Arthur Smyles, owner and operator of Learn and Play day care center, received a primer in protocol and etiquette when his application to double the size of the 14,000-foot Herricks Road facility was put on hold at last Wednesday’s night Village of Mineola board meeting.

Smyles is seeking expansion of an existing special-use permit for the daycare center at 80 Herricks Rd. to take over the adjacent space of a dollar store that he also operates on the property. He said his plan called for increasing the number of licensed personnel, who he described as “teachers” at the site from 40 to 60 to handle what would be an expanded population of pre-K youngsters at the facility.

Village board members expressed misgivings about the traffic the increased size of the facility would create and the safety aspects of the building itself.

“You’re going to have substantially more staff than you have parking spots,” Village of Mineola Mayor Lawrence Werther said.

Smyles replied that, while the site has some “stack” parking, the expansion would not present a problem.

“We don’t have a problem with teachers parking. We have a problem with retail,” he said. At a later point in the discussion, he said some of the day care staff travel by train to work.

Village of Mineola Trustee Paul Cusato said he had recently visited the site, and observed what appeared to be a single roadway for traffic coming into and out of the facility, and asked how emergency vehicles would gain access to the building in case of fire.

Smyles said the building was compliant with state law, but confirmed that the single roadway offered the only access to the facility.

Trustee Paul Pereira told Smyles that he though the information that he was providing was imprecise.

“We expect answers that are concrete, that are definitive. I’m concerned about the parking there,” Pereira said.

Smyles said that parking wasn’t an issue because parents “want to get in and out” when dropping off their children in the morning or picking them up later in the day.

Trustee Scott Strauss said he wasn’t concerned about the amount of time cars spent in the parking lot, but said he was concerned about the volume of cars going in and out.

“If you don’t grant this application, you’re harming your community, simple as that,” Smyles said.

Werther brusquely replied, “Mr. Smyles don’t accuse this board of harming the community.”

Smyles immediately apologized, saying Werther misunderstood him and adding that Mineola “has been very good to me” over the past 40 years.

Strauss asked Smyles if he had ever submitted an evacuation plan for the building to the Mineola Fire Department, and questioned the daycare proprietor’s veracity when Smyles said he had done so.

“I’ve never seen an evacuation plan,” said Strauss, a former Mineola Fire Department chief.

The board recessed for a conference and Werther suggested that Smyles return at a later date – to be set for sometime in April – with an emergency-access plan for fire and ambulance vehicles. He also told Smyles he should provide the board with his application to the state Department of Family Services for his planned expansion – which Smyles said that department was encouraging – along with his license. And Werther said the director of the center should also be present.

In contrast, board members complemented the preceding applicant, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, for its preparation on an application to establish a meeting house at 111 Willis Ave., the former site of a Salvation Army center.

Richard Hedberg, a real estate project manager for the church, said the church’s Sunday worship services would typically last for three hours, and said the church also held infrequent Friday night “socials.” He said he anticipated the adjacent parking lot would accommodate a relatively small congregation that the church, commonly known as the Mormon Church, was seeking to relocate from Lynbrook to Mineola.

“We wanted to be here,” Hedberg said.

The church currently has meeting houses in Little Neck, Plainview and Riverhead, according to Hedberg, who said the Mineola location was geographically preferable to Lynbrook.

Asked about outreach activities, Hedberg said the church’s members organize at what he called “bishop’s storehouses” separate from the meeting centers, where they organize commodities to be donated to those in need.

He said the meeting house could see heavier use during the Christmas season and noted that funerals could be held there. But he said weddings are performed in Mormon temples, with the closest one in Manhattan.

Fernando Fernandez, architect for the church, said he planned to “freshen up” the landscaping and the building housing the meeting house.

The village board voted unanimously to assert that no environmental review of the site would be required and, on advice of village attorney John Spellman, referred the matter to the Nassau County planning board for review.

So here’s an idea – one that is surely designed to ruffle a few feathers and set Gerry Schneiderman’s head spinning as he prepares for a victory lap. Since it would be just too easy to stay home and not vote in the upcoming village election, I think the people of this great village should look for other options. In fact, I think Plaza residents should go to the polls in droves and vote for a write-in candidate or two.

