemachine.com/.
We'll await the post-debate "spin" before we comment on who emerged victorious. Though we will say this: If in doubt for whom to pull that lever on Tuesday, November 6th, cast your write-in vote for Damato -- Junior, not Alphonse.

Blight Among The Ruins

Give The People What They Want? Well, Not Exactly.

With Supervisor Kate Murray -- known in certain circles as "she who must be obeyed" -- ruling the roost at Hempstead Town Hall (with Joe Mondello's hand pulling the strings), is it any wonder that few in the unincorporated areas of the township ever get what they actually want, let alone what they really need?

In Elmont, where the Town talks of revitalization (been there, haven't done that), residents have been begging for a supermarket, looking to transform the old Argo movie theater.

"We're waiting for residents to tell us what they want," says Murray.

Pssst! Kate. They want a supermarket, a safer, more aesthetically pleasing Turnpike, and an atmosphere conducive to vibrant commercial and retail growth and stability.

In Baldwin, the Town wants to give residents a big box store -- Kohl's -- while residents want to make way on a reinvigorated "Main Street" for the smaller Mom & Pops to flourish.

"It's one big brown box," said a Baldwin resident of the Merrick Road project. "We'd like to make that area look different."

"We're waiting for residents to tell us what they want," says Murray.

Pssst! Kate. They want a walkable, viable "Main Street", with smaller, community-centric stores.

How 'bout a Kohl's?

In Oceanside, its back to the Town Zoning Board -- again.

How 'bout a BIGGER Kohl's?

In Roosevelt, the Town redeveoped a single building on Nassau Road, and put a new face on an old facade in the Western Beef shopping center (the old "pave the parking lot" routine).

A nice start, but it will take a lot more than stucco, a fresh coat of paint, and some "Welcome to Roosevelt" banners to give a rebirth to Nassau Road. [And when the County takes over the lease at 380 Nassau Road, and the building comes off of the tax rolls, what will happen then?]

In Franklin Square, it's DON'T give us what we DON'T want -- another cell phone tower in a residential neighborhood.

"We're waiting for residents to tell us what they want," said Murray.

Pssst! Kate. The phone is ringing off the hook! Tell your Zoning Board to deny the Application, and let them take the matter to court.

Yup. Give the people what they want -- like in West Hempstead, where folks have wanted to rid themselves of the crime-ridden Courtesy hotel since the days when Al D'Amato (Katuria's boy) was changing Kate Murray's diapers.

"We're waiting for residents to tell us what they want," said Murray.

Pssst! Kate. Try Trammell-Crow!

Right. Give the people what they want, all over the Town of Hempstead. Consolidate the Town's Sanitary Districts, for instance, eliminating the patronage, the waste, the inefficiency, and saving the taxpayers wads of money?

"We're waiting for residents to tell us what they want," said Murray.

Pssst! Kate. We want to pay more. Heck, we enjoy it. Just ask Tony Santino.

Think about it. How much of what you want -- in terms of the quality of life issues that impact directly on your day-to-day and bottom line -- have you actually gotten from Kate Murray's Town Hall?

Not all that much, from what we can see.

Pssst! Town of Hempstead residents. On Tuesday, November 6th, tell Kate Murray what you really want. Perhaps she'll listen then.

So, You're Having A Bad Day. . .

Are ya havin' a Bad Day? Well, then, consider this...

In a hospital's Intensive Care Unit, patients always died in the same bed, on Sunday morning, at about 11:00 a.m., regardless of their medical condition.This puzzled the doctors, and some even thought it had something to do with the supernatural.

No one could solve the mystery as to why the deaths occurred around 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, so a worldwide team of experts was assembled to investigate the cause of the incidents. The next Sunday morning, a few minutes before 11:00 a.m., all of the doctors and nurses nervously waited outside the ward to see for themselves what the terrible phenomenon was all about. Some were holding wooden crossses, prayer books, and other holy objects to ward off the evil spirits.

Just when the clock struck 11:00, Pookie Johnson, the part-time Sunday sweeper, entered the ward and unplugged the life support system so he could use the vacuum cleaner.

Still having a Bad Day?

The average cost of rehabilitating a seal after the Exxon Valdez Oil spill in Alaska was $80,000.00. At a special ceremony, two of the most expensively saved animals were being released back into the wild amid cheers and applause from onlookers.

A minute later, in full view, a killer whale ate them both.

Still think you are having a Bad Day?

A woman came home to find her husband in the kitchen shaking frantically, almost in a dancing frenzy, with some kind of wire running from his waist towards the electric kettle. Intending to jolt him away from the deadly current, she whacked him with a handy plank of wood, breaking his arm in two places. Up to that moment, he had been happily listening to his Walkman.

