TWF 209: Freeport School Budget and Trustee Vote, May 21st, 2013!

Greetings, Freeport,

Allow me to post the 'ol Editorial Disclaimer:  Jesse Pohlman is a full-time employee of the Freeport Public Schools.

So, let's start at the start:  Tomorrow is "election day," wherein voters in the Freeport School District vote to adopt the budget, the library budget, and also vote for trustees on the school board.  You just need to stroll down to your local polling place before 9:00 PM tomorrow night.  Here's the breakdown step-by-step:


School Budget

You can find all the information you need, here:

http://www.freeportschools.org/Assets/1314_Budget/13budget_freeport_nl.pdf
Editorial Note:  Jesse Pohlman's part-time second job as Assistant Coach for the FHS Boys Swim Team is one of the 29.5 positions cut out of this budget.

The tax increase is within New York State's "tax cap" limits, and preserves most of the academic programs required by NYS.  And, yes, our finances have historically been pretty strong - until the great economic crash of 2008, we were cutting taxes and increasing programs.  At a budget meeting I attended this year, I recall the speaker notifying those in attendance that the school Administration has taken their raises for this year, a significant chunk of change, but that the primary driver of our fiscal doldrums is, yet again, New York State.  This isn't untrue, for three reasons - only two of which were pointed out in the meeting.  (Aside:  you may visit "See Through NY" to see what all public employees within the state make.)

First, NYS "restores" state aid on a regular basis, but this is aid that it chooses not to give us in the first place.  According to our representative, this region of the state educates 17% of its children, but receives 12% of the educational funding from the "pot" of tax revenue that the state takes.  Second, the cost of retirement plans have been shifted from the state to the districts; this was done without proper planning, so the districts have little help in paying for that.  This factor alone soaked up most of the actual tax increase the budget calls for.

Third, most important and least addressed, is the fact that Long Island's tax base has been broken by a series of natural disasters.  Any house south of Atlantic Avenue isn't worth what it was before Hurricane Sandy - period.  But property taxes depend on assessed values!  The answer I received to my question about tax assessments was simple:  If assessments are challenged, it was explained, then the tax cost will simply be shifted to others in the form of overall tax increases.  If this sounds familiar, it's because that was Mayor Andrew Hardwick's plan to deal with this assessment problem; and, if you ignore New York State, then yes - that's the only fair way out.

This publication, however, has consistently refused to believe that this is an inevitable fate.  If this were the only answer, we would be best served by both the school and Village governments declaring bankruptcy today.  High taxes have already severely damaged the economic viability of Nassau County as a whole; to continue to raise them, especially on those with no collateral (I.E. Property Values) with which to pay, will certainly cause those who can afford to take losses on their initial investments to leave.  It will create an economic black hole which will make the district's finances entirely unsustainable.  Taxes go up, more people leave, so more taxes are heaped on those who are left.  Folks, this is avoidable.  I've already pointed out what we need to do, and that's get our money back from New York State.  And, no, we cannot rely on just our politicians to do this for us.  And we cannot hold one year's budget accountable for these nightmarish circumstances - we have to act.

So, if you're looking for a, "how do we vote on this budget," then you don't know The Weekly Freeporter.  We don't tell people how to vote, and we don't endorse candidates.  My argument here isn't that you should, or should not vote for it.  You decide that based on the virtues of the situation!  I'm simply here to tell you what the vote is about, and what I've been told by School officials.  And, of course, to encourage you to get out and engage in the voting process - whether or not you vote yes, or no!


Trustee Elections

Running once again is Michael Pomerico, returning incumbent; he's joined by Anthony Miller, who nabbed a spot finishing out a previous trustee's term and hopes to take over his own.  Pamela Bierra-Anderson and Joseph Bonilla are running as a team, and are (surprisingly enough!) backed by the Freeport Teachers Association.  Diane Jackson is also running, seemingly supported by our former Mayor Hardwick.  Finally, I've seen signs for Jorge Heras, who ran in the previous election and is giving it another crack!  I'm also told there's a Mr.  Grossman running, but I haven't heard much of him.  It's a wide field!  More could even be in the woodwork!

