Letters to the Editor: Week of March 15, 2012
Budget meetings
To the Editor:
Could it be that people don’t attend the school’s budget meetings because when questions are asked the answers are always the same? Either it’s mandated or it’s part of the union contract. Until the School Board is willing to stand up to the state mandates and the union demands, nothing will change except that your taxes will continue to go up and the education of your children will go down. The time has come for the School Board to push both Albany and the union back.
GAIL DRAPER, Shelter Island
Clarification
To the Editor:
I feel it is important for me to express my thoughts about the article “After two school budget workshops, no clear answers yet” posted on your website last week concerning the budget development of the school district.
As I explained to Julie the reporter, the Board of Education has directed me to roll the budget out piece by piece as it is developed. As you may know, they have taken the approach that once the entire budget is drafted, they will go back over it and make revisions. This pattern has worked quite successfully here over the past several years.
The article implies that I am somehow hiding something by not giving the public the bottom line figure at the outset of this process. This is simply not the case.
I am fully confident that after all of the categories of this budget are discussed, the board will make adjustments based on the priorities they set for this district and what is best for our students. I look forward to continuing the strong relationship between the school district and the Reporter for many years to come.
DR. MICHAEL HYNES, Shelter Island , School Superintendent
Real estate scene
To the Editor:
Seems I was playing telephone tag with Julie Lane and did not get an opportunity to express my comments on the current real estate market [in last week’s article in the Reporter].
The economy certainly has had an affect on the present market. Those vacationers who would have taken a seasonal rental are now taking a month or a couple of weeks. We have over 150 houses listed for rent on this Island, most of them by second homeowners. Some of these homes have been listed for years for rent, which in turn helps with the maintenance of a second home. Others, because of the turn in the economy, have their houses both for sale and for rent, whichever comes first.
Of the homes that are for sale, I might add that most of them are the victims of the market crash in ‘08, some lifestyle changes, estate sales and the simple case of moving up or moving down. For those buyers that have the cash in hand or are qualified for the very low interest rates, now is the time to buy. It is almost beyond a buyer’s market.
The market is in recovery as a case of simple supply and demand; housing is one of the most important factors in the recovery of our economy. And to make the recovery more expeditious, we need to have a moratorium on “capital gains tax” or eliminate it altogether … think about it.
Realtors survived the 15- and 17-percent interest rates back in the ‘70s and ‘80s; they will survive this little setback too.
Fortunately, as most of the Shelter Island brokers who have been in the business for a long time know, Shelter Island sells itself. With the influx of off-Island brokers, that speaks for itself … no further comment.
GEORGIANA KETCHAM, Ketcham Real Estate, Shelter Island
Look at intent
To the Editor:
The Town Board has set a public hearing for Friday, March 16 a 4:55 p.m. concerning an application for a special exception permit to construct a 10,431-square-foot house with two pools at 29 Nostrand Parkway. The board needs to look carefully at the intent of the property owner, Richard Tarlow.
JANE BABINSKI, Shelter Island
Correction
Because of an editing error, letter writer Pam Jackson was incorrectly referred to as president of the American Legion Auxiliary in last week’s edition. Dorothy Ross is president and Ms. Jackson is treasurer.
