TWF 329 - New York State Sues Freeport Over Cleveland Avenue Environmental Disclosures

Hello, friends!

I hope this post finds you all well.  Before we get into the news, I just want to note that the subject of our previous article, Hitler-cheerleading Carl Paladino, appears to have lost his primary.  I figured I'd start with that good news.

New York Attorney General Sues Freeport.

Well, we can start with a link to the court document (hat tip to Dawn de le Llera for posting the link on FB) which appears to have been filed yesterday by NYS Attorney General Letitia James.  I invite you to read it for yourself, but being as neither of us are lawyers (except those of us who might be reading this who might be lawyers?  In which case, hi!  Feel free to gently correct me where I'm wrong), I think both of us are going to labor in analyzing it.

Here's what I gathered from it:

Paragraph 22 sets out that the Village Board approved a "negative declaration," basically saying that there would be no negative environmental impact to what's apparently a 15-acre industrial development over previously green space.

According to Paragraph 24, the Village did not perform a required type of environmental impact study on their proposed sale of the park to developer PDC .  In fact, if I'm reading it right, Paragraph 24 lays out that Freeport did nothing whatsoever - no study, no research, nothing - to support its negative declaration.

First and foremost is that the sale simply doesn't pass the environmental sniff test.  Paragraphs 29-31 certainly lay this issue bare, but it also hits on another issue:  That the sale would have a negative impact primarily on lower-income residents of color.

Diving Into The Lawsuit Against Freeport

New York's lawsuit seems to have two main thrusts, then.  The first is about the environment, the second is social equity.  In many ways, these two are connected:  "What will the impacts be, and who will bear the brunt of them?"

One thing I found impressive about this briefing was found in Paragraphs 19-20, in that it has a familiarity with both Freeport's history (the Moxey Rigby's experience during Hurricane Sandy) as well as it's accurateness with regards to the hydrological cycle.

NY AG James seems to be asking Freeport, "Hey, have you studied how paving over a bunch of open space is going to impact the immediate neighborhood during a flood like, say, Hurricane Sandy's future reincarnation?"  And while Freeport's official answer is yet to be published (to my knowledge), the fact remains that so far, their answer appears to be "no."

I remember one of the earliest issues The Weekly Freeporter covered was Mayor Hardwick's proposal to build an incinerator in Freeport.  In the linked article, I paraphrased Trustee Robert Kennedy from a community meeting citizens had organized in neighboring Merrick.

At the time, Robert Kennedy understood that it was incumbent on a business making a developmental proposal to evaluate the environmental impacts the building would have.  NOT taxpayers.  In this case, it should fall upon PDC to perform a legitimate environmental impact study using independent experts and labor.

But, really...

All in all, this is an issue that should not exist.  Robert Kennedy from a decade ago recognized that this needed to be done.  Did Robert Kennedy of today forget?  Did the Board?  If so - how?!

Seems like this is just another fight that didn't need to happen, and you'd better believe that reading that brief has further moved me in the "no, I'd prefer we keep the open space" camp.  I've vacillated, mainly because the alleged tax savings would be a huge benefit to many families in Freeport (I'm certainly happy to pay less in taxes), but I also strongly doubt that apartments Village-wide are about to drop their rent by a commensurate percentage, and it's clear which parts of the community are going to make sacrifices and which other parts will be reaping the rewards.

It just seems rushed, and I don't like being rushed into deals.

TWF 328: Checking Back In On Carl Paladino And, Surprise, He's Called For Violence (NYS Politics)

 Hello, friends,

On the surface, this one isn't directly Freeport-specific.  It'll also (maybe?  I'm still writing it) be relatively short (about 1,000 words!).  It's political, so be prepared for that.  It's also not covering wholly new ground for The Weekly Freeporter:  We talked a lot about Carl Paladino before.  If you don't want to read two articles, just know that he's a racist, Fascistic pox upon New York State.  Don't believe me?  Don't like the terminology I'm using?  Read that article, then let's continue.

So how's he doing?

Well, here's an AP article where Paladino oh so kindly explains that his call for U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to be murdered was just facetious.  Really, it's no surprise he'd believe that a Brietbart interview was the perfect place to make such a "joke."  I mean, it's not like gunmen are making attempts at attacking FBI outposts or anything.  ...Right?

