The Herricks Board of Education has restored approximately $1 million to its proposed 2011-12 school budget, a 2.77 increase over the current year and a tax levy hike between 4.5 percent and 4.77 percent.

In a board meeting Thursday, the board presented a revised budget that restored the salaries of a music teacher ($100,000), a teaching position in the Gemini program for gifted elementary school students ($100,000), special education positions ($140,000) computer lab assistants ($152,000) and two teaching positions in the English as a Second Language program ($200,000).

“All these issues, what they come down to is our value system,” said Dr. Sanjay Jain, a member of the Herricks board. “Ultimately it will be our value systems that will form the budget. Why are we choosing some programs over others?”

Herricks Superintendent of Schools John Bierwirth had originally presented a 2 percent budget at the board’s request. It called for cutting two music teacher in the middle school and high school, two Gemini teaching positions, three ES: teaching positions, five special education teachers and four computer lab teaching assistants.

The revised budget proposal also restored $175,000 to the athletics budget, $10,000 for a high school drama production and $25,000 for eighth graders to take a trip to Boston. The original budget called for cutting $250,000 from the athletics budget with the elimination of several teams from the middle school and high school as part of it.

At the time Bierwirth presented his plan to hold the increase to 2 percent, he also presented an alternative plan to preserve all existing programs, which called for a 7.65 percent increase in spending.

After conferring with the district’s sports boosters and coaches, board president Christine Turner said a possible solution to eliminating teams would be to impose a charge for each student athlete.

“Perhaps if your child is playing a sport, we could charge $40 or $50,” Turner said.

She proposed a similar solution to make up for the proposed $90,000 in cuts for extracurricular clubs in grades K through 12.

“Rather than see it cut, I’d rather see the activities for kids,” she said.

Bierwirth suggested that the board allow him to “work up the numbers” with the booster and the coaches.

In response to a question one resident asked about whether parents could raise money to fund a Gemini teaching position, Bierwirth said there is no legal prohibition against the school district accepting funds for that purpose.

“But it’s a lot of money for people to raise,” he said.

Turner announced earlier in the meeting that the board had rejected a proposal from the Herricks Teachers Association for $750,000 in givebacks in next year’s in exchange for a guarantee of no layoffs.

Board vice president Richard Buckley said he was “flabbergasted” by the idea that residents could donate funds to the district to fund a teachers’ salary.

“If funds are granted to the school district, they can be used for personnel,” Bierwirth said, explaining the school district can accept grants earmarked for a specific program or other purpose.

Board member Peter Grisafi said permitting the private funding teaching positions is a “slippery slope” for the school district.

“We’re destroying the public school system and eventually a quality education will be a private system,” he said.

Jain said the choices the board makes about the budgets reflect the school district’s values.

In the public portion of the meeting, residents were passionate in defending school programs.

“When we cut off a limb, let’s not cut out the heart of our school district,” Maria Paciullo said. “I am here to advocate for the Gemini program. My son needs this program.”

One woman, who said she had one child still in the school and two who had been graduated from it, said she would be willing to pay extra to maintain Herricks’ exemplary music program as it is. And she offered a testimonial to the Gemini program.

“My middle one is studying to be a civil engineer and that’s directly related to him building bridges in Gemini,” she said.

“Let’s not ruin any programs,” parent Chris Michelen said.

Jonai Singh, a co-president of the Herricks PTA Council and a school board candidate, spoke in support of the district’s extracurricular programs.

“People have moved to this district because it has more than academics to offer,” she said. “All of these after school activities make it what it is.”

Herricks School Board President Christine Turner declared her intention to run for re-election last week as Paul Ehrbar announced plans to step down from his seat on the Herricks board at last Thursday night’s meeting.

Turner is a 21-year veteran of the school board, having served as either president or vice president for 14 years during that stretch. She said she feels her experience is an asset to the board as it steers the school district through the current state financial crisis.

“Anybody can bail out,” she said. “I’d like to stay and help to solve the problems as much as I can.”

Along with her experience as a board member, Turner is a former educator. She was the director of a private pre-school in Garden City for 23 years and also taught elementary school.

Ehrbar, who is the mayor of Williston Park, expressed gratitude for the opportunity to serve on the board, but said he was stepping down because of scheduling conflicts between his job as mayor and his obligations on the school board. “Due to my other duties, I can’t get to all the meetings,” Ehrbar said.

He was appointed to his seat on the school board two years ago.

Jonai Singh, co-president of the Herricks Council of Parent Teachers Associations, recently announced plans to run for Ehrbar’s seat amid rumors that Ehrbar was stepping aside.

“I have a lot to offer. I’m a person who’s connected not just with parents who have children in the community. I’m a person who’s connected with the senior citizens and all the ethnics groups within the community,” Singh said when she announced her candidacy.

There has been speculation among district residents that another candidate would emerge to challenge Singh for the board seat.

