Mayor Larry Werther

Faithful To The People

When I was a kid back in Ozone Park, we were studying the Gettysburg address. The final lines always stuck with me. “A Government Of the People, By the People and For the People.” That has become a paradigm for my public service. If you examine the motto of the My Home party, I believe it reflects this. “Faithful to the People.” The Village was established to serve the People. I believe that is something our current board has lost sight of, that they are here to serve the People.

We the people who choose Mineola as our home owe nothing to the rest of the world. If someone wants to come and do business here, they need to benefit the people. Take a look at the multi-family projects being built in Mineola. The Mayor “negotiated” away almost all tax benefits for the people. He made the village whole, but badly hurt the school district. Had the first two buildings come onto the tax rolls, we would have seen around a 9% reduction in our school tax bill. With the second two, I imagine that would double. With the new Federal Tax Law capping State and Local tax deductions, this hurts even more.

Additionally, most of the people I know moved to Mineola because it was a bucolic suburban area. The Mayor and his Board are turning us into Queens East. Our issue is, all the people espousing Transit Oriented Development live in affluent areas where these structures would NEVER be built.

Furthermore, what they are doing with the funds from the developers is ridiculous. Is a gazebo in front of Village Hall necessary? Or is a band shell that the Mayor boasted about as the second largest amphitheatre on Long Island at a concert this summer necessary? Frankly, I would rather have spent the money on something that would better serve our residents. A new Fire Truck for example.

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