Letters to the Lynbrook/East Rockaway Editor (Jan. 17-23)

Posted

Listen to what the master plan told us 20 years ago

To the Editor:

At a recent village board meeting, all we heard from Deputy Mayor Hilary Becker was about how a garage was a bad idea for Lynbrook and how we need a master plan.

Twenty years ago, a study was conducted in the downtown, which showed that the village suffered from “parking sprawl.” Lynbrook is not the only one. The recommendation was that officials take advantage of the Long Island Rail Road and build for the future by consolidating the village’s parking by building up — with a garage — then taking the surplus property and building a multifamily building — like the proposed Cornerstone — and increasing the tax base without an impact on village services. 
Now that the movie theater has opened, we have seen a renewed interest in the downtown, but more needs to be done. The theater has not had a negative impact on parking during the day on weekends, but office employees put a strain on shopper parking Monday through Friday. Today the village has struggled to provide the adequate parking necessary to attract new businesses. During the day, any available parking for customers is difficult because of all the employees taking parking spaces. Mayor Alan Beach has been vigilant in trying to find a solution, and some of it is working. 
My question to Becker and the members of the new Preserve Lynbrook Party is if the village were to pay for a master plan and it were to come back with the recommendation to consolidate the parking by building a structure, and then take the surplus properties by allowing a multifamily apartment building like the Cornerstone, would they follow through with the recommendations? I’m willing to wager that any study would recommend a parking structure and a multifamily apartment building. Multifamily rentals are appearing across Long Island in towns and villages that have train stations, to great results.
I know that some people would want condominiums or co-ops, but the banks won’t lend the money for those. Rental is the way to go — just ask any developer, as I did. The Cornerstone proposal that was supposed to go before the mayor and trustees would solve our issues by bringing Lynbrook toward a prosperous future by attracting new, young professionals. It would give older residents an option to downsize, live and stay close to family and friends.
The Cornerstone proposal was a good plan. Yes, maybe it was too big, but developers never had a chance to formerly present their plan and revise it to address residents’ concerns. The residents never had a chance to fully hear the proposal and do their research. A proposal like the Cornerstone would have had a positive impact. 

Harry Levitt, owner of Mur-Lee’s Men’s and Boy’s Wear


Reading between the lines of a recent letter

To the Editor,


In Alan Pawelsky’s letter, “The mayor is not protecting our village (Jan. 3-9), the writer did not tell the truth.
Pawelsky knowingly made a false robo-call to Lynbrook residents claiming that Assemblyman Brian Curran, my husband, favored the Cornerstone project, which he did not. This is a person who is part of the Lynbrook Community Alliance that shamelessly held signs, claiming that there was corruption at Village Hall without any basis. Pawelsky is not credible and him questioning the integrity of Mayor Alan Beach is laughable.


Rosemarie Curran, Lynbrook