After last night’s meeting, resident activist Jim Gounaris revealed that he had picked up petitions to enable him to collect signatures for both the seat that Ehrbar is vacating and the school board president’s seat. But he said he remains undecided about his plans to make a run for the board.

“I’m not sure what I’m going to do,” Gounaris said.

A race between Singh and Gounaris would be an intriguing face-off. Both are parents with children attending schools in the district.

As co-president of the PTA Council, Singh is an unabashed advocate for the school district who has high visibility in the district. She is also president of the Indo-US Community, a non-profit group that helps Indian families acclimate when they move into the district.

Gounaris, who regularly attends school board meetings, would likely cast himself as a fiscal conservative who would play the role of watchdog on school district spending.

When Turner revealed an amended contract proposal from the Herricks Teachers Association at Thursday night’s meeting, Gounaris immediately asked her to explain what concessions the the board had sought from the teachers, but Turner refused to enumerate (see story, p. ).

Turner, who has lived in the district with her husband, Charles, for 36 years. They raised a son and a daughter who attended Herricks school from kindergarten through high school. She had been co-president of the PTAs at the Center Street School and the Herricks Middle School when her children were attending them.

She has received a distinguished service award from the Herricks PTA and was recognized for her long-standing service last fall with a citation from the Herricks Indo-US Community.

“A community is comprised of people in many different economic situations. We have to be sensitive to the entire community,” Turner said in a statement she released announcing her plans to seek another term as board president.

The Herricks Teachers Association made the Herricks Board of Education an offer of salary concessions it could refuse last week, and that’s what the board did.

In the process, the board drew an angry response from the teachers association, whose president accused the board of negotiating in public.

Herricks School Board president Christine Turner read a statement at last Thursday night’s school board meeting that spelled out a proposal for a modified contract from the teachers, which would have saved the school district approximately $1 million by both sides’ calculations, Turner said.

The proposed deal included $750,000 in HTA givebacks and an estimated $350,000 in savings from retirement incentives. The primary source of savings the HTA proposed was a reduction in the 2.75 percent salary increase during then 2011-12 school year to 1.5 percent.

Turner said the proposal was contingent on the board guaranteeing all HTA jobs and extending the existing teachers’ contract by one year beyond 2013-14 with a 2.25 percent increase in addition to “step” increases mandated by state law.

The board unanimously rejected the offer.

“The proposal we received this week is not just a case of ‘too little, too late’. It is late – far too late – but the reality is that it is extraordinarily out of step with the feelings of this community,” Turner said, adding, “It is also out of step with what bargaining groups in other school districts have done to help their schools and their communities through these difficult times.”

Current contract terms call for 3 percent increases in each of the last two years of the current deal. The HTA also proposed a two-year extension of the contract for secretaries and custodians, which runs for two more years, with 1.8 percent salary hikes in the additional two years and a one-year extension for teaching assistants with a 2.25 percent increase.

Turner pointed out that Craig Lagnese, HTA president, had read a statement about the teachers’ desire for “serious dialogue” at the Jan. 20 board meeting, but had submitted its proposal to board attorney Larry Tenenbaum on March 7.

Turner said the school board estimated the cost of guaranteeing all current HTA positions at $4.2 million above the draft budget based on a 2 percent increase from the current $96.5 million budget. That $4.2 million represents the approximate savings the school district would realize by eliminating 36 teaching positions.

Turner said guaranteeing all HTA positions would be “tying the board’s hands in doing what is necessary in paring the budget.”

The HTA positions include teaching assistants, aides, custodial, clerical, and secretarial workers along with the 400 teachers in the district.

Resident Jim Gounaris, who said he is considering a run for a school board seat, called the union’s response to the current fiscal crunch “inept” and asked Turner to enumerate what the board had asked of the teachers.

She declined to do so.

Herricks Superintendent of Schools John Bierwirth said he supported Turners refusal to discuss the board’s position.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate to negotiate in public,” Bierwirth said.

Lagnese said that by revealing the HTA proposal last week the board was negotiating in public.

In a statement released Friday in response to Turner’s prepared remarks, Lagnese said, “The HTA has always bargained with the school board in good faith. Unfortunately, the board has chosen a different path by their public statement last night at the March 10 board meeting. We maintain our respect for the board and the fact that negotiations should never occur in public as they did last night.”

Asked whether the HTA had intended to negotiate with the board any further, Lagnese declined to comment.

But he said, “In looking at Mrs. Turner’s statement, she has basically closed the door.”

After saying that the board was “extremely disappointed” with the HTA at Thursday night’s meeting, Turner revealed that the board had reached an accommodation with the Herricks Association of Administrative Supervisors.

Later in the meeting, Bierwirth said that HAAS had agreed to amend the last three years of its current deal, deferring its step increases.

