(Editor's Note: The following letter was sent to New York State Assemblymembers David Sidikman and Donna Ferrara, Nassau County Legislator Edward P. Mangano, Deputy County Executive Peter Sylver and the Oyster Bay Town Board and Town Clerk Marth Offerman.)

On June 2, County Executive [Thomas Suozzi] sought legislative approval to sell Building #20, a former naval weapons reserve plant in Bethpage. The sale was labeled as item #232-03 and it was the first parcel of excess naval property to be successfully transferred and sold. Our community understood the county's desperate pecuniary need for cash infusion, however many questioned why it was being done in such a hurried fashion. Was this bus company positioned to buy this property the only bidder offering more than the assessed $1.5 million? Was there no other bidder?

Legislator Edward Mangano questioned this as well and was able to persuade the county not to sell this parcel to Bowman Bus. The fact that the county owned this property gave Legislator Mangano an edge in preventing this transaction from taking place. Since that time, Bowman Bus has been reviewing two alternative locations. The first location was the former Bayer Plant (Hooker Chemical) located northeast of the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) tracks on New South Road. The second alternative site was the former HLM plant located on Enterprise Place just west of South Oyster Bay Road. Both sites are privately owned. Both sites will have a detrimental effect upon our community.

Following the May 14 meeting with Souzzi, our community was left with a feeling that an attempt was being made by the county and the Town of Oyster Bay to correct the injustices inflicted upon this community in the past. We applaud that attempt, reaching out to our community and giving us some hope for its future. Helping us to maintain and improve the environment in which we have chosen to live and raise our families. It is for this reason that we question whether a bus depot consisting of approximately 160 buses is in the best interest of the community regardless of where it is placed within it. During the bus tour with county and town officials, we recall a conversation referring to preservation, high-tech industry and long range planning.

What kind of quality of life will this community have when the drivers of these buses begin to familiarize themselves with our community? When they begin using our residential streets as shortcuts to save time. Our community is already inundated with heavy commercial traffic. Town, county and private trucks cut through 4th and 9th Street and Gerald, Somerset, Meadow, Field, Walter and Edward Avenues. Nothing is being done to curtail these ongoing violations, which impose a safety concern for our community. What will happen when an additional 160 buses are introduced into the equation?

The additional carcinogens emitted from these vehicles while traveling through our neighborhoods are another health concern to us as well.

The Board of the Hicksville Gardens Civic Association therefore asks that you forward this letter to the Town of Oyster Bay councilmembers and the town clerk. Bowman Bus must not be allowed to relocate its facilities buses within our community. We feel that the construction of a bus depot consisting of approximately 160 buses within our community will adversely affect our quality of life. We feel that in order to maintain and improve our community we must establish certain guidelines. Discuss planned zoning, what zoning should and should not be permitted to enable us to establish, build and maintain a high tech/professional work force.

Let's stop the "brain drain" on Long Island. Let's entice high-tech and professional industry. The young talent we could attract may choose to shop, live and raise their families within our community. Isn't that what it's all about?

The Board of the Hicksville Gardens Civic Association