The purpose of a person writing-in their candidate on Election Day is twofold. For starters, the Plaza might finally vote the brass-plaque-boasting, free-benefit-snatching Gerry Schneiderman off the island (or least out of office)! And if that’s not enough, voting for write-in candidates would send shock waves through every incumbent who is or will be running alone in one of the peninsula’s nutty “special” election districts (nine villages, a library and a park are the examples that come to mind).

You see, Gerry has represented this community for the past 10 years and his record is empty. Who really needs more of that? In fact, aside from collecting his annual salary, pension, and the free health insurance he so gracefully passes from the books of his own business to those of the Plaza taxpayer, he has nothing to show for his time in office. A fact proven every time he refuses to speak to the public about his record.

Frankly speaking, his silence suggests that he serves as a trustee for nothing more than an ego boost and some free parking. I for one would love to hear him review his record publicly and explain why he has served as nothing more than a pawn of the mayor, as a politician who supports and defends flawed thinking and an odd sense of entitlement.

Imagine what a write-in campaign would mean to Gerry…not knowing who his challenger is. Imagine all the behind-the-scenes maneuvering that might take place, since a mere 200 new voters would be able to determine the outcome. Imagine Gerry actually having to tell us why he has accepted free health insurance for himself and his family on our collective dime for the past decade and why he feels that he should return to village hall.

Just imagine the impact a write-in candidate would have: Gerry and his colleagues would spend loads of money posting signs around town touting their role as founding members of “The Jean Team” and they would go into overdrive securing absentee ballots from the assisted living homes, all while the local papers would be oozing with letters of support praising Gerry’s work as the guy who could “fix a brick” and “pot a plant.” Ahh, a write-in candidate, what an interesting thought!

Michael S. Glickman

Great Neck

I wonder whatever happened to a proposal by one of New York City’s developers – Vornado Realty Trust from June 2010 to pay for construction to reopen the old Hilton Corridor, also known as the Gimbels passageway. They offered to do this in exchange for a city zoning variance to construct a high-rise office building at Seventh Avenue and 32nd Street.

Until the late 1960s, Long Island Rail Road riders exiting east at Penn Station had a direct underground passageway known as the Hilton Corridor. This provided a simple indoor connection to the 34th Street Herald Square the IND and BMT subway, along with the PATH station complex.

Further, there was an underground passageway along Sixth Avenue that went as far north as 42nd Street. As a teenager, I remember avoiding the rain and snow by using this indoor path. It would provide easy access to both the main branch of the New York public library and long-gone Stern’s department store on 42nd Street..

Both passageways were closed many decades ago by New York City Transit and the LIRR, due to security issues. If reopened today, commuters would have easy connections to the Broadway N, R & Q and Sixth Avenue B,D,F & M subway lines along with PATH – rather than walking outside on the street exposed to both inclement weather and heavy vehicular traffic.

By using either the subway or walking (most New Yorkers can manage a five- or 10-block walk and we could all use some healthy exercise), riders would have direct access via these subway lines to midtown or the East Side of Manhattan along either the Broadway, 6th Avenue, 42nd, 53rd, 59th or 63rd Street corridors, served by numerous subway lines and stations.

How disappointing that the old Hilton corridor, which previously provided transit options for thousands of rush hour commuters, continues to lay dormant after so many decades.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority currently faces a financial shortfall in the hundreds of millions this year, billions more in the current five-year capital program and long-term debt of $28 billion.

There is only so much revenue from MTA Bridge and Tunnel toll fees available for transit. The infusion of over $1 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus funding was a one-time only windfall.

A 9 percent unemployment rate has resulted in declining ridership and fare box revenues. The economic recession has impacted employee, real estate mortgage transfer and other tax revenues that support the MTA.

Past plans for creating new revenues by tolling free East River bridges and implementing congestion pricing within New York City continue to face opposition by a majority of members in both the New York City Council and state Legislature, including many from Nassau County.

