Festival season will get an unofficial kickoff with the 33rd Annual Old Village of Great Neck Street Fair on May 1 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Middle Neck Road from Fairview Avenue to Arrandale Avenue, with a rain date of May 15.

“It’s an exciting day,” said Village of Great Neck Deputy Mayor Mitchell Beckerman. “It brings the community together. You meet your neighbors in the street. It’s just a fun day for all, both on the peninsula and off.”

With 150 vendors and 30,000 to 50,000 people expected to attend, it is one of the largest craft fairs around, Beckerman said.

The Village of Great Neck is sponsoring the fair in conjunction with the Great Neck Park District, which will provide a rock climbing wall on the Village Green. Also on the Village Green will be free pony rides and a petting zoo.

“We have wonderful vendors for the grown-ups,” he said. “We also have an number of our nonprofit vendors who are out promoting their charitable causes in the community.”

Expect “tons” of food, including fair staples like barbecue, gyros, peppers and sausage, kettle corn, ice cream, ices and smoothies, said Eileen Sternkopf from Showtiques Crafts Inc., the fair’s promoter. Specialty food items like pickles and seafood will also be available.

“Every kind of food that you can really think of we have,” she said.

Great Neck residents who know and love the street fair will be relieved to find this things mostly unchanged.

“Everything is pretty much the same every year,” she said. “The only thing is we’ve gotten quite a few new vendors. They are selling pretty much the same stuff, but these are new.”

Expect sand art for the kids, and jewelry, floral arrangements, woodwork and pottery for sale.

Famous woodworker Harry Glaubach will be peddling his vintage New York inspired wares. In his 80s, the Brooklyn-raised artist once worked alongside pop artists Andy Warhol and Peter Max, Sternkopf said.

“He had a piece on the Antiques Roadshow that he made in the 1960s,” she said. “It sold for $24,000.”

A Village of Great Neck woman and a Village of Kings Point woman each had their wedding rings stolen earlier this month as they were unloading groceries at their homes, according to the Nassau County Police Department.

The Great Neck woman was approached from behind by two men described as male Hispanics, Nassau County police said. The police said the first man put his arm around the woman’s neck, while the second man his put his hands around her head, and removed her wedding ring.

The second female victim was unloading groceries from her car at her home on Bellantine Lane in Kings Point, police said.

She was then approached by a male subject, who pushed her into the seat of her car and removed her wedding ring. The suspect was described by the victim as a Hispanic male, clean shaven, six foot, and weighing approximately 180 pounds.

According to NCPD, there have been no further developments, and the two crimes are not being classified as related.

Village of Kings Point Mayor Michael Kalnick said the Kings Point Police Department was at the scene in under two minutes.

“There are leads,” Kalnick said. “But so far no arrests have been made.”

To Mayor Ralph Kreitzman:

As you know, on April 5, 2011, the Vigilant volunteer fire fighters held a public meeting to discuss the controversy surrounding the funding of Vigilant’s emergency ambulance services provided to villages on the peninsula.

In your letter to this meeting, you indicated (as reported) that you are prepared to sign a new contract with Vigilant as soon as it is available.

Your position, arrived at after much consideration of alternative ways of recovering some of the costs of this vital service, is forthright, even bold, and should be implemented as soon as possible to put to rest any doubts that this vital service might be in jeopardy.

In the earlier discussions of cost recovery, as you note in your letter, the possibility of recovering costs through claims on insurance policies, for those covered by medical insurance, was explored. But this approach has turned out to be impractical.

Not discussed is the real possibility that once insurance companies find themselves absorbing larger losses from ambulance claims, they will raise insurance premiums. I think the best approach is the one expressed emphatically by the Honorable May Newburger, namely, “However you guys (Vigilant) want to keep it, that’s how I want to keep it.”

As the mayor of the largest village on the peninsula, and the village with the largest stake in making sure the service continues smoothly, your leadership role would, I believe, go a long way toward convincing any of the mayors who still harbor thoughts of deflecting the costs (which by any standard are not large) elsewhere, to sign up without further delay.

I urge you to contact Vigilant immediately, if you have not already done so.

Leon Korobow

Great Neck

The imminent departure of anchor Ms. Katie Couric in the end, may not have any impact on the ratings for CBS Evening News.

