Residents Demand Answers Regarding Hillside Bus Storage

By Margaret Whitely

The residents that border the Hillside Grade School playground flocked to the last meeting of the New Hyde Park/Garden City Park School Board meeting to continue complaints, made at the last school board meeting, regarding the storage of buses and the running of those buses, in the early morning hours, that affect their homes that back up to the playground where they now have a view of the buses.

Prior to listening to the residents New Hyde Park-Garden City Park Superintendent Joseph Rudaitis said, "Last month there were complaints by residents adjacent to Hillside Grade School about the presence of buses there. At that time the board asked me to investigate options that existed and the cost of those options in order to address the board's concerns."

Rudaitis went on, "Director of Facilities and Transportation, Dan LaPlaca, made 25 different calls in an effort to find an alternative, suitable parking area. Only one viable parking location was found, Lakeville Truck Repair, Jericho Turnpike, Floral Park at an annual cost of storing the four buses of $10,100. That cost could be reduced to $8,500 if Floral Park School District, as it has in the past, stores our buses, in the summer, on their property. However, Dr. McDonald, Superintendent of the Floral Park Schools, has indicated that he has had some difficulty with respect to the storage of buses and he is not able, at this point, to give us a commitment, but we will continue to explore it."

Rudaitis continued, "We were also contacted by North Hempstead Town Councilman Anthony D'Urso and I have written him a response in which I request his assistance in obtaining free parking that would meet our security and electricity needs. If that were to happen, it certainly would be a viable alternative. I'll be happy to answer the questions of the board. We certainly did persue a number of avenues in investigating the situation beyond simply alternative sites."

Since no board member asked questions the board opened the discussion to the Audience to Visitors portion of the meeting.

At the open portion of the meeting the first person to speak about the buses was Mrs. Lucille Fulgeri, who said she was directing her statement to the board of education and especially to Joseph Rudaitis regarding the school bus storage situation. She said, "For the past year and a one half I have been talking one-on-one with Mr. Joseph Rudaitis long before the encapsulation was even built. No one ever, ever stated to me that they were going to build a storage facility for buses on the Hillside Grade School playground. I have been a resident for 28 years and there are people who have lived here for 50 years; older than any of you on the board. I am appalled at how this was handled. There is controversy here and wasteful spending of money. This encapsulation could have been avoided. "

She continued, "I am overwhelmed about the discussions here. I don't understand how the school board allowed this to happen. No one considered how the quality of life has been impacted for the people living adjacent to the school. We have a noise pollution problem that is on tape; the air pollution problem is appalling. No one considered this. As taxpayers and homeowners we represent all of the schools, not just Hillside Grade. We are appalled how this was handled. Mr. Rudaitis, you never, ever told us what was coming. This is a deceitful betrayal to me and all of the residents. Why Hillside Grade School was dumped on I don't know. I, along with all of my neighbors here, are angry. We are angry that this encapsulation has certainly, I personally think, cost us millions of dollars of real estate devaluation. Plus the fact we are losing our playground and we are actually looking out our backyards and seeing school buses staring at us. Mr. Rudaitis, I have to direct this to you and I would like an answer."

Board president Suzanne Wenz said she would like a copy of the tape. Then she added, "Just so you understand, Mr. Rudaitis is not a member of the board of education."

She continued, "This encapsulation could totally have been avoided and taxpayers dollars could have been avoided. I'm angry. I'm a taxpayer, too. I represent Mr. Ziolo, who is suffering from emphysema, and all these residents. You people on the school board just went over some ideas of how you are going to solve this. We want more than that. We waited a whole month for some answers. I have been appeased. I don't understand where the communication is in this community."

Then referring to the tape she said, "That is what we have to wake up to every morning from 6:30 to 7:15 a.m. and that is with our windows closed. Did anyone realize the quality of life that we now have to live with? I don't think so. We all want some answers here. I publicly want to acknowledge our civic associations, both the Lakeville and Parkville Estates, Peg Fumante and Annette Giarratani for all the support they have provided us and especially Annette, who was personally ridiculed recently through a public opinion letter. Annette, your devotion and love for this community and for all our schools needs to be commended and I commend you."

She then presented photos to the board and will provide them with a copy of the tape of the buses running.

She finished by saying, "Senator Balboni, Councilman D'Urso are personally interested in this matter. I know the schools are exempt and we have nothing to protect us. I have here signatures from Hillside Grade School neighbors. None of us had any notification. I was beside myself last month. I ask all of you on the school board, why has this happened? All of the neighbors want to know why we have to tolerate this abuse."

Superintendent Rudaitis said, "I just wanted you to know I have written to Councilman D'Urso asking his help in securing a location in the Town of North Hempstead that would meet our needs. Senator Balboni's office did contact me and I updated him on the situation and he appreciated the information."

Looking for Help From Councilman D'Urso

Board president Suzanne Wenz said, "A lot of us on the board feel this way. Personally I was very pleased that Councilman D'Urso offered his services. Because one of the points I made at last month's meeting, which was really the first meeting that the board and the neighbors had to discuss the situation, is that this is viewed as a very unpleasant situation for the Hillside Grade School neighbors. In my opinion, that it is equally unpleasant for the people who are screaming move it back to Manor Oaks and move it over to the Road School. There are also neighbors who are around every single one of our schools. So I think if it is creating such a problem of the Hillside Grade School residents and properties then I think the same is true if the situation is moved from one school to another. This is my opinion, I could be right or wrong. I don't want people saying there are 22 houses here and 2 houses there. There was a variety of reasons that led to the decision to move the buses to Hillside Grade School. The board is concerned because the community is very upset by this decision and I think we are doing the best we can to find a new home for these buses.

