Brookhaven Community Coalition letter to Adm Law Judge, Re: Long Island Compost

      From: Adrienne Esposito <aesposito@citizenscampaign.org>      Date: April 27, 2012 4:39:16 PM EDT 

    Subject: Long Island Compost Adm Law Judge. pdf [click here] 

All,

Well here’s the master piece [click here].  It was just mailed in a binder with all the attachments.   A gigantic THANK YOU  to all who helped put together all the materials.  Wayne – especially you!    Please feel free to circulate this letter if you would like.   I really, really hope it helps!!!!

Adrienne

All is well at the Miller Cemetery

From: Martin VanLith 

Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2012 5:55 PM
Subject: All is well at the Miller Cemetery

I was going mow the weeds at the Miller Cemetery today and, to my surprise, found that about 2/3 of it was Lilly of the Valley. So, I only cut the back part, which was mostly garlic-mustard, bittersweet and sprouting sassafras. The cemetery is in the same good condition we left it in a few months ago. 

We do have some minor repair work to do here, we'll talk about it at our next meeting. --Marty

After:

 

 

Today's work at Barteau Cemetery

We haven't been following in this blog the Machiavellian details of the restoration work at the Barteau Cemetery in Brookhaven Hamlet sponsored by the Fire Place History club.  But after years of cajoling the Town of Brookhaven to open the right-of-way to the cemetery (including a law suit in State Supreme Court), and securing cooperation of the adjacent property owner, access to the cemetery was finally obtained this Spring (in actuality, the Town only cleared part of the right-of-way, so cooperation of the adjacent property owner was crucial). 

 

The Barteau cemetery is the largest of the "family" burying grounds in Brookhaven/South Haven hamlets, and seems to have served as a "community" cemetery for much of the 19th century.  The restoration work is being funded by a Town of Brookhaven Caithness Community Benefit fund grant and a substantial grant from the Brookhaven Village Association cemetery maintenance fund.  More on the Barteau Cemetery may be found at http://brookhavensouthhaven.org/HamletPeople/tng/showmap.php?cemeteryID=11&tree=

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From: Martin VanLith [mailto:vanlith@optonline.net]
Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2012 4:40 PM
Subject: Today's work at Barteau Cemetery

Dear All,

Once again, Hollis did quiet a bit of work today at the Barteau Cemetery. In the process he found the base of the only non-repairable (Nathan Barteau?) headstone that we missed somehow.  Hollis told me that he, George and Rick got poison ivy last week working here..., hmmm. I told him that none of us got it (is that true?). He also told me that one of the residents, a fellow named John Deitz, stopped by to talk with him....

Best I can tell, Hollis has about two more days of work to do here. Maybe three. So far the repairs are coming out very well, see pixs.

 --Marty

 

 

Hollis found that this 1856 headstone for Elizabeth  Rider was made by his company, George Hill Moore.

 

 

 Strong to the finish because he eats his spinach - 

 

  

 

More Broken Promises from Brookhaven Town

South shore Brookhaven, Yaphank and Medford hamlets continue to to subsidize wealthy North Shore  communities by enduring stench and broken promises!   Is it perhaps time to split the town in two-- North Brookhaven (AKA the Gold Coast) and South Brookhaven?  

http://www.newsday.com/long-island/towns/long-island-now-1.1732330/brookhaven-official-wants-to-raise-landfill-1.3672517

Long Island Now

Brookhaven official wants to raise landfill

April 20, 2012 By Sophia Chang

Brookhaven Town’s landfill in Yaphank, long criticized by neighbors as smelly and unsightly, might grow yet higher.

Brookhaven’s waste management Commissioner Matt Miner intends to ask the state for permission to add 50 feet to the landfill’s height, a move that would extend its life span by three years.

Making the landfill taller will generate millions more in revenue for the financially strapped town, Miner told the town board at Thursday’s work session.

“The landfill is already 270” feet tall, he said. “So going up another 50 feet is nominal.”

With the state’s permission, the landfill could be 320 feet tall, hold an additional 3.9 million cubic yards of waste, and generate an additional $120 million in net revenue for the town, Miner said.

Town Supervisor Mark Lesko said the landfill — while it “will close at some point” — is “a regional asset when it comes to being self-sustaining in terms of managing our waste.”

The landfill is in the district represented by Councilwoman Connie Kepert, who noted her constituents “have been promised that the life of the landfill will end,” she said. “There has to be an end to the burden.”

Miner said he also will ask the state to modify the town’s permit from the Department of Environmental Conservation that allows Brookhaven to accept a maximum of 1 million tons of waste per year.

During the height of the recession in 2008, Miner said landfill business declined and the town did not meet the maximum intake — so he wants a 10 percent increase for the next three years to make up for the revenue loss without exceeding state regulations.

The additional 100,000 tons per year will bring in an additional $2 million to $3 million in revenue each year, he said.

Pending the state’s approval, the town board will vote on the landfill changes at the May 8 board meeting. The landfill is a major source of income for Brookhaven, making up about 40 percent of the town’s revenue for its $260 million budget. Lesko has projected that the town could face a budget gap of $6 million to $10 million in 2013.

