Rockville Centre Herald 03-09-2023

Village officials decry Hochul’s ‘one-size-fits-all’ housing plan

By DANIEl oFFNER doffner@liherald.com

The Village of Rockville Centre held a special meeting on March 1 to inform residents about the New York Housing Compact and what it would mean for the community.

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s statewide strategy to address the housing crisis, announced in January and included in her executive budget proposal, sets a goal of building 800,000 new apartment units in the state by 2027. The plan would also require municipalities such as Rockville Centre with Metropolitan Transportation Authority rail stations to rezone to allow for higher-density residential development.

If approved as part of Hochul’s spending plan, under the Transit Oriented Develop-

Continued on page 9

Super

High school establishes partnerships with local businesses

By KEPHERD DANIEl kdaniel@liherald.com

South Side High School’s business department and the Rockville Centre Chamber of Commerce recently joined forces to help promote the school’s budding business clubs and courses. Chamber members, who met with school officials, business teachers, students and South Side alumni on Feb. 28, were encouraged to hire students who are interested in business careers as interns.

The interest in business at district schools has been growing for the past few years. When the International Baccalaureate

business program was introduced at the high school six years ago, a couple of dozen students registered to take the courses. More than 140 students are registered for next year — one-third of all South Side juniors.

Students who meet I.B. course requirements receive an I.B. diploma in addition to the state Regents diploma when they graduate. Business and marketing are the most popular courses.

As a result of the program’s growth, and the addition of a virtual enterprise course, the school has doubled its business teaching staff, from two to four.

“We knew the community was interested in it,” Assistant Principal Ben Moss said. “We had really high enrollment in our business courses, and so we grew the business program.”

Students want to learn realworld skills, Moss added. “It’s by far our most popular elective,” he said of I.B. Business. “Kids want to feel that what they’re learning is practical, not only for college but for real life, and that’s what they’re learning.”

The I.B. classes include partnerships with local businesses, and students write papers that address those businesses’ challenges. This year, businesses are looking to be even more

involved.

“We’re working with them in theory, and we could be doing more,” said Peter English, who was hired to teach the school’s first I.B. Business class. “We love working with these businesses, but we want to take that a step further and see what connections we can make through internships, job possibilities,

and ways we can work together in unison.”

The school has reached out to several members of the village chamber, including Polka Dog Pound Cake and Backyard Players and Friends, and Ferring Deli in Baldwin, a member of the Baldwin chamber. Administrators and students have also

Continued on page 27

Neil Miller/Herald

SouTH SIDE KNoCKED off defending state champion Manhasset, 57-46, to capture the Nassau County Class A boys’ basketball title last Saturday at Hofstra University. Story, more photos, Page 12.

Coach Realtors merges with Howard Hanna

Two family-owned real estate firms that opened their doors in the 1950s with eyes to serve their immediate neighbors are now joining forces some 70 years later.

Coach Realtors — based in Northport, but with offices across Long Island — has merged with Howard Hanna Real Estate Services out of Pittsburgh. The partnership of “two industry powerhouses” will “transform into even more amazing opportunities for our agents and clients,” said Howard “Hoby” Hanna IV, president of Howard Hanna, in a release.

“Our combined strength, talents and resources will be such an advantage in the industry.”

Howard Hanna first opened in Pittsburgh in 1957, not long after Coach Realtors set up shop in 1954. For Coach, that start began with a friendship founded during World War II that became a business partnership, according to the company’s history.

Since then, however, the two homegrown firms have expanded to become heavy hitters in the national real estate market. Howard Hanna has grown its presence in New York over the last seven years, and describes itself as the largest real estate firm in the state, based on units sold.

“We are thrilled to joined forces with Howard Hanna,” said Whitney Finn LaCosta, broker and owner of Coach Realtors, in a release. “We’re still the same Coach Realtors people have come to know and love, and you can expect the same top-quality service from our team. We just have a stronger real estate network for our clients now.”

As part of the merger, Coach Realtors will retain its

existing leadership and direction, with Finn LaCosta becoming chief executive of the newly combined Howard Hannah | Coach Realtors.

Coach agents gain an expanded referral network across 13 states, and will grow the overall network to

more than 15,000 agents and staff members.

“This partnership allows us to take Coach Realtors to the next level,” LaCosta said. “I’m looking forward to working with Howard Hanna and continuing our legacy of excellence.”

Courtesy Howard Hanna | Coach Realtors

Britt Berke directs a one-of-a-kind show

Betty Smith’s lost play, ‘Becomes A Woman,’ gets its big debut 91 years later

By DANIEL OFFNER doffner@liherald.com

Britt Berke is a groundbreaking young theatrical director from Rockville Centre, whose latest work breathes new life into a never-before-seen play from award winning novelist and playwright, Betty Smith.

The worldwide debut of “Becomes A Woman,” opened last month at the Mint Theater Company and will continue through March 18 at New York City Center Stage II, 131 W. 55th Street.

Before breaking into the literary scene with the 1943 bestseller, “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,” Smith had always dreamed of being a playwright. Despite having only completed two years of high school, she decided to take writing more seriously and in 1931 won the Avery Hopwood Award along with a $1,000 cash prize. But, her award-winning performance was never published or produced — that is, until now.

“Becomes A Woman,” tells the story of a 19-year-old girl living with her family in Brooklyn who goes to work at a local dime store. Timid and afraid of dating, she must find the strength from within to overcome some of the harsh realities of becoming a woman at that time.

Berke said that when she was first presented with the opportunity to premier the play, she was provided a script without an author’s name attached to gauge whether she appreciated the text itself.

“It was this cosmic beautiful thing,” Berke said. “I knew exactly who the playwright was.”

The play was originally named after its lead character, Francie Nolan, who just so happens to share the name of the protagonist in her future bestseller, but was later changed when she applied for a copyright.

“Our main goal of the play was to honor Betty Smith’s goals and visions,” Berke said, “and saturate it with as much detail and love as possible.”

The show is broken up into three different acts, each with its own unique style of performance. Berke explains that it starts off as a musical comedy, followed by a complex family drama, and a final act full of surprises and twists.

“It’s almost like directing three small plays that had to interact with each other,” Berke said. “I feel like I owe the entire journey of this play to my mother, Martha Krisel, who is an RVC classic.”

Berke said that her mother introduced

her to “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” at an early age and it really helped inspire her to direct the first-ever production of Smith’s first play.

“I’m glad we got to save this golden little play from that era,” she said.

For the premiere, on Feb. 27, Smith’s daughter, who is 100-years-old, sat in the front row and watched the performance her mother wrote so many years before.

Berke said she first fell in love with directing while under the mentorship of Pamela Seiderman, the director of the IB Theatre program at South Side High School.

She went on to graduate from Barnard

College of Columbia University in 2018, where she received the Kenneth Janes Prize in Theatre for outstanding intellectual and artistic achievement.

From there, she worked as an assistant director for some Off-Off Broadway productions. She said Smith’s play, “Becomes A Woman,” felt like a good title to claim for her directorial debut.

Most recently, she has directed and developed projects with New York Theatre Workshop (Adelphi residency), Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The Public Theatre,

Mama. She also directed Anne Carson’s “Antigonick” with Torn Out Theater, a company that utilizes selective nudity to highlight social interaction and promote body autonomy.

Performances of Smith’s “Becomes A Woman” are presented by the Mint Theater Company at City Theatre Stage II, now through March 18. For tickets and more information visit, NYCityCenter.org.

and Object Collection / La

Photos courtesy Todd Cerveris

EmmA PFItzER PRIcE, left, with Pearl Rhein and Gina Daniels star in ‘Becomes A Woman,’ the previously unreleased 1931 play written by Betty Smith, presented by the Mint Theater Company.

EmmA PFItzER PRIcE plays the lead role as Francie Nolan in the worldwide debut of Betty Smith’s ‘Becomes A Woman.’

PEtERsON tOwNsEND AND Emma Pfitzer Price deliver a rousing performance in the play ‘Becomes A Woman,’ directed by Rockville Centre’s-own Britt Berke.

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Cop sues village, police commissioner for $10M

Rockville Centre Police Commissioner James Vafeades is being sued for $10 million by a member of the police force, who alleges that Vafeades sent him a cardboard penis, then denied him a promotion in retaliation, after the officer reported Vafeades for unapproved moonlighting at a bagel shop in Wantagh.

According to the New York Post, Rockville Centre Police Sgt. John Beatty claims that Vafeades posted a picture of Beatty’s face on a rat’s body inside the precinct, after Beatty reported Vafeades’s side job.

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The Five Steps to an Elder Law Estate Plan

Elder law estate planning provides for (1) your care in the event you become disabled as you age, and who will be in charge of that care, and (2) the passing of your assets on death to whom you want, when you want, the way you want, with the least amount of taxes and legal fees possible. These are the five steps to creating such a plan.

Step One: Understanding the Family Dynamics. Clients often overlook the inestimable value of getting to know the family dynamic. We are firm believers that the social goes first and the legal should serve the social. Too often it is the other way around. Once we understand who’s who and everyone’s interpersonal relations with each other, we are far better able to craft a plan that will work socially as well as legally. The failure to address the social aspects has led to many a plan tearing the family apart.

Step Two: Reviewing the Client’s Assets. IRA’s and other “qualified” assets (i.e. tax deferred) are treated quite differently, on death or disability, from “non-qualified” assets. The determination of the amount and value of all assets, who owns them, and whether they have named beneficiaries are of the utmost importance in planning correctly,

including saving legal fees and taxes.

Step Three: Reviewing Existing Estate Planning Documents. Not having been prepared by an elder law attorney, clients’ documents rarely have adequate provisions to take advantage of the many benefits the law provides for our elderly population. Wills instead of trusts have often been prepared either because the client was considerably younger and a trust was not needed or a trust was needed but the general practice lawyer was unfamiliar with the specifics of preparing a trust.

Step Four: Developing the Elder Law Estate Plan. We are now in a position to determine which persons are best suited to handle your legal, financial and medical affairs on disability or death, what type of plan should be used and how the estate should be distributed — keeping in mind the preservation of harmony in the family.

Step Five: Executing and Maintaining the Plan. Legal documents are explained and executed, assets are retitled and beneficiaries on assets changed in keeping with planning objectives. The client is called in to the law firm every three years to ensure the plan meets the client’s current wishes and conforms

any law

In documents filed in Brooklyn federal court, Beatty stated that Vafeades was working as a lieutenant for the department when Beatty spotted him behind the counter at the bagel shop in 2017.

Before he was promoted to head of the department in 2018, Vafeades was questioned about his arrangement with the bagel store, having spent $125,000 for an ownership stake in the business.

In the lawsuit, Beatty accuses the commissioner and the Village of Rockville Centre of whistleblower retaliation

and violating his right to engage in protected speech.

Vafeades and village officials declined to comment in response to the ongoing litigation, as did Beatty’s attorney, Wayne J. Schaefer.

–Daniel

News brief

RVCPD commercial vehicle enforcement

The Rockville Centre Police Department Traffic Enforcement Unit conducted a targeted commercial vehicle inspection detail in conjunction with inspectors from the New York state Department of Transportation on Feb. 22.

Each member of the Traffic Enforcement Unit is highly trained and skilled in all state and federal laws and regulations pertaining to commercial motor vehicles. Throughout the year, professional development training courses help provide

each officer with the opportunity to receive updates on legal developments and learn about new and changing laws, policies, criminal interdiction techniques, and motor carrier safety regulations. During the enforcement detail, 10 trucks weighing over 10,000 pounds were inspected, and a total of 60 traffic tickets were issued. Five of the 10 vehicles inspected were taken out of service due to serious violations that made them dangerously unsafe to be operated on the road.

Offner

Courtesy Rockville Centre Police Department

A member of the Rockville Centre Police Department is suing Commissioner James Vafeades over claims of retaliation.

St. Baldrick’s Foundation returns to RVC Shaving heads and chopping ponytails to raise money for childhood cancer research

It’s that time of year again — a time when some bold individuals of all ages shave their heads or chop their ponytails in solidarity to raise money and awareness for childhood cancer research.

For the last 21 years, the St. Baldrick’s Foundation invites members of the Rockville Centre community come and cut their locks at the St. Agnes Parish Center, following the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 25.

The event typically helps raise between $250,000 and $500,000 each year. This past year, the foundation has raised more than $400,000 to help fund child research grants.

The St. Baldrick’s Foundation was founded in 1999 as a grassroots organization started by Rockville Centre resident, John Bender, and two of his friends. Since then it has grown to become the largest non-government funder of childhood cancer research in the world, having funded more than $325 million in grants.

It is a volunteer-driven, international nonprofit known for shaving the heads of hundreds of those hoping to help raise money to help find cures and improved treatments of all childhood cancers.

Due to the pandemic, the foundation has been limited to virtual events and smaller, downscaled activities for the past three years, and is now in need of support more than ever.

Even though the St. Baldrick’s Foundation awarded more than $11 million in research grants in 2022, there were many more they were unable to fund.

For the last 20 years, the St. Baldrick’s Foundation has helped fund thousand of research grants that include every phase of pediatric oncology clinical trials, to determine the most successful treatments with

the least long-term side effects for these young patients.

This includes grants for Cohen Children’s Medical Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Weill Cornell, NYU Langone/Winthrop, Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, Mt. Sinai, Columbia University Medical Center, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and hundreds of other cancer treatment all over the world.

This year’s event will also include inspirational speakers, live music featuring four local bands, including performances by Jim McGrath, The Drivellaires, Speckled Ax, and Pat the Horse. There will also be plenty of kids’ games and activities, multiple food trucks, a cash bar, raffles, bake sale, merchandise and more.

Rockville Centre, like many other communities on Long Island, has not been spared of the impact of pediatric cancer. Too many young children in the community have lost the battle to pediatric cancer. That is why it is the foundation’s goal to give all children the opportunity to experience long and healthy lives, while preventing families from having to endure the heart-breaking pain of losing a child to this horrible disease.

To register to shave your head or to donate to a participant’s fundraising page, visit StBaldricks.org for more details. Ponytail-choppers can also do double duty by providing their hair to HairWeShare.org, which helps create wigs for medical hair loss patients. And if giving up your hair is not for you, there are other ways to help participate. To volunteer for the event or donate, contact Stacey Cohen at (516) 960-0690, or Krissy Quinn at (516) 512-4485.

Courtesy Alanna Bender

The KimiSTrong Team raised almost $5,000 at the 2022 St. Baldrick’s event. The team shaved their heads in memory of Kimiko Schroder, of Rockville Centre and California, who died at the age of 12 from neuroblastoma.

Red team comes out victorious

By DANIEL OFFNER doffner@liherald.com

Screams of joy filled the South Side High School gymnasium on Saturday night, after learning that the Red team won by a score of 61-39 over the Blue team — claiming “Team Victory” for the first time since 2019.

“Congratulations on another outstanding Red and Blue,” Carol Roseto, the Rockville Centre school district’s athletics director, said before announcing the results. “The last three days have been fantastic.”

More than 400 girls, and several boys, participated in three nights of skits, songs, relays, dance, and athletic events, a Rockville Centre school tradition that has been going strong for more than a century.

Hundreds gathered for poster and revue night, to kick off the three-night extravaganza on March 2, when the teams performed songs and revealed their themes, “To REDfinity and Beyond,” based on the Disney and Pixar “Toy Story” film franchise, and “The Bluenies,” based on the 1985 classic, “The Goonies.”