Once again, no; there's no endorsements here.  My only suggestion is that you vote - and, perhaps, that you vote for someone who you believe, for whatever reason, will take the fight to Albany to get our money back.

That is the real key to this argument, here:  Not one year's budget, or even three years.  Look five years down the road.  Tell me where we are if we simply break even - never mind experiencing another storm half as vicious as Sandy (which, considering we dealt with Irene the year before, seems to be at least a 50/50 chance).  If we don't get tax equity from NYS, then all the budget elections in the world won't change the fact that our state is taking away our ability to run our schools.

And, as I've mentioned before, if all the state plans to do is use us as a piggy bank for upstate NY, as much as I love upstate NY, why do we stick around?

What it Means to be a Freeporter

Howdy, Freeport!

Today...I have a difficult task ahead of me. I'm going to attempt, probably with only limited success, to crystallize my feelings on what exactly Freeport, New York is and, more importantly, the spirit behind those who call themselves "Freeporters." Before I can really do that, however, I have to inform you of the impetus for my choice of subject; and that is the toughest part, because its one of the most emotionally challenging, complicating the intellectual challenge of defining a town.

The reason for this article is that on the fifteen of this month I intend to move in with my girlfriend. This is undoubtedly a cause for great joy. For the purposes of this publication, however, the problem is that all of the apartments we saw in Freeport were either already taken or not up to the standard she and I required. We instead found a place in Hempstead that she fell in love with, and we've opted to go with it. Assuming that holds true, in less than a week I will cease to be a Freeporter.




...Or will I? You see, there's something rather unique about Freeport. I don't mean its demographics, I don't mean its architecture, and I don't mean its alleged dichotomy between north-and-south. I mean to say that Freeport itself is a cultural identity that anyone who has lived here for a few weeks will touch - but only those who have lived here for an extended period will fully understand.


What is Freeport, New York?

Freeport is a town that, despite some troubles in its past, has in general come together to form a solid identity. Oh, there's disagreements! We fight over politics (sadly, to a fault), and we all have our own way of doing things as individuals However, has this ever superseded the fact that when one of us says "Nautical Mile," the rest of us knows precisely what they're talking about? I don't think so. Whether we agree or disagree over a given administration's performance, we all share an identity as Freeporters.

Maybe this is more a byproduct of the fact that I'm comparatively young, when those who have lived in the Village since the 1960's have indeed observed change. It doesn't take me too long to find people at the high school where I work who observed Freeport at what is arguably its worst - race riots on par with those that took place in Westbury and elsewhere. Perhaps, looking further back, its true that Freeport has an unpleasant side in history - it was, at a time, a bastion of the KKK. Truly, Freeport has seen its share of inequality and prejudice, and thus at one point wasn't a very nice place to live.

No more.

Today, by and large and with very few exceptions, Freeport is a place of harmony. There will always be people who subscribe to racist ethnocentricities; people of all creeds and colors have succumbed to such unfortunate systems. But if you look at Freeport's youth for its future, not its present or past, you'll find a town filled with children who, for the most part, were raised in a multicultural context and are as close to "color-blind" as humankind can probably ever become. Those who seek to demonize Freeporters are racist, or as caught up in gang affairs, or as biased based on the area in which they live are wrong.

Being a Freeporter involves all of these things. As a paraphrasing of a classic statement goes, "you can take the Freeporter out of Freeport, but you can't take the Freeport out of a Freeporter." Or, something like that, you figure it out, but the point is: As I prepare to leave Freeport on at what will likely a one-year lease, I realize that wherever I live I will always be "from Freeport," and will always be a Freeporter. Its something that can never change, and while I hope to return to the Village in the future I also realize that, should I move near or far, I will bring Freeport with me to new people. I will bring that simple spirit of getting along with people and, with any luck, convince others that our way can work with theirs.


