I have been following the many articles regarding the waterfront throughout this past year. Until now I could not find the time or words to write a letter myself. I must say that after reading the back and forth bashing found in the papers the last couple of weeks, I decided that I must respond. This is absolutely absurd and juvenile. It deters people from writing in the papers for fear of getting berated for one's beliefs. It is only because I now feel so strongly that I decided to risk being ridiculed myself.

I especially wanted to voice my opinions in regard to Mr. Spinello's stance on the waterfront. While I wish him luck with his campaign, I have to ask why he is going to stall the waterfront process again. He says that, if elected, he would take the first 90 days of his term to evaluate and understand the waterfront proposal and contract. Being that it is a little less than 90 days to election, why doesn't he take the time to do that now, rather than make all of us who have been waiting for this development continue to sit and wait? It is important for Mr. Spinello to learn the facts about the waterfront development now. While he has openly spoken against the project, he has contradicted himself by stating that he would take the time to learn about it later. Therefore, how could he possibly be compiling a campaign against something he doesn't fully understand?

I believe that the best solution for any candidate in this situation to do is to FOIL the contract, the MW-3 zoning resolutions, the Master Plan documents, etc. Mr. Spinello, I ask you to do this! You do not have to be pleased about everything concerning the waterfront project, but at least take the time to educate yourself on it before you campaign against it. Even though some may find it hard to believe, there are many people for this waterfront development and we deserve to be heard. My concern is that your first 90 days in office can easily turn into another two-year period of stall tactics with absolutely no progress for this city.

Time is running out for Glen Cove. The one thing that no one can deny is that our taxes are off the charts. Residents and businesses are leaving, we have lost Photocircuits and Konica and everyday we lose more and more of our next generation of kids because they can't afford to live here. Unless Mr. Spinello's camp intends to form a committee to pay these ever-rising tax increases to prevent even more urban decay in this city, we're doomed. We cannot afford to wait another 90 days come November. We need something now! We need more tax revenue now! We need more people and businesses moving here now!

Please perform your due diligence, Mr. Spinello, because if you don't do your homework you can't possibly understand the math. If you haven't done so yet, I would hope you would take the time to pencil in a sit down with the developer. Better yet, why not visit their office so you can be better informed concerning the most important issue concerning Glen Cove right now. Hopefully then you can improve your campaign and not spread misinformation. Don't wait Mr. Spinello, please do it now.

Lisa Cohn