The competition heated up from there, continuing with performances, sports, tumbling, and relay competitions on Friday and Saturday, where participants were given the opportunity to showcase all the hard work they put in over the last four-and-a-half weeks.

Under the direction of Jenna Carey and Lisa Guerriero, each team member, consisting of freshmen to seniors, spent hours each day creating and practicing their routines.

To help judge the events, a number of past team captains are asked to return for the weekend. Roseto said that this year, they had six judges score the events on Friday night and a different set of seven judges on Saturday night.

The final scores are determined based on the winners of each event along with points for attendance, organization, and sportsmanship, which help decide the winner.

“Sportsmanship points are awarded on a variety of factors,” Roseto said. “It takes into account the team’s behavior from day one through the very end. It’s also reflective of behavior towards opposing teams and towards their own teammates.”

The atmosphere in the gym was electric, following the final event, as the two teams eagerly awaited to hear the winners in each category.

The Blue team pulled off some big wins, especially in the dance category where they received points for their Jazz A, Jazz B, and Tap routines. They also won points for props, emblems, relays, and attendance.

But in the end it was the Red team that finished out on top, winning points for songs, posters, costumes, skits, tumbling, tug-of-war, and volleyball.

“I’m speechless,” Erin McCarthy, the tumbling coordinator for the Red team said after learning the team had won the 2023 Red and Blue competition. “It feels amazing.”

Emotions were running high after

three days of head-to-head competition. Despite all the screams and the tears, both the Red and Blue team embraced the spirit of the friendly competition, which is all in good fun, by congratulating their opponents for their valiant and noteworthy efforts.

The South Side High School tradition of Red and Blue was originally known as Girls Sports Night. It began in 1917, during at time when girls were not allowed to participate in sporting events. Since then, it has evolved into a three night competition of determination and skill that is celebrated each year throughout the entire Rockville Centre community.

sOuth

LAuREN

Tim Baker/Herald photos

PARENts AND sIBLINgs show their support from the stands.

ChRIs NELLIs, LEFt, Molly Munro, Catie Morgan, Logan Kelly, Ryan McNicholas, and Spencer David celebrate the first Red Team Victory in more than three years.

sIDE hIgh School senior Ava Boyens shows her support for the Red team.

FERAzANI gEts a ‘lift’ from her teammates during the Red teams Barbiethemed dance routine.

all in good fun — participants from both teams hug it out after the final event.

Both teams raced to the finish line during the Firemen’s relay on Friday night.

the Blue team scored big for their swashbuckling jazz dance routine.

Kendall PinsKy, a South Side High School senior, soars to new heights to lead the Red team in the tumbling portion of the competition.

sean sandhaas, a South Side High School senior, gets into the spirit of the annual Red and Blue competition.

Tim Baker/Herald photos

Both teams celeBrate with their teammates after a hard-fought three-day competition.

Officials voice opposition to housing plan

continued from front page

ment Act of 2023, municipalities would be required to adopt land-use regulations on a three-year cycle to allow for more highdensity development.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this would destroy life on Long Island as we know it,” Rockville Centre mayor Francis Murray said at last week’s meeting. “It would destroy suburbia. It dismantles all of our zoning codes.”

Murray explained that if the village didn’t meet the development requirement, the state could override municipal zoning ordinances, height requirements and environmental reviews using a fast-track approval process in order to build highdensity housing within a half-mile radius of the village’s Long Island Rail Road station.

The proposal would mandate that 50 housing units be built per acre within the target area. Based on that figure, Deputy Mayor Kathy Baxley said, the village would be responsible for building 504 new apartment units every three years.

“We don’t have anywhere to go except up,” Baxley said. “This would mean building on top of stores.”

A project of that magnitude, she said, would be similar to the three-phase Avalon development, which added more than 514 new housing units to the area between 2010 and 2017.

Village Trustee Katie Conlon said that she wanted to dispel the notion that the board was adopting a “not in my backyard” stance on Hochul’s proposal. “I am not opposed to growth and development,” Conlon said. “I’m opposed to rapid, chaotic growth. We need a smart, well-thought-out growth plan.”

She pointed out that the Housing Compact neither gives municipalities credit for existing housing nor takes into consideration their population density.

According to census data from 2010 and 2020, Conlon said, the village’s population grew by 8.3 percent. Housing in the village has also increased by 3.2 percent in the past 10 years.

“The more housing a municipality has provided over the past several years, the more housing they therefore need to create,” Conlon said. “Because it’s a percentage based on your current housing, we would have to create 3 percent more of that housing over three years. And in my opin-

ion that’s counter-intuitive, because you’re only compounding overly congested areas.”

Nassau County relies on groundwater for its drinking water. But with sewage and septic systems at or near capacity, many people are worried that additional stress could cause irreparable harm to the area’s ecosystem.

Murray said that Rockville Centre school classrooms are overflowing, local roadways and trains are overcrowded, emergency services are overtaxed, and police are responding to more calls than ever. He also pointed out that by 2025, the state would ban new structures from using fossil fuels like natural gas or oil for power, forcing a conversion to an all-electric power supply.

While a portion of the village power supply is sourced from hydroelectric energy, the remaining power supply is bought off the grid, and is generated by fossil fuels, oil and natural gas.

“It’s going to cost you four times as much,” Murray said. “It doesn’t make any sense. Either you’re for the environment or you’re not. You can’t have it both ways.”

To help facilitate the new development, Hochul’s plan would provide $250 million across the state for infrastructure upgrades.

“We would need $250 million just for us,” Baxley said. “We would have to change our electricity, change our sewers, hire more emergency services … it just doesn’t seem feasible at this time.”

There are currently 2,200 housing units within a half-mile of the train station, she said. But since none of them have been built in the past three years, they do not meet the criteria to be considered one of the “safe harbor” communities exempt from Hochul’s proposal.

Part of the Housing Compact also requires that the state create a panel in Albany to determine the standards for development. Trustee Emilio Grillo said that if the village wanted to challenge those standards, it would need to present “clear and convincing evidence” against them.

“It’s a ridiculous standard that is about as close to ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ as you can get,” Grillo said. “So in that instance, it’s putting an added burden on local governments if they want to challenge these decisions.”

Grillo said that he was also alarmed

that the state’s proposal would forgo any environmental review, which is usually required by the state in order for a municipality to develop so much as a parking lot.

“When something like this presents itself, rest assured that we’re going to fight as hard as we can to make sure that it doesn’t happen,” Grillo said. “But,” he added, directing his comment to the residents in attendance, “we’re going to need your help on that.”

The purpose of the meeting was to urge community members to spread the message about the state’s “one-size-fits-all” approach, and to persuade their neighbors to send letters to state officials to encourage them to stop the Housing Compact from being included in the budget.

“First of all, let’s not call it a compact, because a compact is an agreement,” Carolyn Stone, a local resident, said during the discussion at Village Hall. “This is an edict or dictate.”

Trustee Michael Sepe said that the

Daniel Offner/Herald

Community stakeholders attended a meeting at Rockville Centre Village Hall that could bring hundreds of new housing units to the village.

issue boils down to municipal zoning regulations versus state control, and is not based on any left-wing or right-wing political agenda.

“When you look at the nuts and bolts of this, it’s not only impractical, but it is noxious in the sense that it is an unfunded mandate, the likes of which this state has not seen,” Sepe said. “It’s about what works versus what doesn’t work. What draws people to move into your state, for whatever reason. For quality of life, for businesses, for income tax, for all the things that make a place attractive versus being one of those states that can’t chase people away fast enough.”

In an effort to encourage more residents to speak up about the proposed housing mandate, the village planned to host a special town hall meeting, with elected officials including Assemblyman Brian Curran and State Sen. Kevin Thomas, on this past Tuesday, after press time, at the John A. Anderson Recreation Center.

ROCKVILLE CENTRE HOUSING AUTHORITY

CAPITAL FUND PROGRAM

PUBLIC HEARING

The Rockville Centre Housing Authority has developed a Five Year Plan and an Annual Statement for its Capital Fund Program FY2023. Pursuant to 24CFR Part 905, a public hearing will be held at 1:30 pm on April 18, 2023 at the Rockville Centre Housing Authority Administrative Office, 160 N Central Ave, Rockville Centre, NY 11570.

RVC Education Foundation hosts 31st annual gala fundraiser on April 1

The Rockville Centre Education Foundation will hold its 31st annual fundraising Gala on Saturday, April 1 at Gatsby’s on the Ocean near Jones Beach.

Created in 1991, the RVC Education Foundation is a non-profit organization that seeks to enhance the quality of public education in the community by securing and providing financial resources.

By focusing on programs that enrich, engage, and expand the normal scope of

the classroom curriculum, the foundation helps foster innovation within the classroom and beyond.

Each year, financial grants are awarded by the foundation to RVC school district staff to help ensure that students are prepared to take on the global challenges that lie ahead. These grants are funded by money raised at the annual Gala. To date, the foundation has raised nearly one million dollars — a milestone they hope to exceed this year.

The honorees of the 2023 RVC Education Foundation Gala are Sharon Sheppard, assistant director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, and Rena Riback, founder of the Anti-Racism Project. Over the last three years, both Sheppard and Riback have helped give back to the community through Sharon’s Food Pantry.

“These two women truly understand the meaning of mission driven, community-based support, and the foundation is thrilled to honor them for their dedi-

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cation, hard work, and desire to undertake such an important initiative,” Mayda Kramer, president of the RVC Education foundation, said.

South Side High School business department teacher and facilitator, Peter English, will also be presented with the foundation’s Ruth Fins Award at this year’s Gala. More than just a classroom teacher — English is a true go-getter. He helped pilot the successful International Baccalaureate business management program at the high school and with his help rebooted the school’s DECA charter.

“We are particularly excited to recognize Mr. English for his efforts and dedication to the students through the DECA program, which is a program that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management,” Kramer said.

For more information about the foundation, donations and sponsorships opportunities, and to purchase tickets to the 2023 Education Foundation Gala on April 1 visit RVCEdFoundation.org.

By Jonathan Wolfsohn MBA,

OPTIONS FOR TAXPAYERS WHO NEED HELP PAYING THEIR

Taxpayers who can’t pay the full amount of federal taxes they owe should file their tax return on time and pay as much as possible. This will help reduce penalties and interest. If they can’t pay their full bill, they have some other options.

Get a loan: in many cases, loan costs may be lower than the combination of interest and penalties the IRS must charge under federal law. Normally, the late-payment penalty is 0.5% per month, not to exceed 25% of unpaid taxes. The interest rate, adjusted quarterly, is currently 4% per year, compounded daily. If a taxpayer can’t get a loan, the IRS offers other options.

Online payment plans: most individual taxpayers qualify to set up an online payment plan on IRS.gov, and it only takes a few minutes to apply. Applicants are notified immediately if their request is approved. Taxpayers who owe but cannot pay in full by the deadline don’t have to wait for a tax bill to request a payment plan. There is no need for them to contact the IRS for a payment plan or an installment agreement. The agency generally processes online payment plans quicker than requests made with electronically filed tax returns. If a taxpayer just filed their return and they know they’ll owe a balance, they may be able to set up a payment plan online before they even receive a notice or bill.

HOST

Michael Hinman Executive Editor Herald Community Newspapers SPEAKERS

Michael V. Del Giudice Postal Inspector Team Leader New York Division

Bernard Macias Associate State DirectorLong Island AARP New York

Blakeman claims a successful first year

By MICHAEL MALASZCZYK mmalaszczyk@liherald.com

It’s been a little more than a year since Bruce Blakeman officially took office as Nassau County executive. Since then, how much has life improved for the nearly 1.4 million people living under his administration?

Significantly. At least according to Blakeman, thanks to his work with the majority party in the Nassau County Legislature. Triumphs Blakeman shared as part of his Feb. 28 State of the County address.

And there was a lot on Blakeman’s plate, after taking over for Laura Curran — not all that could be handled at the county level. Inflation. Catalytic converter theft. Support for local businesses. Bringing Nassau out of the Covid-19 era. And challenging some proposals that had made their way down from Albany.

“Our administration increased the boost (of the) Nassau Main Street grants program by an additional $10 million to support small businesses and keep family-owned businesses in Nassau County,” Blakeman said. He also met with professionals and entrepreneurs from a number of communities to begin work on expanding opportunities “for all people so that every community in every person — Black, white, Asian, Hispanic and Latino — share in our county’s prosperity.”

It is important to invest in local business because Nassau is bigger than 10 states by population, and has a higher gross domestic product than 145 countries, Blakeman said. And there is something in the works that could shake this up even more — the proposed plan to bring a Las Vegas Sands casino to the Nassau Coliseum.

“We are considering this proposal, and I have consistently stated that we would keep an open mind,” Blakeman said. But there are conditions.

“It must be world-class, with a luxury hotel and entertainment component,” he said. “It must bring significant

In HIS StAtE of the County speech on Feb. 28, Nassau executive Bruce Blakeman praised what he described as a successful first year in office, giving credit to law enforcement and the county legislature for working with him on a number of initiatives to help bring some of his campaign promises to fruition.

revenue to the county and surrounding areas, including construction and permanent jobs. And third, it must have the support of the community.”

A cornerstone of the Blakeman administration has been tackling the mass thefts of catalytic converters in Nassau. Some of that concluded in December with “Operation Cat-Track,” partnering with Nassau County Police Department commissioner Patrick Ryder to recover $7 million worth of stolen converters. The operation, Blakeman added, put a significant dent on an organized crime ring responsible for the thefts.

“I especially want to thank Sen. Chuck Schumer for

asking the Department of Justice to help us and send a special response team to mobilize and to help crack down on these thefts,” Blakeman said.

While the Republican executive crossed party lines to praise Schumer, he still had some harsh words for Joe Biden, blaming the president’s border policies for the current fentanyl crisis.

Democrats closer to home — in his county legislature took issue with some of what Blakeman said, specifically where the credit should go for the positive direction in the last year.

“While we got off to a very rocky start when the county executive first took office, there has been some progress,” County Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton said as part of the Democratic response. “I am glad to report that minority-led proposals have been adopted, including a gas tax holiday, (and) tax relief for eligible seniors and disabled homeowners. And just this Monday, property tax exemptions for volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers.”

However, DeRiggi-Whitton hit Blakeman over the ongoing county tax assessment issue, which remains frozen. Blakeman maintained in the speech that much of the issue with tax assessment is still the fault of the Curran administration, which froze it during the pandemic.

As for fentanyl? DeRiggi-Whitton agreed the crisis must be addressed, but isn’t spending time pointing fingers.

“With fentanyl overdoses posing such a major threat, the Minority Caucus has introduced a law which would require low-cost fentanyl detecting strips to be included in every Narcan kit distributed by a county agency,” she said of the packages used to help save lives of those suffering opioid overdoses.

“Even though we have seen the potential of this approach in towns, cities and states across the United States, there has been no action by the majority on our proposal to date.”

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Herald sports

South Side dethrones Manhasset, 57-46

By TONY BELISSIMO tbellissimo@liherald.com

After not scoring in South Side’s Nassau Class A boys’ basketball semifinal playoff victory over Elmont four days earlier, senior point guard James Bivona made up for it and then some on the biggest stage against the defending state champions.

