They haven’t quite sorted out a lasting Middle East solution yet, but students in the Model United Nations elective course at Herricks High School attempt to do just what their counterparts in the real international organization do: debate issues of global importance to come up with viable solutions.

And as they acquire diplomatic skills and become more articulate, some are focusing on international affairs in college and considering careers in the field.

The course aims at building their skills in researching and presenting arguments on these issues, whether they agree with the side they’re representing or not.

“They get better the more they do it. It’s a like a debating class,” said Chloe Graef, the Herricks High School social studies teacher who developed the program and oversees the class. “They represent countries, so when they debate, they represent that country’s position.”

The open elective, available to Herricks High sophomores, juniors and seniors, is intended to teach them about international relations, the world economy, and international resources development and ecological issues, according to Graef.

The Model U.N., Graef said, is intended to hone students’ sensibilities about vital world issues.

They also attend conferences – most recently at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Graef said the combination of classroom preparation and the experience of debating issues with students from high schools from other states and other countries has a marked affect on these students and how they approach their faux United Nations assignments.

Next month, Herricks is looking to hold its own U.N. conference and has invited “delegates” from several other high schools to attend the May 28 summit.

Herricks senior Dan Cohanperu, who’s attended nine conferences in three years, said he’s seen growing maturity among his peers.

“In the beginning of high school, we were yelling at people. But we’ve grown as negotiators and debaters,” Cohanperu said. “When we debate. wer’re always sensitive to each others’ sensibilities

In some cases, the students portray real diplomats in historical circumstances. Cohanperu represented one of the Shah of Iran’s Imperial Guards in a meeting wih the Ayatollah Khoumeini’s representatives supposed to be taking place as the governmental transition was occurring there. Ironically, Cohanperu’s parents had lived in Iran and fled the country when the Shah’s rule fell. But as Jewish citizens of the country, he said his parents felt the Shah protected them.

“They would have been upset if I represented someone from Khoumeini,” he said.

“It’s an interesting aspect and sometimes you have to represent historical persons with opinions you don’t agree with,” said senior Camille Serrano.

Both students are leaning toward studying foreign relations in college.

The students also create fantasy negotiations, from a five-Mafia families sit-down to a negotiation based on George Orwell’s dark futuristic view of a world ruled by fascism in “1984.”

“It’s like a real parallel of real life,” said sophomore Keri DiBattistista

In one recent case, senior Blake Goodman managed to reverse history and negotiate favorable terms for Persia in its war with the Greek city-states.

“We as a group conquered the Greeks and we expanded the Persian Empire,” he said.

But apart from playing out fantasy negotiation scenarios, the Herricks students are learning how the real world works.

“The most important thing to me was stuff that actually matters in the world,” said junior Alex Leplaza.

Students said the public speaking experience also helps their self-esteem.

“It helps you to learn more about the world and you gain self-esteem too,” said junior Ali Khan.

Graef said she has witnessed gratifying evidence of that kind of impact over the six years she’s been teaching the course at Herricks High.

‘”I’ve had students who never spoke in class and when they come back from conferences, they’ve changed,” she said.

Typically, students are afforded opportunities to attend three Model U.N. student conferences three times annually, this year at Browne University, Columbia University and George Washington.

Each conference typically has 1,000 students in attendance with 10 to 20 committees set up for different purposes. The students typically put in four days of negotiating in their portion of the proceedings in days that can exceed 12 hours each day – with periodic breaks – over four days.

Graef herself learned to think on her feet through the Model U.N. in high school and in college at Bristol University in the UK.

“I think of the U.N. as a type of improv,” she said. “I felt it was a good fit in Herricks because of the multi-ethnic population in the district.”

So far, it seems like it is, indeed, a good fit, with many Herricks alumni have attended George Washington to study international relations, as one Herricks graduate is currently doing at the University of Michigan.

“It seems like something that has an elitist motivation, but it doesn’t. You’re cool for knowing something,” Graef said.

The proposed lease of the Cross Street School could turn into a case of dueling traffic studies, and at least one Mineola school board trustee thinks Cross Street School issues will produce a lawsuit.

