A dollar goes a long way, especially if that dollar was the one Lockheed Martin's predecessor paid the Federal Government for the property that the company wants to develop into a $200 plus million return on investment. You heard right only one dollar! I verified this sum at the county clerk's office. Not a bad deal is it?

Never mind that the property was one of many taxpayers handouts our government offered to defense contractors under the guise that such moves would deeply defray the overall cost of building arms for the military. In other words government charity to big business would somehow benefit taxpayers. Right!

Never mind that if Lockheed Martin were to donate say even 20 acres (20 percent) of the land back to the community, one dollar does not seem unreasonable, it would help alleviate the need to spend additional taxpayers dollars for a much needed park and ball playing fields, because that would be bad math in business terms!

Never mind that the property still houses, in good condition, the first United Nations Headquarters...the same building out of which was forged the historic vote that created the nation of Israel...out of which came the decision that plunged the United States and its allies into the hard fought Korean War; the first time since WWII that the United States Secretary of Defense actually recommended the use of atomic weapons against a sovereign country, China.

That aside the level of pure greed we are talking about, from a company that had sales of 28 billion dollars of goods and services last year, with more than 60 percent of that coming from federal and local governments is truly astounding. As a comparison, The Lockheed F-117 aircraft that recently went down in Kosovo cost the government $43 million.

Why isn't everyone outraged? They should be. I know I am!

Perhaps the reason is because most are not privy to the murky issues involved or perhaps it is that most do not see or have a personal interest at stake, which is a case more easily made, however invalid, for those living north of the Expressway.

But, I certainly hope it is not because of the mistaken belief that the North Hempstead Town Board or the 13 member Volunteer Task Force, set to monitor the development, is taking care of business. First of all, the town board has been largely unresponsive to citizen input, including from the task force. Second, the task force has been marginalized and its authority substantially reduced by both the town board and the Village of Lake Success.

The recently approved final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) work plan did not address the concerns that the task force raised on the draft, it was imposed, not agreed to, with all its flaws. Many key pieces of information were withheld which were needed to make an even more poignant critique.

Lockheed's site/building plan was withheld, as were key environmental reports and sample results. They all might just as well have been labeled, "Top Secret."

Moreover, the administration just went along with Lockheed and even pulled off a few coups of its own by precluding the Task Force from broaching the subject of preserving the U. N. Building or negotiation for park space or any other concessions. Why?

This week Lockheed invited the elected town officials to a full day site walk-through, however no members of the public or task force were allowed to participate. But, not to "appear" to violate the "Sunshine Law" or give the impression of an illegal political caucus or quorum, the officials were paraded through the site two at a time so the legal scales would not be tipped in favor of public involvement.

The matter of what exactly was discussed and why are purely matters of conjecture, but rest assured they were not talking about the overall state of Kosovo.

Praise to one town board member who rightly boycotted the walk-through. Now it turns out that Lake Success has forbidden its task force members to voice opinions through the task force, they are told to only listen! This is all, to say the least, very interesting.

Oh, no it is not, it is a sham! This is not just a case of too many jurisdictions tripping over each other. It is a well orchestrated plot by a greedy company and questionable town officials to marginalize the task force and deflect and frustrate the public process.

To imagine that this administration will represent our interests is wishful thinking. By not even beginning a public debate of the options, including a discussion of concession the community would like to propose, the opportunity will no longer exist later in the process. After the environmental impact study has been completed and rubber stamped off the table, which only reconnoiters Lockheed Martin's full scale development; after yet another hurdle is eagerly lowered by the administration, the likelier it is that there will be no later.

Are we to lose yet another of our valuable cultural treasures? Are we to lose an opportunity for a little more green space and playing fields that our families and children desperately need? Must we have the full measure of the proposed sprawl and congestion and traffic and pollution dumped on us? Then there is no going back.

We all need to raise a voice that can't be ignored. We must demand to confront the issues now and turn the shabby politics on its head.

Rest assured, the only certainty we are faced with is the near certainty that a dollar sure goes a long way!!

Stephen Cipot, New Hyde Park resident who is also Hillside Library Trustee and Project Manger for the Environmental Protection Agency.