Bivona nailed his first three shots, including a pair from behind the arc, netting eight of his 13 points in the opening quarter to spark the second-seeded Cyclones in a 57-46 upset victory over No. 1 Manhasset at Hofstra University.

“I didn’t play well against Elmont and I wanted nothing more than to support my teammates tonight because Josh [Garelle], Rob [Pericolosi] and James [Murphy] bring it every game,” Bivona said. “I felt confident in warmups and it always feels good to hit your first shot.

“We slayed the dragon. It’s an incredible feeling that’s hard to describe. We’ve been working four months for this moment and waited a year to get another shot at Manhasset.”

Garelle poured in a game-high 16 points, Pericolosi added 11 and Murphy chipped in nine as South Side won its 23rd consecutive game and its 11th county championship in program history and first since the 2011-12 campaign. Senior Liam Connor had a 15 points and junior James Notias added 14 for the Indians, who eliminated the Cyclones in last year’s semifinals.

“We knew it was going to take a nearperfect game to beat a great team like Manhasset,” South Side head coach Jerry D’Angelo said. “We couldn’t have hoped for a better start and we did an excellent job defending and rebounding against a big team. I’m so proud of our

SOuTh SIdE

SENIOr Josh

Garelle poured in a game-high 16 points in the team’s 23rd consecutive win.

kids. We’ll enjoy this for a while and get ready for the next one.”

The Cyclones (23-1) advance to face Kings Park in the Long Island Class A title game next Saturday at Stony Brook University at 2 p.m. Manhasset, which defeated Kings Park in last year’s LIC, finished 22-2.

“It’s going to take a while for this to sink in,” said the 6-foot-5 Garelle, one of South Side’s four senior starters. “This has been a dream for four years. We watched a lot of film on them and know they can put together runs. They jumped ahead in the third quarter but we were able to weather the storm and respond.”

Manhasset scored the game’s first basket but didn’t lead again until Connor’s layup midway through the third quarter made it 28-27. The Cyclones, who raced to a 16-6 lead after one and clung to a 23-22 halftime edge, took the lead back for good after Murphy nailed a step-back trey.

South Side closed the third quarter with back-to-back dynamic possessions to take a 37-30 lead into the fourth. Bivona swished a trey from the corner and then Pericolosi hit a jump hook in the lane, sending the Cyclones’ supporters into a frenzy.

“We’ve been able to play with composure all season,” D’Angelo said. “That has a lot to do with experience. We took a couple of big swings Manhasset thew at us and didn’t get rattled. And in the fourth quarter, we hit our free throws.”

Junior Matthew Arnott and Pericolosi opened the fourth with baskets and the margin swelled to 11. Garelle went 5-for-6 from the line in the final six minutes, while Pericolosi and Murphy were both perfect on their lone trips.

“We had a lot to prove,” Garelle said. “We really wanted it.”

Photos by Neil Miller/Herald

SENIOr JaMES BIvONa, left, starred in the Cyclones’ Nassau Class A title game victory over Manhasset last Saturday with 13 points, including eight in the first quarter.

Robert ‘Bubba’ Seaman

Rockville Centre Fire Chief Robert “Bubba” Seaman died peacefully on Friday, March 3, 2023, from 9/11 related causes. He was 57.

Seaman joined the Rockville Centre Volunteer Fire Department and Live Oak Engine Co. No. 1 on June 20, 1989. He served as the captain of Live Oak from 1995 to 1997, and again from 1999 to 2001.

On September 11, 2001, he responded to help in the rescue and recovery effort at the World Trade Center along with fellow members of the department.

He worked his way through the ranks, serving as the second assistant and first assistant chief, before serving as Chief of the Rockville Centre Fire Department from 2015 to 2017.

Seaman was serving as a delegate to the Fourth Battalion Fire District — helping serve the East Rockaway, Lakeview, Lynbrook, Malverne, and Rockville Centre communities. He was also Assistant Chief Fire Inspector, Warden of the Fire Council representing Engine Co. No. 1, and co-chair of the New Engine Committee, among numerous other department and company committees.

“He was a true gentleman,” Village Trustee Emilio Grillo said. “He was extremely generous, not only to our fire department, but to our community at large and was a tremendous asset who will truly be missed.”

In addition to his role with the RVC Fire Department, Seaman was a beloved

member of the business community and a salesman for P.C. Richard and Son on Sunrise Highway, where he worked for more than 25 years.

He is survived by his loving fiancé, Patricia Martinez, and his two siblings, Maggie and Jimmy.

Visitation was held on Monday, March 6 and Tuesday, March 7, and followed by a Rockville Centre Fire Department Service at the Thomas A. Glynn and Son Funeral Home on Lincoln Avenue.

The funeral service will be held on Wednesday, March 8, at 10 a.m., after press time, and followed by interment at Greenfield Cemetery in Uniondale at 11:30 a.m.

News BRIef

Bill seeks protections for tax lien foreclosures

Senator Kevin Thomas and Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein have introduced a bill that would provide homeowners at risk of tax lien foreclosures with the same protections afforded to borrowers in residential mortgage foreclosure proceedings.

Tax lien foreclosures are based on a relatively small tax delinquency, but can result in egregious loss of equity and displacement of long-time residents ousted from their homes and communities. This is especially true for senior homeowners who have paid off their mortgages, but may be tax burdened or experiencing challenges that have caused their property taxes to become delinquent.

Certain state jurisdictions operate their tax lien foreclosure proceedings with obscure processes and strict dead-

lines, sharing only limited information with homeowners at risk of foreclosure.

“We should be making it easier for struggling Long Islanders to resolve tax lien foreclosures and get back on their feet – not allowing investors to capitalize off of them,” Thomas said. “The current process contributes to the displacement of longtime homeowners, which is often concentrated amongst communities of color and senior citizens already facing high foreclosure rates and targets of predatory lenders.”

Significant consumer protections identical to those proposed in this legislation were implemented in 2016 for residential mortgage foreclosures. However, homeowners at risk of losing their homes based on tax delinquencies are not currently covered by the same protections.

Photo credit

RobeRt “bubba” Seaman died on March 3, 2023 at the untimely age of 57.

It all started the moment she raised her

By MALLORY WILSON mwilson@liherald.com

When Randi Shubin Dresner was 8, she raised her hand during a school assembly — and that one action shaped the course of her life.

The assembly, at McVey Elementary School in East Meadow, was focused on the March of Dimes, an organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies. Representatives were there to talk about an upcoming walk-a-thon, and they asked students if they wanted to serve as school representatives for the event. Shubin Dresner didn’t hesitate to raise her hand.

“I raised my hand at 8 years old, and I never put it down again,” she said. “I volunteered through my entire childhood at the March of Dimes, as well as a couple of other organizations.”

Shubin Dresner, now 62, is the president and chief executive officer of Island Harvest, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization, based in Melville. The food bank has a wide variety of programs to help feed those in need, from children to seniors and veterans.

She started there in 2001, after meeting longtime Island Harvest board member Stuart Richner, chief executive of Richner Communications and publisher of the Heralds, in an elevator at a networking event. At the time, Shubin Dresner was working at the Heckscher Museum of Art. She talked to Richner about the possibility of sponsoring an event the museum was having.

“In the time it took to go from one floor to the next, I introduced myself, told him about the organization that I worked with, and almost got him to become a sponsor of the event,” she recalled. “He is and was a board member at Island Harvest, and went back to the organization and said, ‘I just met this person — you better call her and recruit her to come to Island Harvest.’”

Shubin Dresner said that she turned the job down more

than once before deciding to make the switch to the food bank. “It was an interesting mission that I could relate to, and it was a very small organization at the time,” she said.

“I was encouraged by the fact that the board recognized that there was a lot of growth potential, and the board put a lot of trust in me and my vision for the organization.”

Island Harvest wasn’t the first time she explored her potential as a leader. Shubin Dresner has been in the nonprofit sector her whole life. In middle school, she started her own March of Dimes chapter in her basement, and recruited her friends.

“I just liked what they were talking about,” she recalled.

“I liked their enthusiasm, and their excitement about the work they were doing, and I wanted to be part of it.”

At 17, she became a full-time employee at March of Dimes. And from there, she never looked back. Before landing at Island Harvest, she spent time at the Viscardi Center, in Albertson, and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, among other organizations. At the National MS Society, she served as executive director of the Nassau County chapter, and at just 23, she transformed it from a failing organization to an award-winning chapter.

“I knew from an early age that this was going to be my career,” Shubin Dresner said. “I loved doing fundraising, I loved presenting and talking at groups, and giving back to the community, and creating programs that support that community.”

Many of her early career years were shaped by her time at the March of Dimes and the role models she met there — especially the organization’s executive director at the time, Lottie Seligman.

“In the mid- to late ’60s, there weren’t a lot of women in business,” Shubin Dresner said. “I watched (Seligman) and tried to model her in my early years of building my career. The women who were the directors and managers at the organization really taught me a lot. I had really incredible women models in my career.”

Now, at Island Harvest, she prides herself on the relationship she has with the board of directors, and how much she’s been able to involve her family in her lifelong mission of helping others.

“I’m honored to be in this work,” she said. “I’m honored to have this opportunity to work at organizations for an entire career that has an impact on changing lives.”

Herald file photo

RANdI ShuBIN dReSNeR, chief executive and president of Island Harvest, has worked in nonprofits since she was a child.

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STEPPING OUT

STEPPING OUT

Creative advocacy

A sweet time awaits at the Surrounded by confections

By Karen Bloom

Smitten by chocolate, and so much more. Temptations await at the Chocolate Expo’s latest edition, ready to entice everyone on March 12.

By Karen Bloom

The popular event is back on Long Island to delight chocoholics at its new location — Hofstra University’s David S. Mack Sports & Exhibition Complex in Hempstead, for a day-long foodie paradise. More than 80 vendors — representing Long Island, New England and elsewhere, even international purveyors — will share their sweet and savory wares during this unique foodcentric festival.

WHERE WHEN

Pat McGann

Expo

• Saturday and Sunday, noon-4 p.m.; Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

• Sunday, March 12, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

• Tickets are $20 adult, $15 ages 5-12 or $30 adult, $15 ages 5-12 at door; available from TheChocolateExpo.com

• Emily Lowe Hall Gallery, South Campus, Hempstead. For information and to RSVP, call (516) 463-5672, or visit Hofstra.edu/museum

• Hofstra University, David S. Mack Sports & Exhibition Complex, Hempstead

Stand,” Hofstra University Museum of Art’s new exhibition, examines power of the arts in society.

Alexandra Giordano — the museum’s assistant director of exhibition and exhibit underscores artists’ civic responsibility and influence. the vital role that artists have in activating democratic values that and freedom, encouraging civic engagement, and cultivating unity,” “Artists often lead the charge and expose truths that may otherwise be in this exhibition take a stand and call out injustices through their art issues such as immigration, gender, reproductive rights, mass incarceration, bias, gun violence, and promises unfulfilled. They all combine the making service that has a grassroots approach in the hope of mobilizing their the nation to ignite movement, create awareness, and inspire others to which runs through July 28, is in conjunction with Hofstra’s conference on the Barack Obama presidency coming up in April. interested in the idea that the artist has a civic responsibility,” says Karen Albert. “The initial idea for this exhibition was inspired by Administration White House briefing that took place on May 12, 2009, 60 artists and creative organizers met with administration officials to collective power of the arts to build community, create change, and chart national recovery in the areas of social justice, civic participation and unlike other recent exhibits that showcased the museum’s collection, Giordano reached out to contemporary artists who loaned selected works. Some 36 pieces are on view — representing Emma Amos, Molly Crabapple and the Equal Justice Initiative, Miguel Luciano, Michele Pred, Hank Willis Thomas, and Sophia climate is now, this exhibit could not be more timely than Albert adds. highlights, she points to the series of prints from the Freedoms. Their four large scale photos are based on 1943 oil paintings inspired by President Franklin D. State of the Union address that outlined what he essential four democratic values freedom of speech, worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. For interpreted these iconic works for our era. composition,” Albert says. “From 1940s America, what America is today, our diversity and what we look museum offers additional enhance the exhibit experience. include an artist panel on Feb. 23, the role of the artist as activist, and a Alexandra Giordano, March 16.

Founder Marvin Baum says this year’s event includes many first-time vendors as well as a diversity of offerings — even some for your beloved pooch. As Baum puts it: “People take care of themselves with special treats, so why not let your pet enjoy some, too?

Visitors can celebrate and indulge in gourmet chocolates, baked goods, specialty items, cheeses, wines, spirits, hard ciders, craft sodas, and much more. Of course tasting is very much a part of it all — starting from the moment you enter. Guests are greeted by fountains overflowing with dark, white and milk chocolates, in which a selection of fresh fruit, marshmallows pretzels and Rice Krispies treats can be deliciously drenched.

“When you go to these festivals, you remember something you tried that you can’t get elsewhere,” Baum says. “That’s what we try to do with this.”

Participating chocolatiers offer chocolate bonbons, chocolate bars,

raw chocolate, hot chocolate, chocolate fudge, chocolate novelties, chocolate barks and chocolate-covered goodies, chocolatecovered soft pretzels, even chocolatecovered bacon. Cupcakes, brownies, doughnuts, and assorted cakes are showcased along with other gluten-free offerings and other baked goods, while hot cocoa, wine, and hard ciders, and even chocolate moonshine, will be among the craft beverages available for tasting and purchase.

Pat McGann is quickly rising as one of the sharpest stand-ups on the comedy scene. A relative latecomer to comedy, he began doing standup at 31 after realizing he was not very good at selling packaging. He hustled his way to become the house emcee at Zanies Chicago, where he distinguished himself as especially adept at working the crowd. A husband and father of three young children, McGann’s appeal stems from his quick wit and relatable take on family life and marriage. In 2017, McGann began touring as the opening act for Sebastian Maniscalco, moving with him from clubs to theater, to arenas, including four soldout shows at Madison Square Garden. McGann’s relatively short, but impressive resume, includes Montreal’s famed Just For Laughs Festival, Gilda’s LaughFest, The Great American Comedy Festival, and more. McGann still calls Chicago home.

Saturday, Feb. 11, 8 p.m. $40, $35, $30, $25. The Paramount, 370 New York Ave., Huntington. (800) 745-3000 or Ticketmaster.com or ParamountNY.com.

The Ugly Duckling

Lightwire Theater brings a classic tale to the modern stage. Since bursting to national acclaim after appearing as semi-finalists on ‘America’s Got Talent’ and winning the top honors on truTV’s ‘Fake Off,’ Lightwire has gone on to enthrall audiences worldwide with their unique combination of skill and grace as told through the technological innovations of moving light characters. In this unforgettable theatrical experience — created with electroluminescent wire — the beloved story of ‘The Ugly Duckling’ plays out through a cutting-edge blend of puppetry, technology and dance. Ideally suited to kids through Grade 6, all ages will enjoy this innovative re-imagining of the beloved tale, with its dazzling visuals, poignant choreography and creative use of music ranging from classical to pop.

Saturday, March 11, 11 a.m. $28.

Jeanne Rimsky Theater at Landmark on Main Street, 232 Main St., Port Washington. (516) 767-6444 or LandmarkOnMainStreet.org.

