Ronald Cooper
SETTLED IN 1783 · INCORPORATED IN 1927 |
Mayor |
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June 30, 2010 Dear Resident: Five minutes. That's all it took for nature to wreak havoc on the Great Neck peninsula on June 24th. The devastation was immense and portions of the peninsula will take months and in the case of replanting trees, years to recover. It was an extraordinary example of how local governments came together to deal with a crisis of this proportion. Nassau County, the Town of North Hempstead and the Villages on the peninsula all came together in a war room like atmosphere to provide the necessary support to get the job done. LIPA provided 700 linesmen and 200 vehicles to restore power. Here in Lake Success the northern part of our Village was hard hit. Sections of the Village were without power for several days and we had dangerous conditions with downed wires. Our DPW and Police personnel performed admirably. There was one instance of police officers, ignoring the danger of downed wires, helping a motorist who was trapped in his car when a tree limb came through the car and impaled his leg. He was bleeding profusely and they were able to get him to a hospital. Luckily and amazingly so, there were no fatalities throughout the peninsula. While our residents that lost power were naturally upset and inconvenienced, we here in Lake Success should be thankful that the storm didn't bring the kind of devastation that our neighbors to the north have to deal with. Given the circumstances that occurred with respect to the storm, I want to impress on you the need to have on file with our Police Department any special medical need you might have in case of an emergency. Click here for a self explanatory letter from LIPA and if applicable you should also contact them with the information requested. Please provide a copy of your reply to LIPA to our Police. Now to the portions of the letter that I was about to send to you before the storm hit. It was written before nature's fury struck and in that context the matters discussed is a bit trite. But life goes on and we need to look forward. Summer is upon us and Camp Lake Success is in full swing. This is the time to maximize your Lake Success experience. The golf course has never been better, our pool facilities and tennis courts are in terrific condition and the joggers and walkers are out in abundance. We even had an outdoor film that was enjoyed by many families--without an attack by mosquitoes. My compliments and thanks to the Park and Golf Commissions for their service to the community in keeping our recreational facilities in great shape. We have just completed another election cycle. As you know, we did have a contested Village Party candidate selection for the two year Trustee position. The winners of that process, Messrs. Lam, Glantz and Handsman were ultimately put on the ballot for the election that was held on June 15th. In addition, I was on that ballot for another two year term as well as Gene Kaplan for a one year term as Trustee. Those on the ballot were elected and I do want to thank all of you who came out to vote. We have always encouraged individuals to run for Village office and I want to commend Alan Mindel for doing so this year. I'm sure that we will be hearing from Alan in years to come and we thank him for his continued service to the community as a member of the Planning Board. The upcoming years will prove challenging and I am pleased to be leading a great group of Trustees as we continue to serve the Village. We have received numerous complaints on two roadways that go through our Village--Lakeville Road and Horace Harding. The road surface on both in certain sections is deplorable. However, both roads belong to the County and it is their responsibility to make the necessary repairs. The Village is precluded from doing anything to those roadways and all that we are able to do is raise the issue with the County and apply whatever pressure we can. We have been in touch with our Nassau County Legislator, Judi Bosworth, and she has been in contact with Nassau County's Commissioner of Public Works. Judi has been very helpful in this situation but given the circumstances of last week I hope you understand that this is not an immediate priority for the County. As soon as things calm down we will once again apply pressure. We have concerns over two properties in our Village that were to be developed by the Jain Society and a Korean Church on the North Service Road between Community Drive and Lakeville Road. The Korean Church was given approval to build about two years ago and evidently for financial reasons have declined to do so. We have reached out to their attorneys and to the best of our knowledge the congregation has disbanded. In the meantime, the property has deteriorated and we will be forced to take some action. A similar situation exists with the Jain Society property although they were not as far along in getting construction approval. I will keep you apprised of the situation in future letters. I would like to call your attention to the fact that if you want to remove a tree from your property you must apply to the Building Inspector for permission. Trees are a great landscaping amenity for the Village and we discourage removing any but those that have limited life. Our Associate Village Justice, Herb Weisman, has decided to move from the Village and retire from that position. Herb has served this community for 21 years. We thank him for his service and wish him good health and happiness for hopefully many years to come. We have also lost Pat McDermott who headed our DPW Department. He has resigned to take a position heading up the Parks Department in Lynbrook. We wish Pat well as he takes on his new duties and thank him for his past service and devotion to the Village. We have hired a replacement for Pat. He is Donald Graham and comes to us from the Village of Rockville Centre where he was Deputy Superintendent of Public Works. The summer months bring more outdoor activities for our residents and their children. Please observe our speed limits when driving and of course stop for those stop signs. That's about it for now. Remember how fragile our lives are and go out and smell the roses. Have an enjoyable summer. Sincerely Ronald S. Cooper Mayor |
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