I am the village attorney for the Incorporated Village of Floral Park. I am sending this letter to address a misstatement that appeared in the letter you published in your newspaper on Sept. 9 from Ralph Ratto of the Floral Park Unity Party.

Ratto makes the erroneous assertion that the village board of trustees has failed to obtain any facts about the MTA/LIRRšs proposal to add an additional track in our community. Specifically, Mr. Ratto incorrectly states that the village board failed to submit "testimony or evidence that should have been addressed in the LIRRšs Environmental Impact Statement." To the contrary, on Aug. 31, the mayor hand-delivered to the MTA/LIRR a 23-page report prepared by the Floral Park Third Track Task Force that set forth in detail over 55 categories of issues that must be addressed in the MTA/LIRRšs Environmental Impact Statement.

The report that was submitted to the MTA/LIRR was the product of hard work by the board of trustees and the other dedicated members of the Floral Park Third Track Task Force. It is important that your readers know the truth about what actually has been done by the village board regarding the MTA/LIRRšs proposed track expansion project.

John E. Ryan

Floral Park village attorney