Youth organizations from Levittown to Baldwin came out on Tuesday to speak against Hempstead Councilwoman Rita Kestenbaum's proposal for the formation of a Town Youth Advisory Board.

Though tempered by the voices of workers at the Long Island Crisis Center in Bellmore and a handful of parents, the majority of the feedback the board heard on Kestenbaum's proposal for an advisory board that would advise and support youth services in the town was negative.

The proposed youth advisory board would be made up of nine volunteers including community leaders and advocates familiar with youth services who would provide a voice in determining where and how much of the town's grant money is distributed. Currently the youth guidance funding falls under the Department of Planning and Economic Development.

Many of those who opposed the plan cited a release sent out by Kestenbaum and fellow Democrats N. Scott Banks and Dorothy Goosby, which proposed this board, "In light of recent devastating cuts to youth services in the county." Many of those who spoke felt that it did not fall within the town's scope to pick up the county's slack. Some residents expressed fear that, although the town has had a budget surplus for many years, if they try to take over programs that the county could not handle the town, which now has the highest bond rating on Long Island, would end up in the same fiscal disaster that the county is currently in. These people pointed out that the county had picked up this funding when the state could no longer afford to fund these programs.

In introducing the resolution, Town Supervisor Richard Guardino made his position on the proposal clear. "I have some serious reservations about establishing this board in the Town of Hempstead," said Guardino. "I think this may be a step towards making up the county deficit with the town's surplus and that's something that involves fiscal policy. It has very, very serious ramifications. I am also concerned about the duplication of services and I'm concerned that you focus on our mission here in the Town of Hempstead and on our programs that we have for you throughout the Town of Hempstead." The supervisor went on to note that the town's parks department and other agencies serve over 100,000 youths in Hempstead Town. "I think it is very important that we focus on the programs that we have here and continue to maintain them and where possible upgrade those programs," continued the supervisor before opening the floor to other questions and comments.

Kestenbaum responded to Guardino's statements, saying that, although there are wonderful programs in place in the town, it is important to have a governing body to oversee these programs. "I think that it is imperative in this society, with the troubles our youth is facing, that if we are going to say the children are our future that we put our money where our mouth is and establish this youth advisory board," said Kestenbaum.

Beverlee Szimanski, president of the Community Association of Stewart Avenue in Salisbury, was the first resident to speak on this topic. Szimanski began by acknowledging the abundant societal gains that are a result of social service programs but went on to note, "What we cannot comprehend is the idea that the Town of Hempstead should start being responsible for the services that Nassau County cannot afford to maintain." She added, "At this point in time, the town is in good fiscal health but with energy costs spiraling upwards, CSEA contract time approaching, and other various rising costs, it is always important to have contingency funds." Szimanski went on to speak about the things that her organization would ask for if they believed the town could afford to distribute the surplus moneys, such as increased public safety and code enforcement. "It is our contention that Hempstead Town Government should be in the business of supplying quality of life services not social services," concluded Szimanski.

Contradicting her earlier statement about the town putting its money where its mouth is, Kestenbaum stated that this board would not cost the town anything. She went on to question Szimanski about whether she was aware that the town already had a line in the budget for youth guidance. Szimanski said that she was aware of this but did not wish to debate the issue with Kestenbaum, adding that she was just there to make her statement.

Kestenbaum stated, "All I want to do is explain to you and everybody else here that there is a line in this budget for youth guidance. In examining where the $200,000 that is being given to youth is going, we have found the majority of that money is not going to youth, that it is going to other areas but there is no overseeing body here in the town to supervise those funds therefore we need to make sure that if we are going to give money in the name of youth guidance it goes to youth guidance."

When asked by Councilman Tony Santino for substantiation of her charges later in the meeting, when she made a similar statement about the funds not going where they are supposed to, Kestenbaum cited the Five Towns Community Center bi-lingual program and the East Meadow Chamber of Commerce. The town's Chief of Staff Ray Mineo responded that the Five Towns Community Center is under Economic Opportunity Funds and not Youth Guidance. Santino explained that the East Meadow Chamber of Commerce runs a summer youth recreation program. Richard Bivone, president of the East Meadow Chamber of Commerce, who spoke against the youth board, responded to Kestenbaum's charges, echoing Santino's statement that the funds from the town are used for a youth program run by the chamber.