Wenz continued, "To tell you the truth, I am counting on Councilman D'Urso's support of this because he has gone to the neighbors. He has told them, even though he has no jurisdiction over this matter, that he wants to help us solve this problem. I think it would be a very nice gesture for Mr. D'Urso to house our district buses at the Town of North Hempstead Park where they are not near anybody's houses. So, let's see when Councilman D'Urso comes back to the district with a response, how interested he is in helping us all."

Threatens A Multimillion Dollar Law Suit

The next person to speak was Gaye McGuire, who explained that her father is Tony Ziola, who lives behind the buses. She said, "You people have had 30 days to do something. I'm not waiting another 30 days. I want the entire board to be on notice. I will file a multimillion dollar lawsuit against this board and each person on it if anything happens to my father. He has gotten sick twice in the last 30 days and prior to this he hasn't been sick a day in 80 years before the buses moved here. It has taken you people 11 years to decide what to do with Alva T. Stanforth school. Well, I am not waiting 11 years for you to move the buses. So you are on notice for a multimillion dollar lawsuit. All of a sudden you are waiting for Councilman D'Urso to do something when you decided yourself to bring these buses here in the first place. Well, you people get yourselves in gear and decide to get these buses out. You are worrying about the $50,000 in Floral Park, I said multimillion dollar lawsuit and you will have the papers before the next meeting if the buses are not moved before then."

Fulgeri added, "This could all have been avoided. I have been in conference. I want to know why the board did not give us this attention when we needed it. I was at the Dec. 8 meeting. I was coming to the November board meeting and, Mr. Rudaitis you can verify this, before the erection of this encapsulation. Mr. Joseph Rudaitis discouraged me from coming because he said the classroom size was going to take too much of his time and the board's time. He said he would address the board, in a casual manner and he called me the next day and said he was sorry, you are going to be disappointed, but the board gave me a unanimous decision to go ahead with this project. I was beside myself and I said to Mr. Rudaitis I will be at the December meeting with all of my neighbors. However, within a week and one-half the encapsulation was up, the storage was coming through and it was over. There was no time for us to come to the board of education with our grievances as to the impact on the quality of our lives. I am flabbergasted to see how nicely you speak about issues. Why wasn't this issue addressed earlier and this could all have been avoided. We deserve some answers."

One resident said, "Mr. Rudaitis, now is your time, speak up."

Wenz jumped in, "We went through these discussions last month and if the board knew this would create such a tremendous problem, I'm trying to be honest, there is nobody on this board that is insensitive whether it be about a bus or a complaint about the fact that a bus going to a resource center for help."

McGuire yelled out, "We're talking about a person's health."

Wenz said, "I understand that. The question came from the audience that this could have been avoided and there is no doubt in my mind it was clearly pointed out during the budget meeting that there was going to be a change in the buses and if everyone who lived on the perimeter of Hillside Grade School heard about it, it would have been discussed in March of 1997 and everyone would have been. They would have questioned spending $10,000 and I can assure you this board would have listened. This board is extremely sensitive to any issues raised, but that didn't happen and why because nobody raised it as an issue. The only time it was raised as an issue was right before the December meeting. That was when the subject came to this board."

She continued, "The board does not have knowledge of every single administrative decision that is made in this district. That is not the way the district operates. This board of education sets policy and approves finances and we are here when controversy arises and, unfortunately, in the case of these buses, it arrived, after the fact. We have already gone ahead with an expenditure of taxpayer money that was approved and it was a sound administrative decision. I told you, Mrs. Fulgieri, at last month's meeting there was a clear miscommunication on this issue."

Florence Barch said, "At the last meeting you people were going to look into this situation. When we came tonight we were hopeful that we would know a little bit more tonight than we did the first time. Unfortunately, we don't. So what you are telling us tonight doesn't mean a thing to us. You are depending on 'Joe Blow' to do this and you can't do anything until you hear from him. Where do we go from here? Are we just going to sit here and wait for you people to resolve this. In the meanwhile we have to take further action. That's entirely up to you."

Wenz responded, "What I am trying to do and one of the directions that we would like to go is that we would like to get in touch with our councilman tomorrow."

Giarratani, "It seems we keep referring to back the fact that this was in the budget. However, what the taxpayers receive is what is called the 'newsbriefs' and in the newsbriefs they give you an overview after the budget hearings and in the narrative and in all the overviews nothing was ever mentioned about housing buses. In the items in the '96/'97 budget under Garage Building there are about 20 items taxpayers who do not attend receive an overview of the amount. If they were not familiar with Code No. 5530 they would not know that listed was Hillside Grade School Garage to install an electric light for $3,900. Also garage doors at both Hillside Grade School and Manor Oaks necessary repairs to the garage in the amount of $6, 000. Plus it mentions $6,117 for a Hillside Grade School fence that states necessary repairs to the fence that surround the garage. As a matter of fact the fence that surrounds it is still corroded and has not been fixed. The encapsulation is new construction and is not in the school budget. I hold personally the superintendent responsible for not advising the board. I agree with Ms. Wenz this board has always been very sensitive to the concerns and issues and needs of any member of the community." She then presented to the board the pages of the budget she mentioned.

The meeting was out of hand and everyone was yelling and screaming, allowing no one to be heard and at this point Wenz called to go into executive session and the board adjourned.