If the mayor of Great Neck and his running mates are reelected, the village will ultimately become the Long Island equivalent of Kiryas Joel [a village within the town of Monroe in Orange County, NY, where the majority of its residents are Yiddish-speaking Hasidic Jews]. That can’t happen here.
The puppet of his religious taskmasters, the mayor has stripped the Zoning and Planning Boards of their powers and assumed them himself. He launched unprecedented attacks on our school district, volunteer fire departments and ambulance service. He served sidewalk violation citations on 500 residents, giving them only one day to fix them, forcing homeowners to pay thousands for repairs.
He kept the ill-planned rezoning of Middle Neck and Steamboat Roads in place. He’s made no plans for the 191 apartments and more than 320 cars soon to come to the new AvalonBay complex on East Shore Road. He will do nothing to stop more properties escaping the tax rolls to become owned by religious institutions, adding to the village’s losses.
He passed a law to effectively allow for mother-daughter apartments, illegal under village code. He has done nothing to attract business to the village, claiming credit for some of the Orthodox-owned businesses that are expanding. He has stated there is no room for shops due to online retail. He laughed off citizen concerns about 1,04 Dioxane in our water, despite sitting on the board of the water authority.
Vote for Rebecca Gilliar and Adam Harel on June 20 and consider a write-in candidate for the second trustee position on their Village Unity line. We need a secular majority to assure our future, before it’s too late.
—David Zielenziger