Previous generations grew up around the television set, learning about events of the day. Everyone had their favorite: Walter Cronkite, Roger Mudd, Dan Rather and Bob Schaffer (CBS); Chet Huntley and David Brinkley or Tom Brokaw (NBC); and Frank Reynolds, Max Robinson, Howard K. Smith, Harry Reasoner, Barbara Walters and Peter Jennings (ABC).

Today’s generation has many more alternatives to select from including all news radio, cable new stations such as CNBC, CNN and FOX, PBS, BBC, the Internet and bloggers. A growing population of new immigrants support their own television stations.

Local ABC, CBS and NBC affiliates have access to satellite broadcasts that duplicate many of the same stories carried by their national news broadcasts. Even local independent stations such as News Twelve, Fox 5, WOR 9 and WPIX 11 have access to satellite feed. Many local news stations sometimes send reporters to other parts of the nation and world for on the spot coverage.

Our view of the world has changed over time. This may be due to the big three networks no longer having a monopoly on the news. New anchors may not make a difference in who tunes in. How fortunate we are to live in a free society with a wealth of information news sources to select from.

Larry Penner

Great Neck

Every day at the Deli King Gourmet Kosher Restaurant, owner Eric Newman is vividly reminded of his late grandmother.

That because the restaurant is still serving recipes his grandmother put on the menu when his father and mother, Arnold and Linda, took over the Lake Success Mall eatery 23 years ago. And that’s a great source of satisfaction for him.

“I just like serving my grandmother’s food. She taught me to cook,” Newman said of his grandmother, who still kept her hand in the restaurant operation until shortly before her death several months ago.

In fact, among the daily panini specials on the menu is Grandma’s Corned Beef Ruben. And the menu includes the traditional delicatessen restaurant fare of everything from matzoh ball soup to corned beef and pastrami sandwiches, and beyond that, salads including turkey waldorf.

As recently as five years ago, Grandma Siden, as she was known was still on the job every day.

“If she didn’t like the way something tastes, she’d go right down to the cook,” he recalled.

Until four years ago, Newman’s brothers Brian and Chuck were also working in the business. His aunt, Judy, still mans at the restaurant cash register.

Apart from his satisfaction in maintaining his family’s legacy, the 42-year-old Newman take pleasure from the relationships he has with his customers, many of whom are regulars at Deli King.

“I just enjoy interacting wiht the customers. Everyone has a story. You see the same faces every year,” he said.

The ambience has changed a bit since the restaurant first opened 40 years ago. It has the clean lines of a modern delicatessen, well-lit with abstract paintings hanging on the walls above the restaurant’s booths.

The Deli King Web site (www.deliking.us) is another step into a contemporary business mode for the restaurant, which accepts orders by the fax number posted online with its menu.

The client base has changed too, according to Newman, who notes that there used to be a larger Jewish population in the area. But Deli King draws customers from a broad geographic are that includes Nassau and Queens County residents.

“It’s much more of a mixed crowd than it used to be. Thank God people still seek out New York corned beef,” he said.

Catering has always been a part of his business, but that aspect of the business has grown considerably over the past several years with no parameters on the scale of the occasion.

“We do everything from sandwich platforms for five to ten people, to events for 500 people,” he said.

In recent years, Deli King catered fund-raising events for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and New Jersey Senator Jon Corzine during their respective campaigns for the senate.

It’s a business that keeps Newman well occupied “pretty much seven days a week,” but he still finds some time for leisure activities.

A Great Neck native who was graduated from Great Neck North, he now lives in Plainview where he’s been coaching soccer for the teams his two daughters, Amanda and Samantha, play on for the last seven years.

“You have to try to find time for other things,” Newman said.

He’s also an avid New York Yankees and Giants fan, and also enjoys playing racquetball and tennis.

The Great Neck Chamber of Commerce will hold its Annual Awards Dinner on Wednesday, April 27 at 6:30 p.m. at the United States Merchant Marine Academy in the Village of Kings Point.

Honorees include Town of North Hempstead Councilwoman Lee Seeman with the Lifetime Achievement Award; Mitchell Beckerman, CPA with the Businessperson of the Year Award; Paul Linter from Dan’s State of the Art Beauty with the Robert E. Freedman Retailer Award; and Vadim Lando and Pippa Borisy, co-directors of the Great Neck Music Conservatory who also won the Robert E. Freedman Retailer Award.

