Village Board Notes: February 16, 2012

A regular meeting of the Floral Park Board of Trustees was held on Feb. 7, at 8:30 p.m.    

 Building Department

Trustee Rhatigan reported that last week the Building Department filed their annual report with the state on the Department’s activity for 2011. The Department reported that 125 residential and commercial building permits were issued; 14 permits were issued for in-ground pools, garages and accessory structures; 566 permits were issued for fences, signs, above-ground pools, pool renewals, electrical and plumbing permits. They also issued 261 certificates of completion and certificates of occupancy. The estimated construction cost for the year was $6,560,250. Other than permits, the Building Department issued 162 ‘in lieu of’ certificate of occupancy letters and approved 16 renewals for expired permits. The months of January and February are historically quiet at the Building Department with respect to building permit activity. This time is filled with fire inspections, multiple housing inspections and contacting property owners about their expired permits.

Mayor’s Message Village of Floral Park: February 9, 2012

The State of New York Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment Group that is responsible for setting the new district lines for the State Assembly and Senate have released their eagerly awaited redistricting maps.  Floral Park’s representation remains relatively unchanged by the senate redistricting, with the proposed State Senate District 7 mostly following the contours of our present State Senate District. Therefore, every constituent within the Village of Floral Park will be represented by the same Senator under the proposed maps.

The senatorial Senate lines were primarily drafted by the Republican controlled Senate, which is led by State Senator Dean Skelos of Rockville Centre.  State Senator Jack Martins’ hometown of Mineola will remain in the same district as Floral Park.  Long Island may even pick up an additional senatorial district, making 9 of the 63 senatorial districts located on Long Island.

Phil-osophically Speaking: February 9, 2012

From Dreams to Debt

There are, in the human condition, many dimensions and shades of being that defy conventional expectations and trying to twist and hammer them into self-imposed categories is not only fruitless but also harmful.  Take the happy notion that everyone should own a house. Up to the end of WWII, most people did not own a home, but then someone decided it was the American dream and that all Americans should share this dream.

William Levitt, who developed America’s first suburban community, believed that anyone who had a little house, a backyard to plant their tomatoes and a lawn to mow will never become a Communist. During the “Red Scare” when the Soviet Union, the world’s largest country, and China, the world’s most populous country, were Communist, Levitt’s propaganda fit right into the tenor of the times. Home ownership gave people a vested interest in private property by making it their largest investment. That for decades real estate proved to be the best investment one can make only added to the mystique of holding it. As the humorist Will Rogers was fond of saying: “Buy land, buy land — they’re not making it anymore.”

Phil-osophically Speaking: February 2, 2012

Do Too Many Debates Spoil the Party?

There have been, as of this writing, 19 Republican presidential debates with several more scheduled. Enough is enough. Those who have not made up their mind are probably those who shouldn’t be voting. I’m referring to the too indecisive, ill informed and indifferent.

A presidential debate gives voters a chance to see what candidates think and candidates a chance to shape the way voters think. While it carries the risk that voters will pick the best debater and not the best candidate, this hazard can be minimized by fewer, not more, debates. Newt Gingrich had been outdebating Mitt Romney with good results until the former Massachusetts governor hired a new debate coach to polish up his forensic skills. Romney came roaring back partly because his debate performances have perked up.

From the desk of Assemblyman Ed Ra: February 2, 2012

Defending our Community in 2012

Stalemate in Washington and a rocky national economy has actually created an opportunity for the New York State Legislature this January. The back-and-forth partisan rhetoric at the national level acts as a roadblock to financial stability and growth for Long Island families and businesses. It will be crucial during the 2012 legislative session to once and for all address private sector job growth and a lagging economy to avoid similar perils here in New York. Now is the time when the Legislature needs to lead by example and take charge in order to stabilize our local economy and communities.

This certainly is not be the first time that Albany has faced an economic crisis stemming from an outcry from the public. Some of the state’s greatest accomplishments have come during difficult economic periods: for example, look no further than last year’s property tax cap, on-time state budget and Power for Jobs program. The Legislature has been tasked before with addressing such dire economic situations, because as New Yorkers, we have demanded it. We can do it again.