And still think YOU'RE having a Bad Day?

Two animal rights defenders were protesting the cruelty of sending pigs to a slaughterhouse in Bonn, Germany. Suddenly, all two thousand pigs broke loose and escaped through a broken fence, stampeding madly. The two helpless protesters were trampled to death.

No way after this one will you still be having a Bad Day!

Iraqi terrorist Khay Rahnajet didn't pay enough postage on a letter bomb. It came back with "Return to Sender" stamped on it. Forgetting it was the bomb, he opened it and was blown to bits.

There now, feeling better?

If New Jersey Gets Rid Of Its "Idiots". . .

. . .We Can Add Them To Our Stockpile Here On Long Island

Idiots, along with the insane, are not afforded the right to vote under the New Jersey Constitution, something New Jersey voters may seek to change by referendum on November 6th.

Assuming New Jersey throws out their "idiots," where will they go? Who would have a bunch of idiots as voters, anyway?

Apparently, there've been "idiots" in Jersey, at least in the Constitutional sense, since 1844. We're pretty much certain that, here in New York, we've harbored idiots -- and permitted them to vote -- for far longer.

In fact, by informal survey, and a close examination of the voting records for the last generation, or so, we can say without hesitation that many of those idiots live, and vote, right here on our Long Island.

New Jersey, along with Arkansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico and Ohio, don't allow "idiots" to vote. [Clearly, Florida does!]

If the Garden State gives idiots the boot from their Constitution, we say, offer them asylum (with driver's licenses) on Long Island.

True. We already have more than our fair share of idiots. But what a voting block they make.

So, the next time you're shaking your head over the election results, mumbling words under your breath to the effect of, "They must all be idiots." You may be absolutely right.

Give us your tired, your poor, your idiots yearning to vote. . .
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NJ voters to decide fate of 'Idiot' language in Constitution
By TOM HESTER Jr.
Associated Press Writer

TRENTON, N.J. -- In about two weeks, New Jersey voters will decide whether to eliminate insensitive phrasing in the state Constitution that characterizes people with disabilities as "idiots" and "insane." The offensive language, adopted in the Constitution in 1844, is aimed at barring people with limited mental capacity from voting: "No idiot or insane person shall enjoy the right of suffrage." At least seven other states _ Arkansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico and Ohio _ have the words "idiot" or "insane" in their constitutions to define who can vote.

On Nov. 6, New Jersey voters will decide whether to replace the wording in its Constitution with a phrase explaining how people deemed by a judge "to lack the capacity to understand the act of voting" would be barred from casting ballots. It is the fourth of four statewide ballot questions.

Advocates for the disabled contend the current language perpetuates myths. "The perception is still out there that if you have a disability that you can't fully function, that you can't be a participating member of the community," said Colleen O'Dell-Multer, a Brick resident who has multiple sclerosis and is legally blind. "That perception is totally inaccurate."

Kerry Walker, a Cinnaminson resident paralyzed in a diving accident, has talked with lawmakers about the need for the change in language. "Idiot and insane, as well as being offensive, are inaccurate and should be removed," he said.

The proposed change was sponsored by Senate President Richard J. Codey, D-Essex, who has advocated for numerous mental health reforms. "We can hopefully erase the stigma attached to mental and cognitive disabilities," Codey said. "The fact that this language has remained in our constitution for so long is a disgrace. I'm confident that the people of New Jersey will agree with me." Another sponsor, Assemblyman Joseph Cryan, D-Union, called the language "as outdated as it is offensive."

It's unclear whether the language has been used to prevent anyone from voting. In 1976, an appellate court allowed 33 residents of Burlington County developmental center to vote, ruling that living in an institution didn't make someone incapable of casting ballots. "A mentally retarded person need not be an `idiot' and a mentally ill person need not be `insane,"' the court opinion stated. An appellate court relied on that ruling in 2000 to allow five Trenton Psychiatric Hospital patients to vote.

The New Jersey proposal hasn't spurred any opposition, and it passed the Assembly 79-0 and the Senate 36-0. Still, supporters aren't resting easy, noting New Mexico voters in 2002 rejected a plan to remove "idiots" and "insane persons" from that state's Constitution by a margin of 56 percent to 44 percent. "These words do not belong in our constitution," said David Tag of Voorhees. "As a person with a disability, I find them offensive."

On the Net: http://tinyurl.com/ywvfzg

Copyright © 2007, The Associated Press

The Community Alliance Endorses. . .

Our Picks For The 2007 Elections


Diatribes aside, and without going into a lengthy discussion as to the whys and wherefores (been there, done that), suffice it to say that the 2007 endorsements by The Community Alliance are based on our educated sense of who best will serve community.


