Long Island voters residing in the Town of Oyster Bay have the unique opportunity this Election Day to approve two Environmental Bond Referenda. The successful passage of both bonds affords the Town of Oyster Bay the ability to leverage county dollars with our local dollars to double their investment in purchasing strips of the last vestiges of open space and protecting our aquifer for generations to come.

Nassau County is placing a $50 million bond offering on this November's ballot that will go toward: protecting our drinking water, controlling storm-water runoff, rehabilitating brownfields, park improvements and most notably acquisition of open space.

As you may recall, over 70 percent of the town's voters overwhelmingly supported the Town of Oyster Bay's "Sea Fund Bond I." The $30 million proposed for "SEA Fund Bond II" will enable the town to continue their efforts to protect our underground aquifers, enhance our parks and recreational facilities, and to purchase tracts of land of the dwindling supply of remaining open space.

This plan is fiscally as well as environmentally prudent. The Nassau County Bond Act will cost the average homeowner approximately $7 per year and the Town of Oyster Bay's residents approximately $1.35 per month. The broad-reaching tangible benefits realized by the passage of these referenda will only cost the voters a fraction of the expenditure required for these projects if they weren't funded by this vehicle.

A "YES" vote to both referenda on Nov. 2 is a "win-win" for the county, Town of Oyster Bay residents and the environment.

Carl Meschkow

President

Concerned Citizens of the

Plainview-Old Bethpage Community, Inc.