Looking forward to the evening is second term Town of North Hempstad Councilwoman Seeman, who has served as program director for the chamber for 35 years, and has been with the Democratic Party since 1956.

“I was really very, very happy about it,” she said of winning the award.

A member of the New York State Democratic Committee and the Nassau County Democratic Committee, among the things Seeman is most proud of is her work with the United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad.

Seeman was appointed to the commission in 1995 by President Bill Clinton, and later reappointed by President George W. Bush.

As a member of the commission, she helps raise funds to build monuments that preserve Jewish history in Eastern and Central Europe. Her projects have included a cemetery monument in Poland dedicated to those who died in the Holocaust and markers at the sites of former slave labor camps in Estonia during World War II.

“None of them are that easy,” Seeman said. “You just don’t go into a country and build a monument.”

Businessperson of the Year Mitchell Beckerman was “humbled, happy, excited,” by the award.

“I try to do positive things that enhance the community,” he said. “I do it because my family has always felt it very important to give back to the community. I do it because it makes me feel good.”

The CPA who has had a home-based practice for 17 years is also on the board of directors for the Great Neck Chamber of Commerce, deputy mayor of the Village of Great Neck, treasurer and executive board member of the Lake Success Jewish Center, and treasurer and Commissioner of the Great neck Senior Housing Authority.

Asked how he finds the time, he said, “My wife asks me the same thing all the time.”

His philosophy is that great responsibility leads to great time management.

“I felt very happy and gratified and humbled at the same time,” said Paul Linter, recipient of the Robert E. Freedman Retailer Award. “I think it’s just a reward for all the successful years in town.”

Dan’s State of the Art Beauty started as a wholesale beauty supply 55 years ago, but has evolved into a retail-oriented boutique, since he purchased the store in 1976.

“Unlike some stores, like a department store, the girls without being pushy will be here to help, and will guide customers to a decision,” he said.

With products that range from makeup up to fragrance and hair care, their mission is to serve the customers needs. New products are tested by the store’s female staffers, and only purchased after customers give them thumbs up.

“We also special order, when we don’t carry something a customer wants,” Linter said. “We ship all over the country when people vacation or when they’re down in Florida. We have some international customers too.”

Linter is happy to welcome into his store customers of all socioeconomic backgrounds.

“I can’t believe the years have gone by so fast,” he said.

For 30 years, the Great Neck Music Conservatory has nurtured Long Island’s aspiring musicians. Husband-wife team Vadim Lando and Pippa Borisy serve as co-directors of one of Long Island’s premier music institutions.

Clarinetist Lando was praised by the New York Times for “consistently distinguished, vibrant and virtuosic playing,” and as a soloist performed with many orchestras in the United States and Canada.

Pianist Borisy has been active as a soloist and chamber musician. Featured on television and radio, she has performed all over the world.

The Great Neck Music Conservatory offers classes for children and adults in guitar, percussion, piano, strings, voice and wind, in addition to family time classes, ventriloquism and Yiddish. Advanced students perform every year at Carnegie Hall and have the opportunity to perform in Italy.

The Annual Awards Dinner will be held in Melville Hall at the United States Merchant Marine Academy at 300 Steamboat Road. Tickets are $85 per person and can be purchased online at www.greatneckchamber.org. Cocktail hour starts at 6:30 p.m. and features an open bar. Dinner starts at 7:15 p.m. with a cash bar. Entertainment will be provided by Harry Mandel.

The Great Neck Library Board of Trustees approved the library’s proposed $8.41 million budget for 2012 on Thursday, April 14.

Despite a 5.9 percent increase for employee benefits, the tax levy for the proposed budget represents a 2.4 percent increase, or about $10 dollars for a house valued at $1 million.

“Ten dollars for an average household is phenomenal,” said Library Board President Janet Eshaghoff.

The 2012 budget would increase spending $44,000 or .5 percent over the 2011 budget of $8.37 million,

Residents will have a chance to approve the budget at a public vote on May 17 at Great Neck North High School and Great Neck South High School from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Earlier in the meeting, trustees approved the purchase of a book-scan station for $4,995. At the new station, members of the public will be able to scan pages onto a flash drive, Google docs or e-mail the page.