Yarn/Wire

“We’re really excited to be here,” Baum says, noting that his chocolate-fest has emerged from the pandemic renewed and reinvigorated. “We love to work with local vendors and support new businesses by introducing people to them.”

These include: The Best Goody Bag, a Valley Stream baker of custom birthday cakes and other birthday-related treats; Peace Love & Hot Chocolate, a purveyor of gourmet hot chocolate kits, based in Island Park; Uncle Jeff’s Pecan Pies, a Wantagh baker, who’s all about pie — pecan pie that defies imagination; and West Hempstead’s Sunflower Bake Shop, which specializes in kosher and vegan baked goods.

If your palate reaches sensory overload, take a break for a while and check out some of the many activities that round out the day. Magician Eric Wilzig, of “America’s Got Talent” fame, performs two high-energy “extreme” magic shows on the Expo stage. Actor Paris Themmen — who starred as Mike TeeVee in the original “Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory” film — is on the scene to greet guests from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m., plus he does an interview noon, followed by audience Q&A.

Also appearing is chef Francis Legge, a winner of Food Network’s “Beat Bobby Flay” and a contestant on Netflix’s “Snack vs. Chef,” who will do an on-stage demonstration, while Long Island’s DJ Chef, who won Food Network’s “Cuthroat Kitchen,” does his “Beats & Sweets Interactive Cooking Show,” combining his passions for food and music. Kids will enjoy face painting and balloon twisting activities in the Kidz Zone, along with chocolate-themed crafts.

Now in its 18th year, Adelphi University’s ‘new music’ series welcomes Yarn/Wire. The intrepid New York-based piano-percussion quartet has forged a singular path with endlessly inventive collaborations, commissions and performances that have made a significant contribution to the canon of experimental works. The quartet features founding member Laura Barger and Julia Den Boer on piano and Russell Greenberg, also a founding member, and Sae Hashimoto playing percussion. Barger is a frequent guest with many top American contemporary ensembles. French-American Den Boer performs internationally as a soloist and chamber musician. Greenberg is in demand with varied ensembles. Hashimoto, the newest member, contributes a unique approach to performance cultivated by her intensive classical training .

Friday, Feb. 17, 7:30 p.m. $30 with discounts available to seniors, students, alumni and employees. Adelphi University Performing Arts Center, 1 South Ave., Garden City. (516) 877-4000 or Adelphi.edu/pac.

The Sicilian Tenors

The Sicilian Tenors bring their dynamic sound to Tilles Center, ready to put their spin on the classics, and so much more. The three classically trained tenors sing their own interpretations of some of the world’s best music in this lively evening. It’s a journey from Hollywood to Broadway to Italy as these operatic voices perform a wide selection of beloved songs. Combined with light-hearted fun, Aaron Caruso, Elio Scaccio and Sam Vitale put on an appealing show for everyone — all ages and musical tastes. They are a fresh and accessible take on the great Italian musical tradition. Always in demand, their special blend of classic opera and Broadway hits, along with Rat Pack-type shenanigans is a consistent crowdpleaser.

Saturday, March 18, 8 p.m. $52, $42, $32. Tilles Center for the Performing Arts, LIU Post campus, 720 Northern Boulevard, Brookville. (516) 299-3100 or TillesCenter.org.

Photos courtesy Chuck Fishman Take your pick. This year’s Chocolate Expo is a showcase of scrumptious bites.

change the world? It’s a question been at the focus of our collective centuries. Now as society the complexities of modern life, path for social change is at the of artistic expression.

Courtesy Hofstra Universally Museum of Art Rockwell’s celebrated ‘Four Freedoms’ are reinHank Willis Thomas and Emily Shur in Gottesman and the Wyatt Gallery.

Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. Thomas, ‘Lives of Others,’ 2014, made resin and standing 57 inches tall

THE SCENE

Jewish War Veterans

127th anniversary Jewish War Veterans hold a special program, Wednesday, March 15, at noon, at Central Synagogue-Beth Emeth, 430 DeMott Ave. in Rockville Centre. Established on March 15, 1896, the Jewish War Veterans of the United States is the longest running veterans organization in the country Admission is free, but reservation is required. To attend contact Post Commander Eric Spinner at (516) 369-5313 or We-Are-Vets.US/JWV127.

‘Head Over Heels’

Molloy University’s CAP21 Theatre Arts students present this jukebox musical, Saturday and Sunday, March 11-12, at the Madison Theatre. Based on Philip Sidney’s “The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia.” 1000 Hempstead Ave., Rockville Centre. Tickets at MadisonTheatreNY.org.

Sisterhood Game Night

Breastfeeding Support Group

Mercy Hospital offers a peer to peer meeting for breastfeeding support and resources, facilitated by a certified breastfeeding counselor, every Thursday, 10:30 a.m.–11:30 a.m. Bring your baby (from newborn to 1 year) to the informal group setting. All new moms are welcome, regardless of delivering hospital. Registration required. Call breastfeeding counselor, Gabriella Gennaro, at (516) 705-2434 to secure you and your baby’s spot. Mercy Hospital, St. Anne’s Building, 1000 North Village Ave., Rockville Centre. For information visit CHSLI.org.

Pre-parade Dinner

Before the St. Patrick’s Day parade, honor Grand Marshal Tommy McNicholas, Thursday, March 23, at the Bridgeview Yacht Club, 80 Waterfront Blvd. in Island Park, at 7 p.m., in For more information visit RVCStPatrick.com.

Keeping up with the schools

The singer-songwriter visits the Landmark stage, Saturday, April 1, 8 p.m. Nestled somewhere between power-pop and American folk you will find Willie Nile strumming his guitar. A true believer in rock n’ roll, over the years Nile has made admirers out of Bruce Springsteen and Pete Townshend who personally requested him to tour with The Who, among others who sing his praises. The New York Times called him “one of the most gifted singer-songwriters to emerge from the New York scene in years.” Nile shares the stage with James Maddock; their pairing results in an exciting evening of roots rock. $42, $36, $31. Jeanne Rimsky Theater at Landmark on Main Street, 232 Main St., Port Washington. (516) 767-6444 or LandmarkOnMainStreet.org.

Play mah jongg and canasta with the Sisterhood of Congregation B’nai SholomBeth David at their weekly game night,Tuesday, March 14, 7:309:30 p.m., in the synagogue lobby, 100 Hempstead Ave., Rockville Centre.

The next regular meeting and budget session of the Rockville Centre school district Board of Education will be held Thursday, March 9, 7 p.m., in the South Side High School commons, 140 Shepherd Street.

Willie Nile

On stage

Mo Willems’ popular The Pigeon comes alive on the Long Island Children’s Museum stage, Saturday, March 11, 11:30 a.m.; Thursday and Friday, March 1617, 10:15 a.m. and noon. Pigeon is eager to try anything, with the audience part of the action. $9 with museum admission ($7 members), $12 theater only. Long Island Children’s Museum, Museum Row, Garden City. (516) 224-5800 or LICM.org.

RVC Homemakers

Learn crafts, cooking, canasta and so much more while doing community service for local hospitals, veterans, women, and children, with RVC Homemakers. These exxceptional women meet every Tuesday, at 10 a.m., at the Recreation Center, 111 North Long Beach Road in Rockville Centre. For more information call Karen Alterson at (516) 318-6771.

March 15

In concert

Singer-songwriters Kala Farnham and Lara Herscovitch share the bill and swap songs during the monthly Hard Luck Café series, co-presented by the Folk Music Society of Huntington and the Cinema Arts Centre, Wednesday, March 15 , 7-10 p.m. An open mic precedes the concert, in Cinema’s Sky Room, 423 Park Ave., Huntington. $20. For tickets and information, visit CinemaArtsCentre.org.

Lions Club General Membership Meeting

The next monthly meeting of the Rockville Centre Lions Club takes place Wednesday, March 15, 7 p.m., Rockville Centre Public Library conference room, 221 N. Village Ave. For more details visit RVCLions.com.

Having an event?

StepCrew

StepCrew brings their Celtic flair to the Adelphi University Performing Arts Center stage, Saturday, March 11, 7:30 p.m. The talented cast of dancers and musicians is led by Long Island’s Cara Butler and the Pilatzke Brothers, Jon and Nathan. All three are longtime touring members of the acclaimed The Chieftains. The StepCrew boasts Celtic and World music from three world-class fiddle players backed by a five-piece ensemble, featuring three dance styles — Irish, Tap, and Ottawa Valley step dance. Tickets start at $55, with discounts available to seniors, students, Adelphi alumni and employees. Adelphi University Performing Arts Center, 1 South Ave., Garden City. (516) 8774000 or Adelphi.edu/pac.

All-District Orchestra Band

Band students in the Rockville Centre school district perform, in the All-District recital on Thursday, March 16, 7 p.m., in the South Side Middle School auditorium.

Items on The Scene page are listed free of charge. The Herald welcomes listings of upcoming events, community meetings and items of public interest. All submissions should include date, time and location of the event, cost, and a contact name and phone number. Submissions can be emailed to thescene@liherald.com.

‘Forever Plaid’

Plaza Theatrical is ready to spring forward with “Forever Plaid,” an affectionate musical homage to the close harmony guy groups that reached the height of their popularity during the ‘50s, Saturday, March 18, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, March 19, 2:30 p.m.; Thursday, March 23, 2 p.m. The show features such hits as “Three Coins in a Fountain,” “Heart and Soul,” “Catch a Falling Star,” and “Love is A Many Splendored Thing.” It’s performed at Plaza’s stage at the Elmont Library Theatre, 700 Hempstead Tpke., Elmont. $49, $45 seniors. Elmont. For tickets, call (516) 599-6870 or visit PlazaTheatrical.com.

Family theater

Everyone’s favorite cat comes to mischievous life in this theatrical adaptation of the Dr. Seuss classic, presented Plaza Theatrical Productions, Saturday, March 11, 11 a.m.; Sunday, March 12, noon. See what goes on during that rainy day when two siblings are home alone with their pet fish while their parents are out of town, and the tall cat wearing a hat appears. Tickets are $15. Visit the Plaza stage at The Showplace at Bellmore Movies, 222 Pettit Avenue, Bellmore. For information/tickets, go to PlazaTheatrical.com or call (516) 599-6870.

Craft Kitchen & Tap House

St. Patrick's Week Menu

2023

Beef Barle y Soup 10

Appetizer s

Chef Patrick was influenced as a young man by his Grandmother 's kitchen, and that's where he saw that cooking can feed peoples souls.

Patrick attended and excelled at the culinary schools he attended. His first stop was at Sullivan College. His journey started at the Garden City Hotel, in the La Cote d' dining room with master Chef Patrick Pino, who shaped his philosophy of cooking. Patrick then headed to New York City to expand his culinary repertoire at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. That's where he met Three Star Michelin Chef Gunther Serger Chef Serger instilled in him the elegance of simplicity, artistry of balance and the appreciation of the ingredients. Patrick moved south to Atlanta and worked with renowned chef and author Marcella Hazan who instilled the purity and quality of the products that they used. A short stint with Chef Emeril Lagasse exposed Patrick to southern flares and flavors as well.

Patrick felt he had found his culinary voice and headed home to Long Island. That's when he found local farms and fishermen that worked with sustainable practices. Over the years Patrick has instilled balance in the blends of ingredients in his cuisine, still striving for the fulfillment of his culinary soul. Craft Kitchen & Taphouse are so excited to have Chef Patrick heading to the Lynbrook team. His weekly specials are a "must try" and will be changing the seasonal menu this May, making it a great Spring Summer destination whether you dine inside or out at Craft.

Irish Nachos

Potato Chips, Cor ned Beef, Sour Cream, Scallions, Swiss Cheese Sauce 15

Kilkenny Ste w Beef, Potatoes & Veggies, Over Egg Noodles 22

Beer Battered Fish & Chips Cole Slaw, Hand Cut Fries 22

Cor ned Beef & Cabbage Boiled Potatoes 25

Dublin Eggrolls

Cor ned Beef, Cabbage, Swiss Cheese 15

Entrées

She pherd's Pie

Ground Beef, Car rot & Pea Casserole, Topped W/ Mashed Potatoes 22

Done gal Tidbits

Cor ned Beef, Swiss Cheese, Fries 18

Reuben Sandwich

Cor ned Beef, Swiss Cheese, Sauerkraut, Russian Dressing, Fries 17

CB Sandwich

Cor ned Beef, Rye Bread, Fries 16

CHEF PATRICK DELAY

SOME FACTS

• Living donor transplants work better and generally last far longer than deceased donor kidneys.

• The donor kidney is removed laparoscopically and most donors return to regular activities in two - three weeks.

• Gettng tested begins with a blood test. There is no cost to the donor for this lifesaving gift.

BIO

After many childhood struggles, Patric had his first transplant in 2009 at the age of 19. Unfortunately that kidney began to fail in 2019. After many frightening health scares, Patrick started dialysis in 2020, and after many close calls in and out of the hospital, Patrick was fortunate to receive the life saving gift of another kidney in May 2021. Unfortunately for Patrick the kidney is not sustaining him.

The continued struggles have since been devastating for Patrick and once again he’s facing dialysis Patrick is a hard working talented chef at Pearl in Island Park and just wishes to live a life that allows him to follow the professional dream he loves so dearly.

Long Island’s top real estate pros honored

Hundreds attend annual Real Estate Achievement and Leadership Awards

By ANA BORRUTO aborruto@liherald.com

The job of someone in real estate goes beyond just helping clients buy, sell or rent properties. For many professionals, it is about the rewarding feeling of finding a person or family’s “forever” home, and seeing their faces light up as they walk through the door.

Individuals in the industry often strive to offer listings or create developments with the goal of enhancing a community and providing potential homebuyers with a lifestyle they have always dreamed of.

The importance of community involvement and advocacy could not ring more true in the room of hundreds of real estate titans and visionaries at RichnerLive’s second annual Real Estate Achievement and Leadership Awards last week at The Heritage Club at Bethpage in Farmingdale.

“Real estate in my blood,” said Kevin Law, partner and executive vice president of Tritec Real Estate, and the keynote speaker of the evening. “I care about this island — I am hoping that the things I do can make a difference, and make this region a little bit better to live, work and play.”

This year’s REAL Awards honored dozens of professionals in residential and commercial real estate, with some proceeds from the event supporting Habitat for Humanity Long Island — a global non-profit organization whose mission is to bring people together to build affordable, environmentally stable homes for those in need.

Jennie Katz, president and owner of Blue Island Homes, said in her 27 years in the business, the room for creativity is what she finds the most exciting as a broker. For example, she and her business partner, Mark Stempel, are planning to collaborate with interior designers and decorators to stage a truck with all of Blue Island Homes’s listings.

“I started my own business with Mark 10 months ago, and it was about being creative and doing something different,” Katz said. “It’s about passion. It’s about working really hard and being honest.”

Michael Stanco, a licensed real estate broker for the Stanco Misiti team at Compass, talked about his special project, The Residences at Glen Harbor, which received a residential REAL Award at the event.

In the ever-changing housing market, Stanco said it is crucial to provide people with unique living opportunities such as The Residences at Glen Harbor — an alternative option to typical single-family homes.

Anthony Bartone, managing partner of Terwilliger and Bartone Properties, expressed a similar sentiment and discussed his philosophy of mindfulness when introducing projects to Long Island neighborhoods — specifically the environmental impact.

