Wednesday evening, Nov. 14, scores of people from the various communities of Westbury/New Castle crammed into Westbury Recreation Center to voice their complaints about the water rate increase.

The standing-room-only crowd heard Water District Superintendent, Italo Vacchio try desperately to present the rationale for the increase, but they would have none of it. The moderator, Neville Mullings, acting executive director for the Community Development Agency, demanded answers to specific questions posed to Vacchio and his commissioners, and provided the platform for those in attendance to state their individual situations.

Mullings made reference to the fact that Westbury's neighbor Carle Place, was charging $0.85 per 100,000 gallons with a minimum $17.00 per cycle, and neighbor Old Westbury $1.50 for up to 100,000. He repeated the charge that there was no justification for the increase, especially since the answer given to the question of expenditure versus cost was not satisfactory, and called for a rollback in the increases to reflect adjustments closer to the 60-70 percent that the Water District's own figures indicated.

Vacchio and the commissioners were clearly shocked at the expressed outrage from the people in attendance, and backed down from the "hardball" stance, into a more conciliatory tone when he promised to meet with the community again in two weeks. He said that they will look into the various suggestions and concerns, and asked that a comprehensive list of questions and recommendations be forwarded to his office for consideration and that no penalty will be imposed on anyone who did not pay the bill by the prescribed date.

Fliers will again be distributed in all the communities announcing the date of the next meeting.