Yaphank Site - Third And Last Public Hearing

[CIN]

Here's the info for the third meeting:

Bellport High School
205 Beaver Dam Rd.
Brookhaven, NY 11719

Wednesday, November 30th 7-9pm

Directions: Sunrise HW to exit 56 S - Station Rd.
Follow Station Rd South over Montauk HW & over Railroad tracks.
Beaver Dam Rd should be your next left after you pass the RR.
(according to mapquest)
Make left on Beaver Dam Rd - follow to High School


LAST CHANCE TO HAVE YOUR VOICE HEARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Rich Mergl]

Everyone going, be there by 6:15 PM , because the mailboxs are being stuffed in the Yaphank Area. They will only take a limited amount of people thru the doors. If you want to out number the NAYS trust me be there EARLY have your voice counted and heard.

[tgse]

Everyone going, be there by 6:15 PM , because the mailboxs are being stuffed in the Yaphank Area. They will only take a limited amount of people thru the doors. If you want to out number the NAYS trust me be there EARLY have your voice counted and heard.


What kind of letter is being stuffed in Yaphank boxes??? Can you fax a copy to 631-563-1874

[Rich Mergl]

It should be there. Just sent it from down the street.

[tgse]

It should be there. Just sent it from down the street.

call the office please rich

[Charlie's Angel]

Don't leave us all in the dark. We all want to know about this letter. Tell us what the letter says. Thanks!

[art11758]

Thats cutting it tight for me. 6:45 maybe. I'll get there when I can I guess.

[broz]

So...
Are you going to share the information about this "letter"?
Please advise :wave: Inquiring minds want to know :)

[CIN]

FLYER language

"one of the proposals is to build a drag-strip next to the Grucci Fireworks factory up to horseblock road. another is to build 1000 units of workforce housing. if you do not want to hear drag racing all weekend long, or just have other ideas of what should be done with this property you should attend this public meeting"


This is what was stuffed in mailboxes.

[broz]

Well, their flyer language does indicate that they are "focusing" on a "racing" facilty. Thanks for the info :applause:
Hope those attending on behalf of the "racing" community drive home the "entertainment" facility concept!
Good luck at the meeting tonight :wave:

[CIN]

Will post on here how everything goes. Check out Suffolk Life today...there is an article about the meetings...sort of portrays us all as hoodlums....
Might have to go to the website...not everyone gets the same articles

[Rich Mergl]

This guy that delivered the Flyer ( Letter) happened to be sitting next to me at Longwood High Schools first meeting. My cloths were getting wet listening to him crying. He wants no noise not even an applaud from a concert, not even a childs giggle at the amusement park.

[BWR]

well i wish i could attend this last meeting.but its my youngest son's first concert so i've been weighing it out and my kid wins.please keep us inform

[CIN]

Hey Rich Mergl,
For someone who told me he was nervous to get up and speak, you did a great job...and what a response you got from the crowd...Thanks....
Cin
Oh and you look young enough to get in a car and race....
Cin

[Tracy87BB]

I thought everyone did a great job...all of the speeches seemed well-planned and well-researched...I actually almost wished that I didn't have to follow all of you...especially you (Cin), Joe Larsen, Angel, the "kids" (Jessica, Kenny and Kim) and Rich (not to mention all of the people whose names and/or faces I don't know who all presented themselves very professionally and incredibly well)! Great job everyone...you're a bunch of people I'm glad to be associated with!

[CIN]

Tracey,
You did great. I thought all the kids were excellent. Like you said, Joe, great job again. Too bad we were limited to time...I only had a little bit more to say...oh well, they have my whole speech and all the back up data on the economic impacts of racing (I even gave them stuff that wasn't in the speech, from the datat I found I could have gone on for at least 20 minutes, but even I would have gotten bored with that)....Small group meetings would be good for the future. We need to set some up. Will get a hold of Isles and Morgo to do exactly that and make sure we keep at them through this process. If we stopped we'll get forgotten.

Thanks to everyone who came, thanks to everyone who spoke.
Cin

[The Bullfather]

Was it just me or was anyone offened by the way the left side of the stage reacted when the supporters of racing spoke. It seemed the two key speakers were always talking and some even walked off the stage. The key speaker of the left also was rolling his eyes and made hand gestures when some people were making points with given evidence! I thought some of the epople who stood up and spoke were treated with disrepect. But, I guess we need to speak up and show suffolk county that we are family, we are friends, this is our love and our passion. This is our lives! I hope some of the respresentives took notice the last 3 meetings, as much edividence of affordable housing would not be affordable to yapank at all!!!

Rich and the teacher I thought gave great speechs, also I like to have heard more from the EMT srevice guy who spoke up about being disrepected!

