(The following is a press release from the City of Glen Cove.)

"Truthful facts about ferry operations must be made public. Dialogue with the opponents is of the utmost importance if we are going to get to the truth," said Mayor Tom Suozzi. The mayor announced, on Jan. 19, that Mayor Claudia Moyne of Sea Cliff sent him a letter that morning refusing his offer to participate in an open discussion to address all of the issues raised by Mayor Moyne and her colleagues, a group of activists calling themselves, "The Alliance Against the Ferry."

The Alliance, in their efforts to stop the ferry, ran a rally and fund-raising campaign at the Sea Cliff School last week. The meeting produced suggestions from participants ranging from a naval blockade, by which small boat owners would attempt to block the ferry's movement, to a boycott of Glen Cove's merchants in order to punish them. Several days later, a flyer appeared on windshields throughout the City of Glen Cove with the admonition, "Boycott Glen Cove" stating that "Glen Cove cannot survive without our dollars.....cut off all revenue to Glen Cove and Mayor Suozzi and the ferry will go down." The flyer predicted that "this will be Mayor Suozzi's last stand."

In response, Mayor Suozzi invited the public, (in an open letter to all Sea Cliff and Glen Cove residents), to an open forum for the purpose of getting as much accurate information to the public as possible. Mayor Suozzi followed up with numerous letters and phone calls to invite Alliance leaders to join him in an open forum. Mayor Suozzi tried to obtain use of the North Shore High School or the Sea Cliff Middle School, but was denied. His request of Sea Cliff Mayor Moyne for assistance in securing a place to hold the meeting received no response.

Mayor Suozzi stated, "This project is an essential part of our clean-up of the toxic waste along Glen Cove Creek. I'm extremely disappointed the Glen Cove's neighbors are refusing to participate in our efforts to clean up the horrendous toxic wastes that have plagued our harbor for decades. When no one else thought it important enough to revitalize the waterfront and get rid of cancer-causing toxins, we had to move and to move quickly before a ticking time bomb of chemicals polluted everyone's waterfront, including Sea Cliff's. So, Glen Cove took the lead and borrowed $6 million to get this cleanup operation under way. Now Glen Cove has to pay that money back. No one has come forward to help. Glen Cove's taxpayers cannot shoulder the entire burden of this debt to clean up everyone's harbor. The ferry to New London, which we can demonstrate will be a very low profile use of the waterfront is surely the best solution to a very difficult problem. But if people are going to put their political agendas ahead of a sound toxic cleanup program, the solution may never become a reality. Without the ferry, we simply do not have the funds to clean up these toxins. It's that simple."