Trustees also approved the purchase of software for $9,500 that will allow library card holders with a smart phone to more easily use the library Web site from their cell phone.

“We’re going to have some kind of groovy name for it like GNL On The Go, and we’ll advertise it on our web site,” said Library Director Jane Marino.

The recently reinstated Museum Pass Program could be ready for public use on May 1, according to a report from the library’s assistant director. The program was cancelled several months ago but reinstated after receiving complaints from residents.

Through the program, library card holders will be able to borrow through the online catalogue a museum pass that allows free entry to local museums. The borrowing period was shortened from four days to three.

“You can send them to other branches which is new,” Marino said. “You couldn’t do that before.”

Library officials purchased passes to the Children’s Museum of Manhattan; Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Museum; Guggenheim/Brooklyn Museums; The Holocaust Museum of Nassau County; Intrepid Air, Sea and Space Museum; Long Island Children’s Museum; Nassau County Museum of Art; and Old Westbury Gardens.

Despite tough economic times, many residents on the peninsula will see their village property tax bills rise next year.

For the villages of Great Neck Estates, Kensington, Kings Point, and Lake Success, nearly half the tab funds their police departments, whose ever-rising costs are being called increasingly into question by residents.

“When you stoplight police costs as being a significant part of the tax increase, obviously people want to find out why,” said Village of Lake Success Mayor Ron Cooper, who recently approved an 8.6 percent tax increase for the upcoming financial year.

Despite steady increases for state-mandated health care and pensions, mayors with their own village force say their officers do a better job of insuring public safety than the Nassau County Police Department, while NCPD officials admit village police can provide some services they cannot match.

At the April 11 Lake Success Trustee meeting, several of the 20 attendees brought up the village police department, which is set to cost $6.1 million next year.

Cooper said that level of interest is new.

“It’s my view that our police do a wonderful job for the residents,” he said. “I think that they provide more service to the residents than Nassau County would provide, but I understand that the cost issues are of concern. They are of concern to me as well.”

With the most expensive village police force on the peninsula, $1,026 per resident, Lake Success trustees approved $8,000 for a consultant to analyze village police needs and possible cost savings.

There is a “common thread” in tax increases, Cooper said, noting that Kings Point has a similarly high proposed tax increase of 9.8 percent and a village police department.

In Great Neck Estates, the proposed tax increase is 4.77 percent, while the Village of Kensington found a way to maintain a zero percent increase.

“We didn’t have a tax increase in this year’s budget,” said Village of Kensington Mayor Susan Lopatkin. “This is our third year holding steady. We’re very careful where we spend our money.”

Like the NCPD, the Great Neck Estates Police Department maintains a vacant house list, a practice common to village police departments. When a resident goes on vacation, or to Florida for the winter, their residence is added to a patrol list carried in each patrol car.

“We have emergency numbers to call if something happens at the house,” said Great Neck Estates Chief of Police John Garbedian. “Some people give us the oil company, the plumber, the electrician. If we see newspapers around we pick them up so the house doesn’t look vacant. We keep keys for residents in case they lock themselves out. It happens pretty often.”

Another common practice among the village police departments, the Great Neck Estates Police Department is notified directly when something sets off a house alarm. For residents served by the NCPD, alarms are monitored by a central station which Garbedian said takes longer.

“A central station is a private a company the homeowner contracts with to monitor their home,” he said.

“[Cops] driving around the village respond when they hear an alarm going off. Five minutes later we get a central station call and we say we already checked the house.”

Direct monitoring is also about a quarter of the price, he said.

In a medical emergency, which are responded to by both village and NCPD, seconds can mean lives.

With a village that is less than one mile square, response time in Great Neck Estates is between 30 seconds and one minute.

“It’s pretty instantaneous,” he said.

When an elderly Kings Point resident reported a wedding ring theft, Kings Point police responded in less than two minutes, said Village of Kings Point Mayor Michael Kalnick.

The average response time for the NCPD is three to four minutes, depending on the circumstances, time of day and day of the week, said Kevin Smith, Detective Lieutenant for the NCPD.

While village cops can give out tickets and aid in medical calls, there are some services that our outside their purview. If a detective, dog or helicopter is required, they would be provided by NCPD’s 6th Precinct. Those services are paid for by every Nassau County resident in their property tax via a headquarters tax.