The result represents a $53,000 savings in the first year and greater savings in each of the succeeding two years, Turner said.

Bierwirth said two administrative positions that are currently vacant will remain unfilled, with work responsibilities to be redistributed.

“Obviously that will save the whole cost of replacing them,” he said. “Every administrator in the district will pick up a portion of the load.”

Bierwirth himself is voluntarily decreasing a 4.5 percent increase in his $265,000 annual salary to 1.5 percent next year.

A campaign season of surprises in the Willistons ended with another unexpected turn on Tuesday as independent candidate Caroline DeBenedittis was the top vote getter in an election for two seats on the East Williston Board of Trustees.

Attorney Bonnie Parente also won election to the village board on the Community Party ticket, while her running mate for trustee, Robert Shannon, lost in what observers viewed as something of an upset. DeBenedittis drew 479 votes, while Parente drew 407 votes and Shannon drew 319 votes.

Trustee David Tanner, running unopposed for mayor on the Community Party ticket, received 476 votes.

In Willliston Park, Trustee Barbara Alagna drew 236 votes to challenger Jim Bumstead’s 125 to win a race for a one-year term on the village board.

In the voting in Mineola, newcomer George Durham Mayor and Mayor Lawrence Werther both won seats on the board as running mates on the New Line ticket, with Durham drawing 834 votes and Werther getting 691 votes. Independent candidate Christopher Wales pulled 501 votes in a losing bid.

Leading the New Line Party ticket, Strauss tallied 973 votes as he ran unopposed for the mayor’s office.

DeBenedittis, who has a high profile in the village as chairperson of the East Williston Recreation Committee for the past seven years, was an unanticipated late entrant into the East Williston trustee race.

DeBenedittis had talked during the campaign on the disadvantage she felt she had in running as an independent, and both Shannon and Parente had received the endorsements of outgoing Mayor Nancy Zolezzi and Deputy Mayor James Daw Jr.

Tanner decided to run for mayor after Zolezzi chose to not run a fourth time for the post. Daw also decided not to run for re-election. Since Tanner’s term as trustee was expiring, there were two open seats on the board.

“I am honored to have the support of the community behind me as I look foward continuing to work for the benefit of the village,” DeBenedittis said.

As president of the Chamber of Commerce of the Willistons and a private contracting company, Shannon enjoyed a high profile among voters.

“I’m very happy for Bonnie. Everything will work out fine,” Shannon said.

Parente congratulated DeBenedittis on her victory and expressed her thanks to the voters and her running mates in the campaign.

“I am looking forward to the challenge and I fully accept the responsibilities bestowed upon me,” Parente said.

Alagna, who was making her first bid for election, said she appreciated the turnout in Williston Park.

“I’m happy that I won and I’m pleased with the number of voters who participated in the election. I appreciate it and want to say thank you to everybody who voted. I’m glad I’ll be able to continue the productive work I’ve been doing for another year,” Alagna said.

Alagna had been appointed last year to fill the seat vacated by Beth Swenson-Dowd last year when Swenson-Dowd was appointed associate justice. Alagna had expected to run unopposed for to fill Swenson-Dowd’s remaining year on the board. But Bumstead filed to run against her at the last minute, in part because he said he felt that no one should run unopposed.

Alagna pushed her candidacy on the theme of fiscal responsibility. Bumstead flagged concerns about the condition of streets in the village and improved snow removal, but ultimately his one-man campaign – fueled by handing out flyers as he traverse the village on foot – fell short.

In Mineola, a New Line that was late in getting put together but managed a sweep in the voting, led by Strauss.

“I’m excited. I’m looking to roll on and continue on the road we’re on. Its a real good day for us,” Strauss said.

Durham said he was pleased with the result and said the number of votes Strauss received validated his run for mayor.

“It feels good, I was happy to be the top vote-getter. It validates my selection as a trustee candidate,” Durham said. “I’m ready to start serving the resident of Mineola when the board convenes.”

Durham, who coaches girls softball in the village, thanked the members of the Mineola Athletic Association and the Mineola Fire Department who he said came out in big numbers.

Durham also commended Wales for the “honorable” campaign he ran and said the board should appoint him to a position where he would have an opportunity to serve the village.

After being elevated from deputy mayor to mayor when Mayor Jack Martins won election to the state senate, Werther initially said he intended run for the office in the election. But he subsequently changed his mind, citing work commitments, and deciding to run for re-election to his seat as trustee on the village board as Trustee Scott Strauss threw his hat into the open ring.

Strauss was appointed to the board last December to fill the vacancy created when Werther was elevated from deputy mayor to mayor after Martins won election to the state Senate, vacating the mayor’s office.

Wales emerged as a dark horse candidate, filing a petition on the last day possible to challenge incumbent trustees Werther and Thomas Kennedy, who were running mates with Strauss in the New Line Party.

