A Newsday Response
From the July/August 2008.
In mid July, Newsday wrote an editorial decrying the possibility of two new villages on Long Island. President Nancy Zolezzi on our behalf responded with a Letter to the Editor. Unfortunately, Newsday replied that the letter exceeded the word count and she has since resent the letter as an OP-Ed piece which we would hope that Newsday, in the sense of fair play will run. Her rebuttal to Newsday is an s follows:
To the Editor:
As Mayor of the Village of East Williston and President of the Nassau County Village Officials Association, I was disappointed to ...
read Newsday's July 21st editorial entitled "New village people?" Your solution to the lack of code enforcement and zoning control is to work with the local town. Have you read Newsday lately? The past few years you have been reporting on corrupt building departments, most notably on the town level. The Nassau County District Attorney recently referred to the former North Hempstead Building Commissioner as “having created a culture of corruption that defied good government”. In addition, you have recently reported on possible misdeeds in building departments in the towns of Brookhaven, Smithtown, and Hempstead. So is your solution to throw the good residents of Mastic Beach and Smith Point to the wolves?
For years Newsday's editorials concerning village government have been negative. Your current editorial once again opposes communities seeking to incorporate by stating, “The incorporation of a village creates a new bureaucracy and a new level of taxation.” You fail to state that any bureaucracy is usually created by the state, town, or county and while there will be a new level of tax, it will be a more efficient one. It is no secret that Newsday does not hold government on the local level in high regard. Is it because most villages have a history of running efficiently without layers of patronage and waste? The majority of mayors and trustees dedicate thousands of hours to their communities with little or no compensation, providing essential services, as well as sharing their professional expertise, all with a personal touch. Nothing newsworthy there! Contrary to Newsday’s bias, there is a renewed interest in communities becoming incorporated villages. People want to control their environment. They want their elected representatives to be responsive and to provide cost effective services. They don't want to have to call 10 different departments to receive 15 different answers to a simple question. They want raise their families in a hometown environment where neighbors watch out for neighbors.
Of the 900 Long Island taxing districts, only 95 are villages. The other 805 are school districts and special taxing districts created by the towns and counties. There are 64 incorporated villages in Nassau County, representing almost a half million people who chose to live in an incorporated village. If you do some research you will find that the real estate values in those villages are usually higher than homes in unincorporated areas. The fact is that there continues to be a proliferation of communities seeking information about incorporation. That sends a strong message that village government works.
Nancy Zolezzi
Mayor, Village of East Williston &
President of the NCVOA
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