[cuzzzy59]

I work in yaphank everyday,have met a lot of good people there.That being said,let me ask all those who are against any racing type track.Do you really think a race track will be any more intrusive to your quality of life, than the smell that eminates from that compost site on horseblock rd??? Ithink not. Idont see nor hear of the police or the nursing center complaining about it,so why should a place that would run at best once a week bother you?.the entire area is industrial,all homes are on the outside of project area,so to inconveinence anybody is unfounded.fmr supervisor "grucci" started the boom along horseblock rd, and old dock rds. in 10 yrs delivering in yaphank,I have seen at least 100 new homes built,and a multitude of new buisness come to yaphank.Old dock rd had 7bldgs on it in 1995.Today there are more than 21 buildings,with more to come to east of old dock rd,as well as off horseblock rd.Meaning no disrepect, lets realize something here.Yaphank has become a larger than life town,it's no longer that little "hamlet" with the corner farm stand.It has evovled into a major part of the future of suffolk county.Nobdy is taking away your quailty of life as you know it.

[broz]

Were there any "media" members present at last nights' proceedings?
That being said, was anything reported about last nights' meetings in any of the "local" print/tv media today?

[The Bullfather]

channel 12, heard they were interviewing people outside, also I saw a quick clip and the side they showed looked like no one was there at all. They should have panned the crowd.

Today I was at a racing collectables shop and was talking with two gentlemen. One was for it and another would never believe it would be build. He was discourging to the community. I said if you believe and act like that, it will never happen. You have to have faith and hope and believe, you need to be voice. They will never hear you,if you never speak up or be shown! We need more oval track guys to be supportive. Last night was my first night out of the 3, I sat across from Brian Doyle who also was at his first. We need to be seen and heard. There are far more pros for this facilty then cons, as with their idea of housing which would be far worse for Yapank and it's school districts.

[CIN]

I know that they have been reporting on News12 about the meeting, but limited info...Only thing they are saying is that Levy wants to possibly use the land for a Sports and Entertainment Facility, Workforce Housing and expanding the Jail. What doesn't make sense is the jail has never been mentioned at any meeting except that it is there. I haven't found anything in Newsday. I don't know if Suffolk Life was there, probably were.

Some speakers spoke of the need for Workforce Housing. One was former Congressman Forbes, who is now the head of the Nassau/Suffolk Chamber of Commerce. Tom Sullivan of Norththrop/Gruman and a few others.
A few of us gave some information on the economic impact of motorsports, including Joe Larsen & myself.
I give alot of credit to those children that got up and spoke. They all did a great job.
As stated by Mr. Isles & Mr. Morgo, this is a long process. And there are still going to be many meetings for public imput. So we are not done yet. I am going to try to go over my notes from what they said at their portion of the meeting and give everyone an overview of what still has to happen.

So anyone who still wants to see a Sports and Entertainment Facility that includes the race tracks has to keep coming to any of the meetings and keep on writing to the planning board. Because we know that the ones that, as stated in Suffolk Life, 'just want birdhouses' will keep up their vigil.

When I find out info I'll post it.

Cin

[Tower Man]

I only hope the committe is being sincere here and not just putting on a "Dog and Pony Show".

And why isn't there a respected person with interest in racing, (all kinds), on this committee? It seems the committee is stacked with people who want everything except racing.

Something to think about.

[CIN]

Joe,
I agree. And from what they said this is a long process, why I don't know,maybe they think we'll just go away. So we just have to keep at them.
A few things have me thinking, but one in particular. The black woman at the end of the meeting asked the board how come there where no people of color on the board. You know, she was right. That board was not representative of Suffolk County. I pulled up the demographics of Suffolk. Latest data is from 2000, but I'll take it. If that committee was supposed to represent Suffolk, well they were missing a minority person & a person between the ages of 20 -34. And, another question, why were there 2 people (women) representing the Yaphank Civic Association. A little one sided I would say. When the one gentleman got up and said he lives in Yaphank and that his taxes paid for the property in question, the people next to me applauded and said yes. I turned to them and said so did my taxes. Actually, I think it was my parents taxes, cause I think Suffolk bought that property back in the 60's...I think that if the County wants to do anything but what the majority of those that where at the meetings want and they want to listen to those Yaphank residents that want nothing done with the property, well we should sell it to them. Then they can do exactly what they want with the property, sort of like what Rivehead is doing with Calverton. But, I want the fair market value of that property as of right now. I realize that this is not in our best interest...but it might just shut them up.

Sorry for the boring speech. We have to keep up our vigil. People have to keep on writing to the county and their legislator's, especially the new ones.
And big thing, get info on economic impacts - MONEY TALKS - especially in light of all that's in the news about people leaving LI due to taxes.

Thanks for listening
Cin

[Tracy87BB]

Cin,
Just out of curiousity, I was wondering if you knew whether it was possible to get a transcript or something from the meeting...I think I tried to listen objectively and pretty intently to everyone's points...there was one resident from Yaphank who I thought was talking about the fact that the property belonged to the residents of Yaphank (we might both be talking about the same speaker here), and that the property should not be touched because it's already paid for so it's "money in the bank." That seemed a little contradictory to me (someone feel free to clarify or correct me if I'm wrong), but letting the property sit idle - as far as I can fathom - in fact, does NOT generate money and is simply money that is gone from the bank... There were so many ideas and views put forth at the meeting that I'm honestly having a little trouble remembering the specifics of each speech...and I'd actually be curious to see it so that those of us in support of the Top Gun project have some time to do our homework and know what issues we should try to address for the next round of meetings.