Residents whose village does not have a police force, or those in the unincorporated areas, also pay a patrol tax.

Last year his 10,000 residents paid $4.1 million in patrol taxes, said Village of Great Neck Mayor Ralph Kreitzman.

That is about $410 per resident.

In the same year, Kings Point residents paid approximately $291 each – the least expensive village force on the peninsula.

“The answer is simple – they are getting better service,” Kreitzman said. “We’d like more service. If you look at Kings Point or Kensington, they have more patrol cars.”

There are six patrol cars dedicated to the Great Neck peninsula, said 6th Precinct Sergeant Robert Johnson.

In Great Neck Estates, there are always one or two cars patrolling the village’s 950 homes, Garbedian said.

Though Kreitzman is jealous of villages with their police force, Village of Thomaston Mayor Robert Stern envies no one.

He said he is “very, very satisfied with the police protection” offered by Nassau County, whose police services he does not think a village could duplicate for the price.

“They are very cooperative,” he said. “They make suggestions for security of the village before we have a problem. We act on their suggestions and we have good results.”

When the NCPD suggested Thomaston could use more street lights, he sought and won a grant to install 50 more.

“We didn’t have a lot of trouble, but now we have even less,” he said. “When my wife fell down the basement steps, they responded promptly and they were most solicitous. They took her to the hospital. They took me to the hospital to accompany her. They are very decent, hardworking guys.”

Due to negative encounters like tickets, Garbedian said many people do not want to call the police unless they have no choice.

“I think living in a small village, those positive encounters happen more often,” he said.

During a telephone interview, Lopatkin recalled one of her positive police encounters.

Before she got involved in politics, as a young mother she called the village police after an “enormous” bird got trapped in her house.

“They were here in five minutes and somehow they shooed the bird out,” she said. “You can’t measure that.”

A decade-long drama is drawing to a close with a recent decision by the New York State Court of Appeals that saves the Great Neck Park District from forking over millions more for a waterfront parcel owned by George M. Cohan that was purchased using eminent domain and added to Steppingstone Park.

“It’s been a long, long time and we’re grateful that it’s over,” said Ruth Tamarin, a member of the park district’s board of commissioners. “The community is so happy to have this piece of property because it’s been enjoyed by so many, and it’s absolutely made a difference.”

In its ruling, the New York State Court of Appeals denied a motion by Kings Points Heights LLC to appeal a lower court’s determination that set the parcel’s value at $2.95 million, most of which has been paid by the park district, according a statement issued by the park district.

The park district purchased the 2.4-acres of waterfront property known as the Cohan Parcel in 2001.

Part of the famed Cohan Estate, the land was acquired by the park district as an extension to Steppingstone Park.

Kiumarz Guela, the primary owner of Kings Points Heights LLC, objected to the purchase. He wanted to develop a family compound with four water-oriented homes, said Jon Santemma, his attorney.

“When they took away the water frontage, they reduced the number of parcels and destroyed what his plan was,” Santemma said.

Tamarin said the park district had eyed the property for decades with a goal of preserving it for public use.

“More and more property on the water was being bought up,” she said. “This was probably the last piece that we could save from being sold off.”

The park district had an agreement with the previous owners, the Gross family, which gave them a right of first refusal. This guaranteed the first chance to purchase the land if it was put up for sale.

When the estate came up for sale in 1999, the park district made an offer.

“Then low and behold the next thing we heard was that someone else, Kings Points Heights LLC, also made a bid and said he could pay immediately,” Tamarin said. “Us being a park district, it would take a little bit longer because he would have to wait for us to put together a bond.”

The Kings Points Heights bid was accepted and they gained control of the land.

The estate was made famous by George M. Cohan, an actor, songwriter, playwright, producer and director who played a vital role in the development of Broadway musical comedy. Cohan acquired the Village of Kings Point-based property in 1915, according to court documents.

It was later called home by Walter Annenberg, philanthropist and publisher who created “Seventeen” magazine and whose newspaper “The Philadelphia Enquirer” opposed McCarthyism and promoted the Marshall Plan.

Having fallen into disrepair, the Mediterranean-style villa was targeted for demolition by Guela until it was designated a landmark by Village of Kings Point trustees, according to court documents.

Village trustees opposed the park district obtaining the land through eminent domain until the park district reach an agreement that the waterfront would never be developed.

