Readers of this newspaper are well-aware that the LIRR has refused to reveal a planning document it recently submitted to the Federal Transit Administration about the proposed third track that would show the community impact of the project in western Nassau. This despite the fact this document has been under construction for more than two years. The Village of Floral Park is doing everything it can to obtain this draft document.

The question is why won't the LIRR release it? The LIRR says it can't release it until the Federal Transit Administration signs off on it. Meanwhile, the FTA is not releasing the document because there still might be some mistakes or inadvertent errors that their staff might pick up on. These explanations, to say the least, are not terribly convincing. In fact, we find that historically the LIRR's modus operandi has been an invariant pattern of secrecy, non-disclosure and non-cooperation.

For decades the LIRR has been an inhospitable neighbor allowing its infrastructure and equipment to deteriorate, its stations to accumulate filth, its transit fares to increase while services and productivity become poorer. This has always been the nature of monopolies and the absence of competitive forces where escalating costs fail to produce a commensurate improvement in services.

The intrusion of the proposed third track was initially justified on the grounds that it was needed for a rapidly growing reverse commute that would economically invigorate Suffolk County. Floral Park's Third Track Task Force heatedly challenged them on presumption by riding on the reverse commute trains and finding them half empty! A recent about-face by the LIRR essentially eschews the reverse commute justification and now argues for the need of a passing lane as a run-around track for broken down trains. Hence, what was supposed to result in an economic renaissance on eastern Long Island has now been dumbed down to a bizarre operational extravagance! As a New Hyde Park Village trustee lamented: "A billion dollar passing lane!"

No wonder that the works of the LIRR/MTA have produced such little faith among the populations it is supposed to serve. The broad stigmatization and demonization has not happened by chance. For years the LIRR/MTA, under the scrutiny of their commuters, have undergone prolonged purgatories of infamy but now, with their latest production, they have, through their own fault, descended into the inferno of public opinion.

The paramount objective of government is to protect their citizens not only in their daily lives but also in the event of a catastrophic event. The best way to achieve this is a coordinated effort involving local, state and federal government agencies as well as volunteer organizations and businesses. Within an integrated management framework, these entities assist citizens and their communities to prepare, respond, recover and reduce the effects of natural, manmade and technological emergencies and disasters.

For the past two years, Deputy Mayor Kevin Greene has led this effort by working closely with Nassau County and several of our surrounding communities on the development of programs and the forging of agreements that will help our village to better respond and manage an incident.

One of the programs developed was an Incident Management System (NIMS). While our own emergency responders handle most emergency situations locally, should a major incident occur we might need help from other jurisdictions. NIMS was developed so other jurisdictions can work together to respond to natural disasters and emergencies.

The village has formed two committees to help identify and implement internal programs and training to prepare our residents and emergency responders. The first committee consists of our own management employees from our administrative, Public Works, Building, Police and Fire Departments. They are working on establishing internal procedures and training our staff to better prepare them on how to respond to a major incident. The second committee consists of our residents who are being trained to develop village programs that will educate and better prepare our residents in the event of an emergency.

I want to thank Deputy Mayor Greene for lending his expertise and organizational skills in spearheading programs for both our responders and residents alike to make sure our community is prepared and ready in an uncertain and often dangerous world.

Our police department is applying for allotted grant monies for several state programs. These programs include Operation Impact, Homeland Security, Buckle Up New York, Stop DWI, and a traffic grant for a License Plate Reader.

Operation IMPACT supports the development of intelligence-led law enforcement strategies to assist in the reduction of crime in the 17 counties that report 80 percent of the crime outside of New York City. This program develops crime-reduction strategies targeting specific violent crimes, accurate crime data and analysis and builds active local partnerships. I'm pleased to report that our police department has been allocated $32,000 to accomplish these goals.

Homeland Security funds in the amount of $15,000 have been received to assist in the training of personnel including practice drills to prepare or thwart potential threats to our community. Over $6,000 of the allocated funds was used to train our sergeants and lieutenants in the Incident Command System, which enables them to manage personnel during an incident or event.

Buckle Up New York is a statewide enforcement campaign to save lives and reduce the severity of injuries by increasing safety restraint use. Our police department will be granted $3,160 in funds to provide education and enforcement of this law.

Stop DWI is also a statewide enforcement campaign designed to save lives and reduce accidents and the severity of injuries caused while driving while impaired or intoxicated. Deaths and injuries on our highways due to DWI far exceed the number of deaths of American soldiers on battlefields. Our village police department has employed a zero tolerance policy resulting in 19 arrests in 2007. Police officers will pair up in unmarked police vehicles at specific location and at specific time to put a dent in the number of DWIs. Remember don't drink and drive --- it's a crime!

Finally, the Floral Park Police Department is attempting to procure a relatively new device of traffic enforcement equipment known as the License Plate Reader. The LPR uses infrared cameras to capture license plate images and instantly compares them with millions of stolen, suspended and expired registrations to identify vehicles of interest. The LPR can also be deployed in registrations to identify vehicles of interest, which may develop leads to the apprehension of criminals.

The monies procured from these grant programs will be used to augment the patrol force in their everyday functions in order to provide the best possible service and security to the residents of this community.