Floral Park Trustee Tweedy's remarks in last week's paper is another example of the irresponsible rhetoric and political pandering that has been emanating from our village board. Allow me to set the record straight. The Unity Party's position has always been to oppose the LIRR third track. We are deeply concerned with the impact this project will have on our village.

The Unity Party acted immediately to gather facts and information from various sources as soon as official notification of the LIRR public scoping hearing dates were announced. We contacted the LIRR for more information and their representative agreed to meet with us to explain the scoping process and our rights. A meeting was set up and we were surprised ourselves when Mr. Dermody, president of the LIRR, decided to attend that meeting. This meeting was held in early June, well before the public hearing dates.

Mr. Tweedy fails to mention that immediately following that meeting on the same evening a representative of our organization went to village hall and met with the mayor and reported what was discussed. He also failed to mention that several of our members have personally spoken with village trustees and have attended village board meetings in an attempt to discuss what we learned, all to no avail. Our village board refuses to discuss the facts and the issues regarding the LIRR proposal.

We have recently inspected the village's correspondence to see if the village board has contacted the LIRR to get facts or if they themselves have acted in our best interests and met with the LIRR to review their proposal and the effects on our village. Our residents must be aware that our village board has not made any real attempt to meet with the LIRR nor have they obtained any facts. Their actions have been pure political rhetoric as they have demonstrated with their press conference with political candidates last week.

Our residents should be aware that our village board has not submitted any expert testimony or evidence that should have been addressed in the LIRR's Environmental Impact Statement. They chose the route of public relations and politics instead, leaving our village wide open for the third rail and its environmental impacts.

The Unity Party attempted to hold a meeting with the LIRR and every community organization, including the village board. The mayor was successful in sabotaging that attempt to gather facts and additional issues for the scoping process. Instead Mr. Tweedy and the mayor have chosen to attack a group of dedicated residents who are trying to protect our village. They have also been successful in blocking our efforts to inform our residents. We thank the Dispatch for being the only newspaper in our village willing to print both points of view.

Ralph Ratto

Floral Park Unity Party