Neither the city council, city comptroller, mayor, state Legislature, state comptroller or governor advocates or identifies any sources for increasing funding by the billions of dollars that may be necessary to support keeping the current fare structure, maintaining basic state of good repair and system expansion along with funding high-tech improvements.

New York City, Albany and Washington all face current and future year multibillion-dollar budget shortfalls accompanied by declining tax revenues.

New York City and New York State each carry over $60 billion and growing long-term debt.

Uncle Sam now has over $14 trillion in long-term debt.

Why not consider taking advantage of the private sector picking up the tab for a significant transportation improvement that could benefit thousands of transportation riders at no cost to taxpayers or government?

Larry Penner

Great Neck

The angst of the budget season was evident at the East Williston School Board meeting on Monday night, as East Williston Superintendent of Schools Lorna Lewis made a presentation of the most sobering financial factors the school board is confronting.

Lewis noted the East Williston School Board anticipates losing $324,000 in state aid for 2011-12. If the school board was to craft a zero increase school budget for next year, the loss in state aid would still necessitate increasing the tax levy by .7 percent.

To comply with the proposed 2 percent cap in the tax levy (currently $47.4 million) in 2011-12, next year’s budget would have to decrease by 1 percent from the current $50.2 million budget, rendering a budget of $49.97 million, according to Lewis.

While Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposed tax cap would not take effect until the 2012-13 budget cycle, Lewis warned that the school board must anticipate the advent of the cap as it prepares the current budget.

“As we build the budget, we have to take into consideration the budget for the following year,” she said, adding in a sarcastic tone, “the state education department chose just the right time to add more mandates.”

Those new mandates now require four years of both mathematics and science courses for high school students, as the passing score for the Algebra regents exam is being raised to 80 and the passing score for English is now being set at 75.

“The point is, if you add another year of science and add a year of mathematics, you’re adding it without more funding,” Lewis said.

Lewis pointed out that the board will also have to cope with anticipated increases in pension and health care costs, while modifying any budget increase to avoid increasing the tax levy, and inviting a need for more severe cuts to meet the tax cap in the following year.

Jacqueline Fitzpatrick, the district business administrator, reported that the school district has a $1.2 million surplus over anticipated expenditures, based on a six-month audit of the current budget. But she also said the costs of the district’s health care coverage would jump by 19 percent between this year and next year.

“The devil’s in the details,” said former board member John O’Kelly, who estimated that the $324,000 reduction in state aid would actually translate to a 2.4 percent increase in the tax levy.

Turning to the topic of anticipated revenue not received by the district, board president Mark Kamberg said the school board is seeking advice from school board attorney John Sheahan on whether it has grounds to bring a lawsuit against the state for $450,000 in grant money it has not received. That includes $150,000 spent last year for renovating the track at The Wheatley School and the playground at the North Side School.

In a sign of the board’s increasing financial circumspection, Kamberg objected to addressing a policy on field trips without some indication of what the field trips would cost.

“I don’t want to approve a policy without cost,” Kamberg said.

“You’ve done this in the past,” Lewis said.

But Kamberg remained adamant and the rest of the board backed his position, voting 5-0 to table consideration of the field trip policy.

The Great Neck Park District is moving forward with a plan to bring a farmer’s market to the Village Green later this year, although details are far from finalized.

With the approval of a facilitating agreement by the Great Neck Village board of Trustees at a regular meeting last month, a more detailed inter-municipal agreement would be needed between the village and the park district before plans for the proposed market are approved.

Village of Great Neck Mayor Ralph Kreitzman said the board of trustees is “very interested” in the plan proposed by the park district, which operates the Village Green.

Currently, the park district is working to secure vendors for the once-per-week market which is expected to run on Fridays, according to Great Neck Park District Commissioner Ivar Segalowitz.

Searching under guidelines required by the state of New York for farmer’s markets, no vendors have been lined up by the park district to date, according to Segalowitz.

“The vendors are only allowed that which they have grown themselves, baked themselves or caught themselves,” said Segalowitz.

Final details of the farmer’s market are expected in about six weeks, according to Segalowitz, who confirmed that the proposed farmer’s market is still far from becoming a reality.