Mayor’s Message Village of Floral Park: January 26, 2012

Floral Park and our sister hosting LIRR mainline communities between Queens Village and Hicksville have enjoyed relative calm since the MTA announced that its unwanted and unneeded LIRR Third Track Megaproject was finally being shelved. As a result, the Village of Floral Park and our neighboring communities have been able to focus on much more pressing and immediate local needs and issues. We were confident, however, that the MTA’s leadership had abandoned their threat to our peaceful and quiet enjoyment of our communities. We believed that the MTA leadership would let a sleeping dog lie, and that memories of it bringing its own attack dogs into our communities were fast becoming a fading memory. Like a recurring nightmare, however, the MTA keeps pulling us back into the Third Track controversy just when we thought we could leave it behind us.

Phil-osophically Speaking: January 26, 2012

Games of Chance

Jean Baptiste Colbert, the Minister of Finance under King Louis XIV, once famously said, “The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest possible amount of feathers with the smallest possible amount of hissing.”

I’m sure I quoted this line once before; first because I delight in it and second because it is the truth. The one irrefutable fact about modern democracies is that they spend, spend and spend some more. It doesn’t matter whether there is money in the coffers, which is why our nation has a $15 trillion debt. As a society of entitlements and government largesse we are also a nation of taxes — high taxes.

Mayor’s Message Village of Floral Park: January 19, 2012

Resolution for Opposition of Belmont Park’s Casino

WHEREAS, the Village of Floral Park has been a hosting community of Belmont Park, which has enjoyed a peaceful, neighborly relationship for over a century; and,

WHEREAS, since 2008 the State of New York has retained full ownership and control of the over the 430 acre constituting Belmont Park property, which, pursuant to its agreement with the New York Racing Association, continues to operate one of the world’s premier thoroughbred horse facilities; and,

WHEREAS, in the most recent State of the State address, the State of New York’s Governor has called for  a constitutional amendment allowing for casino gaming in the State of New York; and,

Phil-osophically Speaking: January 19, 2012

Lower Tax Rates — Fewer Loopholes

Capitalism has given us the most affluent economy in world history. But it also has given us the politics of envy and the rhetoric of stupidity. That is bound to happen when 1 percent of the people have 35 percent of the nation’s income. Many people just can’t stomach the idea of the rich getting richer. It offends their sense of proportion and strikes at the heart of life’s basic unfairness. But hunting the rich is a foolhardy sport. Is it morally right to take more than a third of an individual’s income in the hope that it will improve the standard of living for others? You can take all the money of the richest people in the nation, sell all their assets and still not pay down the outstanding debt. And then what’s next?

As a nation we already have high progressive rates of taxation, the highest corporation tax in the industrial world and some 47 percent of Americans pay no income tax at all. A hundred years ago, no one paid any taxes on their income and the architects of the income tax believed that the top rate would never exceed 10 percent. Everyone avoids the real question, which is how America became so fabulously rich. It did so by investing more and producing more. Investment and risk are two sides of the same coin. Without the prospect of a healthy return, wealth burrows into hovels of low risk securities, which do not produce anything or create jobs.

Mayor’s Message Village of Floral Park: January 12, 2012

Floral Park does not want a casino or casino gaming at Belmont Park. The village board, its mayor and trustees, do not want a casino or casino gaming at Belmont Park. Any assertion to the contrary is completely wrong.

Since becoming Floral Park’s mayor in April of last year, I have made issues relating to Belmont Park’s relationship with Floral Park a top priority. I have listened to the concerns of you, my constituents, relating to our neighboring Belmont Park. In my official and personal discussions with our elected representatives, from Hempstead to Mineola, as well as from Albany and even our nation’s capital, I have told them of Floral Park’s deep concerns as a hosting community of Belmont Park, especially relating to its potential site as a gaming casino.