The Village of Williston Park Board of Trustees agreed this week to hire its own consultant at a cost of $4,500 to evaluate the impact of the 36 buses that would be used to transport Solomon Schechter Day School students to the Williston Park school. A proposed five-year lease between the Mineola School District and Schechter is set to start this fall as part of the Mineola School District’s consolidation plan.

The Mineola School District recently commissioned a $15,000 traffic study from a traffic consultant recommended by the Williston Park Village Board following a Williston Park board meeting in which residents said the lease to Solomon Schechter could create traffic and safety problems.

“We did suggest a company and we do believe the company is reputable and wouldn’t skew the results,” Williston Park Mayor Paul Ehrbar said. “Even so, our board did want to have oversight to make sure our concerns are addressed.”

Ehrbar said it retained Wayne Muller at RMS Engineering to review the traffic study the Mineola School Board commissioned on Cross Street “to alleviate any concerns our public might have.”

Ehrbar said he expected that there would be no “major conflicts” between the two studies, and stood by his recent assertion in a Williston Times column that, “the village is not in a position, in any way, to become involved in the leasing/operation of the Cross Street facility.”

The mayor said the results of its traffic study would be presented in a public forum, as the Mineola School Board will do with its study.

The Mineola board retained VHB and its engineer, Bob Essenbacher.

In an e-mail earlier this week, Mineola Superintendent of Schools Michael Nagler sounded puzzled about the village retaining a second company.

“I understand the Village has hired another company. I do not know why since we hired the company the village gave us,” Nagler wrote.

Nagler, who has pronounced the Schechter contract a “done deal,” declined to estimate when the results of the traffic study would be available.

Meanwhile, Mineola school board member John McGrath said he doubts that the school board will be voting on approving the Cross Street School lease during its April 27 meeting, even if it has the report in hand.

McGrath, who is a lawyer, said he’s convinced that whatever the traffic study reveals, and whether Cross Street is leased to Schechter or not, he expects the board to be in court about it.

“I personally think whatever happens here, the school board’s getting sued by somebody,” McGrath said.

A meeting held to discuss the possibility of converting the Cross Street School into a Williston Park community center drew more than 100 people last week on Wednesday night, but produced few answers on how to move ahead.

Leaders of the Cross Street Alliance, a group of residents that organized the meeting, said they are not trying to interfere with the deal that the Mineola School District has in place with Schechter.

But they wanted to be ready with an alternative in case the Schechter pact falls through, said former Williston Park Trustee Crista Mills, a member of the group.

“We’re seeking a consensus. First of all, it is a plan B,” Mills said at the meeting in the Williston Park American Legion Hall. “If the Schechter deal falls through because of the traffic study, we should be ready with a plan B.”

Critics said they believe the traffic study will show that the 36 buses the Schechter School expects to employ to transport 250 or more students daily will cause unacceptable traffic tie-ups on Hillside Avenue and present safety hazards for students at the nearby St. Aidan School. They also said the buses could impede emergency vehicles on Hillside Avenue.

“To permit proper traffic flow, you need a loop,” said Fred Otto, a former bus driver who has volunteered for many advisory boards to the Mineola School Board.

Residents at the meetings also voiced concern about access to the Cross Street School’s playing fields, which the Mineola School Board has granted to local little league and CYO teams over the years.

“I grew up playing on those fields. I don’t want to see them go,” one resident said.

Mills said the Cross Street Alliance will organize residents who expressed interest in helping the cause into committees to explore viable options for establishing a community center at Cross Street.

Mills said Nagler seemed open to a proposal from the group when he met with them recently.

Some residents said they believed Nagler would not consider the option of leasing Cross Street School for a community center unless Mayor Ehrbar supported the idea.

After last week’s village board meeting, Trustee Teresa Thomann, who previously had said she wanted time for the board to be able to “explore options” about Cross Street, said she supported the concept of a community center, but didn’t see an opening for the village.

“I do believe in the community center. But it’s not our property and we can’t negotiate,” Thomann said.