Then one week after candidate petitions were filed, Kennedy told his running mates that new job responsibilities would prevent him from seeking another term in office. Durham then entered the race to replace Kennedy on the ticket.

Durham had previously run unsuccessfully for a trustee seat in 2006.

He wasn’t even on duty but Bellmore Volunteer Fire Department EMT Justin Angell didn’t hesitate when he saw a crash into a utility pole. When he rushed to the accident he could not have anticipated what would happen next.

The heavily armed driver had six automatic weapons and handguns in his car. For reasons that will never be known, he opened fire on the EMT who was coming to his rescue.

Fortunately Angell will recover from his injuries. His attacker was shot and killed by police who arrived on the scene shortly after the crash.

Sounding every bit the hero the hero that he is, Angell told reporters. “I love what I do. I feel fine. I’m just glad to be alive. It was just a freak accident that could happen anywhere.”

Ironically the first ambulance on the scene was driven by Angell’s brother. We can only imagine what a shock it was to learn that his brother had been shot by this madman. It has to be the worst nightmare of anyone working in emergency services.

Long Island is lucky to be served by men like the Angell brothers.

Blank Slate Media Editorial

The former Techem Inc. site on Falmouth Avenue in New Hyde Park is currently clear of toxic metal waste that could threaten to the surrounding environment and could be redeveloped with the appropriate precautions, according to a report issued last month by the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

The report on the state superfund project said that based on prior interim remedial measures taken to dispose of hazardous wastes at the site, the state DEC’s recommendation is that no further action is required.

The report explains that the “no further action” recommendation applies to the continued operation of any remedial system installed at the site along with “implementation of any prescribed institutional controls or engineering controls.”

The DEC report will be presented at a public meeting in the Hillside Public Library on March 23 at 7 p.m. A public comment period about the site has been set for the duration of this month.

“Although the superfund site on Falmouth Avenue is not in our district, we are closely following any decisions made by the DEC in this matter,” said Michael Levy, superintendent of the Garden City Park Water/Fire District.

“As a purveyor of water in the vicinity, we are always interested in any developments of this nature. However, we would like it to be known that our district often surpasses the monitoring requirements imposed by local and federal regulatory agencies and will continue to do so,”

Levy said representatives of the Garden City Park Water/Fire District would be in attendance at the March 23 meeting.

Groundwater samples taken on the site last month revealed the presence of cadmium, chromium, copper, iron, lead, manganese, nickel, selenium and sodium at concentrations that exceeded state DEC standards to a minor degree, according to the report.

The municipal water source in the area is a deeper aquifer and metals and metals from the site “will not migrate sufficiently to impact the municipal supply or any surface body of water,” the report said.

A site cover is now on the site and commercial redevelopment would require a soil cover of one foot to meet regulatory standards.

Any future redevelopment would require a site management plan, including an excavation plan for any excavations to be made in areas of remaining contamination.

The Techem site, located on Falmouth Avenue west of Denton Avenue, had been used for a variety of commercial and industrial uses after a one-story structure masonry block building was erected on the site in 1955.

“The site had a history of spills and poor housekeeping that caused the release of solutions containing heavy metals,” according to the report, which prompted intervention by local, state and federal regulatory agencies.

In 1982, the Nassau County Department of Health discovered elevated concentrations of cadmium, chromium and lead when it sampled water from a “drywell” on the site. That cesspool was cleaned up two years later.

The U.S. Environment Protection Agency removed 1,500 small containers and 1,250 drums of “hazardous chemicals” from the building and storage areas.

The EPA also excavated soil from a sump on the property and other areas containing metals in the soil, backfilling the excavations afterward and resurfacing them with concrete.

The only real question about the uncontested election contest for New Hyde Park Village Board incumbents Robert Lofaro and Richard Coppola is how many voters will show up at Marcus Christ Hall to cast ballots.

At the last public village board meeting, New Hyde Park Mayor Daniel Petruccio encouraged residents to show up just to stay in the habit of exercising their democratic prerogative, notwithstanding the absence of any opponents in the race.

But in an era when half of eligible American voters elect to stay home when the White House is up for grabs, Petruccio’s exhortation sounded hopeful at best.

Lofaro and Coppola have served on the board for the past 12 years, and Lofaro has been deputy mayor for the past decade. Prior to being elected, Lofaro was the chairperson of a five-member Citizen’s Budget Advisory board that made recommendations to the village board on reducing expenses and taxes of a village that was on the verge of slipping into dissolution.

“I’m just continuing on the job. That’s really the way to look at it,” Lofaro said.

The board’s finance maven, who has also managed the funding of steadily refurbishing the village roads, he serves as the board liaison to the village Department of Public Works.

Lofaro’s full-time job is a director in trade and risk services for a major international financial institution.

Both men are long-standing members of the New Hyde Park Fire Department.

