The imprisonment of Great Neck Estates resident and zoning board member Kamran Hekmati in Iran was the main topic of concern at the Village Board of Trustees’ monthly meeting on Monday, Nov. 10, at Village Hall.
Mayor William D. Warner opened the meeting by reading a letter from U.S. Rep. Thomas Suozzi, who represents New York’s Third Congressional District, requesting that the State Department “urgently work towards the release of Mr. Hekmati on humanitarian grounds.”
Hekmati, a 70–year old Iranian-American jeweler who visited Iran last May, was sentenced to four years in prison in July by Iranian authorities on charges of traveling to Israel 13 years ago. Hekmati, who is Jewish, made the trip to Israel to celebrate his son’s bar mitzvah, his family members have told the press.
“The case is deeply alarming to my constituents, particularly within the large Persian community on Long Island, and among my colleagues and the government of the Village of Great Neck Estates,” the congressman’s letter said.
Warner said he would post a copy of the congressman’s letter on the village’s website and that he would reach out to the Iranian-American Jewish Federation of New York for more support. Residents expressed interest in sending personal letters to the congressman and the State Department on behalf of Hekmati.
After discussing Hekmati’s case, the board moved on to other issues on the meeting’s agenda, including updates on roadwork from Superintendent of Public Works Ernest Garvey; a debate over a public mural on Maple Drive; and community concerns over noise and parking. Sergeant Noor of the Village of Great Neck Estates’ Police Department also spoke about the department’s efforts to expand the License Plate Reader program to “every entrance of the village” to further enhance public safety and deter crime.
Resident Matt Klein was emphatic in his view that the village needs to restrict the hours that residents and commercial landscapers can use noisy leaf blowers.
“As a village, reducing noise pollution is something we need to be talking about,” Mr. Klein said. “The noise from the leaf blowers is horrible. It goes on five days a week from 8 a.m. on and it’s impossible to enjoy your space when it’s happening.”
While using gas-powered leaf blowers is banned in the village from Sept. 1 to June 15 as part of a seasonal regulation to reduce noise and air pollution, Klein claimed that residents and landscapers ignore the ban and he called for a new ordinance to further restrict the time of day that leaf blowers can be used.
Warner acknowledged both the noise issue and the “tremendous problems” that the accumulation of loose leaves can cause for the village’s drains. “It’s a hard needle to thread, but I’m willing to think about it,” Warner said about proposing new restrictions.
Residents also complained of parking violations in certain areas of the village where residents are parking overnight and not being ticketed, even though the street signs say no parking from 2 a.m. to 7 a.m.
Board members agreed that there is too much parking on the streets as of late.
Noor quipped, “This is the first time I’ve heard the complaint we don’t give enough parking tickets,” and said the police department does grant parking permit requests from residents for various reasons, such as driveway work or having extra guests. He said he’d look into the street parking matter and provide an update shortly.
As the meeting wrapped up with evident good rapport among the residents and board members, the fate of the imprisoned Hekmati still hung heavily about the space. As Warner had stated earlier, “Anything we talk about here tonight pales in comparison with Mr. Hekmati’s case.”
