I would like to respond to the thoughtful letter to the editor from Chester McGibbon in last week's issue of The Westbury Times. Mr. McGibbon raises several very important issues relating to code enforcement, zoning integrity and the impacts of both on the quality of life that most of the residents of the Westbury community seek to enjoy. He also rightly points out the devastating effect of poor code enforcement and rampant illegal housing on the already overburdened Westbury School District.

There is no wonder that the school district is in distress and overcrowded. The Town of North Hempstead employs only four building inspectors for the entire town. How can the town possibly expect to adequately enforce its zoning and housing codes with that scant level of personnel dedicated to those efforts town wide? It is an impossible task.

As a matter of contrast, the Village of Westbury, a much smaller geographic area, employs three full-time building inspectors and a number of part-time code enforcement officers.

By some accounts, approximately 80 percent of the Westbury School District's student population is comprised of children living in New Cassel or other unincorporated portions of Westbury. The severe lack of enforcement by the town has a direct and materially negative impact on our community. So one has to wonder why this situation has been allowed to continue and grow worse in recent years.

Supervisor May Newburger's response that she has not had enough time to address this problem rings very hollow. She has been in office as a part of a Democratic majority on the town board for 12 years. During most of that time she has served as the town's supervisor. Surely, more than a decade is an ample amount of time in which meaningful steps could have been taken to address these problems. And besides, anyone who lives here knows all too well that this situation has grown significantly worse over the past decade. But none of the current members of the town board would know that since none of them live within miles of New Cassel and Westbury, and our problems do not directly affect them one bit. How much impact does anyone think the illegal housing problem in New Cassel has on the two current town councilmen who live two blocks from one another in Port Washington?

For some time, North Hempstead Republicans have been advocating to the town board and Supervisor Newburger the concept of council districts for North Hempstead. We've argued that creating council districts would enable all residents of the town to be represented at the table. All residents would have access to a locally-elected advocate in town hall. Why shouldn't the New Cassel community be able to elect someone of its choosing, from amongst its own residents, to go to town hall to fight for its share of town resources (including code enforcement personnel)? Maybe a councilperson from New Cassel or Westbury would be able to argue for a change in the town's agenda and budget priorities to include more resources dedicated to code enforcement. At least those issues would be a part of the debate.

Now, as Mr. McGibbon pointed out, the town administration simply ignores issues that it does not to want to deal with and often treats residents who raise these thorny problems shabbily, or worse, in a patronizing manner.

Under the Republican council district proposal, New Cassel and the eastern portion of Westbury Village would comprise a material portion (and perhaps the majority of) one of six council districts. Under that plan, the New Cassel community would be able to elect a candidate of its choice to represent them on the town board. This proposal has gotten support from all sorts of diverse people. People like Democratic Legislator Roger Corbin, prominent civil rights and election law attorney Fred Brewington, community activist Mildred Little and many others. Unfortunately, however, Supervisor Newburger and the Democratic administration currently in office are trying to hold this reform up and delay its implementation.

Part of the problem is that this administration takes certain communities for granted and cynically believes that, no matter what they do or do not do for those communities, all will be forgiven come election day.

I believe there are two things that neglected communities like New Cassel and Westbury can do this year to change this pattern of neglect: First, support council districts as a means of ensuring forceful, focused and

proportional representation in town hall; Second, send Supervisor Newburger a message and vote for candidates that are not from her clique, and who may be more responsive to the concerns of neglected communities. Tim O'Connell, from Carle Place, is running for the town board this year. He supports council districts and he is concerned about the issues that face the Westbury and New Cassel communities.

Maybe it's time to teach the town administration the lesson that it should take no one and no community for granted. The situation can not get any worse than it is now. And I bet it just may get a whole lot better.

Peter I. Cavallaro

(Editor's Note: Peter I. Cavallaro is the chairman of the North Hempstead Republican Committee, and is also a trustee in the Village of Westbury.)