I feel the need to address two current topics, although neither is connected in any way except for the time period in which they occurred.

First, I want to applaud the Great Neck Plaza Business Improvement District (the “BID”) for producing a Halloween celebration in the center of town that was well conceived and implemented, and gave young families an opportunity to engage with the community in a thoughtful and enjoyable way. Congratulations to the men and women who pulled this off and thank you for creating a sense of community for a group that is all too often ignored!

Second, I would be remiss if I did not turn attention to the recent election of the library board and express my most sincere disappointment with the lackluster turnout last week. While I am certain that the candidates seeking a position on the board were thrilled to have been all but guaranteed a spot since they all ran unopposed, it strikes me as a lost opportunity for those of us who favor fair and open elections that are based on candidates taking positions on issues and having to explain themselves for supporting such positions.

In a community – the entire Great Neck peninsula – that has tens of thousands of eligible voters for such an election, it is truly unfortunate that so few of us decided to cast our ballot.

Let me remind the taxpayers of the peninsula that the library board is in the process of obtaining zoning approval to build a new library that could cost as much as $30 million, and that all of us will be footing the bill for such a project. All things being equal, there is no excuse that only 200-plus people came out last week to install board members who are all but certain to support that expansion and push it through in the most arduous of economic times.

In a community of well-educated and well-read voters, why do we allow our voices to be silenced? And at what point will we realize that by ignoring our right to vote, we are essentially supporting the status quo?

While I personally support some physical revamping of the main library, I’d like to be convinced that the decision to rebuild is one that is being made based on need, and on the ability to demonstrate that a new building will in fact increase demand and usage and provide the community with something that it is currently missing.

Unfortunately, I just don’t think the current board has made an appropriate case for a new building and I don’t think that they could (or should) claim that there is a need.

Finally, if the “get out the vote” effort to elect board members for the library board was purposefully hidden (buried in an announcement or two in the library newsletter and a few ads in the local papers), I can only imagine how elusive information will be for the impending vote to approve or reject a referendum for the library expansion.

While the library should be recognized for their efforts to be semi-transparent with the information they post online (more so than any village in the peninsula), I think they served voters inadequately with this last election.

Michael S. Glickman

Great Neck

Great Neck South Middle School student Harley Centner had waited for two years to conduct his Bar Mitzvah ceremony at Temple Beth El in Great Neck.

But when the day arrived Saturday, a suspicious package was found at the temple that resulted in the evacuation of the temple, forcing Centner and his family to relocate the services to another location.

“I was really glad when I found out that the rabbi found another location to hold the service because of all the preparation I did for this day,” Centner said. “I was not nervous waiting in the parking lot because everybody around me was calm about the situation that was taking place. It was still a great day despite everything that happened.”

Leslie Centner, Harley’s mother, said she couldn’t believe what was occurring at the temple one day after a synagogue in Chicago had a bomb threat.

“It was a surreal feeling when we got to the temple,” Centner said. “I heard there was a bomb scare and I was nervous for the guests who were standing in the parking lot who might have gone inside the building. I was only hoping for the best and not thinking for the worst. I wanted to be calm and remain strong to not scare my children.”

At 9 a.m., Nassau County arson bomb squad detectives noticed a leather luggage case near trees behind Temple Beth El. A detective wearing protective gear and a mechanical bomb detector was used to determine the contents of the package. Police said the suit case contained articles of clothing including a child-size jacket, three shirts wrapped together, size-eight women’s shoes and a small teddy bear with a heart engraved on its chest with the words “I am a girl.”

During the investigation, Temple Beth El Rabbi Meir Feldman told more than 150 guests who were waiting in the temple’s parking lot, located at 5 Old Mill Road, to walk towards Temple Israel, located at 108 Old Mill Road, because that is where the morning’s Shabbat services would take place.

“I am very grateful to Temple Israel and all the rest of the other synagogues for their connection and gratitude to this large Jewish community for their help,” Feldman said. “The Centner family is very special and were understanding of the serious situation that was taking place Saturday morning. The moment called for us to come together and draw upon the great resources we have in this community and we were able to find another location to host our service.”