For example, Bartone’s organization pledged to only use native plantings in their developments because of the harmful risk invasive plants pose to the soil.

“It’s important that we set all this up to the extent we can for our next generation,” Bartone said.

The REAL Awards trailblazer Deidre O’Connell — chief executive of Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty — grabbed the audience’s attention with her inspirational speech about Realtors pushing through pandemic obstacles these last few years.

She also shared some wisdom for the next generation of homebuyers who may feel a bit anxious when it comes to the prospect of living on Long Island. Statistically, people who buy homes accumulate more money at the end — money they would not have if they put it into renting a place, where there is no return.

“You got to get in the game,” O’Connell said. “Young people have to start at the bottom if their income isn’t going to get them in at the top. Once you’re in the game, you appreciate with the market.”

The major sponsors of the night included Easy Tax Credits, Tenantbase and Maidenbaum. Blue Island Homes, Coldwell Banker American Homes and E.W. Howell were gold sponsors of the evening.

Silver sponsors included Ackerman Law, Breslin Realty Development Corp., Coldwell Banker Distinctive Homes, Cronin & Cronin Law Firm, Cushman & Wakefield, Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty, Douglas Elliman, GLS, Habitat Abstract, Hayduk Engineering, Heatherwood, Japan Schlesinger Narendran, Lipsky Construction, Long Island Board of Realtors, M&T Bank, Property Shark, R&M Engineering, Ruskin Moscou Faltischek, Sahn Ward Braff Koblenz,

SMR, Stanco Misiti Team at Compass, Terwilliger & Bartone Properties, The Gitto Group, Valley Bank, Weatherstone Mortgage Corp.

“Our second annual REAL awards was another huge success,” exclaimed Stuart Richner, chief executive of Richner Communications, which created the REAL Awards. “Where else can you find so many individuals and organizations that fuel our local economy? The award recipients are staples in our communities, and their recognition is well-deserved. I am excited to see all that the future holds for

Long Island.”

Tim Baker/Herald photos MARk STeMple, ceO of Blue Island Homes, accepts his REAL Award with company president Jennie Katz and Herald Community Media publisher Stuart Richner.

DeiRDRe O’cONNell, ceO of Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty, shared her experiences as a trailblazer at the REAL Awards at The Heritage Club at Bethpage in Farmingdale.

keviN lAw, pARTNeR and executive vice president of Tritec Real Estate, delivers the keynote address at the REAL Awards.

FAthER/ dAughtER

tEAm giLbERt and Tiffany Balanoff, above, were recognized for Gilbert’s work with The Law Offices of Gilbert Balanoff, and Tiffany’s job as a licensed real estate agent at Douglas Elliman.

miRiAm hAgEndoRn gEts her REAL Award from Stuart Richner, at left, for her work as a licensed real estate salesperson a Serhant.

2023 Real Estate Achievement and Leadership Award winners

Residential

The Residences at Glen Harbor

Michael W. Stanco

Stanco Misiti Team at Compass

Gina Marie Bettenhauser

Coldwell Banker Distinctive Homes Long Island Board of Realtors

Hilary Becker Becker Realty Services Inc.

Molly Deegan Branch Real Estate Group

John & Barbara Gandolfo

Coldwell Banker American Homes

Kevin Leatherman Leatherman Homes

Donna O’Reilly Einemann

Douglas Elliman Real Estate

Luciane Serifovic Luxian International Realty

Shawn Steinmuller

Shawn Michael Realty

Mark Stempel & Jennie Katz Blue Island Homes

Helena Veloso

Douglas Elliman Real Estate

Malka Asch Coach Realtors

Miriam Hagendorn Serhant

Ricki Noto Coldwell Banker American Homes

Scott Wallace

Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty

David Kasner Coldwell Banker American Homes

Commercial

Thomas DeLuca

Cushman & Wakefield of Long Island

Anthony Bartone

Terwilliger & Bartone Properties LLC

Kenneth Breslin, Esq. Breslin Realty Development Corp.

Christopher Capece

Heatherwood

Rob Gitto

The Gitto Group

Mark Meisner

The Birch Group

E.W. Howell Construction Group

Special Awards

Michael Maturo

RXR Realty

Martin Lomazow

CBRE

Michael S. Ackerman

Ackerman Law PLLC

John D. Chillemi Ruskin Moscou Faltischek PC

Bryan P. McCrossen

Jaspan Schlesinger Narendran LLP

Christopher H. Palmer Cullen and Dykman LLP

Ellen N. Savino

Sahn Ward Braff Koblenz PLLC

Commercial Industrial Broker Society of Long Island

David Pennetta

Stephen A. Hayduk

Hayduk Engineering LLC

Gilbert Balanoff

The Law Offices of Gilbert Balanoff PC

Tiffany Balanoff

Douglas Elliman Real Estate

Nicholas Ceccarini

Weatherstone Mortgage Corp.

Christine Curiale Valley Bank

Melissa Curtis Contour Mortgage

Michael Steinberg

Hedgestone Business Advisors

Alex Lipsky Lipsky Construction

Sean M. Cronin, Esq. Cronin & Cronin Law Firm PLLC

Ryan J. Coyne Serhant

VincePropertyShark PropertyShark.com

Habitat Abstract

dAvid KAsnER, bRAnch manager of Coldwell Banker American Homes, at left, and Daniel Williams, president of E.W. Howell Construction Group, at right, get their awards from Stuart Richner.

Tim Baker/Herald photos

Tim Baker/Herald photos Hundreds of Honorees, guests and sponsored enjoyed refreshments and conversation ahead of the second annual REAL Awards hosted by RichnerLive.

Bryan McCrossen, Center at top-left, a partner at Jaspan Schlesinger Narendran, joins strategic marketer and financial educator Jesika Kalika in the selfie booth.

JoHn frasCella, MaidenBauM’s residential property tax supervisor, was a major sponsor of the REAL Awards.

tHoMas deluCa, senior director and real estate broker at Cushman & Wakefield of Long Island — at left —enjoys a moment before receiving a REAL Award of his own.

Courtesy Le Selfie

Courtesy Le Selfie Helena Veloso, at center in pink, has fun with the rest of her Douglas Elliman Real Estate team at the selfie booth at the REAL Awards.

County maps ‘not perfect,’ but still ‘fair’

New legislative districts approved along partisan lines

By ANA BORRUTO aborruto@liherald.com

After dozens of hearings, months of public input and several heated exchanges among Nassau County lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, a final district map drawing out borders for the 19 legislative districts for the next 10 years has finally passed.

All 11 Republicans of the majority voted for the map, while seven Democratic minority members voted in opposition. For those on the wrong side of the vote, it was a disappointing — but inevitable — end to community members and Democratic officials who have been vocal over their claims of partisan gerrymandering.

“Tomorrow morning, students in Nassau County are going to wake up to a snow day,” Democratic legislator Josh Lafazan said ahead of the region’s first real snowfall of the season. “This legislative body is going to wake up to a lawsuit.

“Our constituents lose tonight, and nobody wins.”

Before the evening vote, some members of the community gathered to express final pleas for the Nassau County Legislature to not approve the map. They claim the map fails to include five majority-minority districts, it violates state and federal voting laws, neglects to consider racial demographics, and dilutes minority votes in communities such as Lakeview and Freeport.

In fact, dozens of Lakeview residents turned up at a previous public hearing sharing stories of their fight for equality and fair representation.

The current map places Lakeview — a predominantly Black community of more than 6,200 people — in a district with predominantly white communities likeMalverne, Lynbrook, West Hempstead and East Rockaway.

Scottie Coads said the hearts of her Lakeview neighbor are “hurting” because of this decision.

“I almost went to tears when I saw our hard work being put into a district with Lynbrook and Malverne,” Coads said. “Those people don’t even want us there. They don’t even talk to us.”

Doris Hicks Newkirk, president of the Lakeview NAACP and former educator in the Malverne school district, said she knows of young Black students who have been told to “go back where they came from,” and called racial slurs.

Lisa Ortiz, one of the founding members of the Lakeview Civic Association, talked about how the Malverne district became the first in the state to be forced into desegregation — more than a decade after the national Brown v. Board of Education decision.

For more than 60 years, many representatives of Lakeview and the school district fought to have a street name of a Ku Klux Klan leader removed — only recently accomplishing this feat.

Fast forward to today, the redistricting process is another hurdle the Lakeview community is not backing down on.

“When we think about disenfranchis-

ing — when you think about gerrymandering — you think about making sure that you are silencing a community that has a very, very loud voice,” Ortiz said.

“That’s exactly what you’re doing.”

County legislature minority leader Kevan Abrahams called out his Republican colleagues for choosing secrecy over transparency during the redistricting process, especially when it came to the legal fees for the analysis provided by Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP.

“We have the power and the authority tonight to do the right thing,” Abrahams said. “Unfortunately, this map is going to go forward, and this body is choosing to vote for a map that is illegal. None of us want this. I’d rather things get worked out, because ultimately, the lawsuit is

going to cost taxpayers money.”

But presiding officer Richard Nicolello said numerous changes were made to the map to acknowledge this input. He also admitted not every request was addressed in the final proposal, but in the end, the district lines were considered fair and applicable to state and federal laws.

“Did we make every requested change? No. Is this map perfect? No. But perfection is impossible in redistricting,” Nicolello said. “This map is a fair map. It provides for equal representation for all our residents, and protects community interests as much as possible.”

sCOTTie COAds Of Lakeview expresses her anger over countywide district maps at several public hearings before Nassau County lawmakers ahead of them passing a final proposal late last month. For decades, Coads has fought for fair representation in Lakeview, a predominantly Black community placed in a district with Malverne, Lynbrook and East Rockaway.

NAssAU COUNTy LegisLATOR and Democratic minority leader Kevan Abrahams joined his political colleagues voting against a proposed countywide redistricting map last month. The votes weren’t enough, but Abrahams wanted to be on the record for his claims the map represented partisan gerrymandering while violating voting rights protections for minority communities.

Ana Borruto/Herald photos

NAssAU COUNTy LegisLATURe presiding officer Richard Nicolello shared heated exchanges with minority caucus leader Kevan Abrahams over the past few weeks over the new countywide district map. At the final meeting, Nicolello and 10 other Republican majority members voted in favor of their map, admitting that while it is not perfect, it is fair and protects community interests.

President & Founder Vertigo Media Group

EDUCATION

MARIA P. CONZATTI

Interim President

Nassau Community College

BARBARA J. HOLAHAN

CFO, VP for Financial Affairs & Treasurer

New York Institute of Technology

MARYANNE HYLAND

Dean of the Robert B. Willumstad

School of Business Adelphi University

MAURIE McINNIS

President

Stony Brook University

ENERGY & ELECTRIC

JENNIFER HAYEN

Director of Communications

Long Island Power Authority

MICHELLE D. SOMERS

Marketing Manager

PSEG Long Island

ENTREPRENEURS

JOSEPHINE FITZPATRICK

Nutrition & Weight Loss Specialist

Innovation Weight Loss & Healthy Market

ELLEN PELLEGRINO

Entrepreneur/Movie Producer

Windows on the Lake Beach Club Estate

Age of New Beginnings

MAUREEN TARA NELSON

CEO

MTN Matchmaking

GOVERNMENT

LISA M. BLACK

Chief Deputy County Executive

Office of the Suffolk County Executive

HEALTHCARE & WELLNESS

MELANIE BASILE

Chief Growth Officer

The Smilist

DR. MICHELLE A. CHESTER

Senior Director Operations, Occupational Health Services

Northwell Health

DR. GAIL CORREALE

Optometrist

THERESA DILLMAN, DNP (C), MSN, MHA, RN, NE-BC

Associate Executive Director and Chief Nursing Officer Glen Cove Hospital, Northwell Health System

DR. ODETTE R. HALL

Chief Medical Examiner

Suffolk County Office of the Medical Examiner

NITZA KAHALON HASIS

Clinical Director

New Horizon Counseling Center - Valley Stream

STEPHANIE MONTANO M.S., CCC-SLP

CEO & Co-Owner

Theralympic Speech

CHRISTIANA NEOPHYTOU M.S., CCC-SLP

CEO & Co-Owner

Theralympic Speech

REBECCA SANIN

President & CEO

Health & Welfare Council of Long Island

JULIE WEXLER

Director of Business Development

The Bristal Assisted Living

HUMAN RESOURCES

ELIZABETH MARIE SAITTA

Executive Director

SHRM Long Island Chapter

INSURANCE

CATIA ALATI

Vice President Lockton Companies

LEGAL

PAULA PARRINO, ESQ.

Chief Administrative Officer & Vice President of Operations

Nationwide Court Services, Inc.

STEPHANIE A. CLARK, ESQ.

Lead Attorney

Law Offices of Stephanie A. Clark

ERIKA L. CONTI, ESQ.

Partner Sahn Ward Braff Koblenz PLLC

DEANNA M. EBLE, ESQ.

Partner

Russo Law Group, P.C.

LAUREL R. KRETZING

Partner

Jaspan Schlesinger Narendran LLP

KAREN J. TENENBAUM, ESQ.

Tax Attorney

Tenenbaum Law, P.C.

DINA L. VESPIA, ESQ.

Partner

Cullen and Dykman LLP

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Director of State Government Affairs

Davidoff Hutcher & Citron LLP

MEDIA

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President & CEO

Girl Scouts of Suffolk County

STACEY SIKES

Vice President of Government Affairs & Communications Long Island Association

TOURISM

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President & CEO

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TRANSPORTATION

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Aviation Commissioner

Long Island MacArthur Airport

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Business students learning career skills

continued from front page

worked on going through the financial aid process with Molloy University and LIU Post.

Lisa Umansky, president of the chamber and owner of Polka Dot Pound Cake, said she was excited about the growing collaboration between local businesses and the school.

“Hopefully this is the first of many other connections … whether it’s mentorships or job opportunities,” Umansky said. “Clearly, these kids are really into it, so we hope this is just the start.”

English played a pivotal role in the school’s DECA program when he started teaching at South Side seven years ago. He had been involved in the organization for several years, and was responsible for revitalizing the DECA Club at the high school.

Founded in 1946, DECA is a nonprofit organization that prepares high school students to be leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality and management. The DECA Club started with only 10 students, and now has more than 100. This year, 80 of them will take part in the DECA state competition, and school officials expect that 20 could go on to compete at the national level competition.

“The big questions students ask every day are, What am I learning in school? How can it be applied to what I’m doing?” English said. “They want to see more and more of that, and our business classes answer that question for them every day.”

Gina Kadar, a first-year business teacher at the high school, teaches college-level marketing and entrepreneurship and introductory business courses. Among the topics she focuses on are financial management, credit card debt and career

management — in which students write resumes and explore career options.

“We didn’t have DECA at my previous school, so it’s really cool to see now, and I’m learning it, too,” Kadar said. “I worked in the business field for 10 years in H.R., and what the students are learning, these are real-world situations, working in companies that are great for them.”

The high school’s business curriculum emphasizes the discussion of current events. “We can take something that’s happening, today or now, and we can relate it to whatever terminology we’re studying,” English said. “That’s what separates our class from the other classes. Every single minute, there’s something happening in the business world that a student can have a question on, and it’s going to relate to something that we’re learning in class or something we’ve just covered the day before, and that’s where you get engagement, and that’s where the interest comes from.”