You know – or should by now – where we stand. These are the folks who, we believe, stand with us -- and with YOU:

Nassau County Legislature
County of Nassau County Legislator District 1 Kevan Abrahams
County of Nassau County Legislator District 2 No Endorsement
County of Nassau County Legislator District 3 Ali A. Mirza
County of Nassau County Legislator District 4 Denise Ford
County of Nassau County Legislator District 5 Joseph Kenneth Scannell
County of Nassau County Legislator District 6 Omar Jorge
County of Nassau County Legislator District 7 Jeffrey W. Toback
County of Nassau County Legislator District 8 Michael Uhl
County of Nassau County Legislator District 9 Eric Sokol
County of Nassau County Legislator District 10 Judi R. Bosworth
County of Nassau County Legislator District 11 Wayne H. Wink Jr.
County of Nassau County Legislator District 12 John Rennhack
County of Nassau County Legislator District 13 John Rossi
County of Nassau County Legislator District 14 David L. Mejias
County of Nassau County Legislator District 15 John Michael Clark
County of Nassau County Legislator District 16 Judith A. Jacobs
County of Nassau County Legislator District 17 Edward P. Mangano
County of Nassau County Legislator District 18 No Endorsement
County of Nassau County Legislator District 19 David W. Denenberg

Town of Hempstead
Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kevin C. Gorman
Town of Hempstead Clerk Mark A. Bonilla
Town of Hempstead Council Member District 2 Edward A. Ambrosino
Town of Hempstead Council Member District 3 James Darcy
Town of Hempstead Council Member District 5 Robert S. Young
Town of Hempstead Receiver of Taxes Donald X. Clavin Jr.

Town of North Hempstead
Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman
Town of North Hempstead Clerk Leslie C. Gross
Town of North Hempstead Council Member District 2 Thomas K. Dwyer
Town of North Hempstead Council Member District 4 Maria-Christina Poons
Town of North Hempstead Council Member District 6 Fred L. Pollack
Town of North Hempstead Receiver of Taxes Rocco Iannarelli

Town of Oyster Bay
Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Terino, Jr.
Town of Oyster Bay Council Member Anthony David Macagnone
Town of Oyster Bay Council Member Keith Scalia
Town of Oyster Bay Receiver of Taxes Marie F. McCormack

City of Long Beach
City of Long Beach Council Member Robert Tepper, Gina T. Guma, Lawrence Benowitz

Judiciary
NYS Supreme Court Justice Timothy S. Driscoll, Jeffrey S. Brown
County of Nassau County Court Judge Samuel Rieff, Jerald S. Carter, Norman St. George
County of Nassau District Court Judge 2nd District (Hempstead) Robert Spergel
County of Nassau District Court Judge 3rd District (North Hempstead) Erica Prager, David Goodsell
County of Nassau Family Court Judge Edmund Dane, Amy Rood

For a review of all Propositions and candidates on the November 6th ballot, click HERE for the League of Women Voters Nassau County Voters Guide 2007

ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6th, THE FUTURE IS IN YOUR HANDS. VOTE!

Give Me A Sign. . .

. . .And Vote For The Candidate With The Fewest!

Newsday columnist Joye Brown -- another one of our favorites -- signs in with a poignant and timely column on the sudden disappearance, not only of lawn signs and campaign placacrds, but of civility in today's election campaigns.

Read Joye's column, Voters should try to find positive signs, in today's Newsday. Then, go out and gather as much information as you can find about the candidates running for elected office in your community.

When you go into the voting booth on November 6th -- and if you are a Long Island resident over the age of 18, you darn well should be going into that voting booth on November 6th (shame on you if you do not plan to vote) -- be armed with the truth (or as close to it as you can get during the campaign season), and make reasoned, intelligent choices when you pull that lever.

Speaking of positive signs -- and of stolen lawn signs -- there's a grassroots campaign in our own backyard (the 8th District of the Nassau County Legislature), not only to stop the madness, but to get out the message of hope, of civility, of change for the better beyond the lawn signs and the partisan politics.

Indeed, one of the most interesting campaigns you probably never knew about (because all of the candidate's signs have been torn down and carted away to the dump -- in Town of Hempstead trucks, no less) is that of Michael Uhl, a former West Hempstead Water Commissioner and longtime community activist, who has pulled out the plugs and opened all the flood gates.

Check out The Uhl Blog, and be informed, enlightened, and even amused. [Hey Michael. Can we borrow your blogger after the campaign?]

Coming up later today on this blog, The Community Alliance Endorses. Stay tuned. . .
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Voters should try to find positive signs
Joye Brown

Take a good look at the unidentified fellow in the fuzzy photographs. He's been caught, on a surveillance video camera, filching a campaign sign from Pat Montanino's lawn in Islip.