“We ended up going for eminent domain because at that time we really did not have the complete support from the Village of Kings Point,” Tamarin said.

Guela received $2.95 million for the parcel, but nothing for damages due to the loss of waterfront access.

“They felt they were entitled to more compensation,” said park district attorney Saul Fenchel. “Their claim was by taking certain parcels, the Great Neck Part District was doing damage to the remainder.”

Santemma said he will file a claim for an additional $100,000 for legal fees, which will bring the Cohan saga to an end within the next few months.

“It’s up to the court to decide if they are entitled to any legal fees at all,” Fenchel said. “It’s hard to say if what will happen. What you claim is not what you get.”

Mineola is once again the center of attention in the world of amateur soccer as the Mineola Portuguese Soccer Club marched into Randall’s Island on Sunday and eliminated last years finalists Central Park Rangers for the most prestigious amateur competition in New York, the Manning Cup.

Behind a goal from Shane Arikian and Frank Spanos, the MPSC easily moved through the semi-finals, dispatching the team that knocked them out in last year’s semi-final. Mineola’s 1st team now look to battle with 2008 National Open Champions NY Pancyprian-Freedoms (Astoria) up in Yonkers on June 12 (Portuguese Independence Day weekend) for the Manning Cup. Mineola last won the Manning Cup back in 1981.

Early Sunday morning, the Mineola Portuguese Reserve Team confronted past New York State champion New York Irish Rovers in the lower division state competition, the D’Alprino Cup. Even with four major players injured and sidelined for the game at NYIT’s President’s Stadium, Mineola managed to draw 1-1 at full time, and won in penalty kicks 4-3.

Team general manager Gabriel Marques cites the team’s new, and first-ever, national sponsorship with PowerBar as one of the contributing factors to today’s success.

“This new partnership with PowerBar has given Mineola the ability to push the envelope even farther, knowing that we have such strong companies supporting local youth and amateur soccer on Long Island.”

The club, which fields two division 1 teams, has seen incredible success this year, winning 30 games of 35 this season and scoring a total 110 goals so far with a 2.5 a game average.

The Mineola Portuguese Soccer Club is an amateur adult soccer club that was founded in 1936, officially registering with the Long Island Soccer-Futebol League (www.lisfl.org) in 1948. The MPSC is currently registered in the 1st division with the Long island Soccer-Futebol League, Eastern New York State Soccer Association, and the United States Adult Soccer Association.

“Crazy for You,” the Herricks Community Players musical comedy revue of great Gershwin tunes that debuts in May, marks the first time veteran Herricks Players director John Hayes is directing a Gershwin show.

He’s done all the rest. Over a long career, he’s covered the work of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein in “Oklahoma” and Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes” several times each. But the first George and Ira Gershwin show Hayes will direct is the one going up at the Herricks Community Center on May 6 through May 22.

It’s something that Hayes, whose resume includes directing off-Broadway theater, has been wanting to do for a while.

“I love Gershwin. I’m a really big Gershwin fan.” Hayes said. “And this is my first Gershwin musical.”

On the heels of last year’s “Sugar Babies,” he wanted to do a “real family show” this time around. “And you just can’t see this kind of show on Broadway anymore,” Hayes added.

You could have seen the original ‘Crazy for You’ on Broadway in the early 1990s. It’s a musical cobbled together from four Gershwin shows with big dance numbers and classic tunes, including “Embraceable You,” “But Not For Me,” “I Got Rhythm,” “They Can’t Take That Away From Me,” and “Someone To Watch Over Me.” The four shows include “Girls Crazy,” “Damsel in Distress,” “Shall We Dance,” and “La La Lucille.”

The Herricks cast does a good job with this challenging material.

The play is a romantic comedy of mistaken identity that largely works to provide a narrative to hang those 20 Gershwin songs on. Michael Chimenti as Bobby Child and Warren Schein as “Zengler” play off each other to great comic effect in two second act scenes as Ciamente’s characters’s device to conceal his real identity inevitably unravels.

“This show’s a lot of fun,” Herricks Community Players actor Warren Schein said.

“It’s a wonderful cast. They work very, very hard,” Hayes said.

Warren Schein, whose been directed by Hayes through many productions, said this one is a particularly satisfying experience.