Leon Silverberg, executive director at Temple Israel who was also executive director at Temple Beth El for 19 years, said he wanted to do the right gesture and reach out to the congregants who could not attend the morning service at Temple Beth El.

“All congregations in this community have supported one another through difficult situations,” Silverberg said. “We are more than glad to help other temples when they are in need. There has been wonderful cooperation between all the congregations when people are put in difficult situations like this and we have always found ways to help each other.”

Temple Israel organized a separate room to seat the guests from Temple Beth El. Temple Israel provided the room with a Torah and prepared seats for all the guests to sit down during the ceremony.

“Everybody made the best of a difficult situation and did it in an incredible way,” Feldman said. “Last Saturday was a beautiful morning where Temple Israel was incredibly generous and thoughtful to prepare for us as they did.”

Feldman said the investigation was over in the afternoon and the Centner family was able to host their luncheon after the Shabbat service ended back at Temple Beth El.

“Everybody was confident the police did their job,” Centner said. “Nobody was rattled to go back and enjoy a kiddush after a long morning.”

Feldman said all the events that took place last Saturday morning will strengthen how the Centner family will remember Harley’s Bar Mitzvah ceremony.

“This was a meaningful morning that will be more memorable because of this experience,” Feldman said. “The Centner family will remember this special day in a way that is different than many other families can look back on their son’s Bar Mitzvah. It is day they will really never forget now.”

Centner said she agreed with Rabbi Feldman and that all the hard work and effort prepared for this day will be remembered forever by the family.

“Our family really felt loved that day,” Centner said. “The leadership of all the rabbi’s and cantor’s was amazing how they comforted everybody. Despite everything that was taking place, this was still a spiritual moment and everybody was supportive to make sure nothing spoiled our son’s day.

For 75 years, the Lions Club of Great Neck has provided humanitarian service to the community by helping those who are less fortunate or have problems with their health.

But last Thursday night, the club took a night to benefit their own efforts by celebrating its 75th anniversary with a dinner at Bevanda Restaurant.

“I want to thank all those who have given their time and talent to make this celebration a success,” said Barbara Leopold, president of the Great Neck Lions Club of Great Neck. “This is a community-minded organization that is really fun to be a part of. I am thrilled with being a member of this organization for everything that we do to help others. It’s a good feeling participating in activities and fundraisers to help other lives.”

The Lions Club of Great Neck is a non-denominational group of men and women of all ages, from all walks of life, that was chartered in 1935. The Lions Club of Great Neck, which has about 20 members, organizes a variety of events that deals with community problems including blindness, drug abuse prevention and diabetes awareness.

Lions Club of Great Neck members volunteer in different activities throughout the year including participating in the eye bank with North Shore University Hospital, supporting the Great Neck Senior Center, raising money to help send diabetic and blind children to summer camp, donating Waldbaums gift cards to the less fortunate for Thanksgiving, creating holiday food baskets for the needy by working with Temple Beth El Rabbi Meir Feldman and Reverend Monsignor Brendan Riordan at St. Aloysius Church, and sending stuff animals to local children’s hospitals. The Lions Club of Great Neck also donated two magnifiers to the Great Neck Library to assist those who are visually impaired the opportunity to read.

Leo Shear has been a member of the Lion’s Club for 40 years and was a big contributor to the organization’s efforts in raising $40,000 to get a support guide dog for the blind named for him. The Lions Club of Great Neck has five sponsored dogs that cost $40,000 each to help individuals who are blind.

“There are many people who need a support dog for assistance and I wanted to help them,” Shear said. “These individuals deserve to do the same daily activities that the rest of us do every day but rely upon the help of a dog to perform these actions. I thought it would be a caring and warm gesture to give money to support this effort.”

The Lions Club is the world’s largest and most active organization dedicated to community service with nearly 1.4 million members in 197 countries. Leopold said the Lions Club of Great Neck is the only organization that sits in with the United Nations. The Lions Club of Great Neck is in the process of organizing a Leo Club for anybody 12 years or older that wants to learn about the club and take part in its yearly activities.