One minute, the sign's right there, sitting pretty on private property. The next, according to a security video from a week ago, a truck rolls up, its passenger door already open. Out pops Mr. Anonymous and, a split second later, a sign supporting DATRE - Clara Datre, who is running against the incumbent Phil Nolan for town supervisor - has been plucked up and carted away.

Now you see it, now you don't.

Montanino's angry and she's filed a complaint with Suffolk County police, who are investigating.

"It is outrageous that people think they can run onto my property in the middle of the night and do this stuff," she said.

It's also illegal, as in petty larceny and trespassing, police in Nassau said.

And it's very common in this season. "It's usually a small cadre of people who usually have an agenda," Anthony Reppalone, a Nassau police spokesman told me yesterday. "They want to try to compromise a candidate or the candidate's campaign."

What gets less attention, sometimes, is the substance of campaigns themselves.

Take this season, for example:

In Suffolk, the winner of the county executive race was set months ago, when the heads of the county Republican and Democratic parties agreed on one candidate: Steve Levy, whose popularity soars in part because of his unrelenting stand against undocumented immigrants.

Levy, a Democrat, wins on that issue alone. Still, two political insiders substituted their power for the democratic process by decreeing who would run Suffolk the next four years.

Think I'm exaggerating? Prove me wrong by naming the Integrity and Libertarian party candidates running against Levy.

Still, there are good races aplenty in Suffolk.

The East End is in a political uproar, with rare competitive races in East Hampton, Shelter Island and Southampton. The fight over immigration is making an appearance in some of those races, too. In Brookhaven and Islip, meanwhile, challengers are doing whatever they can to make it hard for first-term supervisors Brian Foley and Phil Nolan.

In Nassau, the fate of the entire county legislature hangs in the balance.

Will Democrats keep a one-vote majority? Or will Republicans take one or more seats, making Democratic County Executive Thomas Suozzi's final years politically miserable ones?

Voters in five legislative districts are being overwhelmed with literature - some of it laughably inaccurate. (Feel free, please, to send questionable campaign materials my way.)

As for Nassau's town races, incumbent Republican Kate Murray in Hempstead and incumbent Democrat Jon Kaiman in North Hempstead both are working to overcome the taint of malfeasance and corruption allegations involving officials in their building departments. And in Long Beach - ah, Long Beach, historically one of the most politically corrupt cities in the nation - a slate of Republicans is trying to regain power by taking on the Democratic Party machine.

Party faithful across Long Island are working hard. And some are even betting that their candidate might benefit from a light voter turnout, as there's no gubernatorial or presidential race.

But voters ought to be working even harder.

Sift through the hype; find the facts. Know who's who and where they really stand - not where their opponents say they stand - on an issue. Find a candidate, and maybe even plant a sign on the lawn.

It means something - no matter how long it stands there.

Copyright © 2007, Newsday Inc.

Tea Time With Kate Murray

An Illiterate's Guide To Voting In the Town of Hempstead

Ellis Henican, a Newsday columnist who so often brings smiles to our faces here at The Community Alliance, has shown us, once more, that you really can't make this stuff up.

In his latest column, The cost of feeling safe, he writes:

SPELLCHECK, PLEASE: No big deal if Kate Murray wants to drop an "m" from her Team Murray re-election Web address, "teamurray.com." But why drop the second "t" to make it "Levitown" on her Web site's contact page? You'd think the "Hmpstd supvsr" would know.

Okay. They MEANT to leave off that "m" -- and that "t." Its like 1-800-MATTRES. Leave off the last "ass" for tax freeze. [Would that give us frozen ass-heads?]

Can't you see that the Supervisor is trying to save the taxpayers money? Bervity is the soul of wit, after all. And here's kate Murray, half wit.

Stop picking on the Hempstead Town Supervisor, Ellis. That’s OUR job. We've got dibs on the Special Pick On Kate Murray District (Joe Ra, Counsel).

By the way – They must be reading your column at Town Hall [or more likely, having it read to them]. They've now put the second “t” in Levittown on the teamurray.com contact page.

What we want to know: Why is there an asterisk next to Kate Murray’s name on the teamurray.com website? Is this like the asterisk on the Barry Bond baseball that broke Hank Aaron’s homerun record? Is this Kate Murray on steroids? Or are the rest of us on drugs for having voted her into office in the first place?

Maybe we should consider making the casting of a vote for Kate Murray a hate crime. Or is that, hte crm?
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Photo above: "Mom, Dad, can I borrow the car keys?" "Look, Kate, we're 90 years old, living on fixed incomes, being taxed out of this stinkin' Levit(t)own cape, and you're still living in the attic, too lazy to even help rake the lawn. Go borrow Howard Weitzman's car!"