Sports activist Terrence Kennedy, who co-chaired the meeting, reported by e-mail this week that of 163 residents surveyed, 138 are willing to pay $25 more annually in taxes to support a community center. That was out of 200 residents who returned the hand-delivered surveys, according to Kennedy, who called for more volunteers to canvass the neighborhood.

“There are 5,000 other people in this village who we need to reach,” Kennedy said.

Both Mills and Kennedy exhorted residents at the meeting to contact their elected officials.

Mills said he does see a possible need for public funds to get the community center started, and said the issue should be put to a vote if the property could be leased.

“I believe the community has the right, if the building becomes available, to make it a referendum,” she said.

Resident Tom Granger said the group should push the case for a community center, despite the pending deal between the Mineola School Board and the Schechter School.

“I think we should make a plan. And I think we should never give up,” Granger shouted.

Williston Park resident Umberto Magnardi made his case for the community’s senior citizens.

“I am thinking of people who are sitting in their homes who built this village. They have a right to get something back,” Magnardi said to enthusiastic applause.

Former mayor and village justice Alan Reardon, who is advising the Cross Street Alliance, was present but didn’t speak during the meeting. He maintains that the village should condemn the property by right of eminent domain.

“It could be done. Williston Park would have to pay for it. They would have to pay the appraisal value,” Reardon said.

He dismissed concerns some residents have raised about an undercurrent of anti-Semitism fueling the community center proposal as a way of preventing a private Jewish religious school from establishing itself in Williston Park. A flyer incorrectly describing the Schechter School as a “yeshiva” was distributed in bulletins at a recent Sunday mass in St. Aidan Church urging residents to attend the village board meeting on the lease plan.

“If it was anybody coming in, if it was Episcopal or Catholic, I don’t think it’s about that,” Reardon said.

Reardon said he thinks the community center could sustain itself by renting space for meetings and receiving fees to permit sports teams from outside the village to use the playing fields.

More than 100 people attended the first public meeting of the Cross Street Alliance on Wednesday night, with the objective of pressing the case for making the Cross Street School a community center for Williston Park but with no clear path to do that.

Leaders of the group say they are not trying to interfere with the deal that the Mineola Board of Education has in place to lease the Cross Street School to the Solomon Schechter School of Glen Cove next fall in the first phase of its school consolidation plan. But former Williston Park trustee Crista Mills said the residents would be ready with proposal if the Schechter pact falls through, as some anticipate it will when the results of a traffic study recently commissioned by the Mineola School Board are revealed.

“We’re seeking a consensus. First of all, it is a plan B,” Mills said at the meeting in the Williston Park American Legion Hall. “If the Schechter deal falls through because of the traffic study, we should be ready with a plan B.”

There is a presumption that the traffic study will reveal that the 36 buses the Schechter School expects will transporting 250 or more students daily will cause unacceptable traffic tie-ups on Hillside Avenue and present safety hazards for students at the nearby St. Aidan School, and could impede emergency vehicles on Hillside.

“To permit proper traffic flow, you need a loop,” said Fred Otto, a retired bus driver who has volunteered for many advisory boards to the Mineola School Board.

The other vocal concern among residents is access to the playing fields, which the Mineola School Board has granted to local little league and CYO teams over the years.

“I grew up playing on those fields. I don’t want to see them go,” one resident said.

After the meeting, Mills said many of those in attendance expressed told her they wanted to participate in the effort. She said the Cross Street Alliance will organize interested residents into committees to explore viable options to making their concept of a community center at Cross Street into a reality. And she said Mineola Superintendent of Schools Michael Nagler seemed open to a proposal from the group.

“He certainly was open to what we shared with him,” she said. But she told the assembled residents at the meeting that being vigilant about the situation was key to a successful result. “If we want this to happen, we have to stay on top of this.”

One source said Nagler would only be convinced to consider the option of leasing Cross Street for a community center if he was assured that the residents and Williston Park Mayor Paul Ehrbar supported the idea.

Nagler declined to comment on the Cross Street Alliance’s proposal after the last week’s Mineola School Board meeting.

