The recent village election demonstrated how vicious and sneaky members of the Committee to Save St. Paul's are. One of the things that has made Garden City unique is the Community Agreement. Under this agreement, the property owners' associations and residents nominate candidates for trustee. This year, four trustees were re-nominated and it was expected that they would be re-elected with minimum vote and no controversy.

These furtive members of the committee, behind their dark hoods and capes, put together a secret write-in campaign for their former executive director, Eileen Collins. While she was soundly beaten, it shows the underhanded steps these committee members would go to. They are bent on destroying the Community Agreement to try to achieve their selfish goals.

Recently the Eastern Property Owners' Association passed a resolution that the AvalonBay plan should be approved, with no community space. Since the village has an abundance of unused community space, for the village to pay rent back to AvalonBay for space that will not be used makes no sense. The village should adopt the same resolution.

The controversy with regard to St. Paul's has gone on for more than a decade. I supported the elite Mayor's Committee, which recommended an excellent proposal for assisted living. Members of the St. Paul's Committee fought that proposal, which would have produced substantial revenue for the village and provided a needed space for seniors. They have also fought every reasonable proposal over the years, which has discouraged developers from even making viable proposals.

In the meantime, the costs of upkeep of St. Paul's have skyrocketed and the village has lost substantial revenue. The actual costs of all of these delays by the members of the committee have cost the residents of the village millions of dollars. At some point, all of these costs and lost revenue should be assessed against this small group of committee members.

Unfortunately, this little committee of unknowns acts like a bunch of spoiled brats saying, "I want! I want!" Their actions have forced the village to consider a less than perfect compromise, which is the AvalonBay proposal, which should not have any public space and no paybacks.

If the St. Paul's Committee continues their selfish approach, they may end up causing the opposite effect of what they want and could result in the village residents petitioning the trustees to paraphrase former President Ronald Reagan and say, "Mr. Mayor, tear down this building!"

John Pittoni