 

SCHOOL BOARD ELECTIONS You are invited, Saturday April 21 at 4pm

 

It’s time to stop wasting school district tax dollars on endless litigation and excessive administration expenses. Restore integrity and fiscal responsibility to school government. It’s time to direct taxpayer dollars to the education of children.

You are invited to meet South Country School Board candidates 

Chris Picini, Rob Powell & Lisa Di Santo Grossman

Saturday, April 21 at 4pm 

At the home of Beth and Jim Rose, 21 Mott Ln. Brookhaven

(Mott Ln. is just off 290 Beaver Dam Rd.)

Refreshments will be served

RSVP's not necessary but still appreciated- Beth Rose;  roses4@optonline.net 

 Anyone wishing to contribute to our campaign can do so at this event but note that it is not required. Checks should be made payable to "Concerned Residents of South Country". 

Hope you will join us

Eileen Green, Jane and Larry Tierney (776-9008) 

 

[Posting of this notice does not imply endorsement of these candidates by Hamlet Reporter.] 

Opera, Organ and More...Sat. April 28, 5 pm, Old South Haven Church, Brookhaven

Opera, Organ and More...

 

an afternoon recital

 

Saturday, April 28, 5 PM Old South Haven Church, Brookhaven

 

Michael Douglas Jones, bass

Maria D'Amato, soprano

Andrew Fuchs, tenor

Carol Weitner, organ

Daniel Ragone, piano

 

The Becker/Gambles Music Fund of the South Country Education Foundation, Inc. invites you to join us for our fourth annual afternoon recital at the Old South Haven Presbyterian Church (c. 1828) at the corner of South Country and Beaver Dam Roads in Brookhaven Hamlet.  We are pleased to present soprano Maria D'Amato, a Long Island native, who will join our group of fine musicians this spring.  A reception in the adjacent Post Carriage House with a chance to meet the artists will follow.

 

After the recital, The Bellport will offer concert patrons a prix fixe dinner for $30.  Reservations may be made by calling the restaurant at 286-7550.

 

All concert proceeds will benefit our summer music scholarship fund for students in grades 4 through 11.  For full biographies of this year's performers, information about the concert and the foundation, see our website http://www.scefonline.org

 

.............................................................................................................................................

 

Name ___________________________________________________________________________

 

Street/PO Box ____________________________________________________________________

 

City/State/Zip _____________________________________________________________________

 

Phone  ( _____ ) __________________________  Email __________________________________

 

Tickets $25 per person (will be held at the door).  Total remittance enclosed __________________

 

RESERVATIONS WITH CHECK MUST BE RECEIVED BY APRIL 21, 2012.

 

Please make checks payable to SCEF, Inc. (Memo: B/G Tickets) and mail to:

 

Karen Rowley, 325 Beaver Dam Road, Brookhaven, NY 11719  Attn: Opera, Organ and More ....

Brookhaven Free Library Centennial Sunday May 20, 2012

Poster by artist Barry Rockwell of Brookhaven Hamlet, NY

HOG's Spring Fling - Sunday, Painters 3:30-6:30pm (Hamlet Organic Garden)

Our second annual Spring Fling is this Sunday April 15th! Do you have a fantastic potluck dish you'd like to share with our community? If so, email me at mail@hamletorganicgarden.org and I'll make sure there is room fot it at the appetizer table!

We'll be ringing in the start of a new season this Sunday April 15th from 330-6:30pm at Painters Restaurant. The New Students will be there to entertain and delight us! Please check out their music at www.thenewstudents.com
Tickets are $10 per person (Children age 6 and under free) and include light refreshments, priceless music and the unparalleled companionship of your fellow veggie-starved farm members. Your ticket also buys you 10% off dinner at Painters that night! (good April 15th only, one discount per check!) Help us celebrate the coming of spring!

This event is open to the public, so tell your friends!

Painters Restaurant, 416 S. Country Road, Brookhaven Hamlet

Egret Sushi

 

Post Morrow Foundation Preserve off Bay road, Brookhaven, NY

Photo:  Marty Van Lith © 2012

FW: $1 million to repair houses on Robinson Farm

$1-Million to restore an old house at the Robinson Duck farm on the South Haven Park?  Who did this estimates? 

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Suffolk seeks partners to fix historic sites

Originally published: April 2, 2012 9:12 PM
Updated: April 3, 2012 2:04 AM
By PAUL LAROCCO  paul.larocco@newsday.com

Seal the roof, board the windows and hope to slow the inescapable decay of time.

Cash-poor Suffolk can play only defense with its vacant historic structures. Restoring a gutted World War I-era schoolhouse or an 1820 Greek Revival home with holes in its parlor floor -- at up to $2 million each -- won't fall to taxpayers as the county struggles with a projected $530 million budget gap over two years.

So officials in search of a solution have taken a page from long-standing programs in states such as Maryland and Massachusetts: Ask private parties to pay for the reconstruction and, in return, lease them the properties for next to nothing.