In a column in the current issue of the Williston Times, Ehrbar emphatically stated his opposition to the village becoming involved in the effort.

“The village is not in a position, in any way, to become involved in the leasing/operation of the Cross Street facility,” Ehrbar wrote.

After last week’s village board meeting, Trustee Teresa Thomann, who previously had said she wanted time for the board to be able to “explore options” about Cross Street, said she supported the concept of a community center, but didn’t see an opening for the village.

“I do believe in the community center. But it’s not our property and we can’t negotiate,” she said.

Mills and local sports activist Terrence Kennedy, who co-chaired the meeting, reported that 83 of 100 residents are willing to pay between $25 and $75 more annually in taxes. That was out of 200 residents who returned the hand-delivered surveys, according to Kennedy.

He said the group’s immediate need was to build awareness in the community, and expand the survey.

“There are 5,000 other people in this village who we need to get involved,” Kennedy said.

Both Mills and Kennedy exhorted residents to contact their elected officials.

Mills said does see a possible need for public funds to get the community center started, and said the issue should be put to a vote if the property could be leased.

“I believe the community has the right, if the building becomes available, to make it a referendum,” she said.

Mills recounted that when she was a young woman, she suggested the idea of turning a vacant building on Willis Avenue into a community center, but said her suggestion was summarily dismissed at the time.

“I wouldn’t want the community to miss another opportunity,” she said.

Resident Tom Granger said the group should push the case for a community center, despite the pending deal between the Mineola School Board and the Schechter School.

“We should never give up,” Granger said.

Resident Umberto Magnardi said the community center should be seen as a potential boon to all residents, but made his case for senior citizens.

“These people who are sitting in their homes built this village. They deserve something back from it,” Magnardi said to enthusiastic applause.

Former mayor and village justice Alan Reardon, who is advising the Cross Street Alliance, was present but didn’t speak during the meeting. He maintains that the village should condemn the property by right of eminent domain.

“It could be done. They would have to paid fair market value for it,” Reardon said.

He dismissed concerns some residents have raised about an undercurrent of anti-semitism fueling the initiative for a community center as a way of preventing a private Jewish religious school from establishing itself in Williston Park. A flyer describing the Schechter School as “yeshiva” – which it is noit – was distributed in bulletins at Sunday mass in St. Aidan Church to alert residents to a village board meeting on the subject.

“It’s not about that. It wouldn’t matter who was coming in there, whether it was Episcopalians or Catholics,” Reardon said.

He said he thinks the community center could sustain itself by renting space in the center for meetings and receiving rights fees to permit sports teams from outside the village to use the playing fields.

With the harsh Winter gone, temperatures last Saturday was a perfect start to the little league baseball season, as hundreds marched in the 60th annual Williston Park Little League Parade, through the streets of Williston Park.

Leading the parade through the streets of Williston Park were members of the Williston Park American Legion.

Williston Park Mayor Paul Ehrbar, along with trustee Kevin Rynne and Nassau County Assemblyman Tom Mckevitt marched in the parade, pausing a moment to take a picture with the 2010 softball champions, the Williamsport Lady Patriots.

Saturday’s parade was seen as an important tradition for Williston Park Little League President Michael Ciccone.

“This is a family community,” Ciccone said. “This really gives a chance to rally all the teams.”

The Lady Patriots helped to lead the parade behind the American Legion, riding along in an old fashioned Williston Park fire truck, as they cruised along with fellow parade attendees.

The parade concluded once everyone reached Kelleher field, as Mayor Ehrbar threw the ceremonial first pitch of the season.

On Saturday the girls took on Albertson in a tough fought battle in an advanced round of the Long Island Junior Soccer League’s LiveSpot Realty Group Cup.

Despite sharp passing and strong play by Marina Pappas, Jillian Cooper, Irene Tsahas and MadelineSlaski, the girls were unable to score in the first half.

However Albertson was shut down as well by a strong Firecat defense led by Paulina Valentine, Lauren Wasserman, Jasmine Kamdar and Stephanie Zovich.

