The battle for St. Paul's is very much alive thanks to a valid and winable law suit from James Kenny, a Garden City resident. The suit challenges the legalities of how the property was converted to public use to private commercial use. In my view, the Garden City trustees swindled the residents by promising public and/or recreational use, but instead converted to commercial use for an assisted living project.

We know Mr. Kenny's suit has validity because the Garden City trustees are lobbying our state senator and our property owners' associations to take actions to defeat him. Specifically, the trustees need state legislation to authorize the transfer of public property into commercial use.

In March 1997 more than half the residents voting in a Village-wide opinion poll said no to assisted living at St. Paul's, stating further that they prefer to wait for a more suitable usage. For all of you who thought the battle over St. Paul's was lost, it's not too late. Let your voices be heard. Contact Senator Kemp Hannon at 222-0068 or write to him in Westbury, at 1600 Stewart Avenue, Suite 315. Speak to your friends and neighbors and write the newspapers, stating your opposition to the assisted living plan and the legislation desired by the Garden City trustees.

While our trustees are asking Senator Hannon and the state legislature for some legislation to allow the CareMatrix project to proceed, the legislature should investigate the practices used to acquire and negotiate for the St. Paul's/CareMatrix property. Maybe they will discover that our citizens were excluded from a large proportion of deliberations and decisions.