Oh, yeah, he literally said the United States needs a leader like Adolf Hitler.  Yes, the Nazi from the 1930's-40's.  That guy.  Adolf Fucking Hitler.  Paladino likes that guy.  Yup.  I don't work with the word "Fascist" lightly.

He's mainly relevant today because he's running for Congress as a Republican.  Because I guess that's what depths that political party has descended to, he's gotten endorsements from the likes of Elise Stefanik, which kind of establishes the whole racism/fascism thing as a party platform, but I won't get much more partisan than that.

Follow me on this adventure for another minute.  Maybe it'll give you some ideas.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Why is this relevant to Freeport, Long Island?

We're living in an era where the rivers of Europe are drying up, along with U.S. ones like the Colorado River, upon which millions depend on.  We're less than two years off of a coup attempt against our national government.  Ukraine's burning cities are a smoke signal that a world war is in the air, one which is already killing uncountable, unrelated Humanity via war-fueled famine.

What is the connection between Paladino, the above paragraph' dystopian setting, and Freeport?

Let's start by recalling that Freeport, as a seaside community, has an insurmountable connection with our oceans.  Climate change fuels storms like Hurricane Sandy, to say nothing of melting glaciers raising the global sea level.  Incidentally, as recently as 2016, Paladino didn't believe climate change was manmade.  Oh, and he's reinforced his stance on that recently - so much for eight years of clear evidence, eh?

If climate change has dramatically increased the risk of a major hurricane hitting us in the future, shouldn't we be concerned if a bloc of our state's Congress-critters are in abjectly naked denial of the reality that threatens millions of New Yorkers?

Yeah, we oughta care about this guy!

One More Plank And We're Done.

I want to point out one more thing, and then it's a wrap and you're free to go.  (I mean, you're free to go at any time, but you wanna sate your curiosity, right?)

Remember the recent, hyper-contentious school board election in Freeport?  Or maybe you've heard of the small issue that is the sale of Cleveland Avenue park to a private company?  These are local issues that people feel very strongly about.  It's their livelihood at stake - the proposed tax savings from the Cleveland sale, for example are no laughing matter; but, also, so is the value in having more open green space in our community than less.  It is a cost-benefit analysis that different people feel differently about.

It's okay to have strong beliefs.  I do, too!

But it's necessary that calls for the murder of the Attorney General coming from Congressional candidates be addressed as symptomatic of a larger problem, and it's a problem that adds fuel to the fire of civic unrest.  It is Stochastic Terrorism.

Stochastic Terrorism is best summed up as, "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?"  (Okay, it's usually written as "meddlesome priest.") It's when a person in power makes very clear they absolutely despise a certain person, or group, and laments that they can't do anything illegal.  It's basically a call for any "lone wolf" out there to take up violence on the person in power's behalf.  It's calling the FBI or the media or some other group "the enemy of the people."  Like...Sure, the guy in charge isn't gonna be the one pulling the trigger, but he knows damn well that what he says might inspire someone else to pick up a gun.

See also:  Tucker Carlson and other Fascist extremists inspiring the terror attack in Buffalo, this year.  Among many others.

Maybe you've heard about the Anti-Semetic flyers in our community?  How about the Proud Boys, a known Fascist terrorist organization linked to the January 6, 2021 attack on our government, marching around Long Island like they own the place?

People like Paladino are adding fuel to this fire, and you're a fool if you think that the Freeport community is magically immune to racist propaganda.  We take pride in our multi-cultural approach, sure!  But that doesn't mean that hostile elements won't try to find purchase in our town.

Perhaps worse still:  Those who can't be brought into "the cause" may become targets of "the cause."  Those flyers some Nazi trash sent out weren't some inert leaflets, they were a call to action - a call for people to target the individuals on the flyer.  They're calling for people (mostly limited to those who look like me, by the way - peachy white folk), to join hate groups and commit atrocities against whoever they designate as "the enemy."

And that's why it's worth shouting all the way upstate to Buffalo that they should vote against Carl Paladino in the August 23rd Primary.  And the General Election, if this Fascist makes it that far.

Because all we have are our voices, and we have to stand united to reject his hate.

Jesse Pohlman is an Sci-Fi/Fantasy author and avid anti-Fascist hailing from Freeport, New York.  Hey!  Did you know The Weekly Freeporter is over twelve years old?  It's sure evolved a lot!  It's no longer weekly, but it's definitely still alive when a cause calls out for it!