More Dirty Business In Town Of Hempstead Sanitary District

NYS DEC Sues Sanitary District No. 1 For Violating Law On Recycling

Sure. Sure. We're always talking trash about the Town of Hempstead's Sanitary Districts, where Commissioners dine at Morton's Steakhouse on your tab. But come on now, when your little fiefdom can't even follow the rules on seperating solid waste from recyclables -- and won't even try -- you know there's something terribly wrong.

We wonder what, Nat "extra trucks to pick up bread during Passover" Swergold, counsel for Sanitary District 1, will have to say about the latest foible from this smelly little throwback to medievil times? We're certain that he'll have some excuse for the District not doing as the law requires. After all, the law dosn't apply to Special Districts, does it?

And what, if anything, will Town Supervisor Kate Murray say or do?

Oh, that's right. She has "no control" over the Special Districts," call them Town of Hempstead or otherwise.

So, let's see. Sanitary District 1 is the ONLY district in New York that doesn't require "at the curb" recycling?

The State DEC says the district is stuck in the 1950s. Heck, that's nothing. The Town of Hempstead has been stuck at the turn of the century -- that's the 1800s to the 1900s -- for 105 years!

Pay more. Get less. That's not trash talk. That's the reality of life in Kate Murray's Hempstead Town.
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Recycling row in Hempstead going to court
BY JENNIFER SMITH
jennifer.smith@newsday.com

Twenty years ago, an Islip garbage barge's fruitless five-month quest for a place to unload its trash drew national attention to a landfill crisis in the Northeast and sparked a local recycling revolution.

But for residents in Hempstead's Sanitary District 1, garbage day looks pretty much the same as it did back then. Food scraps, beer cans, takeout boxes -- the district's 30,000 customers in the Five Towns area stuff it all in the same bin instead of leaving a separate container of recyclables at the curb.

That approach has landed the district in a legal battle with state environmental officials, who say the district has blown a 1992 deadline mandating that recyclables be "source separated" -- sorted out from trash left for collection. The state says it is enforcing the law, but the court fight has also raised the question of whether residents really need to separate paper and containers to recycle effectively.

The district is the only one in the state that doesn't ask its residential customers to source separate, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Instead, workers at a Lawrence recycling facility pick through the trash, plucking salvageable recyclables from the detritus of suburban life.

"This special district is stuck in the 1950s," said DEC regional director Peter Scully. The DEC refused to renew a permit for its recycling center, saying it violates state conservation law.District officials defend their method. They said it yields more material because it doesn't rely on residents to sort reusable commodities from the 38,000 tons of refuse the district processes each year.

Scully called the district's assessment of its own recycling rates "suspect," and said materials salvaged after collection have less value because they've been contaminated by household waste and shards of glass.

The district sued the DEC earlier this year for stopping the permit renewal. The lawsuit said Sanitary District 1 had operated this way for years without objections, and that state law only required source separation if there is an economic market for the recyclable materials.

In this case, the district argued, no market exists because the cost of extra equipment, staff and pickups would cancel out the district's revenue from the sale of recycled materials.

In August, Nassau State Supreme Court Justice William R. LaMarca ruled that the district had broken the law and violated the terms of its DEC permit. But he gave the district a chance to prove its economic argument. Both sides were in court last week for a preliminary conference and are scheduled to appear again in January. The facility remains open.

Sanitation experts say it's difficult to tell which type of recycling does a better job. A so-called "clean MuRF" -- a materials recovery facility -- that processes only recyclables -- can yield cleaner materials that fetch higher market prices.

Still, a "dirty MuRF," like the Lawrence facility, produces "a hell of a lot of material," said David Tonjes, an assistant professor at Stony Brook University who studies solid waste. Recyclables from a dirty MuRF might sell for less, but the volume of recovered material could be greater, he said.

Economics are at the center of the district's legal argument. Switching to source separation would be so expensive as to negate any benefit from selling recyclables, according to a report the district commissioned from Cameron Engineering, a Woodbury consulting firm.

The state said the Cameron report underestimated residential recycling rates and ignored changes that could cut costs, such as eliminating rear-yard collection. It also failed to apply the standard the state said was required to determine economic markets: comparing the cost of throwing away source-separated materials with the cost of recycling them.

DEC officials have also questioned the report's account of past district recycling rates because they include yard waste, which is collected separately.

In 2004 the district claimed a recycling rate of 42 percent. A DEC analysis that removed yard waste from the calculations pegged the real rate at 18 percent, compared with the Town of Hempstead's overall recycling rate of 27 percent. But there are many ways to calculate rates; other DEC figures show the Town of Hempstead's 2005 recycling rate at about 12.2 percent and the district at 11.7 percent.