BuSineSS department facilitator and South Side teacher Peter English, far left, discussed the work that I.B. students have done this year.

South Side 2018 graduate Joe MacNair, wearing tie, returned to talk about what he learned at the high school. With him were teachers Gina Kadar and Brian Manolakes.

Public Notices

LEGAL NOTICE NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURTCOUNTY OF NASSAU DEUTSCHE BANK NATIONAL TRUST COMPANY, AS TRUSTEE FOR LONG BEACH MORTGAGE LOAN TRUST 2006-5, Plaintiff, AGAINST JOYCE A. KRAUSE, et al.

Defendant(s)

Pursuant to a judgment of foreclosure and sale duly entered on June 17, 2014. I, the undersigned Referee, will sell at public auction at the North Side Steps of the Nassau Supreme Court, 100 Supreme Court Drive, Mineola, NY 11501 on March 28, 2023 at 2:30 PM premises known as 98 Woods Ave, Rockville Centre, NY 11570. Please take notice that this foreclosure auction shall be conducted in compliance with the Foreclosure Auction Rules for Nassau County and the COVID 19 Health Emergency Rules, including proper use of masks and social distancing.

All that certain plot piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Incorporated Village of Rockville Center, Town of Hempstead, County of Nassau and State of New York. Section 38, Block 396 and Lot 135. Approximate amount of judgment $443,835.39 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment. Index #004121/2013. Gorge Esernio, Esq., Referee, Aldridge Pite, LLPAttorneys for Plaintiff - 40 Marcus Drive, Suite 200, Melville, NY 11747

137447

LEGAL NOTICE NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT. NASSAU COUNTY. L&L ASSOCIATES HOLDING CORP., Pltf. vs. RUSSELL S. HARRIS, JR., et al, Defts. Index #609180/2022. Pursuant to judgment of

foreclosure and sale entered Jan. 12, 2023, I will sell at public auction on the North Side steps of the Nassau Supreme Court, 100 Supreme Court Drive, Mineola, NY on April 3, 2023 at 2:30 p.m. prem. k/a Section 38, Block 113, Lots 937-938. Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed judgment and terms of sale. If proper social distancing cannot be maintained or there are other health or safety concerns, then the court appointed referee will cancel the sale. SCOTT SILLER, Referee. LEVY & LEVY, Attys. for Pltf., 12 Tulip Dr., Great Neck, NY. #100127

137683

LEGAL NOTICE

Public Notice to Bidders

Sealed Bids will be received by the Purchasing Department of the Village of Rockville Centre, One College Place, Rockville Centre, New York for the matter stated below until 11:00 am prevailing time on MARCH 28, 2023 at which time they will be publicly opened and read aloud. The contract will be awarded as soon thereafter as practicable for:

NORTH VILLAGE AVENUE ELECTRIC INFRASTRUCTURE UPGRADES

Bid No. 2303E1(1064)

The contract documents, specifications and plans can be examined on the Village’s website at www.rvcny.gov. Follow the link to the Purchasing Department. Each bid must be accompanied by a certified check, bank check or bid bond payable to the Incorporated Village of Rockville Centre in the amount of five (5%) percent of the gross amount of the bid.

All questions should be directed to the Purchasing Department. Please contact Lisa Strazzeri via email only at Lstrazzeri@rvcny.us. Questions must be submitted no later than MARCH 16, 2023.

Award of Contract will be

made to the lowest responsible bidder in accordance with applicable provisions of the law. The Village reserves the right to reject all bids or make such determination as in the best interests of the Village, as provided by law.

Purchasing Department

Lisa Strazzeri Purchasing Agent 516-678-9213 137832

LEGAL NOTICE

At IAS Part 13 of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, held in and for the County of Nassau, at 88-11 Sutphin Blvd., Jamaica, NY on the 22nd day of February, 2023

SUPREME COURT STATE OF NEW YORK COUNTY OF NASSAU

P R E S E N T: Hon. Diccia

Pineda-Kirwan

-------------------------------X

Index No: 601629-2023

June Oke Pahk

Petitioner -againstORDER TO SHOW CAUSE Why Mortgage Should Not Be Discharged

Ann M. O’Connell , Respondents Under Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law

1931 to Discharge a Mortgage from the Record.

-------------------------------X

On reading and filing the petition of June Oke Pahk, verified January 12, 2023 , and the search of the County of Nassau showing all Mortgages and assignments of record and it appearing therefrom that there currently exists a Mortgage made by June Oke Pahk to Ann M. O’Connell which was dated August 19, 1991 and recorded on November 9, 1991 in Liber 14380, Page 447 in the sum of THIRTY FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS ($35,000.00) and which provided for interest to accrue on said principal at a rate of Eight Percent per annum (8%) for a period of 5 years, and which last payment

became due and payable on August 18, 1996 which Mortgage secured property commonly known as 147 South Forest Avenue, Rockville Centre, in the County of Nassau, State of New York which property is more particularly described as Nassau County Tax Map designation Section 38, Block 352 and lots 49, 50, 51, 52, 53 and 107 and it appearing to my satisfaction that the mortgage has been paid and that no claim has been made seeking payment thereof and that Ann M. O’Connell had delivered a signed and notarized document dated August 19, 1994, which unfortunately not in recordable form, stating that she has received “full payment and satisfaction” of the Mortgage described.

Now, upon motion of Patrick Di Luccio, Esq., attorney for the petitioner, ORDERED that all persons interested in the said mortgage be and they are hereby ORDERED to show cause at a term of this court appointed to be held at the Supreme Courthouse, 100 Supreme Court Drive, Mineola in the County of Nassau via Microsoft teams on the 11th day of May, 2023, at 10:00 o’clock A.M., or as soon thereafter as counsel can be heard, why said mortgage should not be discharged of record pursuant to RPAPL section 1931 and it is further.

ORDERED that this order shall be published ONCE a week for THREE successive weeks in Rockville Centre Herald, 2 Endo Blvd., Garden City, NY (516) 569-9000 a newspaper published in the County of Nassau and by personal service on the County Clerk shall be deemed sufficient no later than (completed by) the 24th day of APRIL, 2023.

South Side high School senior Hailey Ferraro-Reich noted some of the real-world skills she picked up from the DECA Club and I.B. Business programs.

Justine Stefanelli/Herald photos

EMPLOYMENT

Help Wanted

ACCOUNTING/BOOKKEEPING, AR/AP

Do you have accounting, bookkeeping, or AR/AP experience? Are you tired of being retired, or need a few days a week to keep your mind occupied? If so, please send us a quick email and we will call you to discuss more details. We are a Customs Broker looking for someone who can support our everyday accounting needs and who doesn’t necessarily need or want to work every day. We look forward to talking with you!!! Email: Jobs@agraservices.com

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT FT: RVC. Administrative Work, Answering Phones, Computer Skills – Microsoft, Excel, Outlook, Financial background helpful. No Health Beneifts. 516-763-9700 frances.difede@lpl.com

AUTO TECHNICIAN FT

Experienced And Reliable. NYSI A Plus. Busy Merrick Shop. Call 516-781-5641

AUTO TECHNICIAN WANTED

Gregoris Subaru, Valley Stream

Experience Needed, Own Tools NYSI License Necessary

All Skill Levels Welcome Salary Commensurate With Exp. Health Benefits, Union Call Steve H 516-872-9755 Ext.1 Email Steveh@gregorismotors.com

BOOKKEEPER P/T EXPERIENCED

5-10 Hours Per Week. Handle Real Estate

Property Management, Personal Finances. Computer Skills Necessary. Can Work From Home Or Office. Lawrence. Call 516-375-9642

CIRCULATION ASSOCIATE Full Time/Part Time Richner Communications, publisher of Herald community newspapers has an excellent opportunity for a FT/PT Customer Service Clerk in our busy Circulation Department. Basic customer service and administrative responsibilities include: heavy computer work, answering phones, making phone calls, entering orders, faxing, filing, etc.

STRONG knowledge of EXCEL a must! Knowledge of DATABASE maintenance or postal regulations a big plus. Qualified Candidates must be computer literate, able to multitask, dependable, reliable, organized, energetic, detail oriented and able to work well under deadlines. For consideration, please send resume & salary requirements to: careers@liherald.com

Clinical Research Specialist sought by Mindful Care Ltd dba Mindful Urgent Care for West Hempstead, NY to manage & oversee the dvlpmt, implmtn & evaluation of a sleep study. Must have a Bach Deg in Biology, Health Sciences or Medical Technology + 1 yr exp in Clinical Research + special skills: RedCap, SPSS, CITI certification. Resumes to: Tamir Aldad, 510 Hempstead Turnpike, #203, West Hempstead, NY 11552. No calls. DENTAL

DRIVERS WANTED

Full Time and Part Time Positions Available! Busy Print Shop in Garden City is Hiring Immediately for Full Time and Part Time Drivers. Must Have a Clean License and BoxTruck Driving Experience. Hours Vary, Night Availability is a Must. Please Email Resume to careers@liherald.com or Call (516)569-4000 x239

DRIVING INSTRUCTORS WANTED

Will Certify And Train HS Diploma NYS License Clean 3 Years

Call 516-731-3000

EDITOR/REPORTER

The award-winning Herald Community Newspapers group, covering Nassau County's North and South Shores with hard-hitting news stories and gracefully written features, seeks a motivated, energetic and creative editor/reporter to join our dynamic (and awesome) team! This education and general assignment reporting position offers a unique experience to learn from some of the best in the business. Historically, reporters who have launched their careers with us have gone on to The New York Times, Newsweek, Newsday, the New York Daily News, New York Post, CNN, BBC, NBC News and The Daily Mail, among many others. We look for excellent writers who are eager to learn, enhance their skills, and become well-established and respected journalists in our industry.

To apply: Send a brief summary in the form of a cover letter describing your career goals and what strengths you can bring to our newsroom, along with a resume and three writing samples to mhinman@liherald.com

INVESTIGATOR

Skip Tracer, Asset Locator. 3Yrs. Experience. Bi-lingual A Plus. Work From Home. mgal2@verizon.net 516-868-9888

MOTOR VEHICLE CLERK FT Valley Stream Subaru Seeking Conscientious, Organized, Computer Literate. Reliable Individual. Will Train If Needed. Family Run Business With Small, Friendly Office Staff. Salary, 401K, Benefits. Ask For Richard Or Therese 516-825-8700

MULTI MEDIA ACCOUNT DEVELOPMENT Inside Sales

Looking for an aggressive self starter who is great at making and maintaining relationships and loves to help businesses grow by marketing them on many different advertising platforms. You will source new sales opportunities through inbound lead follow-up and outbound cold calls. Must have the ability to understand customer needs and requirements and turn them in to positive advertising solutions. We are looking for a talented and competitive Inside Sales Representative that thrives in a quick sales cycle environment. We offer salary, commission, bonuses, health benefits, 401K and paid time off. Will consider part time. Please send cover letter and resume with salary requirements to ereynolds@liherald.com Call 516-569-4000 X286

OUTSIDE SALES

Richner Communications, One of the Fastest Growing Media, Event and Communications Companies on Long Island is Seeking a Sales/Marketing Candidate to Sell our

HomesHERALD

To place an ad call 516-569-4000 press 5 • To place an ad call 516-569-4000 press 5

Lido Beach

New Construction

The architect planned one thing, and the plumber did another

Q. My basement is being finished, and we’re adding a bathroom with a shower. Our plumber just left, and I’m bewildered by the way things are going. The plumber says we passed the inspection, but we’re concerned that he persuaded us to move the door, and all of the fixtures are different than the plans show. Our architect lined up the toilet, the sink and the shower in a row so we could use just one “plumbing wall” for all the pipes, but the plumber moved the shower to a different wall, which left nothing but empty space in the corner beside the toilet. Then the plumber ran flexible hot and cold tubing along the ceiling, so now we have to add a drop-down ceiling around the pipes. Is this acceptable and normal to do, and why did the work pass inspection if it didn’t follow our plans? We spent a lot of time discussing and planning where everything would go with our architect, and now we wonder who’s in charge if it passes inspection.

Stunning brand-new

sliding doors

master

bedrooms,

Mazal Amram, Licensed Associate Broker Cell: (516) 782-6331

Office: (516) 889-6677

Email: jamram123@aol.com

There are

floors

and water heater on demand. You will love the 2-car garage, in-ground sprinklers, fenced yard and plenty of storage. This beauty is close to beach, school, shopping. It is a must see! Asking $1,350,000.

OPEN HOUSES SUNday, 3/12/23 HEWLETT

1267 Peninsula Blvd, 2:00-3:30, NEW TO MARKET! 5 BR, 2 Bth Exp Cape in SD#14

(Hewlett-Woodmere) Living Room, DR & Updtd Gran/Wood EIK & Bths. Det 1.5 Gar & Driveway for 4/5 Cars. HW Floors. Gas Heat. Near LIRR, Shops, Trans & Schools.

A Steal!

$599,000

257 Willard Dr, 12-1:30, Spacious 5 BR, 3 Bth Exp Ranch With Open Layout.Main Floor Mstr Ste Plus Potential Mstr Ste on 2nd Flr. LR/Fpl, FDR, EIK & Sundrenched Family Rm w/ Doors to Deck. Fin Bsmt. Att Gar. Loads of Updates!! SD#20 (Lynbrook) No Flood Insurance Req. MUST SEE THIS! REDUCED!! $1,025,000

1193 E. Broadway # M23, BA, NEW TO MARKET! Move Right Into This Stunning

Gut Renovated 2 BR, 2 Bth Coop in Garden Town. Gourmet Kit W/Thermdore St Steel

Appl Opens Into DR & LR. Primary BR w/Bth Plus Spac 2nd BR. W/D in Unit. New Self Controlled CAC. Oak Flrs, LED Lights. Near LIRR. Parking Avail. SD#14. You Don't Want to

Miss This $379,000

1608 Ridgeway Dr, BA, Move Right Into This Completely Gut Renovated 4 BR, 3.5 Bth

Col on 1/4 Acre Prop. New Kosher EIK, FDR, LR w/ Fpl, Den & Enclosed Porch. Radiant

Heated Flrs. Full Fin Bsmt. 2 Car Att Gar. MUST SEE!! SD#20 DRASTIC REDUCTION! MOTIVATED SELLER! $1,399,000 ALSO FOR RENT $6,500 per month

1534 Broadway #103, BA, Magnificent New Renovation! One of a Kind Ranch Style

Living in Luxurious Jonathan Hall Condominium with Doorman & Elevator. Just Move into This Gut Rvated, Spacious 2 BR, 2 Bath Apt with Open Layout.Large Designer Eat in Kitchen with Sep Pantry & Laundry Rm.Master BR Boasts Gorgeous Bth & Walk in Closet. Terrace Faces into Courtyard. Garage Parking Incl REDUCED & MOTIVATED!! $699,000

1534 Broadway #205, BA, Extra Large 2000 Sq Ft, 2 Bedroom (Originally 3 BR), 2 Bath

Condo in Prestigious Jonathan Hall with Doorman & Elevator. Updtd Wood/Quartz Kit, LR & DR. Washer/Dryer in Unit. Underground Pkg. Loads of Closets. Terrace Faces Back.

Easy Ranch Style Living BIG REDUCTION!! MOTIVATED SELLER!