John Pinnella is a past president of the Lions Club from 1998 to 2000 and said he wanted to be a member of the organization to do something for the community where he lived and worked for 50 years.

“I had an opportunity to give something back to the people of Great Neck and wanted to do this,” Pinnella said. “I am fortunate not to need assistance, but wanted to help those who do rely upon assistance every day. There are myths that everyone in Great Neck is rich and does not need help, but this is not true.”

The Lions Club hold its meetings the first and third Tuesday of every month at 12 p.m. at Bevanda Restaurant, located at 570 Middle Neck Road. There is a $91 yearly fee for anybody to join the organization.

Fern Weiss is the secretary of the Lions Club and recently joined the organization after retiring from her job at the Great Neck Park District.

“I attended a meeting and liked what I heard,” Weiss said. “I knew I wanted to be part of this club because of what it does for the local community. The club keeps me busy and I am happy with my decision.”

With Nassau County having problems assessing its property values accurately, the Village of Great Neck has hired two consulting firms to serve as an advisor when the village conducts its own independent revaluation assessment this month for all of its properties.

“The village revaluation process, which we started about eight or nine months ago, is something my administration reviewed carefully and determined would be best for our property owners,” said Village of Great Neck Mayor Ralph Kreitzman. “The goal of a successful revaluation is to have all properties valued fairly and consistently so that each property owner bears a fair share of our village real estate tax burden.”

When Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano took office on Jan. 1, he said fixing the county’s broken property tax assessment system was a top priority since it costs the average homeowner 10 percent more annually on their county property tax bill and has resulted in $1.2 billion in debt to the county. Nassau County’s assessment system generates over 100,000 tax grievances a year and over $100 million in refunds annually in residential and commercial tax refunds combined due to errors in the system.

On Oct. 22, Mangano fired former Nassau County assessor Ted Jankowski after town officials complained about receiving several errors in their school assessment roll, including Mangano’s offices in Garden City which was given a $1.3 million school tax bill even though county property is tax exempt.

Kreitzman said the village’s revaluation would reduce tax valuation challenges, which causes the village to spend a substantial amount of money to refund the taxes. The Village of Great Neck’s general taxes are less than 15 percent of the total tax burden, not including the village sewer tax that applies to about two-thirds of the village. Kreitzman said the revaluation will not increase the total village real estate taxes, but only distribute them more fairly.

At an Oct. 19 Village of Great Neck board of trustees meeting, the board adopted a state homestead law. This law created two different types of properties for tax purposes including a single- and multiple-family residential property and a separate tax for all commercial properties. Kreitzman said having two groups of tax properties will benefit residents because a successful commercial tax assessment reduction will only affect the commercial class.

The entire revaluation process will be reviewed by the Office of Real Property Tax Services, which is part of the state Department of Taxation and Finance.

Kreitzman said the goal of the revaluation is to preserve to the fullest extent permitted by law all levels of exemptions. He said the village will adjust some tax exemptions to preserve them at the same levels that the law permits including veterans’ exemptions. Other exemptions are based on a percentage of assessed value and do not require an adjustment.

In the beginning of the revaluation process, the village and its consultants went through files to collect data about property taxes. The village sent out mailings to every resident to verify whether the data the village had regarding the valuation process was accurate. Kreitzman said the village received 40 percent of the letters back, which he said is a fairly high number.

Residents will receive another letter at the end of October which will indicate the previous and proposed assessed value of each property. Residents will also see what the predicted change in tax, based on last year’s rate, will be for their property.

“Having accurate data is essential in determining fairly valued properties,” Village of Great Neck Deputy Mayor Mitchell Beckerman said. “We encourage residents to carefully review the accuracy of the information we will be sending.”

Kreitzman said that any residents who have questions regarding the proposed value can schedule a meeting or call the village to correct the problem. The final assessment will be published on Feb. 1, 2011.

“Taxpayers will still have the opportunity to pursue tax reduction actions but it is anticipated that few assessments will prove to be incorrect,” Kreitzman said.

A public hearing will take place on Nov. 16 at 7:45 p.m. at village hall for people who have any questions about the law to adjust veterans’ exemptions to preserve them to the fullest extent permitted by law.