Follow the money
Long Island Advance November 29, 2007
Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy says he has to veto
a variety of budget items claiming, “The more spending
that is added to the base of the budget, the harder it
is to control taxes.”
But
Levy didn’t see a problem with allocating over $1
million for his environmentally hazardous shooting range
in Southaven Park. He claimed that the money was set
aside for noise abatement and lead cleanup. Proper noise
abatement cannot ever be installed there because it
would violate state Pine Barrens laws against new
construction. Lead cleanup can never be done
effectively because large tracts of vegetation would
have to be removed to do so, which again violates state
law. In fact, he just spent about $40,000 to have some
ridiculous padding installed on vertical surfaces around
the range in a feeble attempt at noise abatement, yet
readings taken after the material was installed showed
even higher noise levels than before, so there’s 40
grand spent for nothing.
So why
is it that Levy says he can’t afford $630,000 in
spending for various not-for-profit organizations
including Little Leagues, food pantries and agencies
serving senior citizens, $300,000 for the Suffolk County
Legal Aid Society and $29,500 for a Suffolk County
Community College mentoring program, but he has no
problem with dumping a million bucks—which could go
towards these various organizations into his pet project
of a shooting range which can never be operated legally
and is polluting the environment on a daily basis?
John
Palasek
Yaphank
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