“All of it is predicated on us getting a farmer.”

About eight years ago, a similar proposal was met with opposition from the Great Neck Chamber of Commerce and others in Great Neck Village, according to Segalowitz, but support appears to be shifting in favor of the proposed market.

“I am up for it, with the one caveat that we will talk with affected merchants,” said Kreitzman.

Kreitzman said a public hearing will be scheduled in the Village of Great Neck to discuss the farmer’s market before a final decision is made by the board of trustees.

A subcommittee has been appointed in Village of Thomaston to come up with suggestions to submit to the Long Island Railroad regarding a proposed pocket track extension in the village.

At a regular meeting Monday at village hall, the board of trustees unanimously approved 17 volunteer members to the subcommittee and named Village of Thomaston Trustee Gary Noren as chairman.

Thomaston Mayor Robert Stern has said that the LIRR is ignoring village opposition to the plan and suggested at a special meeting last month that the town notify elected officials of their concern regarding the construction of the proposed pocket track.

The newly-formed subcommittee now has the authority to consult with the village attorney on matters regarding the LIRR, according to Stern.

“They can’t do it unless it is an official body,” said Stern.

The proposed pocket track extension is part of a $36 million project that would replace the century-old Colonial Road Bridge in Thomaston and improve drainage in the area.

With fears that proposed changes to the bridge might affect traffic flow on the street where he lives in Thomaston, a resident of Singley Court requested at the meeting that the board limit traffic on the street to vehicles with commercial or residential activities to preserve the character of the area.

“I think that we need to be proactive in changes that might be occurring to Thomaston and if we can make some of those changes before certain things happen it just might help to keep our court from becoming a common drive-through area,” said the resident, who lives near the Colonial Road Bridge.

Stern said the issue will be discussed with the village attorney before a decision is made.

“We will see if we have the authority to do that,” said the mayor.

The LIRR has said the project is an essential part of its plans to improve service on the heavily used Port Washington line, which includes bringing the LIRR to Grand Central Terminal in 2016.

Also at the meeting, Stern commented on a recent Great Neck News article regarding $8 million in grant money that has been rescinded by the state Legislature for a wide variety of area projects promised to villages and school districts.

Stern said the village of Thomaston recently received a previously approved state grant to fund construction of a village salt storage facility.

“This week we received a $100,000 reimbursement grant that Senator Johnson got for us,” said Stern. “We were one of those that squeaked through.”

Village of East Williston Trustee Michael Braito announced at Monday night’s village board meeting he was in receipt of a check for $100,000 for the Village Hall construction, and was hopeful that the village would receive other construction-related grants following reports that more than $8.5 million in grants secured by then state Sen. Craig Johnson had been rescinded by Senate Democrats after Johnson lost his 7th District re-election bid to former Mineola Mayor Jack Martins.

The board of trustees is still awaiting notice on the status of two other grants – $100,000 for refurbishing the library at village hall and the second for $150,000 for a new communications room and renovations at the fire department.

The work on the Village Hall and the library have already been completed.

“We’re not sure of the status of the other two $100,000 dollar grants,” Braito said. “Our new state senator,Jack Martins, is working on trying to get that money redirected back into our district.”

Braito said the situation not only effects East Williston but their schools and even few other communities in the surrounding area.

One resident expressed his dismay with Johnson, for his promise of grant money to the village that remains unfulfilled.

“It sounded like the people were being punished, because he didn’t win the election, pulling the rug from under us, because he didn’t get his way,” the resident said.

“I would say it’s probably a little of that, and a little of too many promises made, that could not be kept,” Village of East Williston Mayor Nancy Zolezzi replied. “Starting in June, we called regularly and we were assured there was no problem, we were getting that money and it was guaranteed.”

Zolezzi said that the board had not received a letter rescinding the other two grants as have other governments in Johnson’s district.

Village of East Williston Deputy Mayor James J. Daw, Jr. said the board had learned of a prospective grant from the state Department of Environmental Conservation that could give the village money to do a tree-management and tree-inventory program.