Coppola, president of All Vehicle Leasing, Inc. at Hempstead Ford Lincoln Mercury, is focused on maintaining and improving the village’s public parks. His latest effort has been overseeing the addition of basketball and volleyball courts in New Hyde Park Memorial Park, a project that is expected to be completed this spring.

“I enjoy being part of the community. I enjoy doing things in the community,” Coppola said when asked about his motivation to seek another term as a village trustee.

Coppola said he’s proud of what the veteran village board has accomplished over the past decade.

“I think we’ve make the village a better place to live, both for the residents and the business community,” Coppola said.

However many voters show up at the polls on Tuesday between noon and 9 p.m., Lofaro and Coppola can be counted on to attend the next village board meeting on Wednesday.

The pool was refilled in advance of the delayed reopening of the pool at Michael J. Tully on Feb. 18 and everything has gone swimmingly in the wake of extensive repairs to the pool’s drainage system and leaking liner.

Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman reported all is well with the pool this week as he anticipates doing a “walk-through” next week to review the work done by FML Contracting and several subcontractors.

“Everything’s great over there,” Kaiman said. “We’re going to close out the contracts in a week or so,”

Those contracts cost the town between $15 million and $16 million, according to Kaiman, since the pool was first closed due to problems with its filtration system two years ago. Problems with the building’s electrical system and decaying window frames around skylights prompted additional repairs not initially anticipated, which extended the closure to a period of 18 months before the pool was reopened last October.

“There are always things we’re going to look to do,” Kaiman said. “We think the facility turned out great and people are really enjoying it. Most people will come back and there’s so many more people using the facility, it was really well worth the investment.”

Kaiman said his impression that more people were using the facility was based on anecdotal evidence.

The recent refurbishing work started in Jan. 9 and was supposed to be completed on Jan. 25, but was ultimately extended until Feb. 18. The contractors replaced some drains, welded others and replaced the pool’s liner, which had been leaking, Kaiman said. The work was done at the contractor’s cost, under the terms of the original contract.

The town is inviting swimming teams from local schools, such as Notre Dame in New Hyde Park, to use the pool as they had been in prior years.

“People have raised some questions about whether teams can still use it. They can,” Kaiman said.

Kaiman noted that the pool never had swimming lanes that conformed to the specifications of swimming meets, and the length of the lanes has not changed.

A few people have complained about the current from the slide on the children’s end of the pool adverse affecting people trying to use the lanes in the deeper end to swim laps. But Kaiman said most people seem unconcerned about that effect from the water slide, which is turned on every day at 3 p.m.

“We’ve spoken to seniors who use the pool when the water is on, and very few have complained,” Kaiman said. “Most people think it doesn’t affect them at all.”

People who subscribed to the pool for the quarter staring in January will received extensions for the permits they purchased, he said. And now the town is seeking to make the recreation center a destination for Town of North Hempstead residents of all ages.

Eddie’s Pizza has been a local institution in New Hyde Park with its trademark individual bar pies since the 1930s.

When you walk into the Hillside Avenue eatery, it feels like entering a time warp with posters from “Casablanca” and “Rebel Without A Cause” and a jukebox playing tunes from the ‘50s and ‘60s – for free.

That old-time feel is something owner Joseph DiVittorio has sought to maintain. And on the face of it, nothing seems to have changed in Eddie’s, like the thin-crust on the pizza that local connoisseurs regularly come to chow down on. But the cheese on the pizza is part-skim and the trademark “bar pizza” is a literal one.

“There are generations of families who come in here. You change little by little, but you try to keep the atmosphere the same. People like familiarity,” DiVittorio said.

DiVittorio, 48, made a major change in his life when he bought into the business in the mid-1980s, making a transition from his job as a certified public accountant with Deloitte Touche. Since then, he and his father, Nick, have managed the business together, with one recent departure from tradition.

Last spring, Eddie’s Pizza launched a Web site along with another new business vehicle in the form of an Eddie’s Pizza truck that has its Manhattan hot spots posted online daily (www.EddiesPizza.com). The truck carries the same fresh part-skim cheese and dough – made at a separate Hillside Avenue location near the restaurant – and makes those same bar pies on the fly, as it were. They have regular locations Monday through Saturday in Manhattan. And Eddie’s Pizza also uses the truck to cater everything from corporate parties to weddings and Bar Mitzvahs, according to DiVittorio.

“Until we got into it, you wouldn’t believe it,” he said.

But the main objective was bringing pizza to the masses in Manhattan. And the very visible bright red truck is a high- profile promotion vehicle.

“We wanted to go into the city. There’s a big sub-culture of food trucks,” he said, noting that Zagat’s now has ratings for traveling food vans that he said fits the lifestyle of young Manhattanites on the move.

“People are in a hurry these days. They don’t want to sit and dine,” he said.