In the second half the Firecats struck first with a goal by Emily Rose off a perfect pass from Logan Ward.

The Ward-Rose combo struck again for goal number two later in the half making the score 2-0.

Albertson came back and scored a single goal in the second half, but it wasn’t enough against outstanding New Hyde Park goalkeeping by Joanna Mauceri and Marina Pappas.

The girls now advance to the next round of the cup.

On Sunday the Firecats took the field against Dix Hills for the next round of the New York Cup Tournament.

The girls came out strong with an early goal by Jillian Cooper off apass from Paulina Valentine.

The Firecats struck again for goal number two with a blast off the foot of Logan Ward. Madeline Slaski struck next with a strong kick past the goalkeeper from the top of the box. Irene Tsahas and Jasmine Kamdar provided strong defense to make the score three to nothing at half time.

In the second half Stephanie Zovich and Lauren Wasserman set up goal number four with a pass that Jillian Cooper ran into the goal for her second score of the game.

Marina Pappas and Emily Rose had outstanding games on offense keeping the ball in the Dix Hills half for most of the game.

Joanna Mauceri and Logan Ward provided shut out goalkeeping making the final score 4-0.

The Fircats now advance to the next round of the New York Cup Tournament.

Democratic Nassau County legislators and Nassau County Edward Mangano engaged in a heated war of words last week over cuts in county funding to dozens of local Youth Board contracts while the not-for-profits scrambled to prepare for cuts of up to $246,000 in two days.

In a news conference outside county offices Monday, the Democratic legislators blasted Mangano for the cuts, saying that they were politically driven and possibly illegal.

“I am deeply troubled by the inequities contained in Mangano’s cuts,” said Nassau County Legislator Kevan Abrahams (D-Hempstead). “The cuts hit hardest on communities that are within legislative districts represented by Democrats…. I am disgusted that Mr. Mangano would use children to in an attempt to undermine Democratic elected officials.”

Nassau County Legislator David Denenberg (D-Merrick) called Mangano’s cuts “illegal” and “discriminatory.”

At the conference, the Democrats displayed a chart outlining a list of cuts to the Youth Board contracts totaling $1.8 million, which were broken down by legislator districts represented by Republicans and Democrats. The chart showed that cuts to youth boards represented by Republican county legislators amounted to 9.81 percent of the total, while the cuts to Youth Programs in Democratic districts totalled 83.36 percent.

Democratic legislators also said the cuts may violate the county red-light camera law. The law, according to the Democrats, stipulates that all revenue generated from violators shall be placed in a special revenue fund, used to fund various social service agencies including Youth Board agencies.

The legislators said Mangano would be violating the law’s requirement that the funding of Youth Board agencies must be maintained at $6.2 million.

Mangano said in a statement issued by his office that the Democrat’s list of cuts was “far from accurate.”

“The list will not be finalized until April 16,” Mangano said. “I am working with our state legislators to ensure that the red light camera bill is enacted in order to restore most if not all the funding to our youth board contracts.”

In certified letters sent by the county dated March 29, Youth Board agencies were given cuts to their county contracts that would take effect on April 1.

“Although County Executive Mangano worked diligently to protect services deemed worthwhile and valuable, circumstances surrounding Nassau County’s finances have changed,” the letter said,

The letter went on to blame county Democrats for the cuts.

“The severity of these cuts may have been avoided with Democrat cooperation,” the letter said.

The letter ended by directing agencies to return a revised 2011 budget with the inclusion of the budget reduction, no later than March 31.

Among the agencies effected by the cuts was the Manhasset/Great Neck Economic Opportunity Council, which runs the Hagedorn Community Center in Manhasset.

“I received a certified letter on the 29th from the Nassau County Youth Board informing us that our budget had been reduced from $101,429 to $33,810, effective April 1,” said Maria Cuadra, executive director of Manhasset/Great Neck Economic Opportunities Council.

The Manhasset/Great Neck council works with economically disadvantaged families, providing programs such as after school homework and tutoring, full day summer programs, family support programs, career resource centers and a full year head start program.