“We thought it would be a useful thing for us to embark on after last summer’s storm,” Daw said. “We realized we might have some trees that need a second look.”

Daw also praised the village department of public works for their snow removal effort during the winter season.

“We are always very pleased with their work, but this year I have to say their response was absolutely heroic,” Daw said. “If you compare how we did against other villages, I think we have a lot to be proud of.”

Daw said it has been one of the worst winters ever and also said he enjoyed his tenure working with the department of public works.

“I’m coming down to the end of my tenure and of all the things I’ve enjoyed doing, working with DPW has been one the most satisfying in a lot of ways,” said Daw. “You can’t begin to know how good those guys are until you work with them and see them.”

Upgrades to the veteran’s memorial are underway on the Village Green in Great Neck to provide a more interactive and appealing attraction to honor local service members who died in past wars.

A small memorial currently exists on a brick wall behind a concrete platform on the Village Green which is used mostly for Memorial Day events.

According to the new plan, the existing plaques which honor local service members killed in World War I, World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam will be upgraded and made more accessible to patrons and extra features will be added to create a more appealing display for visitors.

“A lot of the World War II veterans are having a tough time climbing up,” said Great Neck Park District Commissioner Robert A. Lincoln Jr., the liaison for the project. “We want to make something more meaningful.”

Part of a larger five-year revitalization plan for the Village Green located on Middle Neck Road, upgrades to the memorial also will include three new flagpoles, brick columns, upgraded medallions representing each branch of the armed forces, plaques commemorating the fallen veterans and a more interactive design.

Lincoln said the veteran’s memorial project is being conducted in conjunction with the Veteran’s of Foreign Wars and the American Legion.

The Village Green is home to a formal rose garden, gazebo, children’s playground and a bandstand for concerts which houses the current memorial.

The project is expected to be completed by Veteran’s Day, according to Lincoln.

Although funding for the project, was approved by former state Sen. Craig Johnson, it has not been received by the park district which is moving ahead with construction.

“If the money falls through, it’s not going to shut the project down,” said Lincoln.

According to the park district website, the goal of Village Green restoration – which includes new lighting, two designed entrances, the new veteran’s memorial, a fountain and a children’s play garden – is to create a centerpiece for the “Old Village.”

Local superintendents of school districts universally panned Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposal last week that Long Island school districts should use their reserve funds to compensate for the shortfall in state aid this year.

Cuomo is aiming to reduce state aid by 1.5 billion statewide, translating to an average reduction of 9 percent statewide and 11 percent among Long Island school districts. In his recent budget speech, Cuomo said school districts have $1.8 billion in reserves, enough to overcome the $1.5 billion cut in state aid.

“I’ve been advocating for a statewide freeze in all public salaries, and the governor doing that on a statewide emergency basis. We are in an emergency,” said Herricks Superintendent of Schools John Bierwirth. “But instead of beating up on school board and town and villages, saying you’ve got to go out and do it, why doesn’t he do it.”

For his part, Bierwirth, whose annual salary is $265,254, said he has taken a wage freeze in the past and is modifying his contract for next year.

One superintendent who asked not to be identified said the attention Cuomo drew to the $200,000 average salaries of Long Island school superintendents was a device to divert attention from the “catastrophic” cuts the governor is seeking to make in the state education budget.

In a memo to Herricks school board and PTA members earlier this week, Bierwirth wrote: “The proposed state aid cut for Herricks for 2011-12 is $1.1 to $1.3 million. We could, as Governor Cuomo has suggested, use an amount equal to that from our unallocated reserve to offset the loss of state aid in order to keep the tax levy from increasing by the same amount. Once we have done that, however, we must use a similar amount from the reserve in 2012-13 or face an immediate increase in the tax levy of 1.55% just to stay even. It would be the same for all subsequent years until we run out of funds.”

Herricks has a relatively modest $2.6 million in unrestricted reserves for a district that Bierwirth recently noted runs a lean operation.

That’s the common assessment of all superintendents commenting on Cuomo’s suggestion and the difficult economic decisions they face as the current budget season commences.