"It becomes a case of, 'OK, we have these houses, what do we do with them?' " said Legis. Wayne Horsley (D-Babylon), a former New York State parks regional finance director who has a history doctorate. "We shouldn't just tear them down."

Horsley's legislation, passed in December, created a pilot program for five sites chosen by the county parks department's historic services division. Officials aim to seek bids this year for residential and even limited-business access to the properties under long-term agreements.

Meticulously restore the 1920s vernacular-style home on an old South Haven duck farm? You can live there for pennies.

Sink seven figures into the grand but rotting white Colonial at Hampton Bays' Hubbard County Park? Could be a good spot to run a bed-and-breakfast.

Genuine caretakers needed

"You're looking for partners in restoration, not someone who goes against the grain," said Richard Martin, the Suffolk parks department's historic services director. "It takes a unique person."

The county acquired many of its roughly 100 historic structures almost as afterthoughts, as parts of open space and farmland tracts purchased for environmental protection.

Some stand along lakes or at the end of long dirt roads, on some of Suffolk's most striking rural landscapes. But restoring those not already too far gone would cost considerably more than the county can afford.

Martin and the Public Works Department plan to write bid requests that ensure the five homes in the pilot program are repaired under strict guidelines to maintain period authenticity and preserve public access to surrounding county park grounds.

Interested parties don't necessarily need to be millionaires, proponents say, just careful contractors willing to give a lot of "sweat equity."

"That's a big investment," Horsley acknowledged. "But then Suffolk pays your rent."

The effort appears to be unique on Long Island. While Nassau County officials refused to provide information about its historic structures, a former parks supervisor said partnerships at some sites -- including estates such as Hempstead House at the Sands Point Preserve -- give oversight to nonprofit groups, but typically don't wholly rely on them for large-scale restorations.

"The ideal situation is finding someone willing to put up all the money, and they do exist," said Ian Siegel, a former Nassau deputy county executive under Democrat Thomas Suozzi. "But what's more realistic is some sort of agreement where the county matches what another group puts up."

Martin said Suffolk has about $300,000 a year in its historic services maintenance budget, cut by half from four years ago.

The fund recently covered a new roof on the 1820 Seven Oaks-Davis House in Manorville, keeping it from total collapse.

Fills pragmatic, artistic needs

But more than $2 million more is needed for a full restoration, including replacing the mahogany staircase handrail, rebuilding torn floors now bridged by plywood and completing all the other detail and utility work to make livable a structure that has been vacant for a quarter-century.

"All of this stuff has to be done in a very creative and, obviously, very careful way," said Joel Snodgrass, a historic construction expert from Huntington. He worked with Suffolk to craft its pilot program. "But it's a win-win because abandoned structures not only go down in flames figuratively, for lack of maintenance, but they go can down in flames literally from vandalism," he said.

Maryland's resident curatorship program is one of Suffolk's models. The state gives individuals who restore and maintain a historic home a $1-a-year lifetime lease.

Since 1982, about 60 state-owned homes, some dating to the 1740s, have received nearly $9 million in private investment, said Maryland's program manager Emily Burrows. "That's investment in properties that really would not be standing otherwise," she said. "A lot of these were pulled from the demolition list."

Suffolk County is bound by law from selling off structures on its parkland, so in difficult times, the pilot program may be the only way to get value from them, a lawmaker said.

"Making the bureaucracy of the county harmonize with a private group that may be interested in one of these properties has been no easy process," said Legis. John Kennedy (R-Nesconset), who helped Suffolk acquire an 1810 homestead included in the pilot program. "But out of sheer desperation, we're going to have to come along, whether we like it or not."

SUFFOLK PLAN TO SAVE HISTORIC SITES

Suffolk County is launching a pilot program to attract private parties to renovate and occupy its deteriorating historic buildings -- in exchange for long-term leases at discount rates. Five sites are in the program:

ELWOOD SCHOOLHOUSE

Location: 330 Cuba Hill Rd., Elwood

Built: 1915

Acquired by county: 1986

Restoration estimate: $2 million

Trivia: Served as community's prime school space into the 1950s; last used by local art league a decade ago. Also called "Little Red Schoolhouse"

COMMERDINGER HOMESTEAD

Location: Walter S. Commerdinger Park, Nesconset

Built: 1810

Acquired by county: 2006

Restoration estimate: not available

Trivia: Has been home to notable local families such as the Blydenburghs

ROBINSON DUCK FARM HOME

Location: Robinson Duck Farm Park, South Haven

Built: 1920s

Acquired by county: 1990

Restoration estimate: $1 million

Trivia: Vernacular-style home is one of three on the site of an old duck farm

SEVEN OAKS-DAVIS HOUSE

Location: Robert Cushman Murphy County Park, Manorville

Built: 1820

Acquired by county: 1986

Restoration estimate: $2 million

Trivia: Sat on what was once one of Long Island's largest cranberry bogs; recent roof replacement prevented a full collapse

BLACK DUCK LODGE

Location: Hubbard County Park, Hampton Bays

Built: 1865

Acquired by county: 1971

Restoration estimate: $3 million

Trivia: The large white Colonial once was General Foods chairman E.F. Hutton's private hunting lodge.