Meanwhile, Eddie’s Pizza is spreading its reputation by express mail around the globe, having shipped its pies as far away as China and Hawaii. (One local resident regularly sends pies to a New Hyde Park expatriate in the Aloha State).

“The beauty is the way the pie is thin and light. It ships everywhere,” DiVittorio said.

DiVittorio said he sends pizzas to the cast and crew of HBO’s “Entourage” in Los Angeles, a thank-you to his friend Steve Levinson, the executive producer of the HBO series who he worked with at Deloitte Touche. Eddie’s Pizza gets mentions on the show and the actors sometimes wear the restaurant’s T-shirt.

Back at Eddie’s, DiVittorio’s idea is to keep the winning formula in place: a comfortable place with good food – including daily pasta dish specials – at prices that encourage customers visiting frequently.

“We don’t want to see customers once a month. We want to see them once a week,” he said.

He’s also sensitive to the downward economic trend of the times in catering to his customers’ needs.

“People don’t have much in discretionary dollars,” he said. “So when they go out, they want to hit a home run.”

With $5 pasta fagioli and $8.80 bar pies, they can economize, and watch home runs on the flat screen TVs behind the bar, in another sign of changing times.

DiVittorio also demonstrates a sense of civic responsibility commensurate with the iconic status of the restaurant, regularly making donations to local schools and institutions.

Eddie’s Pizza was involved with the Harry Chapin Food Bank, donating 200 meals a month. And it donated a movie room with a big screen TV to the Parker Jewish Institute for Health Care and Rehabilitation.

“Our biggest asset here is our customers and our community,” DiVittorio said.

Six of Great Neck’s nine villages go to the polls on Tuesday, March 15. None of the elections are contested, and it seems everyone is seeking re-election, but it is still important to show up and be counted. Because every ballot is a vote in favor of local government.

Local government is under assault. Like teachers and public unions, local government is being scapegoated as the reason property taxes are so high. Yet there has never been a study which demonstrates how taxes would be affected if local governments were eliminated. On the other hand, there is ample evidence around the country when small governments are consolidated into massive governments – typically, after a brief period of tax reduction, that taxes resume their inexorable rise. That is the case in Jacksonville, FL, which has become the largest city in America, based on geography, as a result of consolidation, where people are just as unhappy as anywhere about rising taxes.

There is also no evidence that big governments do things that much better or more efficiently or more responsively than small local governments. If that were true, Nassau County would just be sailing along, and not facing hundreds of millions of dollars of new debt.

On the contrary, people love their village government, or else they would act to dissolve or consolidate. There are already procedures in place to do that, and in some instances, it makes sense for communities to consolidate . We saw that here on the Peninsula with the consolidation of Great Neck Village’s water pollution control department being consolidated into the Great Neck Water Pollution Control District.

The fact is that even if there is a premium to be paid for being able to march right into village hall to get action on something, more than likely by an official or village worker who is someone you know, rather than have to deal with some anonymous bureaucrat, people are willing to pay that premium.

Saddle Rock Mayor J. Leonard Samansky,who is going for his 10th term, remarked, “Village government is the form of government closest to the people. Anyone can contact the mayor or member of the board at any time directly. We are neighbors. When was the last time anyone was able to contact and sit down on a Sunday with the governor? Every penny raised in taxes goes back in the form of services to the residents.”

Samansky has spent nearly 30 years in his village government, and also currently serves as the president of the Great Neck Village Officials Association. There is no one who can illuminate the details of a waste-management contract as well as he can.

Our village governments have been models in terms of cooperating together in times of crisis or emergency, as they did last June after the microburst caused such devastation to the Peninsula, and their ability to do that was largely championed by Samansky, and the former mayor of Lake Success, Bob Bernstein.

Most village elected officials serve as unpaid volunteers; a few of the mayors, including Samansky, and Village of Great Neck Plaza Mayor Jean Celender – who manages the most congested village in the state – do get some compensation.

But Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state legislators want you to think that the reason for our state’s woes are because we have too much local government.

Cuomo is doing his level best to vilify teachers and other public workers, to force them to give back pay and benefits. We have discussed the disastrous impact of a property tax cap would have on our schools, but this same cap would apply to local governments.

In effect, Cuomo means to take away local control. Our communities will not be able to decide for ourselves the character of our communities – whether that is a community that wants garbage pick-up on a three-times a week schedule or twice weekly, whether it has vigorous recycling collection or not, how vigilant it is about road maintenance, snow removal, street lighting.

Much of the problems in local governments, just as with school budgets, would be solved with mandate relief, but in the present climate, that is step two, instead of “step one and let’s see if caps are even necessary.”

But just recently, our state representatives, state Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel and state Sen. Jack Martins, though from different parties (like in the good old days of Tom DiNapoli and Mike Balboni), won a significant victory in winning passage of legislation they sponsored removing the one of these absurd mandates that would have cost each village thousands of dollars to administer.