[CIN]

Tracey,
Yes it is possible to get transcripts of the meetings and also of the committee meetings that they hold. We would have to "FOIL" for them. I planned on doing just that. I not only wanted the transcripts of the public meetings, but of the meetings that the committee has by themselves. I attended one right after the first public hearing. If you would like to help me out with this give me a call...654-5931

And yes this is COUNTY owned land, as in all us tax payers.

Cin

[art11758]

A couple of things. I think the South Shore Press was also there. The fellow on the left side of the stage, between his dance steps before the meeting started and other things already mentioned, may have had a Red Bull beforehand or something. Seated to my right was a woman who explained to me " I'm active in my community, that's why everyone says hello to me". More on that in a second. She groaned every time anything was mentioned about developing the land. She also left early. Her loss. All of the people who addressed the committee(and the Bellport teacher who played more to the crowd) had something of interest to say. She went on to say that "all anyone was looking for was a racetrack. Do you think this kind of crowd would turn out for anything else??" I explained to her my interest as a Brookhaven and Suffolk taxpayer. And that the plan is going to be a mixed use as I'm understanding it. The people that did say hello to her that I remember were, the two fellows that seemed to run the meeting and Nanette Essell ( I think I spelled that right)I took notes on the back of he comment card that was given to me on the way in (not thinking to bring paper of my own) and will form some opinions/concerns this weekend and mail them in. Particularly this housing thing. It was asked if it came to be and some one after purchasing decided to sell, how would the unit be priced? The concerns of the South Country district regarding the negative impact of the non tax paying users of the services already in place (ambulance and I would imagine fire). School district services was another. Noise abatement has come a long way and the lack of buffer was I think part of the issue with the demise of certain facilities in the past. One fellow mentioned the drone of the LIE. I remember when home purchasing the first time it was the reason we stoped looking anywhere near the Expressway.
As stated before it's going to be a long road. We won't have an equivilant to the Nassau Coliseum nor "just a racetrack". If the committee does as it has been created to do (as I understand it) following the "site vision" and "goals" within the framework of "public benefit" the result will be as the County Executive said an example for everyone as the right way to develop public land.
Note to fellow posters who attended: Sorry I didn't introduce myself to all of you. Lost track of a few and forgot to get names of others to whom I did speak to. Social grace isn't my strong suit I'm afraid.

[art11758]

This isn't exactly Yapank related but in a way it is. The presentation made clear that workforce housing was a "requirement" in the development of the property. Well check out what C.E. Levy concedes about it here:
http://www.libn.com/breakingNews_detail_new.cfm?id=4329&flashreportID=1093&bannerID_1=174&bannerID_2=115&bannerID_3=200,196,194,193,192,82,68&bannerID_5=-1

It's going to be interesting to hear Brookhavens input given this statement.

[CIN]

Check out Suffolk Life's letters to the editor (12/21/05).
They finally printed my letter...

Cin

[tgse]

This isn't exactly Yaphank related, but in a way it is. The presentation made clear that workforce housing was a "requirement" in the development of the property. Well check out what C.E. Levy concedes about it here:
http://www.libn.com/breakingNews_detail_new.cfm?id=4329&flashreportID=1093&bannerID_1=174&bannerID_2=115&bannerID_3=200,196,194,193,192,82,68&bannerID_5=-1

It's going to be interesting to hear Brookhaven's input given this statement.


Not disagreeing here--but where do you read in that? That workforce housing will be required on Yaphank county property---I think it's a great article showing how workforce housing is a county wide issue and it will be up to town governments to solve the issue and spreading it out amongst all towns of Suffolk.

[BWR]

heres cin's letter nice 1 cin :applause:
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15793038&BRD=1776&PAG=461&dept_id=213546&rfi=6

[CIN]

Check out a readers response to the letter...I wonder if the site is suitable for "workforce" housing, per her response?

[W. J.]

LOL, now follow BWR's original link and read my response to Noele. :)

[BWR]

so far it hasn'st been added :mad:

[W. J.]

Yeah, they must be off for the holiday. I didn't say anything bad, maybe it will go up when they come back to work on Monday.

UPDATE DEC 27th: It's up and it's good!!! Score one for our side!

[CIN]

Great reply WJ.
Thanks
Cindy

[W. J.]

You're welcome, Cin. Everyone should read all the letters. I love the one from the guy with the backhanded compliments to the people of Mastic.
They should find out where HE lives. I'll bet he's sitting on some primo piece of real estate himself, looking down on everyone else. :mad:

[CIN]

Yeah WJ, I sent in a response to him; it's not up yet though.

[Rich Johnson]

I would not worry too much about what someone like him would post...
People who don't have anything intelligent to say usually just bash.

RACINRICH

[Tower Man]

Rich...I couldn't agree with you more...