Topper Realty 84 East Park Avenue Long Beach, NY 11561

A. You ultimately have the last word on what you accept. I always tell clients that we play by the Golden Rule in construction. The Golden Rule used to mean, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” It now means that he (or she) who has the gold rules.

As long as you haven’t paid yet, you still have some authority. Once you pay, the issue becomes unclear, since paying is a demonstration of satisfaction, and it’s hard to show you were dissatisfied when someone else, like a judge, has to determine if you really just changed your mind but were once satisfied. Situations like yours prompted me to put a clause in my agreements that often seems questionable to prospective customers. I write that I am not responsible for deviations from the plans by the contractor, subcontractor, plumber, electrician or any other party hired by the owner, of it they cut through building components and cause damage.

Many people are naïve to the fact that the workers you hire often deviate from the plans. The building owner really believes that people follow the plans. Sadly, the plans prepared by a design professional, architect or engineer are carefully scrutinized by building officials before a permit is granted, only to be ignored when the plans are then not followed and the inspection in the field passes.

Most of the officials I speak to would never consciously let that happen, but at least three or four times a week, work passes an inspection when the plans don’t match. What should happen is that the owner should be communicated with about any change, and instead of fearing extra cost to get the architect or engineer involved, should pick up the phone, text or email to get the issue resolved quickly. You need to speak up, immediately, to take care of this before moving on. Good luck!

© 2022 Monte Leeper

Readers are encouraged to send questions to yourhousedr@aol.com, with “Herald question” in the subject line, or to Herald Homes, 2 Endo Blvd., Garden City, NY 11530, Attn: Monte Leeper, architect.

To place an ad call 516-569-4000 press 5 • To place an ad call 516-569-4000 press 5

Results t hat Move You

HELPING YOU ON YOUR REAL ESTATE JOURNEY

Rob Kolb Licensed Real Estate Salesperson

Tripodi

REAL ESTATE

Real Estate

RETIRED NYC EMS fire lieutenant selling quarter to half acre lots in Palm Coast Florida. We pay closing costs. We have a travel program to buy call 1-386-437-7058

Open Houses

HEWLETT BA, 257 WILLARD Dr REDUCED!! Spacious 5 BR, 3 Bth Exp Ranch

With Open Layout.Main Floor Mstr Ste Plus Potential Mstr Ste on 2nd Flr.LR/Fpl, FDR, EIK & Sundrenched Family Rm w/ Doors to Deck. Fin Bsmt. Att Gar. Loads of Updates!! SD#20(Lynbrook)No Flood Insurance Req. MUST SEE THIS!..$1,025,000 Ronnie Gerber, Douglas Elliman

516-238-4299

HEWLETT BA, 1534 Broadway #103, REDUCED AND MOTIVATED! Magnificent New Renovation! One of a Kind Ranch

Style Living in Luxurious Jonathan Hall Condominium with Doorman & Elevator.

Just Move into This Gut Renovated, Spacious 2 BR, 2 Bath Apt with Open Layout.Large Designer Eat in Kitchen with Sep Pantry & Laundry Rm.Master BR Boasts Gorgeous Bth & Walk in Closet. Terrace

Faces into Courtyard and the Garage

Parking is Incl..$699,000 Ronnie Gerber, Douglas Elliman 516-238-4299

HEWLETT BA, 1608 Ridgeway Dr, Drastic Reduction! Move Right Into This Completely Gut Renovated 4 BR, 3.5 Bth Col on 1/4 Acre Prop. New Kosher EIK, FDR, LR w/ Fpl, Den & Enclosed Porch. Radiant Htd Flrs. Full Fin Bsmt. 2 Car Att Gar. MUST SEE!! SD#20...$1,469,000 RENTAL

$6500 PER MONTH Ronnie Gerber, Douglas Elliman 516-238-429

House For Sale

POINT LOOKOUT: WATERFRONT-

LARGEST Selection of Beach Homes, Sale/ Rent. Our Home Listings Sell FA$T! VIDEOS. HUG R.E. 516-431-8000 www.hugrealestate.com

Apartments For Rent

CEDARHURST NO FEE Private Entrance, Modern 1BR, 2BR, 3BR, CAC, W/D, Storage, Wall To Wall Carpeting, Indoor Parking Space. Starting At $1450 For One Bedroom When Available. (516)860-6889/ (516)852-5135/ (516)582-9978

Vacation Rentals/Prop

Apartments For Rent

EAST ELMONT: 1 BR Cottage, New Carpets/ Flooring. No Smoking/ Pets. $1400 Plus Utilities. 516-437-7608

WEST HEMPSTEAD: SPACIOUS Lower Level, All Included, Separate Entrance, Backyard, EIK, Fbth, Near All/ LIRR. $2100. 917-640-3028

Out Of Town/Real Estate

NINEVEH NY: 25 Acres With Cabin And Bluestone Quarry. Hunting, Farming, Mining. Below Market. Must Sell. $75,000. Ben 347-866-5619, 718-266-9700

MoneyTo Lend

ARE YOU BEHIND $10k OR MORE ON YOUR TAXES? Stop wage & bank levies, liens & audits, unfiled tax returns, payroll issues, & resolve tax debt FAST. Call 888-869-5361 (Hours: Mon-Fri 7am-5pm PST)

Cemetery Plots

CEMETERY PLOT FOR TWO For Sale:

This Robin won’t rest until you are in your new NEST!

How’s the market?? Please contact me for your free market report and personalized service!

Robin Reiss Licensed Real Estate Salesperson Cell: 516.510.6484 Office: 516.623.4500 Robin.Reiss@elliman.com

Den/family room and home office.

Taxes: $11,716

Bellmore $700,000

Farmers Avenue. Colonial. 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms. Updated eat-in kitchen with quartz countertops and deck off kitchen. Open layout. Fireplace and cathedral ceiling. Updates include 2-zone heat and central air conditioning. Master bedroom with vaulted ceiling and skylight.

Taxes: $13,448.12

Cedarhurst $1,200,000

West Broadway. Colonial. 5 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms. Kosher eat-in kitchen with granite countertops and highend stainless steel appliances, including 2 ranges and 2 dishwashers, and island. Living room with custom built-ins. Formal dining room. Den/family room. Large rooms. Parklike backyard. Central air conditioning.

Taxes: $8,372

East Meadow $700,000

Francis Drive. Cape. 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms. Finished basement. New eat-in kitchen with granite countertops, stainless steel appliances and porcelain flooring. Formal dining room. First floor master bedroom. Updates include windows and ductless air conditioning system.

Taxes: $11,754.12

East Rockaway $710,000

Alden Road. Cape. 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms. Finished basement. Eat-in kitchen with granite countertops. Formal dining room. Den/family room and home office. First floor bedroom. Security system.

Taxes: $17,764.30

Freeport $760,000 Maryland Avenue. Expanded Cape. 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms. Finished basement. Updated eat-in kitchen. Formal dining room. Den/family room. First floor master bedroom suite. Convenient location in heart of Sterns Park.

Taxes: $16,524.30

Long Beach $600,000

Lincoln Boulevard. Ranch. 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom. Updated open-concept eat-in kitchen with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. Den/family room. Many extras, including high hats, crown molding and closet systems. Large rooms. Central air conditioning.

Taxes: $10,661.35

Oceanside $590,000 Bayfield Boulevard. Split Level. 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms. Formal dining room. Den/family room. First floor master bedroom.

Taxes: $17,839.21

Valley Stream $651,000

Todd Road. Expanded Cape. 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms. Partial finished basement. Updated eat-in kitchen with stainless steel appliances and walk-out to Trex deck. Formal dining room. Den/family room. Large rooms. Professional landscaping.

Taxes: $11,872.36

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Announcements

THE LONG BEACH HISTORICAL SOCIETY 226 West Penn St, Long Beach Invites You To Shop Our Antique, Vintage & Treasures Sale Sat., March 18th, Sun., March 19th. 11am-5pm. Exciting Finds Throughout The Museum. For More Information: 516-432-1192.

MERCHANDISE MART

Antiques/Collectibles

We Buy Antiques, Fine Art & Jewelry

Same Day Service, Free In-Home Evaluations, 45 Year Family Business. Licensed and Bonded, Immediate Cash Paid. SYL-LEE ANTIQUES www.syl-leeantiques.com 516-671-6464

FINDS UNDER $100

Finds Under $100

BATHROBE: UNISEX 100% Turkish Cotton, Garden City Hotel Embroidery, One Size. Tags On, $90. 516-320-1906

CRYSTAL STEMWARE (MACY'S). Gorgeous Wine , Water, Champagne. Brand new original boxes $95. 516-225-9191

DINING ROOM FURNITURE wood espresso color $99. (516) 462-2656

DOG CRATE, 24" x 20" x 22" tall, metal tray. $29. call 516-798-2098

Finds Under $100

FIREWOOD SEASONED MAPLE Cut Logs $40 S. Freeport 516 279 7696

FREE PIANO! IN good condition. You just have to transport. Call 516-596-1078

KID'S BEDROOM FURNITURE wood honey color $99. (516) 462-2656

LACROSSE BALLS,100, NEW and used, $70, 516-816-7383

PICTURE FRAMES, ALL shapes & sizes, wood, metal, etc. everything under $6. 516-225-9191

SEARS CRAFTSMAN PUSH Reel Lawnmower (old style), $30, Excellent Condition, 516-816-7383

VINTAGE SUNBEAM MIXMASTER Electric Mixer w/bowls, working, excellent, clean, $55. 516-798-2098.

SERVICES

Cleaning Services

MARINA'S CLEANING SERVICES: Cleaning Homes, Apartments, Condos, Offices. Experienced. FREE Estimates. Serving Long Island. 516-670-7764

Decks

DECKS DECKS Our Only Business

516-729-5859

Electricians

E-Z ELECTRIC SERVICES, INC. All

Types Residential/Commercial Wiring, Generators, Telephone/Data, Home Entertainment, Service Upgrades, Pools, Spas. Services/Repairs. Violations Removed. Free Estimates Low Rates. 516-785-0646 Lic/Ins.

Handyman

HANDYMAN

Repairs and Installations for the Household. Careful and Reliable and Vaccinated.

Home Improvement

Prices RENOVATIONS & ALL REPAIRS SUPER COMPETITIVE PRICES! Licensed / Insured. Free Estimates Nassau License. # H-0102710000 Call John - 516-852-9830

Miscellaneous BEST SATELLITE TV with 2 Year Price Guarantee! $59.99/mo with 190 channels and 3 months free premium movie channels! Free next day installation! Call 888-508-5313

Plumbing

PLUMBER! PLUMBER! PLUMBER! FREE ESTIMATES! Heating, Repairs, Installations. $25 OFF New Customers. 24 Hour Emergency Response. 516-599-1011

Tree Services

T&M GREENCARE TREE SERVICE

DON'T PAY FOR Covered Home Repairs Again! American Residential Warranty covers ALL MAJOR SYSTEMS AND APPLIANCES. 30 DAY RISK FREE/ $100 OFF POPULAR PLANS. 833-398-0526 HANDY DANDY HOME IMPROVEMENTS

* Full Or Partial Kitchens/ Baths *Painting

*Sheetrock *Taping/ Spackling *Installations Ceramic/ Vinyl Tile *Carpentry *Alterations *Repairs/ More. FREE ESTIMATES. Dan 516-342-0761

*Tree Removal *Stump Grinding *Pruning *Roof Line Clearing. Residential and Commercial. "We Beat All Competitors' Rates." Lowest Rates. *Senior Discount. Free Estimates. *516-223-4525, 631-586-3800 www.tmgreencare.com

Satellite/TV Equipment

DISH TV $64.99 For 190 Channels + $14.95 High Speed Internet. Free Installation, Smart HD DVR Included, Free Voice Remote. Some restrictions apply. Promo Expires 1/31/24. 1-866-595-6967

GET DIRECTV FOR $64.99/mo for 12 months with CHOICE Package. Save an additional $120 over 1st year. First 3 months of HBO Max, Cinemax, Showtime, Starz and Epix included! Directv is #1 in Customer Satisfaction (JD Power & Assoc.) Some restrictions apply. Call 1-888-534-6918

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Education

COMPUTER & IT TRAINING PROGRAM! Train ONLINE to get the skills to become a Computer & Help Desk Professional now! Grants and Scholarships available for certain programs for qualified applicants. Call CTI for details! 844-947-0192 (M-F 8am-6pm ET). Computer with internet is required.

Health & Fitness

VIAGRA AND CIALIS USERS! 50 Pills SPECIAL $99.00 FREE Shipping! 100% guaranteed. CALL NOW! 855-413-9574

AUTOMOBILE & MARINE

Autos For Sale

ACURA 2003, 3.2 CLS, 2 door, Silver, Black Interior, 160K Plus. Needs Battery. $1800 516-668-8877 runs great

JEEP 2012 LIBERTY: 79,000, Navy Blue, MUST SELL! As is $7500.00. 516 435 3461

Autos Wanted

***AAA*** AUTO BUYERS $Highest$

Ca$h Paid$. All Years/ Conditions! WE VISIT YOU! Or Donate, Tax Deduct + Ca$h.

The shell game we like to call graduation rates

The good news for the New York State Education Department, and the sobering news for the rest of us, is that state taxpayers remain mostly blinded by educational obfuscations like the high school graduation rate.

The SED released 2022 graduation rates last month, and the percentage of students who collected diplomas on Long Island crept up slightly last year, to 92.6 percent.

Long Island has a higher graduation rate than almost any other region in America.

If we were a state, we would have the highest graduation rate in the nation.

“Wow!” you say.

“Long Island schools are second to none!”

Hold on to your mortarboard.

If the graduation rate helps rank schools and compare graduating classes, why complain? It’s an easy way to see if your high school did better or worse than last year. It also tells you how your school compares with others.

It’s also a remarkably misleading statistic that is sometimes abused for lessthan-ethical purposes.

On the surface, graduation rate is simple, determined by dividing the number of students who graduate by the total number of eligible students. But there are all sorts of inside-baseball statistics — such as cohort graduation vs. on-time graduation — that the Education Department, and superintendents around the state, jumble, mix and match in an effort to figure out how to get more diplomas in the hands of teens.

The statistics themselves aren’t insidious. Numbers are simply tools. It’s the use of the graduation rate to determine school rankings and state funding that makes it so odious. Even worse is what some educators will do to boost the rate.

Ask a high school teacher how many times he or she has been queried by an administrator:

“What does this kid need to graduate?”

“Can we give her extra credit?”

“How many points does he need?”

“He’s worked so hard all year — surely there must be something that can be done.”

It’s a confidence game. Nudge the numbers, appeal to a teacher’s good intentions, and the graduation rate ticks upward.

Floor grades are a neat trick. The

intent of a floor grade — a number that can’t dip below 55 or 45, depending on attendance — is to give students a fighting chance to pass a class.

Consider this scenario without a floor grade: A student fails the first two quarters of a class with abysmal grades of 12 and 15 — more common than you might think — so it becomes statistically impossible to pass for the year. The student realizes this, completely gives up, and becomes a discipline problem.

Giving the student a floor grade means that he or she only has to get a grade of 75 for each of the last two quarters to pass the class. The student sees light at the end of the tunnel, and becomes a model learner.

