Email

A nice reader sent this (the bold is me, of course)...

Hey jackass get your facts straight before you go slamming somebody on a public thread (Fine, I'll do it in a private one?). A woman witnessed the accident, also thought Kim hit a deer. They both looked for the deer and couldn't find it. The woman then offered Kim a ride home to make arrangements to get her wrecked, non driveable car. Cause theres (there is or there are?) a lot of towing companies open at 4am. (Actually, there are. There are these things called "cell phones" and when you dial one you can call directory assistance to help you find a towing company that's open 24/7, like almost all of them advertise). Hitting an animal , Which she and another witness thought she did is a non recordable incident(which means you don't have to call the cops) The police would not write a report. So in the future make sure you know what the fuck your (you're) talking about before you put it in print (but it's not "in print").

As you could probably tell, the obelisk of brilliance above who wrote that is a family member of Ms. Sandvoss. And maybe they should save their story for the judge.

Email From A Resident

The Smith Point Beach Property Owners Association is having a meeting at the Mastic Fire House, regarding the incorporation process, at 1:00 PM, on Jan. 24th. Although the residents of Smith Point were to be invited, only the members cherry picked by Delia McKernan were invited. The village attorney hired by the SPBPOA will supposedly take questions.

I find it unusual that this meeting would take place in Mastic, instead of Shirley, and that the residents of the proposed village have not received invitations for this event. Please post this event ASAP - the residents of Smith Point have a right to know what is being proposed in this area, even if these decisions are being made in a different town.

Best Regards,
Anthony Torres


Anthony,

If this is true I find it particularly shady on the part of the SPBPOA to hold a meeting and not invite all the property owners of the Smith Point area. Every property owner should be aware of what the association is or is not doing to improve the standard of living in Shirley. I urge anyone reading this who isn't aware of the meeting to pass this along and try to attend the meeting. Do not let others make decisions for you. Let your voice be heard! And I would like to know myself why the meeting is being held in Mastic and not Shirley.

-- Editor

Email From A Resident

A recent question I was asked was why housing prices continue to plummet here in the Tri-Hamlet area. One simple answer would be the amount of foreclosures in this area. Another answer is the amount of available rental housing, which I and many people believe are the overriding factor.

A quick example would be to look at areas such as Commack, Sayville, Bay Port, and Smithtown. The overwhelming amount of homes in these areas are owner occupied, which in turn assists in maintaining housing values. The Tri-Hamlet community can only hope that incorporation is the answer, but alas, it unfortunately won't be. As an example, were rental permits to double, from say $1000.00 to $2000.00, an average increase of less than $100.00 per month would be passed down to the renters. Would that amount be enough to dis-courage potential renters, or force the current renters to move? Absolutely not!

The only way this area can can overcome this dilemma is to try and limit absentee landlords. Otherwise, we will see in the near future a boom in "affordable housing". This trend will degenerate housing values further, and no change of name, village, etc. , will stop this backward spiral.

Sincerely,
Anthony Torres

Absentee Landlord Tax?

by Anthony Torres

While living directly in the middle of a community that faces severe social and economic issues directly related to absentee landlords, I thought I had come up with a solution to this problem. An Absentee Landlord Tax, or surcharge. Amazingly, after repeated requests to Legislator Kate Browning's office in regards to this issue, I've still not had the opportunity to speak directly with her regarding this, and am hopeful that in the near future she will consider this as a viable solution to quell the abhorrent amount of these landlords that do not pay their fair share in property and school taxes.

New York City implemented this tax in 2003, by a 40-2 vote, stating that all Class 1 units, (1,2,3, and 4 apartments and/or-homes), pay a 25% surcharge on these absentee dwellings, which in turn was estimated to garner $44,000,000.00 per year in revenue. Although Mayor Bloomberg was against this measure, he instead reduced the amount the city required, and PDF downloads are available for owners who feel they are exempt from this tax.

The Town of Brookhaven, especially the Tri-Hamlet community (Mastic, Mastic Beach, and Shirley) have a school system that currently accommodates over 10,000 children, and of that number approximately 3,900 children come from transient housing. At an average cost of $14,000.00 per child to attend school, the tax burden has fallen disproportionately on the homeowners with an average library tax of $867.00 per year due to transients living in this community and taking advantage of services they pay no taxes into.

After being informed that Nassau County has had this type of taxation in effect for over three years, my question is why has Suffolk County not embraced this? With 11 separate townships, all with individual tax acessors, I find it difficult to believe that the Town of Brookhaven has not done it's service to the homeowners in assuring that the pilfering of these landlords ceases.

Affordable housing unfortunately attracts these types of landlords, and with this also comes the social ills that degrade property values, hinders investment, attracts sober and sex offender housing, denies all children of a solid education due to overcrowding, etc. Although there are some very good landlords and tenants in this area, the sheer amount of absentee landlords that do not even live in either the township that they rent their homes in, nor in the county itself, is a testament to the need for this type of taxation. A minimum of 20% of the assessed property home value would be incentive for these landlords to find it unaffordable to continue conducting business here. This may then give a property seeker the incentive to purchase these homes, which in turn would cause the tax burden on the community to be lowered, eventually raising property values, all without the need for village incorporation.

Anthony Torres is a resident of Shirley, NY