Cuadra said the council had announced it would furlough the staff of all its youth program employees except its director beginning April 8 since their salaries were paid for by the county.

“The youth director and I agreed to take pay cuts to help the budget,” said Cuadra. “But we obviously can’t run a youth program with one employee.”

County officials said the cutbacks could be unnecessary.

Chief Deputy County Executive Robert Walker said the letters to the youth agencies “were mostly an FYI” on what could happen.

Walker said he held conference calls with youth organizations on Friday, telling them the cuts wouldn’t occur if the state approves the county’s request to expand it’s red-light camera program.

Cuadra said she heard others had been called, but said she had not received a call to clarify the situation.

“Funding received as a result of red light camera infractions has been and will continue to be utilized to fund youth contracts,” Katie Grilli-Robles, Mangano’s press secretary, said in a statement after the Democrats’ press conference. “As for the list of so called Republican versus Democrat proposed Youth Board cuts that was manufactured by the Democratic caucus, you will see that both Democrat districts and Republican districts receive nearly the same amount of funding.”

Grilli-Robles slammed Denenberg’s remarks, saying, “Denenberg’s insinuations are sickening and meant only to be inflammatory so he can exploit this very serious issue in order to garner media attention for himself. He is simply a disgrace.”

Agencies including EOC are still working to make budget adjustments, based on the impression that budget decreases were to take effect on April 1.

EOC is working with Nassau Legislator Judy Bosworth (D-Great Neck) to help recover the funds, according to Caudra.

“We are virtually shut down,” Caudra said. “We are in the process of direct mail campaign to raise funds, but its not easy to replace that much money that quickly.”

For Williston Park Trustee Barbara Alagna, it’s back to business after being sworn in at the Williston Park Village Board reorganization meeting on Monday night.

The difference is that this time, she was elected to her position on the board.

Last year, Alagna was appointed to the board to fill a vacancy created when Beth Swenson-Dowd was appointed as associate justice in the village.

She was expecting to run unopposed, but overcame a last minute challenge from Jim Bumstead to prevail in the election.

“I am looking forward to the new term. I think it was a good election and I’m happy that I was reelected,” she said. “It’s not different. I have to work as seriously next year as I do now. It’s a very comfortable fit for me.”

Having worked as secretary to the zoning board of appeals from 2000 to 2006, Alagna said Williston Park Village Hall was a familiar atmosphere to operate in.

“Now it’s different because I’m involved and I can express myself on the issues,” Alagna said.

She said that since her appointment to the board occurred she has found herself ” just looking at every expense, doing with less, picking up revenue wherever we can.”

She said she’s also become comfortable in working with her fellow board members.

Alagna is the village board’s liaison to the senior committee and the newly formed welcome committee.

She said she’s closely following developments with the Cross Street School and is looking forward to seeing the results of the traffic study commissioned by the Mineola School Board.

Alagna said she favors the idea of a community center on the site if the group of residents pursuing the concept can come up with a funding plan.

She said it’s “just not fiscally responsible” for the village board to put together a lease bid on the Cross Street property.

“It’s a large sum of money and it’s simply not in the interests of the whole village,” Alagna said.

I read with great interest the editorial commentary dated Thursday, March 24, 2011 in The Great Neck Record by Wendy Kreitzman, concerning the issue of a tax cap for Great Neck school budgets.

While I agree with the problem she mentioned associated with unfunded mandates, I was a bit perplexed about her passionate antipathy toward a tax cap for school districts. We all appreciate how fortunate we are to live on the peninsula of Great Neck.

I was curious how we compare with other school districts on a per capita spending basis, so I went on line and did a little research, and while most sources may differ a little bit, the basic premise is the same: According an article by nationmaster.com, which analyzed World Bank data, the United States of America ranks third in the world in primary and secondary education per capita spending, ranking behind Switzerland and Austria.

According to the article, the U.S. spends $7,764 on average annually per student.

According to an article published by the Cato Institute, dated March 10, 2010, the five largest metro areas of the United States were analyzed in what they termed real and stated per capita spending in the Washington D.C., Phoenix, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York metropolitan areas.