“Obviously, based on the cuts, we’re going to have a to look at some of our reserves, but we can’t use all of our reserves,” said Warren Mierdiercks, superintendent of Schools in the Sewanhaka School District.”

Sewanhaka currently has just over $5 million in reserves, according to Mierdiercks.

“Obviously, we’re not happy, because reserves are supposed to be reserved for emergency. Perhaps part of our state aid can be reinstated,” Mierdiercks said.

Robert Katulak, superintendent of schools in the New Hyde Park-Garden City Park School District, said Cuomo was misleading in his discussion of reserve funds.

“It’s an incomplete picture,” Katulak said, pointing to restrictions on using capital reserve or unemployment reserve funds. “The only category is the undesignated fund balance. You can’t use that because you can’t safely do that,” Katulak added.

Along with pointing out that unrestricted reserves, superintendents pointed out that those funds are intended to be applied for unanticipated contingencies, emergencies that arise such as school building boilers that conk out. And using those funds are only a stop-gap measure in the midst of a state financial crisis that figures to continue indefinitely.

“That’s a one-shot solution. But down the road that presents different problems,” East Williston Superintendent of Schools Lorna Lewis said. “The state has reserves it could use. But it chooses not to do so.”

Lewis offered to freeze her current annual salary of $223,510 earlier this year, so it will remain at that level for the coming year.

The East Williston School District’s unrestricted reserves currently stand at $2 million.

A Kings Point plot of land donated to the Town of North Hempstead by a campaign contributor of Town Supervisor Jon Kaiman is now exempt real estate taxes.

Questions were raised last year after the land was accepted Oct. 5 by the Town of North Hempstead Board of Trustees from Frank Lalezarian, a Great Neck real estate developer and Kaiman supporter.

Lalezarian Developers Inc., of Lake Success contributed a total of $3,000 to the Friends of Jon Kaiman between 2008 and 2009, according to a New York State Board of Elections campaign financial disclosure report.

At a regular meeting Monday, the Village of Kings Point Board of Trustees responded to a Dec. 22 letter from Andrew M. Hyman, deputy attorney for the Town of North Hempstead, regarding the vacant lot on East Shore Road and unanimously agreed to an exemption from property taxes for the land.

“It’s the law. We can’t tax another state agency,” said Kings Point Village Clerk Louis Di Domenico.

The Town of North Hempstead has maintained that the land was accepted to preserve open space.

Kaiman did not respond to a request made by Blank Slate Media regarding accusations that the land was accepted as a favor to Lalezarian.

On Tuesday, Town of North Hempstead spokesman Colin Nash limited his comments to the tax issue only.

“The piece of land was donated as a gift and that automatically takes it off the tax roles,” said Nash.

In an e-mail to the Great Neck News, local resident Javid Zarabi wrote that Kaiman accepted the property from Lalezarian ‘for the sole purpose of taking the property off the tax roles and to give the developer a deduction worth $1.5 million off his taxes.”

The Village of Kings Point Board of Trustees rejected an offer by Lalezarian to accept the land before it was accepted by the Town of North Hempstead, according to published reports.

E-mail: rjacques@archive.theisland360.com

Volunteer fire departments and rescue services in the 7th state Senate District were promised approximately $2 million in grants that were never delivered through former state Sen. Craig Johnson, according to fire officials.

Except for one grant to the Village of Mineola for $100,000, these grants do not appear on a list compiled by Sen. Jack Martins (R-Mineola) of $8.5 million in grants officially withdrawn by the Democratic majority in the state Senate after Martins beat Johnson in their sharply contested senate race last year.

Martins recently met with representatives of fire departments in the 7th Senate District, including departments in Garden City Park, New Hyde Park, Floral Park, South Floral Park, Mineola, Manhasset-Lakeville, Port Washington, and to address the issue.

Several fire chiefs expressed concern over the unfulfilled grants since they had, in some cases, purchased equipment with the expectation that their fire district would be reimbursement through the grants.

“What irritated us is from a political standpoint, he was telling everybody that he took care of the fire services,” Mineola Fire Chief Robert Connolly said.