Future of Jesse Pohlman's The Weekly Freeporter

I suppose for some of my readers this will raise the question of whether or not I am going to continue this blog. My answer is that I don't know. I'll still work in the Village, and I will spend considerable time here...But I don't know if that qualifies me as someone really capable of speaking up about what's going on at the present day.
I'm sure that I'll write at least one or two more articles about what I think Freeport's biggest challenges will be going forward, but after that?

I've considered doing a sort of "correspondence" thing, where I examine my new home through the critical lens of the old; I think that'd be trite, and it wouldn't let me judge my surroundings for themselves. I will definitely not be passing The Weekly Freeporter on to another writer - I think that if it ends, then it ends. I also know that I won't be taking it down, since I think everyone should have access to everything I've said in the past because I don't believe in revisionism and deleted blogs make for easy historical editing.

Enough about what I know I won't do, lets talk about what I might. I most likely will use this space as a place to report on any experiences I have when I'm in town; that will be relatively frequent, at least for the immediate future, as my friends and family still live here and I will certainly see people on the Nautical Mile at times. My fear with that idea is that this turns into a "this is what I did" blog, not a "this is what's going on" one. My other potential idea is that I would endorse a new, up-and-coming blogger (or bloggers?) about the Village. I wouldn't make an endorsement lightly, as I would need to be convinced that said candidate(s) would hold to the same ideals I stand for.

For those who caught my radio interview on this subject, I'm a big fan of pursuing the truth, and that was The Weekly Freeporter's genesis. In the interest of disclosure, I'm definitely not the first person to think of writing about Freeport on the internet - this guy was. At least, I think he was; I could be wrong. It had its flaws and it was probably ahead of its time even considering those; it clearly died out in 2003! Yet, this website was indeed one of the first I've found about our Village.

It took a while for the internet to mature before such an endeavor could be nearly as fruitful as this one, but here we are. Did you know this is the 75th post to The Weekly Freeporter? Its been a long ride. And, in so many ways, its only the beginning - and that's how I'll leave this.

Take care!

Nine Years after Nine-Eleven

I was just starting my senior year of high school, and was a month and a day from the age of seventeen. It was third period, which at this particular point meant I had a free period that deserved to be spent in blissful sleep in the cafeteria. I can still remember my chagrin – three years after the fact – at the new and less-comfortable style of seating in the FHS food spot. I woke up, and was on my way to my fourth period class as if it were any other day in the history of the United States – or, at least, my high school career. That's when my friend Mike found me, and he looked worried. “They fucking hit us,” he said. I rubbed my eyes, found out I wasn't dreaming (or having a nightmare), and when I was given clarification on exactly what “hit” meant, my blood ran cold.


(Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons, USCGC Eagle)


September 11, 2001. I could talk in great depth about my feelings that day – in my young mind, it was just the opening gambit by a “greater power” such as Russia or China, one that had planned it as a distraction for our armed forces so that they could launch a follow-up strike while our guard was down. To a young me, the truth really was just too simple, and there were just too few facts available at that point. It was just so much easier to imagine a cast of nefarious characters similar to James Bond's SMERSH (SPECTRE in the movies) – invisible, omnipotent, and dedicated to our destruction. For a budding fiction writer, I guess it made sense.

But like I said, I'm not here to talk about my feelings on that day. As powerful as they were, so many others suffered so much more that mine are virtually irrelevant. Just the same, its hard to be critical of anyone's opinion on the aftermath of the atrocity that took place – with so much loss and lifelong trauma, I get a nasty feeling in my gut when I tell myself that, in spite of the horror, the best thing we can do - what we have to do - is to approach its lingering effects on our country from an impartial angle; one as distant from emotion as possible, one whose responsibility isn't to people's feelings as much as the code of conduct that we as American citizens have agreed to abide by.