“It’s just a hoot,” said Jeff Rosenfeld, who plays one of the principle characters.

Accompanist Frank Sanchez said it’s also fun to play the mixed Gershwin score. “It’s great and certain classical pieces are embedded in the score. It’s fun to play,” Sanchez said.

We don’t know how George Gershwin might have changed modern American music if he had lived longer than 38 years. But “Crazy for You” gives a good survey of the music that he and his brother Ira made an enduring, endearing part of the American songbook.

The book for the musical was written by Ken Ludwig. The musical took three Tony awards for music and choreography and played 1,622 Broadway performances.

Performances at the Herricks Theater in the Herricks Community Theater at 999 Herrricks Road are on three consecutive weekends, May 6 and 7 at 8 p.m.; May 13 and 14 at 8 p.m., and May 15 at 3 p.m. May 20 and 21 at 8 p.m. and May 22 at 3 p.m.

Tickets are $22 for adults and $18 for senior citizens and children. Group discounts are also available. For information, call 516-742-1926.

It’s hard to know where to begin in responding to Dr. Nagler’s letter to the editor concerning me last week. But I’ll try. In my last letter, I pointed out some of his deceptions concerning the Cross Street situation. Here’s more.

He claims to have advised by e-mail on March 30 that the lease terms were being restructured so that Solomon Schechter would now be responsible for paying for some of the improvements being made for its benefit. This in an attempt to show that my letter of April 5 disclosing that taxpayers were going to pay for the capital improvements was based on outdated information.

It’s a nice story, but untrue. In fact, Dr. Nagler’s e-mail concerning the modification of lease terms is dated April 13, not March 30. He responded to an e-mail sent to him dated April 8, after my letter had appeared in the paper. In short, it appears that the modification of the lease terms was in direct response to what I had pointed out, though Dr. Nagler is now trying to make it appear otherwise.

Secondly, he complains I should know that the Cross Street work will cost less than $100,000 because he provided an estimate of work in response to my FOIL request. What he doesn’t disclose is that he provided just one, heavily redacted, preliminary estimate from an undisclosed company in the amount of $68,000, which addresses only part of the work to be done on the Cross Street gymnatorium, primarily the demolition portion of the work. The estimate also makes clear that it’s subject to revision once architectural plans are submitted.

In short, it’s an incomplete, preliminary estimate. He provided no estimates for the remainder of the work on the gymnatorium.

Further, he provided no estimates for any of the additional work to be done at Cross Street, including the expansion of the parking lot, installation of science labs, etc. In fact, I was advised he had no estimates for any of this other work.

The one estimate Dr. Nagler provided does not include the cost or installation of wall padding, basketball hoops or additional flooring if found to be needed once the stage is removed, which I’ve been told by facilities personnel is likely.

Nor does it appear to include the plumbing, electrical, HVAC, masonry, door/windows or site development/asbestos work at Cross Street, all of which the district’s architect has filed a letter of intent to perform. The filing was done with the state Education Department on Feb. 18. It’s been assigned project # 15-17.

In short, Dr. Nagler’s disclosure of one preliminary estimate for some of the gymnatorium work leaves more questions than it answers. However, from the estimate, it’s clear that the cost of the improvements being made at Cross Street for Solomon (Schechter) will far exceed $100,000, which was the point of my last letter.

I stand by that.

Dr. Nagler could readily clear up any confusion as to what work is required under the lease by providing a copy of the lease, together with the architectural filings and site plans. Yet he has refused/failed to provide these documents. In my experience when someone stonewalls requests for documents, it’s because they have something to hide, and are aware of it. I’m assuming that’s true in this case as well, until I see a reason to think otherwise, like actual documents.

It’s worth asking why Dr. Nagler negotiated the lease to begin with. He has no prior experience negotiating leases, so why did he do so in this case.

This is something normally done by a district’s business official and/or facilities director, not the superintendent. Certainly not a superintendent without experience in the area. So why did he choose to negotiate this lease. Since he’s provided no explanation, we can only speculate.

The lease is scheduled to be voted upon by the school board on April 27 at 7 p.m. at the Willis Avenue school. If you don’t like what’s been happening in this case, you should be there.

The lease should be withdrawn at that time. If not, then on May 17 the taxpayers should vote out the trustees responsible for approving it and vote down the budget.

John O’Kelly

East Williston