Community Newspapers Are A Growing and Vital Industry

Did you think the local newspaper industry was dead or dying? According to a recent study and New York Press Association (NYPA) campaign, your community weekly newspaper actually remains a primary way for people to get information that is important to them.

County Executive Edward P. Mangano was host last week to the publishers of Nassau’s local newspapers as he and NYPA Executive Director Michelle K. Rea celebrated the key role these papers maintain in the community and to acknowledge that the community newspaper industry is thriving - continuing to provide both an important source of employment and a major tax base throughout the state.

Assembly Minority Holds Town Hall Meeting

“Is Albany working for you?” asked New York State Assemblyman Minority Leader Brian Kolb (129th A.D.) to those gathered for a town hall meeting last week. “Is the New York State government working for you?”

The response from an audience of about 50 gathered at the Hicksville Knights of Columbus was silence; not a single person raised their hand.

Carle Place Proposes 1.99 Percent Budget-to-Budget Increase

Vote on $44.6M Spending Plan, Trustee Seat May 18

Voting on the Carle Place School District’s proposed 2010-2011 spending plan will take place Tuesday, May 18. At this time, residents will have the opportunity to vote for or against the district’s proposed $44.6 million spending plan (Proposition #1) and vote to elect a school board trustee.

Information on May 18 election is as follows:

Westbury Proposes $106.2M Spending Plan

Residents of the Westbury School District will take to the polls May 18 to vote for or against the district’s proposed $106,215,920 budget for 2010-2011. The proposed spending plan represents an additional $ 2,590,632 or 2.5 percent budget-to-budget increase over the current year’s approved spending plan of 103,625,288.

Westbury’s 2010-2011 proposed spending plan is broken into three components: Administrative: $9,688,100 (9 percent); Program: $85,149,151 (80 percent); and Capital: $11,380,669 (11 percent). According to district officials, enrollment for the upcoming school year is expected to increase by 133 students from 4,359 to 4,492.

NuHealth Issues Requests For Proposals for Planned $1 Billion Redevelopment

On April 15, Arthur A. Gianelli, president and CEO of NuHealth, held a press conference at Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow to announce the issuance of Requests for Proposals (RFPs) with regard to two separate redevelopment projects planned for NuHealth’s campuses in East Meadow and Uniondale.

Through the RFPs, NuHealth is inviting residential developers to submit bids on contractual jobs related to the planned projects.

Judge Issues 30-Day Restraining Order to MTA’s Able-Ride Cuts

Disability Groups Expected to Supply $80,000 Bond

A judge recently issued a 30-day temporary restraining order against the MTA, regarding cuts to its Able-Ride program and told disability advocacy groups to raise an $80,000 bond to help pay for the service, according to an attorney for the plaintiffs.

Several disability advocacy groups filed a lawsuit against the MTA after Able-Ride users were informed of cuts to the program, expected to take place on April 12. On April 9, US District Court Judge Joanna Seybert issued a two-week restraining order on the cuts and asked the MTA and groups to discuss options for those affected.

Westbury Village Adopts 2010-2011 Budget

The Incorporated Village of Westbury’s Board of Trustee adopted its budget for fiscal year 2010-2011 on April 15. The $7,164,177 spending plan is $17,848 less than the current year’s budget.

The 2010-2011 budget contains a residential tax rate of $.00252, representing a 4.8 percent year-to-year increase. As a result, a typical Westbury Village homeowner with an average assessment of $382,318 will pay $963 in 2010-2011 for all village government services, which is an additional $46 more than last year (or $3.84 more per month); the average commercial property owner will pay an additional $202 in 2010-2011 or $16.84 more per month) for all village services.

Chuck Cutolo Pens Second Book of Essays

‘Parables … And Other Stuff From Life’ Now Available

Westbury resident Chuck Cutolo has recently published his second book of essays. Entitled Parables…And Other Stuff From Life, the 346-page work features almost 50 essays that explore the hopes and fear and insights and continuing questions, which all stem from Cutolo’s personal experiences.

Cutolo grew up in Albertson and East Williston, graduating from Chaminade High School. He went off to major in government at Hamilton College before attending Columbia Law School where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. For 17 years, Cutolo worked on Capitol Hill, working as a legislative assistant to Congressmen Lester Wolff (D-NY) and Joseph L. Fisher (D-VA) as well as the Democratic Study Group before embarking on a 12-year career as legislative director to Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), the current chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Tuskegee Airman Spann Watson Passes Away at Age 93

Westbury’s own Lt. Col. Spann Watson, a Congressional Gold Medal recipient who, during World War II served as a P-51 Mustang pilot with the famed Tuskegee Airmen’s 99th Fighter Squadron, passed away at Winthrop-University Hospital on April 15. He was 93 years old.

In 1941, Mr. Watson, a 25-year-old man from South Carolina joined nearly 1,000 African-American aviators for training at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and broke the color bar banning black pilots in the United States military. It wasn’t until March 2007 – nearly 66 years later – that he was recognized with the Congressional Gold Medal. One of the country’s most distinguished and highest honors, the Congressional Gold Medal is considered the congressional equivalent to and holds the same degree of prestige as the Presidential Medal of Freedom (awarded personally by the president), yet in our nation’s history, fewer have been awarded.

Village Receives Bond Credit Upgrade

Westbury Rated AA- by Standard & Poors Financial Services LLC

Standard & Poors Financial Services LLC (S&P), the world’s global leader in municipal bond credit rating, this week granted the Village of Westbury a bond rating upgrade from the current A1 rating issued by Moody’s Investor Services. S&P granted the village a AA- rating in connection with the village’s latest bond offering.  In issuing the upgraded rating, S&P cited the village’s “strong financial position,”  “moderate debt burden,” and “still-strong” unreserved fund balance as key factors to its rating.