Whatever the various rates, Scully said the district's position is undercut by strong prices for recycled commodities. "The sanitary district would have a tough time explaining why they are the only municipality in the state for which no economic markets exist," he said.

Copyright © 2007, Newsday Inc.

Visions Of Victorian-Style Street Lamps?

Results Of Visioning Process In Elmont Receive Rave Reviews

Pardon us for our continuing skepticism, but we've heard the talk, seen the plans, viewed the artists' renderings, and been courted by those seeking "four more years" many, many times before.

Don't get us wrong. We, too, applaud the plans to revitalize long-neglected Elmont. After all, as Elmont goes, so goes all of western Nassau.

We remain unconvinced, however, when "ideas" clearly designed to elicit community approval, if not applause from the peanut gallery -- such as "One idea that received applause from the audience was the removal of illegal apartments" -- are floated with little or no intention of effecting a result.

Truth is, with all the talk of "nail & mail" and increased fines, the proliferation of illegal accessory apartments continues to escalate, with no evidence that the Town, which has jurisdiction here (as in Building Department) is making anything more than a snake oil salesman's effort to beef up enforcement or impose the law of the land upon errant landlords.

Then there's the talk of Belmont's role -- via Governor Spitzer and the State of New York -- in reclaiming Elmont from the ash heap. Visions of a rejuvenated Belmont spawning the economic revival of greater Elmont and neighboring Floral Park.

To VLT or not to VLT? [Video Lottery Terminals.]

Well, the VLT might be a diversion for the gamer or gambler, but in terms of aiding and abetting Elmont's rebirth, it is more distraction than panacea.

Local civic and community leaders shouldn't be waylaid by visions of money flowing from slot machines as stimulus for the local economy.

We've seen those VLTs at Yonkers Reaceway and at Monticello Raceway, without much attendent benefit to either Main Street or back street in either community. VLTs may be the savior of the track, but beyond that, in terms broader initiatives, it is little more than window dressing.

Of course, we don't want to be total naysayers. After all, in Elmont, the forces of that "perfect storm" may well be in play at last. The joinder of county, town, community, and perhaps even the state, each realizing that its now or never, coming together to deal a blow to the blight, the economic decline, the unsightliness, and the anti-suburbanization of what is the gateway to Nassau County.

We certainly hope so!
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From The Three Village Times:

Full Speed AheadWith Elmont Visioning Plan
Plan Thus Far Receives Warm Welcome in Elmont
By Joe Rizza

When Elmont Coalition of Sustainable Development co-chair Sandra Smith asked the audience that had gathered in the Elmont Library Tuesday night for the visioning plan for Hempstead Turnpike in Elmont if Elmont was going in the right direction, she received applause. She asked the audience if the plan is what the residents want for Elmont and again she received applause.

At the community presentation on Tuesday evening, representatives from Saccardi & Schiff unveiled a concept for Hempstead Turnpike in Elmont that came from ideas and suggestions from community during the visioning meetings that were held as part of the visioning process, a partnership between Sustainable Long Island, Saccardi & Schiff and Elmont's many community organizations and residents.

Although the plan is in its infant stages, there seems to be a lot of opportunity for redevelopment and changes that will enhance the safety and aesthetic look of the turnpike to spawn economic growth in Elmont.

The plan focuses on all of Hempstead Turnpike in Elmont from Belmont Park on the west end to the Franklin Square boarder on the east end. Based on what was discussed Tuesday evening, it is believed that Belmont Park represents a big opportunity for the Elmont community, although what ends up happening within the park comes under the jurisdiction of New York State.

However, local elected officials such as Assemblyman Tom Alfano and Senator Craig Johnson have been lobbying for the communities near the park to have a say on how Belmont can benefit the community.

In terms of what is envisioned for the area around Belmont Park, the plan will focus on creating a gateway to Elmont and redevelopment around the park with the potential for a hotel/conference center and restaurants.

Another idea for the turnpike includes the building of a supermarket, which is something the community feels it needs. The plan envisions a 40,000-square foot supermarket on the southwest corner of Hempstead Turnpike and Elmont Road.

The plan also calls for a redesign of Hendrickson Park, redevelopment of Jamaica Square and the possibility of relocating the post office to make it more accessible. The plan also calls for the community use of the old Elmont Library.

Among some of the other ideas discussed for Hempstead Turnpike in Elmont are improving safety conditions by providing additional traffic lights, improving the turning condition from eastbound Hempstead Turnpike to southbound Meacham Avenue, provide additional bus stops and/or relocate bus stops, improve connection between the N6 and N2 buses at Meacham Avenue, provide additional pedestrian crossings and align crosswalks with public transportation.
The plan also calls for beautifying Hempstead Turnpike with landscaping, widening sidewalks, providing lampposts and garbage receptacles and improving/providing a landscaped buffer between roadways and buildings. One idea that received applause from the audience was the removal of illegal apartments.

