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Friday, July 22, 2022
Vol. 7, No. 29
Port WashingtonTimes SUMMER DINING
BLAKEMAN WARNS CAR ROBBERS
HILLARY CLINTON ENDORSES ZIMMERMAN
PAGES 23-26
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Nassau County officials criticize LIRR schedule Stops on Port line would go up by 20% BY R OB E RT PE L A E Z
PHOTO BY ROBERT PELAEZ
State Assemblywoman Gina Sillitti called out the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for a proposed schedule that Nassau County residents believe will negatively impact the Port Washington branch of the Long Island Rail Road.
Elected officials throughout the Great Neck peninsula, Town of North Hempstead and Nassau County made a unified call to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to reinstate express service on the Port Washington line of the Long Island Rail Road on Tuesday. The bipartisan call to action was made following the MTA outlining the proposed schedule changes in June as part of the agency’s $11.2 billion East Side Access Project. The proposed changes, residents and officials said, are providing commuters on the Port Washington branch of the LIRR
with a decrease in express service. “Every day, thousands of Nassau County residents depend on the Long Island Rail Road to commute to work and come home,” Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said during a Tuesday press conference. “Their new schedule plan makes it much harder for people to plan their schedule. In effect, they’re cutting service.” Stops on the Port Washington Line, which also includes the Great Neck, Manhasset and Plandome stations, would increase by more than 20% during morning peak hours, according to the schedule. While Long Island Rail Road ofContinued on Page 38
Game of Zones: Who’s on Manorhaven’s BZA? BY ST E V E N K E E H N E R In his last days as Manorhaven’s mayor, Jim Avena appointed Brendan Fahey to the village’s Board of Zoning Appeals on June 30. Patrick Gibson had vacated his seat, and Fahey, a former trustee and BZA member, would fulfill his tenure until July 2023. Avena’s term ended at noon on July 4. John Popeleski, his successor, was sworn in during the village’s or-
ganizational meeting two days later. At that meeting, the trustees filled the vacant position on the Board of Zoning Appeals by appointing Frank Ottaviani even though the outgoing mayor had already named Fahey to the post. Listed on the agenda to “resume his former term,” they also named the former zoning board member to be the BZA’s chairman. But on July 8, Notary Public Carl
Lalena administered the oath of office and swore Fahey into the “38” seat. (The position’s nickname is derived from the years in which a term expires, for example, 2023 and 2028.) Blank Slate Media has received copies of both Fahey’s appointment letter and oath of office. Yet, the “Boards & Staff ” page on the village’s website doesn’t list his name. With legal threats looming and Ottaviani already hosting a BZA meet-
ing on July 12, questions about who should be on the board persist. Popeleski said that Avena’s lack of communication made Fahey’s appointment “null and void.” “It was done on a Friday and [Avena’s] term was up on the Fourth, so it was done basically behind my back,” he said. “I had zero notifications on it, which Mayor Avena should have communicated with me via email to say: ‘Look, I put these people on the
board.’” Both the former and current mayors agreed on the letter’s date. But the conflict differs on when the village received it. Avena said he delivered the letter while still in power. Popeleski said the village did not receive it until 12:34 p.m. of July 6, after Avena’s term had ended, which nullifies it. Efforts to reach the village’s reContinued on Page 39
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