Martins and Lee Zeldin, the Republican who defeated Democrat Brian Foley in the 3rd state Senate District in the general election, recently issued a joint statement saying the grants withdrawn by the Democratic majority were “politically charged actions” that were “grossly irresponsible, devoid of integrity.” They said the withdrawn grants had caused “significant harm to the recipients…who have been deceived by their actions.”

Martins and Zeldin said they have reached out to all the organizations they were able to identify who may have received funding commitments “in order to set the record straight.”

At the meeting with Martins, Floral Park Fire Department Chief Everett Ulmer said Martins didn’t offer any encouragement about recovering the promised grant money.

“He didn’t say it was there. He said it might not be there,” Ulmer recounted.

Connolly said he was contacted by a member of Johnson’s staff with “great news” about a $100,000 grant and received a letter from Johnson that the grant had been approved, and that the department would shortly receive confirmation from the state. The money was intended to help repair the Mineola fire house roof – a project whose total cost was placed at $600,000. Mineola village clerk Joe Scalero said the village subsequently was told they would receive a second $100,000 grant for the project.

“The roof on this building leaks like a sieve. To repair the roof would be a tremendous expense,” Connolly said. “That $200,000 would have gone a long way to help create the project.”

Connolly said he pursued the grant “aggressively,” but it never materialized.

The Mineola Volunteer Ambulance Corps, a separate operation from the village’s fire department, secured a bridge loan to buy a new ambulance for $161,000, according Tom Devaney, the Mineola corps’ ex-president who handles grants for the ambulance service. The Mineola Volunteer Ambulance Corp. received $100,000 for one grant, but is still awaiting payment on a second grant of $100,000.

In the November election in which Johnson lost his senate seat, Devaney lost a bid for the 17th Assembly District as the Democratic candidate.

“They don’t make it easy,” Devaney said of the process that was initiated in 2009. “Half the battle’s getting the grant. The other half is getting paid on it.”

The Great Neck Alert and the Great Neck Vigilant Hook and Ladder Companies each applied for $100,000 grants to purchase new Red Alert computer equipment that included a global position system component. The neighboring Manhasset-Lakeville Fire Department sought to acquire the same equipment via an $80,000 grant, with the three departments planning to use the equipment for fires that they frequently fight cooperatively, according to Andrew DeMartin, chairman of the board of the Manhasset Lakeville Fire Water District.

The system functions as a locator for fire trucks, so each department can see the proximity of the other departments’ vehicles to the scene of an emergency call.

“That’s why we all did it together. We all put in for a Red Alert system,” DeMartin said. “The long-term goal is to have the same thing, with all three of us having the same alert system in our vehicles. It didn’t make sense unless all of us get it.”

DeMartin said Manhasset-Lakeville also didn’t receive $20,000 for a grant to purchase equipment to refill oxygen tanks.

Garden City Park Fire Department Chief William Rudnick said his department and many other fire departments were contacted by Johnson’s staff to offer grants of $100,000 for whatever the departments needed.

“We have been looking for a way to replace our portable radios,” Rudknick said.

As first assistant chief at the time, Rudnick handled the application for $100,000 for new mobile radio equipment to replace its outdated hand-held devices. The new devices have what he described as “May Day” buttons that emit signal indicating that a firefighter is in serious trouble.

“It’s horrible. We were trying to use the money for life-saving equipment,” Rudnick said.

Rudnick said the department did receive confirmation of the grant from the dormitory authority. But the department has yet to see the check.

“We were assured by New York State that we got the grant,” Rudnick said, adding that no notification countering that confirmation has yet been received.

“We were going to have to do it anyway. Our radios were 12 years old,” Rudnick said.

The Port Washington Fire Department spent $130,000 to buy 85 “bail-out” systems, consisting of nylon ropes with hooks on one end and a harness on the other, to enable individual firefighters to escape from buildings two stories high or higher. The systems are being mandated by the state so Port Washington Fire Department Chief Thomas McDonough decided to make the expenditure and recover the money through a grant secured by Johnson.

