Good morning neighbors,

There is much to share, but first I just have to say a huge THANK YOU for coming out and showing up for this cause. I have been in awe of the amount of people in our community who are showing up to meetings and events, speaking with our leaders, writing letters and notes sharing their concerns, and speaking with the media to get this issue front and center. You all ROCK!!! 

Now, let's get to business.

First, there is a Special Town Board meeting scheduled for this coming Monday, November 24th at 5:30 PM to discuss the Industrial Park Project. We urge you to attend if you are able. It is so important for our Town leadership to see that we do not want these massive industrial buildings in our neighborhood.

Long Island is dealing with an inordinate amount of warehouse building from Nassau to Suffolk counties. A Newsday article (HERE) from last fall highlighted this issue and it is only getting worse. Our leadership is signing over our long term health and well-being in order to make money. 

We all understand the importance of supporting the business community here on Long Island. But there are better ways to do this besides building 18 million square feet of warehouses that will ruin our landscape, destroy natural land and resources, and potentially poison our water and soil (hello Grumman in Bethpage). Town leaders across Long Island must be more creative and thoughtful when planning for the long term success and viability of our area.  Our leaders must collaborate with each other to develop a comprehensive plan that serves both the business and residential communities. It can't only be all about what the business community wants.

I hope you can join our team this coming Monday at the special Town Board meeting. Meetings are held at Town Hall, 200 East Sunrise Highway, Lindenhurst, NY 11757. Meetings are held in the Town Board Room.

The second important item I want to highlight is our newly appointed Block Captains. Some of our neighbors who attended our VFW meeting two weeks ago signed up to lead as Block Captains -- they are going door to door to ring bells and chat with community members about this industrial park project. Our block captains are finding that many of our community members still don't know about this project. They have been passing out flyers, selling our lawn signs, and just chatting with them to raise awareness. 

The last item I want to share is about the push by developers to force our towns into zoning changes to benefit their warehouse projects. Many of you know about the project in East Farmingdale that residents successfully fought against.  If you don't know about it, you can read the article HERE.  Well, the developer sued the Town Board in order to force the zone change over the residents' objections. Thankfully this lawsuit was dismissed by the NY State Supreme Court. You can read about the dismissal HERE.  The fight is not over though; the developer has filed an appeal. I am sharing this so that you are aware of what we could be up against. It is important to stay vigilant and aware of what is happening around us.  If we work at it, we can maintain a healthy balance between the business community and residential communities here on Long Island. 

Best,

Love