Over the last few months there has been an incredibly un-American backlash against Muslim citizens in the United States. While ludicrous “book-burnings” may be off the table, the biggest issue I'm finding myself at odds with folks I otherwise agree with is, of course, the “Ground-Zero Mosque.” It is, naturally, not at Ground-Zero at all, but instead a few blocks away. It also is not operated by a terrorist organization; Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf was selected by the Bush Administration to serve as a special envoy to Islamic countries as early as 2007 - far from a radical. It isn't even just a mosque – Park 51 is an entire community center which happens to be organized primarily by Muslim-Americans, but which will feature a 9/11 memorial as well as interfaith resources. In short, the entire concept of a "Ground Zero Mosque" no longer has few, if any holds on reality.

I say “no longer” because according to a recent New York Times article, the actual “Ground-Zero Mosque” was a prayer center that was destroyed during the 9/11 attacks; and this underscores the true sadness of this entire issue. The terrorists who murdered three thousand American citizens nine years ago didn't care if they were Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Wiccan, or even fellow Muslims – they only believed themselves to be killing “the enemy,” regardless of the enemy's creed, ethnicity, gender, orientation or age. They had a perverse religious and political philosophy that justified spending their own lives to end those of others – and the logic there is sick, twisted, and another example of the depths that humanity is capable of.

The depraved actions of these murderers were, of course, off-set by an example of the very best of humanity on behalf of the heroes of 9/11; the ones so often held up as both pillars of our society and, sadly, political footballs. It is, after all, their memories that are being invoked the most powerfully by those who have lost – and in cases like these its just not fair to say its all a matter of politics. Most people are so hurt that when someone claims that an action would harm the memory of their loved ones, they instinctively agree. Its so hard to find fault with them, because even when they are wrong they are wrong for the right reasons, and there's nobility in that.

But there are always those pied pipers, the ones who couldn't give a damn less about those who lost that day – the ones that see them as Machiavellian pawns in the struggle between political left and right. The ones that either latch onto a racist agenda or onto the fact that there is a lovely vehicle for ambition called the “Tea Party” - a movement that has, as a small but powerful portion of its membership, a number of true lunatics that would see the country reduced to a theocratic dictatorship.

So I'm going to come out and say it – so many of you, you who have never stopped suffering since the heinous attack on our country, are being deceived. You are being told to sacrifice your freedoms in order to gain some sense of security; and, as demonstrated by Jason James Lee's terrorist takeover of the Discovery Channel's headquarters, such things are impossible. Yes, this man was yet another “home-grown” terrorist. The sort of man that our present administration, under President Obama, has decided is worth fighting for the abominable cause of "extreme rendition" over.

Those who initially founded this country with cries like “Give me liberty or give me death” knew the price of freedom, and that price is that people will die in its name. Tomorrow a terrorist could strike again, or a year from now, and people will shout that there should have been stricter security – freedom be damned, Thomas Jefferson's advice on the trade between freedom and safety be damned.

The political leaders that promise these things are, at best, victims of this same emotional trauma themselves. At worst, they aren't even interested in their own power – they are driven by a religious or political philosophy that is far more destructive to America as the ones that caused the tragedy in the first place. Sharron Angle, for example, once hinted that if "Congress keeps going the way it it," people might resort to “Second-Amendment solutions” - and followed it up by suggesting that someone "take out" her opponent in a coming election, Harry Reid. Once, I saw on a Facebook group on about own Village of Freeport that a man called for “One good Marine with one good bullet” to “take care of” our Mayor – this abysmal post was deleted from the page in question, thankfully.

This isn't a joke, and this isn't a jest – this is the state of radicalization that our country has entered into, that political assassinations of duly elected officials are rational solutions, and it should never be considered a part of “normal” American discourse. Its nothing short of a political elite feeding on the pain and sorrow that their fellow citizen is suffering, and using it to transform the country into their ideal – whatever it might be. To leave it at a fine point, when called out on his hypocrisy on family values by the ex-wife he cheated on, Newt Gingrich remarked that it didn't really matter what he lived - he just needed to say what he said.

Whaddya say we tell people like him that their time is at an end? See if they listen to us, for a change, when we say that the memories of our heroes are only sullied by those who use them for political ends?

Goddess watch those that fell that day.