Also speaking against the youth board was Kevin Regan, a well-known youth advocate who has served as the executive director of the Levittown-Island Trees Youth Council for 16 years, has served on the executive board of the Long Island Junior Soccer League for the past 20 years and for the past five years has served on the Nassau County Youth Board. Regan made several points in his case against a town youth board. His first statement was that there is already a vehicle to distribute youth related funds, noting, "The Levittown/Island Trees Youth Council has been the recipient of an annual grant for well over 10 years, approved by the town board and administered by the Department of Planning and Economic Development. There has never been a problem either applying or receiving this grant, why would we need another level of government to slow down this process." As far as the town absorbing the costs that the county could not, Regan stated, "As with any permanent kind of funding youth organizations, if somewhere in the future funding is exhausted or becomes non-existent, it becomes a disaster for youth groups who have become dependent on that funding." Regan then added that the most important thing the town could do for youth organizations was to maintain the facilities needed to run these programs."

Others who added to Regan's statements included Douglas Wipperman, a 25 year resident of Wantagh, vice-chair of the Levittown Youth Council, and past president of the Levittown Soccer Club who is also involved in the school district. He noted that he believes in less government, not more. "One of the things that concerns me is when I hear people say it will be free but having done work for Nassau County, I can assure you that while the board works for free, the rest of the people don't and the board will need people to support it. You can't possibly set up a council like this and not have paid people work on it so you are actually taking money away from the youth, not giving it to youth," said Wipperman.

Several other representatives for youth organizations spoke against the proposal, including Rick Marks, of the East Meadow Soccer Club; Jeff DeLuca, president of the Salisbury Men's Athletic Association; Alan Stern, of the Baldwin Little League; Dennis Machado, of the Levittown Red Devils Football League; William Mueger, commissioner of East Meadow Baseball/Softball League, which has a Challenger Division for the handicapped; and a representative from Central Nassau Little League. These representatives asked the board to seriously listen to their concerns before making a decision.

Another concern was raised by Joseph Lentini, who is the coordinator of the town's ANCHOR program for the mentally handicapped. Lentini spoke about all the things that program needs and said he feared that if this proposal went through that rather than the money going to support a town program, the money would have to be distributed to too many different programs and ANCHOR would suffer for it.

The Baldwin and Salisbury Civic Associations were represented at the meeting and gave differing views on the proposal.

Bill Gaffney read a letter from Larry Green, the president of the Salisbury Civic Association. The letter called the proposal "laudable goals," but addressed the high taxes in this county and the fear that this resolution would result in an increase in town taxes. "I don't know that I am comfortable with the idea of the town starting to fund social programs that have been cut by federal, state and county governments. I know that I am certainly not comfortable with the idea of passing such a move with scantly one week's notice to the public. I need more time to inform our membership through our newsletter so they can plan to at least be informed when asked to publicly voice their opinions," read Gaffney.

Jacklyn Bell, from the Baldwin Civic Association, stated that she was in favor of the youth board. "I think we have to be concerned with all children. What I am hearing today is basically sports-oriented people who have a civic interest but we need a board that's going to look at all children, no matter what their interests, be it baseball, art, science, whatever and be able to refer people who are in need of other town services they may need and that's what we're talking about, a referral service." She noted that this board could examine which services work and which ones don't and could lobby for the services that do work. "We need to think about all children and until we can do that we're going to lose them, we're going to have people falling by the wayside, we're going to wonder why someday that we have a Columbine here. We need to think about all children and that's what I'm asking you to do, to vote your conscience for all children."

Two representatives from the Long Island Crisis Center spoke about the need for this board, noting that while athletic programs are beneficial, many youths need other support services that are provided by agencies within the town and those youths could be referred to those organizations.

In the end the proposal did not pass. All three Democrats voted in favor of it and all four Republicans against it. Prior to casting his vote Santino made a statement explaining his decision. He noted that in recent years the town has eliminated two departments that had duplicated services provided by Nassau County. He pointed out that those eliminations have saved the taxpayers a considerable amount of money. "While the proposal before us today is well-intentioned, it is nevertheless ill-advised and a dangerous step backward. For Hempstead Town to respond to the county's fiscal crisis by creating a new town department that already exists on the county level starts us down a slippery slope of respending our precious tax dollars which will imperil the town's fiscal health and inherently lead to a property tax increase that Hempstead homeowners can ill-afford," said Santino.

In an interview following the meeting, Kestenbaum said she was very surprised by the reaction the proposal received. "I am very disappointed. I was hoping that the youths of our community would not be considered on a partisan basis and I think this proved that unfortunately it is," said Kestenbaum. She also noted that many of the speakers were from sports organizations and referred to their concerns as being selfish. Kestenbaum stated, "They didn't want their piece of the pie interfered with but the reason we need a youth board has nothing to do with little league, sports and recreation. The reason we need a youth board in the town is to show the community, to show society that the youth is important to us." This issue will be brought up again, promised Kestenbaum. "This is too important an issue for me to allow the partisan politics that took place to rule the outcome of this."