Those who will be involved in the process, from local elected officials to community members to planners, know that this will be a long process; and ideas for funding for these initiatives will have to be sought, but Elmont now has the basis for a plan to improve its main business corridor.

Elmont Coalition of Sustainable Development co-chair Ed Ambrosino said the local elected officials will take off their political labels and work together to make the visions a reality.
Another meeting is expected to be held in the spring. Over the next two years, the goals will be to create a final vision plan and begin overall beautification efforts while working with municipalities such as the town, county and state.

No Noose Is Good Noose

Virtual Noose Found Dangling At Portal To The Community Alliance Blog

Oh, we've been hanging around this place for far too long!

Not for anything, but we think all of this yardarm stuff -- the harkening back to lynchings in the deep south -- is nothing more than mere subterfuge.

For goodness sake. A noose at the Town of Hempstead Highway Department facility? [And now, prayer sessions and "diversity" training.] Are you kidding? Everyone knows there's not a single person in the employ of Hempstead Town who can possibly tie a knot. Even tying their own shoes requires the hiring of outside consultants! ["Pray with me, Dorothy, that one day, you, too, will be White like the rest of us at Town Hall. . .] Imagine that, Kate Murray hand-in-hand with Dorothy Goosby, singing We Shall Overcome. MLK, Jr. must be turning over in his grave!

Let's talk about some real issues. Quality of life issues.

Why, just last week, a resident of Queens (you know -- the place some of us say Nassau is becoming), received a $50 summons from the NYC Department of Sanitation for, of all things, placing his recycling bin at the curb on the wrong day.

Then there was the Brooklyn family, written up for graffiti-writing on the public way, because their daughter had the audacity to create a chalk drawing of a blue flower on the sidewalk. [The City later rescinded the notice -- apparently after being mocked by the media -- declaring that chalk drawings on the sidewalk are NOT graffiti. Childhood is once again safe for our children!]

And then there's the woman in Scranton, Pennsylvania who was cited by the municipality because she cursed, in the privacy of her own home, at her overflowing toilet. Holy s..t! [That could never happen here, where we curse daily at the overflowing sewer that passes for local government. "Cheese it. Its Public Safety!"]

Now these are extremes, of course. Right out of the Benito Mussolini school of making the trains run on time. [Thank God we didn't say, "the Rudy Giuliani school of cleaning the streets by way of suspending personal liberties." And they call us Fascists!]

Still, wouldn't it be nice if instead of the "anything goes," "do whatever the Hell you please" mentality here in the glorious burbs, we had a little regulation by way of code enforcement?

Why not put homeowners on notice -- followed up by an actual summons -- for placing the garbage out on Sunday for collection on Tuesday, in a can without a cover, or in a flimsy kitchen bag readily invaded by marauding sea gulls?

How about tagging some fines on those store owners who allow trash, beer bottles, and their own flyers to pile up on the public thoroughfares, that which literally flies in our faces whenever the wind blows?

Maybe a gentle nudge to homeowners who refuse to move their cars off the streets on the one or two days a month (weather permitting) when we have street cleaning (also known as "the moving of the dirt from one side of the street to the other").

Then there's street sign replacement, pothole repair, and the other sundry niceties that seem to bypass us folks, particularly in the unincorporated hither-regions, notwithstanding the plethora of town employees who, in the safety of their trucks, pass by thrice daily, never taking notice of the missing signs, craterous potholes, or the dead water buffalo carcass with the RE-ELECT KATE MURRAY lawn sign afixed to its buttocks rotting away in the middle of the road.

No, I'm not suggesting that we live in an armed police state, where big brother not only watches everything we do, but also goes through our trash (courtesy of Sanitary District No. 1). Still, this isn't the wilds of Wyoming, where, living in a one-room cabin, our nearest neighbor twenty miles away on horseback, its every man for himself.

There needs to be at least a modicum of regulation, and something akin to enforcement of the rules, in a society where we cherish both individual rights and a "Main Street" that doesn't look like Berlin after the blitz.

Its called, community!

Village Trumps Town In Zoning, Redevelopment

If It Can Be Done In Garden City, Why Not Hempstead Town?

We've heard it all before. "It takes a village."

Well, maybe it just takes a township that is both responsive and responsible.

In the heart of the incorporated village of Garden City, a former Texaco station is poised to become a centerpiece of a thriving downtown, with a mix of retail and residential, and even a pedestrian promenade.

No "blight studies." No Condemnation proceedings. No endless hearings before zoning boards, planning boards, or town boards.