“The state said I have to do it. Unfortunately, the senator who was in place didn’t get back in, so we’re starting from square one,” McDonough said.

Another grant left in limbo is one for $100,000 the Floral Park Fire Department sought for capital improvements to its north side fire house, according to Floral Park Fire Department Chief Everett Ulmer. While the grant didn’t involve a need related to a safety issue, the department did need to replace a boiler in its north side and renovate bathrooms installed in 1930 that had problems with their water pipes

So the department spent $20,000 on bathrooms and another $10,000 to replace the boiler.

The money was coming through the dormitory authority, which typically stipulates that it provide reimbursement for projects that are completed. Ulmer said that he received correspondence indicating that there was progress made on processing the grants. But he never received written confirmation from the state dormitory authority, or notification that the grant was rescinded.

“There’s a few things that we went ahead with that needed to be done anyway. We don’t feel good about it, but what are you going to do? It’s just confusing because you wonder if it was there to begin with,” Ulmer said.

Other fire departments left in limbo on the unfunded grants include:

•Albertson Hook and Ladder Engine Hose Company No. 1; $100,000 for renovation of the Dewey Avenue firehouse and replacement of a generator

•New Hyde Park Fire Department: $100,000 for parking lot repair

•Bellerose Fire Department: $100,000 for purchase of equipment (unspecified)

•Williston Park:$100,000 for security upgrades and purchase of equipment

•East Williston: $100,000 for communications equipment and building renovation

•Roslyn Rescue: $100,000 for turnout gear and a generator

•Roslyn Highland: $100,000 turnout gear and a generator

Most of these projects, culled from a list provided to one of the fire departments by Johnson’s office, are characterized as “under review by the Dormitory Authority of New York State.”

The elation of the respective departments gradually turned to skepticism, and ultimately, cynical realizations about the money promised by Johnson and his staff.

“He was putting it out there to get the backing of the fire service. He was making promises he couldn’t keep,” one fire department chief said “We all thought it was a little odd that he could come up with $100k for every department. We all thought too good to be true, and it was.”

After spending five years searching for a site, representatives from T-Mobile were met with heavy oppostion from residents and numerous concerns from the Great Neck Village Board of Trustees regarding a proposed cell-phone antenna planned for the rooftop of the Steamboat Road Tennis Center at 143-147 Steamboat Road.

“We don’t need you, please go away,” said Ephraim Aminoff, a representative of the Mashadi Jewish Center located at 130 Steamboat Road in Great Neck.

Concerns were raised at the public hearing at village hall Tuesday regarding a preschool inside the center that could be negatively affected by emissions from the cell antenna.

Aminoff said no one knows for sure what the effects of cell phone antennas have on brains of preschoolers.

“We are not prepared to gamble with our children,” said Aminoff.

Great Neck Village Mayor Ralph Krietzamn said the board was sensitive to many of the residents concerns, but some of them are out the board’s control.

“As long as the site complies with FCC standards, there cannot be denial of a site by a local municipality based on emission concerns,” said Adam Moss, an attorney for Snyder & Snyder, LLP, representing T-Mobile.

“Unfortunately, I think we are going to hear that the federal law doesn’t let us hear some of them,” said Kreitzman, who recommended that T-Mobile notify the Great Neck Park District of their intentions to build before the next scheduled meeting.

With a nearby site already approved at 825 Middle Neck Rd., residents asked why another cell site is needed close by at 143-147 Steamboat Road.

“The site at 825 Middle Neck Road is simply too far away to provide coverage into this area that is why another site is necessary at this location,” said Moss.

Aminoff named several U.S. regions that have apparently banned or severely restricted cell-phone towers phone residential and asked why Great Neck cannot do the same.

T-Mobile “comfortably” meets FCC regulations regarding emissions, according to T-Mobile Moss, under fire throughout most of the presentation.

Further discussion on the issue was set for the March 15 board meeting at village hall.

“We do think we could come back here fairly quickly and address the remaining issues,” said Moss, who did not disclose terms of the proposed lease with the Steamboat Road Tennis Center.

E-mail: rjacques@archive.theisland360.com