They were able to get a two-year delay in the state requirement that local governments (including special districts) rent optical scanners (at a cost of $1,500 versus $150 for the lever machines), and pay as much as a $1 per paper ballot for a required 110 percent of the number of registered voters, and which would have required a 3 percent recanvassing by hand, anyway. That’s for an election where fewer than a dozen people can turn out (as in Kensington). that means that conducting an election might cost each village on the Peninsula $5,000, versus $150.

No wonder Village of Kensington Mayor Susan Lopatkin, along with mayors and deputy mayors representing just about all Great Neck’s villages and many of Nassau County’s 64 villages turned out to a press event at Great Neck House last week, to applaud this “commonsense” legislation.

Both Martins, who was the mayor of Mineola before being elected this past November to the state Senate, and Schimel, who was North Hempstead’s Town Clerk before succeeding Tom DiNapoli as state assemblywoman, bring an appreciation of local government.

“Politics is local,” Schimel said. “The most important government that impacts your life is the most local government. Village governments are truly the grassroots of democracy.”

“Albany looks at the world from 30,000 feet,” said Martins, sounding almost surprised at his early success at turning back the cogs crushing down on local government. “They see a tapestry of terrain but don’t see people, But the things we do in Albany do impact people locally. My colleagues lack that perspective. ” An amazing statement from someone who now champions a property tax cap which eviscerates local control.

But on to the crux of the matter: the fact that our neighbors who stand for election, who volunteer their time, expertise and concern for their communities, deserve to be shown appreciation by having people come out, spend the few minutes to cast a ballot.

It is counter-intuitive that people should come out when they are satisfied with government; the easiest way to get a turnout is to get people fired up and angry. That is a terrible shame.

This go-around, there are no contested elections, and no major controversies.

Well, except for Great Neck Plaza, where a particular individual has created an industry of bashing elected officials while offering no actual solutions.

In more than 15 years of closely monitoring our local governments, Great Neck Plaza always impressed me as a model of how local government should be run – how much further this board goes to be informed in their decision-making and to engage the community. If residents choose not to participate, well, this is America, and you have the freedom not to engage as much as you have the freedom to be engaged.

 Glickman has particularly savaged Village of Great Neck Plaza Trustee Gerald Schneiderman, who (surprise!) is up for re-election this cycle.

But I would put Schneiderman’s record of contributions to the village up against anyone.

Schneiderman, who served (unpaid) for 20 years on the village Board of Zoning and Appeals, as trustee is the village’s liaison to the Nassau County Village Officials Association, Liaison to the Great Neck Village Officials Association, member of Business Improvement District Board of Directors, village representative to the Great Neck Business Circle, Great Neck Vigilant Fire Department Liaison Committee member and a member of Village Art Advisory Group – time-consuming commitments that also require a vast amount of expertise.

Schneiderman was pivotal (along with Trustee Pam Marsheid and Mayor Celender) in not just keeping the Great Neck Library’s branch in the Plaza, but getting an enlarged and superior library, and in the governmental-equivalent of a “blink of an eye.”

Schneiderman also was responsible for the creation of Restaurant Week, “which is now so successful that we now have several of them each year in the warm weather” and was also behind the “Friendly Meter” in the Plaza, which gives you an extra five minutes of parking time after your time is up, before you get a ticket.

In the next term, Schneiderman is working with the mayor and other trustees to craft a new multiple-use law to allow additional residential space in the downtown.”

Somehow, the Plaza board has found a way to improve its infrastructure and services while not increasing taxes for the fifth consecutive year. That’s pretty remarkable in this day and age.

The Plaza board will also be engaged in probably the biggest development to face the Great Neck Peninsula since the decision was made to put the tracks below ground: the prospect of Long Island Railroad access to the East Side, with the extension planned to Grand Central. That will have ramifications for traffic and parking in the village.

Both the Plaza and Thomaston, as well as the Great Neck Village Officials Association, will have to take the lead to be sure that the negative impacts – particularly on some 75 Thomaston residents – will be properly mitigated. The Plaza, too, has to be concerned that such a popular service does not generate much more new traffic and parking congestion. And all of the Peninsula’s local officials need to be battling to stop cuts to the Long Island bus service.

Thomaston Mayor Robert Stern, who is running unopposed for his seventh term, has championed this cause the loudest. He has also been a model of fiscal integrity that others might emulate.

With every level of government hysterical over mounting debt, Mayor Stern has put his village on a path to retiring all its public debt, paying for such things as road maintenance from the operating budget, and training village employees to do the work. The village currently has $13 million in outstanding debt, and is retiring it at the rate of $300,000 a year.

Russell Gardens Mayor Matthew S. Bloomfield, who has served on the village’s board of trustees for 19 years, and is seeking re-election to his second term as mayor.