Alas, crafty students immediately figure out the floor-grade scam. Some students take it as a fall-quarter extension of summer break — while other students bemoan the benefit given to slackers. Floor grades reward laziness and diminish the quality of education needed to graduate.

Floor grades aren’t universally used or required, and there are no state or nationwide regulations. Some schools implement them at the end of the marking peri-

od. A grade of 32 miraculously jumps to 55. Other schools prohibit teachers from uploading any grade below 55 for any assignment. A student who does not a jot of work all of September still gets a 55.

See you on the podium in June, Jimmy!

Then there are credit-recovery programs — kids on Chromebooks after school for a few weeks, punching keys to earn class credits — and summer school. Ask a high school administrator what their summer school pass-fail rate is. Derelict students somehow evolve into scholars in the span of six weeks.

Obviously, not every student slacks, not every teacher fudges and not every administrator nudges. But let’s be honest about loopholes.

Graduation rate can’t measure rigor. Parents largely want their children’s diplomas to mean something more than a number. Graduation rate doesn’t emphasize philosophy, critical thinking or scientific theory.

So, by all means, toast the graduates this spring with a glass of sparkling cider — and a shot of reality. Not all diplomas are equal, and that graduation rate may be hiding some of your high school’s flaws.

Mark Nolan, the editor of the Lynbrook/ East Rockaway and Malverne/West Hempstead Heralds, taught high school English for 11 years.

Writers will tell the story of our times

In honor of National Reading Day on March 2, I reread Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible.” Setting: America, in its earliest days. The settlers of Salem, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, were religious and community-minded, good people who cared for their children and worked desperately to survive in a forbidding environment.

In 1692, these righteous citizens accused, tried and hanged 14 women, five men and two dogs for practicing witchcraft.

offered accounts of teenage girls dancing naked in the woods and reports of broomsticks found high in the trees. Daughters accused mothers and husbands accused wives. Once accused, you either confessed and implicated others, or you were hanged anyway for not telling the truth.

What finally shined a light on that dark summer of 1692, what pried the truth out of the cold foundations of old Salem, was “The Crucible,” Miller’s play, which he wrote more than 250 years after the fact.

RANDI KREISS

Some time ago, I also read Stacy Schiff’s “The Witches: Salem, 1692,” a nonfiction history of the time. It has been noted that no historian has ever fully explained what fever possessed the people of Salem. Even Schiff’s remarkable history does not answer the question of how the community’s paranoia achieved the critical mass that led to hangings.

You know where I’m going with this. We live now in a time of similar groupthink and communal delusion. (They nearly hanged Mike Pence!)

In Massachusetts Bay, “eyewitnesses”

In writing a work of fiction, Miller revealed the true hearts and minds of the accusers, victims and bystanders. He knew them because he knew human nature, and because he was living through a time of another witch hunt: the great Red Scare of the early 1950s.

Miller was one of the artists accused of ties with communism, and in an essay, “Why I wrote ‘The Crucible,’” he wrote, “The play was an act of desperation.” The accusations of Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s House Un-American Activities Committee, Miller wrote, had “paralyzed a whole generation and in a short time dried up the habits of trust and toleration in public discourse.”

He wrote, “In 1948-51, I had the sensation of being trapped inside a perverse work of art … in which it is impossible to make out whether a stairway is going up or down. Practically everyone I knew stood within the conventions of the political left of centre; one or two were Communist party members … I have never been able to believe in the reality of these people being actual or putative traitors any more than I could be, yet others like them were being fired from teaching or jobs in government or large corporations … The surreality of it all never left me … In today’s terms, the country had been delivered into the hands of the radical right … It is always with us, this anxiety, sometimes directed towards foreigners, Jews, Catholics, fluoridated water, aliens in space, masturbation, homosexuality, or the Internal Revenue Department … And if this seems crazy now, it seemed just as crazy then, but openly doubting it could cost you.”

Miller’s play became a metaphor, even a cliché of that era, when friends betrayed friends and people lost jobs and secret accusations could lead to public humiliation and worse. Miller said that he wrote “The Crucible” because it was what a

writer would do to get to the underlying truth of a moment in history. In writing about 1692, he was also writing about 1952.

And now, when we read his play, we are also reading about our time. Once again, America has lost its moorings, and no one can adequately explain or understand 2023, because we are treading water in the midst of it.

We won’t have a bead on our own time until the novelists and playwrights create the fictional works that reveal us to ourselves.

Read “The Crucible” again. It speaks to the currents of evil that can sweep away an entire community: irrational fear of “the other,” jealousy, fundamentalist religion, isolation, political manipulation. Miller was writing about Salem and the Red Scare, but he might as well have been writing about Stalin’s Russia or Pinochet’s Chile, Mao’s China or the Khmer Rouge. Or he might have been writing about America today, about QAnon or DeSantis or Trump or Marjorie Taylor Greene, about book bans and racist attacks and antisemitic resurgences.

It is America in 2023. We have run off the rails, again. We need to wait for the novelists and playwrights to find the truth of this moment and bring it to us.

Copyright 2023 Randi Kreiss. Randi can be reached at randik3@aol.com.

Arthur Miller’s 1953 play, ‘The Crucible,’ could have been written in 2023.

They’re misleading statistics that are sometimes unethically abused.

HERALD

We must keep government transparent

the middle of March is something many of us look forward to, because it means spring is just around the corner. But this coming week, March 12-18, is known as Sunshine Week. Associations, institutions and organizations connected to journalism will celebrate the initiative to promote open government, which was launched in 2005 by the American Society of News Editors, now the News Leaders Association.

The week coincides with March 16, National Freedom of Information Day, which honors a bill signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966, allowing members of the public and journalists access to government information in the interest of keeping our leadership transparent.

States across the country have since enacted similar laws, but why is this important? Why should you care?

Because government information is taxpayer-supported, public information, and it belongs to you. Whether it’s a public school district, a village, a town, a county, the state, or the nation’s highest governing entities, everything said, spent or done there impacts you.

In the midst of the Cold War, with the United States and the Soviet Union locking political horns after World War II, the American government appeared to be suppressing information. That wasn’t going to work for John Moss, a newly elected Republican congressman from California. Moss campaigned for increased transparency, but was continuously rebuffed by a government he viewed as acting secretly. People were fired from their jobs and blacklisted for being com-

letters

OK, Santos lied. So does everybody in D.C.

To the Editor:

munists, many without a shred of real evidence.

Moss championed his caused by hosting hearings as chair of a House subcommittee on government information. Support was nonexistent from the majority GOP, but outside Congress, educators, journalists and scientists strongly supported Moss.

Not surrendering, Moss pushed his Freedom of Information Act for over 10 years until, finally, a fellow Republican, Donald Rumsfeld — then a young representative from Chicago — added his name. The act eventually passed in the House and the Senate, and then landed on the desk of Johnson, a Democrat who opposed some aspects of the bill, especially when it came to classified material. Still, LBJ signed the legislation into law on July 4, 1966, making the supposed greatest democracy on Earth the third country to create such a law.

“I sign this measure with a deep sense of pride that the United States is an open society in which the people’s right to know is cherished and guarded,” Johnson said.

You might live in an incorporated village with a government that includes a board of trustees. You might attend a board meeting at which those trustees vote to spend money to improve a playground. You want to know exactly how that money — your village taxes — will be spent.

You might ask a trustee. Maybe he or she answers your question. Maybe they do not. You want to know more. That is when you can file a Freedom of Information request — the process created by the Free-

dom of Information Act — to obtain that information.

Is it that easy? Usually, yes. Occasionally, however, it becomes a tug-of-war between the government and the party who “FOILs” for the information.

This is what Sunshine Week is about, and why it matters. The information that a government entity possesses does not belong to elected or appointed officials. It belongs to the people they represent.

You.

To promote the message of Sunshine Week, you can write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper — like this one — or help spread the message through social media.

Elected officials, doing their part, could review current public-access laws, introduce legislation to strengthen accessibility to public information, and encourage the training of government employees to help ensure compliance with existing open-record laws.

Grass-roots community organization might organize local forums, sponsor essay contests, or push elected representatives to spotlight the importance of open access to government information.

Teachers can use Sunshine Week to educate students on how government transparency improves their lives and creates stronger communities.

Government transparency was on the mind of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis when he told Harper’s Weekly in 1913 that “sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.” Increased openness should be the standard that all government entities strive for. It makes for good governance, and a strong and civil society.

I took offense to Rick Herman’s letter, “Randi takes on George Santos” (Feb. 23-March 1), asserting that 99.9 percent of the “cuckoos” are Republicans — and I guess he forgot to mention that we’re all deplorable and racist.

I feel sorry for Mr. Herman’s grandson, who will be influenced by a grandfather who believes that his views are the only ones that matter, and that someone who has a different opinion needs to be silenced and disparaged.

I’m not defending Santos, but politicians, the media, government agencies and the pharmaceutical companies lie to us on a daily basis, so why would Santos think it was a problem to “enhance” his resume? Thankfully, in his case no one died as a result of his lies. We can’t say that for some other people in Washington.

For weeks there have been articles in the Herald about Santos. Move on, already. There are a lot more important issues going on in this country (and throughout the world) than Santos lying on his resume. Next

The governor’s misguided affordable-housing plan

It appears that Gov. Kathy Hochul has made a conscious decision to declare political war on Long Island.

In her proposed statewide mandate to increase the number of affordable homes by 800,000 units over the next 10 years, Hochul seeks to override local zoning control that is directed, in large measure, by the people who live there. For Long Island, home rule defines our region just as much as Jones Beach and rush hour traffic on the LIE. Make no mistake: Hochul’s housing plan is taking aim at the Island by imposing a 3 percent increase in affordable housing one way or another.

In an effort to couch it in humanitarian terms, she told the State Legislature, “Housing is a human right.” That’s bold rhetoric, but in truth, there is nothing in the federal or state Constitutions stating that housing is a basic right guaranteed by government. On the other hand, our state Constitution says, “Effective local self-government” is one of the “purposes of the people of the state.” Thus, the governor’s intent to allow the state to override local zoning ordinances is contrary

to a basic tenet of our governing document.

If citizens in a democracy wish to support initiatives that provide subsidized housing, then government can invest in efforts such as the New York City Housing Authority. With broken elevators, poorly maintained boilers, lurking crime and other assorted issues, however, you have to admit that NYCHA has proven that government-subsidized housing isn’t exactly a panacea. That may help explain why over 30 percent of those renting from NYCHA didn’t pay their rent last year.

Hochul had a near-death political experience last fall, when Long Island did not give her a majority at the polls. There are a number of reasons for the Island’s antipathy toward her, but one was her earlier call to allow illegal two-family homes to become legal. Yet after retreating from blistering bipartisan opposition to that proposal, she has come back with yet another draconian housing “solution,” one driven more by ideology than market forces. Perhaps her call to dismantle local zoning is her punishment for a region where voters found her the lesser candidate.

Nevertheless, in the interest of building a coalition, Hochul has sent Ruth-

Letters

election, vote him out.

If you want to start kicking politicians out of office for lying, you might as well start closing the buildings in D.C. There probably will only be a handful of honest ones left.

BARBARA HALL

Formerly of Glen Cove

Hochul’s budget takes aim at smoking

To the Editor:

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s 2024 Executive Budget includes critical tobacco-control policies that, if passed, will reduce youth tobacco initiation rates and adult smoking rates, thus ensuring a tobaccofree generation. The elimination of flavored tobacco products from retail shelves is a common-sense action that will greatly improve the health of New Yorkers who continue to use tobacco products.

Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death in New York. Every year, approximately 4,300 New Yorkers under 18 become daily smokers, with 80 percent of young smokers starting with a flavored tobacco product. Flavored products, including menthol, are enticing to young smokers, and make it more difficult for them to quit once they are addicted to nicotine.

In addition, menthol tobacco products have been disproportionately marketed to Black communities for decades. As a result, the tobacco industry has profited from the creation of gener-

Anne Visnauskas, commissioner of New York State Homes and Community Renewal, to meet with Long Islanders in the public and private sectors. In 2017, Visnauskas was appointed president and CEO of the New York State Housing Finance Agency, the State of New York Mortgage Agency and the State Affordable Housing Corporation. She previously served as Homes and Community Renewal’s executive deputy commissioner for Housing Development, the Mortgage Insurance Fund, the Office of Community Renewal and the Office of Faith-Based Community Development Services.

All that is fine, Commissioner, but welcome to Long Island.

Just in case you don’t believe our region is specifically targeted in the governor’s public agenda, consider the following. Hochul acknowledges that the majority of communities around the state are already hitting or close to achieving her arbitrary affordable-housing targets — except Long Island. For Nassau and Suffolk, she has set a goal of 38,218 new affordable housing units between 2023 and 2025.

This is not to say Long Island doesn’t have a housing problem. It does. Far too many municipalities here are shutting

ations of long-term nicotine addiction and devastating health consequences.

Now is the time to take action against Big Tobacco’s shrewd and manipulative marketing tactics. I urge the State Legislature to pass the proposed budget and protect young New Yorkers from tobacco-related death and disease.

MAUREEN KENNEY

Division director, American Lung Association Hauppauge

Peter King’s return to Washington

To the Editor:

Re Peter King’s column last week, “At the Capitol, it was almost as if I’d never left”: Mr. King’s “bittersweet” tour of his part-time “home” for 28 years is qualified by an expansive “almost.”

Since his departure in December 2020, we outsiders have seen members of Congress fleeing the Capitol, election-deniers elected, Marjorie Taylor Greene advocating secession and a national divorce, the meretricious McCarthy spectacle, the frantic shunning of George Santos and the Republican Party’s growing angst with its likely nominee. Mr. King apparently did not notice any of this. His visit was a lot like old times, we’re told.

Who knew this would be cause for nostalgia?

BRIAN KELLY Rockville Centre

down applications for next-generation housing, creating an unforced exodus of young people who will be needed to power the economy, pay the taxes and build the future. But Hochul’s proposed remedy is akin to being held hostage by an Albany now under progressive domination.

If it is passed, it is a certainty that there will be lawsuits, protests and, most important, a response at the voting booths that will jeopardize every elected official who supports the plan. And the political aftershocks will not stop with state and local officials. Much as the issue of crime drove Democrats to cross party lines and vote for Republicans last November, Hochul’s assault on the integrity of local zoning may move Long Island voters to overwhelmingly support the Republican who runs against Democratic U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

While Gillibrand seems to need a GPS to even find Long Island, she will be within reach of voters who intend to express their seething anger over a DemocraticProgressive agenda that destroys the integrity of suburban home rule. She will be another politician who ruefully discovers that you “don’t mess with the Island.”

Ronald J. Rosenberg has been an attorney for 42 years, concentrating in commercial litigation and transactions, and real estate, municipal, zoning and land use law. He founded the Garden City law firm Rosenberg Calica & Birney in 1999.

Framework by Tim Baker

Everton Bailey leads the Instrumental Sounds of Praise Youth Ensemble — Hempstead

Hochul’s draconian housing ‘solution’ is driven more by ideology than market forces.

ronaLd J. rosenBerG

The front-page story “Lou Matarazzo, NYPD union stalwart, dies,” in the Feb. 23-March 1 issue, incorrectly stated that Lou Matarazzo’s son played for the Iona Gaels baseball team. In fact, it was his grandson, Louis Michael Matarazzo.