Meanwhile, in Elmont, the old Argo movie theater is still the old argo movie theater, and further east, in West Hempstead, the dangerous, crime-ridden Courtesy Hotel -- the hottest spot in Nassau County's 5th Precinct -- still looms over a community, as a former civic association leader put it, "under siege."

If it seems that, in villages, improvements happen and things get done, perhaps it is because they do.

Is it that residents of incorporated areas expect and/or demand more than their neighbors in the unincorporated areas, or could it be that the village trustees, who themselves are residents of the village -- paying its taxes and living in its neighborhoods -- actually care about what happens and what gets done?

True, life in the unincorporated "territories" is often akin to the wild west, where "park on the streets anytime, day or night" (quash street cleaning in favor of packing 'em in to illegal accessory apartments), and "give us your laundromats, storage facilities, and abandoned commercial strips", rides rough shot over any prospect of enforcing codes or revitalizing "downtowns."

Indeed, it is night and day when it comes to incorporated villages and the unicorporated stepchildren of the township. The villages get the best, the most, and have it first, all the while having the lowest town taxes, while the unincorporated, if they're lucky, get whatever may be left over.

Maybe Levittown, where Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray grew up -- and still resides with Mom and Dad -- gets a little more attention than the township's other unincorporated areas. Then again, considering that nobody from the Town -- not even Supervisor Murray -- was paying attention to the un-permitted McMansionization on the Supervisor's own block, maybe not.

The rest of us, west of Levittown, remain mired in a 1950s mentality of provincialism (or is it isolationism?), keeping us as far from the ideals of village life as the idea of democracy is from 21st century Iraq.

Does it help that the village doesn't have to deal with the Town's politically charged and developmentally challenged zoning board/planning board, or a Town Board that only votes one way, staying the course, wherever that course may take us, even if its nowhere? You bet!

The blight. The brownfields. The economic depression of "Main Street." The filth. The ugliness. Did we mention the blight?

Not quite sure if it really does take a village. We can say, with at least a modicum of certainty, that it takes a lot more than the Town of Hempstead is willing -- or able -- to give us.

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Property Owner Has Big Plans for Old Texaco Gas Station Site

The design plan for the corner of Seventh Street and Franklin Avenue, more commonly known as the old Texaco gas station site.

By Carisa Giardino

The eyesore at the corner of Seventh Street and Franklin Avenue could turn into a focal point if the property's owner, Domus Green, is granted a zoning amendment to turn the former Texaco gas station site into a mixed-use street level retail residential two-story building designated to support and compliment Garden City's existing downtown area.

According to Kevin Walsh, who is representing Domus Green, the proposal calls for approximately 19,000 square feet of retail and approximately 10,000 square feet of residential - or 12 mostly one-bedroom and studio units. The proposed building would also boast a pedestrian promenade, which Walsh believes will only add character to the area. Domus took title to the site in April 2007 and has since removed the underground fuel storage tanks and cleaned and secured the site.

The property is currently located in a C-2 District, which permits retail or office use but not residential use. That is not to say there is not residential development in the C-2 zone. Directly across the street there are two condominium complexes - 222 Seventh Street and Stewart Franklin Condominiums - that have retail stores on the lower level and four stories of residential units above. "We seek to put a smaller version of those on the west side of Franklin Avenue. I think those buildings work well and I think this would also," Walsh said.

Two weeks ago, Walsh filed a petition with Village Administrator Robert Schoelle seeking the zone change. He included criteria in his request that he believes would protect the village from anyone's efforts to over-intensify the use of their existing properties.

"The zoning is good. This type of use is good for the area," Walsh continued, adding that he believes the mixed-use development is good for two reasons - physically, its aesthetically pleasing and the mix of retail and residential works well.

In its efforts to create a pedestrian link from Seventh Street to Franklin Avenue, Domus Green is setting the building back off Seventh Street by 30 feet from the curb and angling the building. "It's a true pedestrian promenade that would invite people from Seventh Street downtown to Franklin Avenue downtown, something we've never had before," Walsh told trustees.

The plan intends to close off driveways along Seventh Street so instead of stopping at Seventh Street, as many people did, they would actually be invited around the corner to the shops and businesses on Franklin Avenue.

An approximate 30-foot link or promenade to the rear of the building would give residents and shoppers to the area access to the municipal parking lot behind it, something Domus Green thinks are all critical aspects of the design plan.

"Mixing residential and retail is important to a downtown," Walsh said. "The people who live in these buildings supply much of the revenue to those people who operate businesses there."
Some months ago, the Texaco gas station moved further south on Franklin Avenue. Domus Green has already gone before the village's Architectural Design Review Board and is expected to meet with the Garden City Chamber of Commerce this week.

"The property is just sitting. It's in the heart of the downtown. It really needs to go to your planner," Walsh continued. "I'm confident that this is the right plan for this area..."