“As mayor,” Bloomfield said, “I work and will continue to work with our representatives in Albany on village matters, LIPA to reduce the frequency of outages, National Grid to replace a leaking gas main, the Nassau County Police Department on traffic enforcement, Manhasset Lakeville Water District on fire hydrant replacement etc.

Residents of Great Neck Estates, Great Neck Plaza, Kensington, Russell Gardens, Saddle Rock, Thomaston, this is your chance to express appreciation your neighbors who do take on the responsibilities.

Village of Saddle Rock Mayor J. Leonard Samansky announced plans for the upcoming 100th annual village meeting of Saddle Rock at last Wednesdays village board of trustees meeting, along with an update on the new voting machine law and the upcoming village elections.

“There will be a host of dignitaries speaking, color guard, and we are trying to get a student from one our schools to sing the Star Spangled Banner, which will then be followed by brunch,” Samansky said in reference to the village’s 100th annual meeting. “There is a whole host of things needed to be done – appointment of banks, forming of committees, announcement of those who serve on committees, etc,” said Samansky.

The Village of Saddle Rock will hold its next regular meeting on April 6, however certain items on the list will be held off as the meeting will be adjourned until the annual meeting on Sunday, according to Samansky. One item held until Sunday will be the official swearing in of the newly elected officials for the village.

Samansky announced the village will be using lever pull voting machines instead of the optical scanning machines for the upcoming village election, and how the election inspectors have been finalized.

A new law put into place written by Sen. Jack Martins (R-Mineola) and state Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel (D-Great Neck) will allow villages the ability to rent lever voting machines, which will only cost $150 a day, compared to the optical scanning machines which cost villages $1,500 a day.

“Savings to villages is tremendous,” Samansky said.

During the meeting Samansky jokingly remarked on how he wished Governor Andrew Cuomo was at the meeting.

“Too bad the governor isn’t here, we would show him how to budget things,” Samansky Said.

Longtime Great Neck resident Sam Chwat, the speech therapist to the stars, died March 3 in Manhasset at the age of 57.

Chwat, who instructed a long list of Oscar and Grammy winners and nominees, as well as business leaders, broadcasters, diplomats and politicians, moved to the peninsula about 18 years ago with his young family.

Moving from the city to the Village of Russell Gardens in 1993, Chwat and his family enjoyed adjusting to “the best of both world’s” in their first home together after living in a Manhattan apartment for several years, according to his wife, Susan.

“This town has been very wonderful to us,” Susan said on Wednesday.”He learned to garden here and do all of the outdoor stuff that he didn’t do in the city.”

Over the years, Chwatt developed, standardized and perfected the Sam Chwat Method for accent elimination – a unique method for modifying accented speech that has had a staggering success rate among his clients, according to his company’s website.

“Sam Chwat was not only a truly learned man but he was a brilliant teacher and a colleague, said Academy Award winner Olympia Dukakis on Wednesday. ” He was a part of my life and my work since the 1980s. So grateful and thankful for his skill and his sense of humor.”

A licensed speech-language pathologist, Chwat earned a master’s degree in speech pathology from Columbia University.

Chwat founded New York Speech Improvement Services in 1982. The organization, now known as the Sam Chwat Speech Center, is located on West 16th in Manhattan.

The Sam Chwat Method has been used successfully for 30 years by stars of major feature films, Broadway, television and radio productions, according to the Chwat center website. Academy-Award winning and nominated clients included Robert DeNiro, Julia Roberts, Leonardo DiCaprio, Roberto Benigni, Abigaile Breslin, Heath Ledger, Kate Hudson, Jude Law and Rachel Weisz.

Chwat trained Robert DeNiro to trade his New York speech for an Appalachian accent in his Oscar-nominated role in “Cape Fear;” Willem Dafoe learned a Transylvanian accent for his Oscar-nominated role in “Shadow of the Vampire;” and Marcia Gay Harden earned her Oscar with the Brooklyn accent she learned for the film “Pollack.”

“He saw a lot of clients early in their careers – that’s what happened with Julia Roberts, Ricky Martins and Abigale Breslin,” said Susan Chwat.

Chwat taught Roberts and Andie MacDowell to trade their Southern accents for Standard American English before their film careers began, and Shakira on how to Americanize every lyric of all three of her English-language hit albums.

Kathleen Turner used Chwat for the 1990 Broadway production of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.”

“I feel like the work we did with him contributed greatly to the high quality of the production,” said Kathleen Turner, in a statement on the Chwat center website.

Born in Brooklyn in 1953, Chwat was diagnosed with lymphoma last November.

Chwat is survived by his wife, Susan Lazarus Chwat; three daughters, Alexandra, Joanna and Elena; and a sister, Libby Mandel.

“He took the South away from Julia Roberts. He exorcised New York from Robert De Niro’s speech… He teaches senators how to drop their regional accents when they are in Washington, and how to pick them up again on the campaign trail,” according to the New York Times.