In Table 6 (page 12), the per capita annual spending in the Great Neck School District was $29,836 per student. This was the highest any school district in the United States mentioned in the article, and by extrapolation, the highest in the world.

We have been living in Great Neck for a little over 10 years and our property taxes have more than doubled in that period of time, and would have gone up even more had we not made use of a firm that seeks to lower tax expenditures of burdened home owners.

When I read the article I wondered if a tax cap was mandated, whether our children would have to begin studying in a cave in Afghanistan as a result of putting” all of our children at risk.”

Right now, our children receive a concierge level of education and by maintaining our present budget, would not “suffer.”

What was not mentioned in the article was the burden this concierge level of education places on many of the taxpayers in our community.

We are living in economically challenging times and it is about time that the school board and editorial board of The Great Neck Record newspaper became more sensitive to those issues.

In fact, what I would have rather read was a note of thanks to the taxpayers of our community, especially to those who don’t have students attending the Great Neck schools.

We find ourselves in a new paradigm, and we all must work together to be part of a common solution, which takes into consideration the reality of the times in which we live.

The Great Neck School District will continue to have the highest per capita expenditure per student, even if we cut the budget.

The question is: Are we willing to take the steps necessary to balance the real needs of our students and our ability to pay for them?

Richard L. Reiser

Great Neck

We are all aware of the fiscal problems facing Nassau County and Nassau County Interim Finance Authority’s intervention in the county’s finances, our County Executive Mangano is fighting to find alternative ways to save a lot of money and make NIFA happy.

Right now, there are many key issues on the table that will in all probability, negatively affect many of us in New Hyde Park/Garden City Park/Herricks areas and we must all be ready to step up and make out voices heard loud and clear.

The one issue that we can have no debate on is the closing of our police precincts and the second issue is the removal of our POP (Problem Oriented Policing Unit) Officers.

Right now, although it is not confirmed, the 6th Precinct may be on the chopping block and then other “rumors” indicate it might also include the 3rd Precinct.

Looking to eliminate the POP Units countywide is one of the most ridiculous cuts this county can not afford to endure.

The idea of closing any precinct is unwarranted and the necessary monies to keep them open must be found by our elected leaders. The POP officers are as integral to the communities as are our schools,businesses and houses of worship.

The POP officers interact with our schools, local governments, civic associations, business owners along with various state, county and town departments and their absence in every community across this county would prove to be disastrous and the end of the good quality of life that we all are enjoying presently in Nassau County.

Without the POP Officers to act on key issues in each community, the taxpayers and citizens will be overlooked and their issues will not be addressed by anyone in government, due to all the cuts that are planned. We must have representation within our communities and the POP Officers are our first line of defense.

I am urging all Civic groups, schools, organizations, business owners and our Legislatures and yes, the taxpayers to write, call or do something to get our message out loud and clear. We want our police precincts left alone and in tact and more importantly, we will not accept the dismissal of our POP Officers on any level of discussion.

Tell NIFA to find the necessary money somewhere else but not on the backs of the citizens of Nassau or the POP Officers.

Stop the insanity and leave our precincts and POP Officers to function and protect us as they have done for decades.

Ellen La Regina

New Hyde Park

For the past 26 years the BID of Great Neck Plaza which stands for “Business Improvement District” has graced the streets of Great Neck with its annual AutoFest.

Basically their job as a committee that receives money from our taxes, is to …be innovative and promote better business in Great Neck.

Obviously the entire country has been effected by the economic crises around the world, however if you take a walk down the streets of Great Neck, it is obvious to any educated person that this BID does not, and has not done its job in the best interest of the town.

In fact most of the money that is spent and derived from our taxes has gone to serve the best personal interest of people on the committee such as Jay Corn, vice president of this so called BID and owner of the property where The Handbag Gallery once was, a Great Neck staple that actually drew in a clientele who shopped and supported the town to further thrive . That store has since been empty for over five years…

The question of whether or not to keep the AutoFest was brought up, and over 56 merchants signed a petition to do away with it.

