Who Wants A Night Time Meeting? Apparently Everyone - Town Board Meeting Draws Hundreds

Councilman Tom McCarthy ”I told you so. No one believed me when I said people wanted a nighttime meeting.” Councilman Tom McCarthy.  

At the July work session Councilman McCarthy called for changing the date of the August Town Board meeting from Tuesday, August 13 at 2pm to Thursday, August 15th at 7pm. At the time he stated he had received many calls from people wanting to be heard but not able to attend afternoon meetings. Not everyone on the board was happy with his proposal. 

Last night’s meeting showed how prophetic McCarthy was, hundreds of people showed up and many were turned away at the door due to overcrowding.  People waited in the lobby replacing those who left. By 6:35pm the room was filled to capacity and there was limited parking. By 7pm, the scheduled time of the meeting, no parking was available. Councilman Wherheim addressed the audience around 8pm urging people to leave the room after they addressed the board to allow others the opportunity to speak.

Entering the room you immediately noticed a sea of red as many attendees in the room arrived early, and were workers, employees and family members wearing red shirts in support of the Carlson family and their bid to continue with their controversial operation in Kings Park.

Also in the room at the beginning of the meeting were members of the St. Johnland Board of Directors. Officials from St. Johnland addressed their Uplands project and tried to clarify what they considered to be inaccurate information about the project.

There were clusters of speakers supporting Carlson and the Uplands, they were received with enthusiastic support from the audience. As people exited, residents surrounding the controversial projects, replaced the red shirts and finally had the opportunity to address the board.

KPCA President Sean LehmanOne by one residents questioned the wisdom of board members who supported the controversial projects. Sean Lehman, president of the Kings Park Civic Association (KPCA), refuted many of the statements made by the St. Johnland speakers. He questioned the wisdom of the board’s decision to make the Smithtown Messenger the town newspaper, stating that the paper refused to print his letter. A possible swipe at the three council members, Wherheim, Creighton and Malloy, who supported the Messenger as the official town newspaper. While at the podium, Sean responded to an article in the Messenger in which Councilman Malloy claimed Supervisor Vecchio was riling up the community. Lehman blasted Malloy stating that  KPCA has a long history on the Uplands project implying that they didn’t need to be riled-up. He suggested that Malloy educate himself on the KPCA positions and activities. Lehman refuted the statement that Uplands will benefit the people of Kings Park, calling attention to facts garnered from St. Johnland itself predicting 12% of the residents are expected to be from the community. He refuted the tax benefits sited by St. Johnland officials, pointing out that St. Johnland’s  literature indicates they plan to appeal the proposed tax assessments. 

Other topics included Whisper Winnery in St. James, downtown blight and budget process (Richard Macellaro a candidate for Town Council brought up the budget process). Supervisor Vecchio called Town Attorney John Zollo out of order after he lambasted speaker Michelle Gary as she questioned him about court dates and actions in the Old Northport Rd. - Lawrence Rd. corridor. Zollo, who later apologized, questioned the timing of Ms. Gary’s questions. He asked why, after spending hours in Supervisor Vecchio’s office, had she not stopped in to see him. 

The meeting ended after 9pm and no one seemed happy except for Councilman McCarthy who said, “I told them people wanted to be heard.”

Comments

[KP Angie]

This article states that the people wearing the red shirts were workers, employees and family members who were in support of the Carlson family and their bid to continue with their controversial operation in Kings Park. Truth be, the shirts said that Kings Park was their community. The shirt had written on it, "Kings Park .. Our Community." These people were not Kings Park residents. Just setting the facts straight.

[veronica]

i was there at the meeting. It was disgusting what Mr Creighton did by filling the room with kids and workers of an illegal sand mining composting site. Maybe Carlson was asked to move there 40 years ago, cut he wasnt doing compost then!!

see this website i found.
it says it all

www.dumpcreighton.com