The point was to take the $12,000 or more allocated to hold the “festival” and invest that into an event that would actually bring in a clientele of shoppers from surrounding areas that no longer shop in Great Neck, mainly because of the horrific parking perception, and show case the town in a more innovative way to let people know that we still want them as clients.

That was the point!!!

It has since turned into a controversy of words, and many news articles, that state I said “the people the attend the auto fest are a bunch of hicks from g-d knows where.”

I stand by my statement, which was said, yet taken out of context, and appreciate all the support from the store owners that attended the meeting and understand my point.

To Jean Pierce who is a self-promoting hick, before you write a letter to a newspaper and have an “opinion,” first go a learn how to spell and write an educated sentence. There was no need for you tell us you are a hick, clearly it is evident by your lack of education.

Steven Dann

Great Neck

I disagree with a number of items in Mr. Tedesco’s article and Ms. Ramos’ editorial from the April 1 The Williston Times.

The issue is not the leasing of Cross Street or who it is being leased to, but the way the lease process has been handled by Dr. Nagler and the school board.

The lease was announced in December and I and all the other Williston Park residents I spoke with were fine with the lease since as a parent with a child in CYO and Little League, Dr. Nagler had committed to ensuring that the town would still have access to the fields.

It was not until March that issues with the field access and transportation were revealed to the residents. I hope you now understand why there was such a vocal reaction to the proposed lease. Dr. Nagler continues to refuse to reveal the details of the lease to the residents.

The day school is planning to have at least 36 buses (Dr. Nagler was the one who original thought it was 53 buses) transporting the high school students. The Cross Street is designed to handle about six buses.

Thirty-six buses (large or small) are way too many for the small streets surrounding Cross Street. This is trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.

Despite the ridiculous volume of buses the day school is proposing to use, Dr. Nagler never had a traffic study performed. It was not until the Williston Park Board forced him to do it. Nassau County Legislator Nicolello in a March 22 letter to Dr. Nagler said he was “strongly opposed to any use of the school that will overwhelm the community …”.

There is a question of whether Solomon Schecter is planning to get permission to close a busy state road (Hillside Avenue) during rush hour to allow the buses to enter and leave the school. Solomon Schecter originally said they were and after If they need to close the road (and they are already doing this), then they are essentially admitting that the bus volume is too much for the area.

Solomon Schecter has indicated that they want to be “good neighbors” but they are already causing issues, refusing to follow the same start times as Cross Street has currently.

Solomon Schecter has been pressuring St. Aidan’s to change their start time, forcing young students to start around 7 a.m. and restricting bus access to St Aidain’s upper school so young children will have to cross a busy street (Willis Avenue) while their tax-paying parents could be sitting in traffic on Hillside Avenue while Solomon Schecter’s high school age students are delivered to the entrance of their school.

There are a lot of serious issues with this lease and the way Dr. Nagler and the board have handled it. Pushing this lease forward without a proper due diligence and withholding information from the residents makes me wonder if Dr. Nagler and the board are not qualified to be handling the lease process or are there some ethical issues here.

Dr. Nagler and the board have a chance to fix the issues. If they can get Solomon Schecter to provide the town reasonable access to the fields, change their school start time to the current Cross Street time and finally come up with a way to reduce the amount of bus traffic to the school.

The bus issue will require some creative thinking.

For example using the Mineola transportation center a central area where all the buses could go and students can change to six buses to shuttle to the school.

If the Solomon Schecter school or any other potential lessee refuses to agree to all three of these conditions then they should be looking for another site to lease.

Frank Holbrook

Williston Park

I recently read the letter on the proposal for a commuter tax (Nassau Threatened By Commuter Tax) with great interest. As far as Assemblyman Weprin’s proposal to institute a commuter tax for non-New York City residents, no chance, no way, no how. New York City politicians think of Long Islanders as their personal bank account, Well, the account has been overdrawn. If that proposal ever comes to the Senate, it will be dead on arrival.”

Jack M. Martins,

State Senator