By Amy Fortunato
Town Board Meeting-
Hopeful to find a good seat, I arrived early – 6:30 PM on Thursday, January 25th. The addition of security guards in uniform for the first time were off-putting. I asked the guards about the need for their presence. They joked good naturedly. But, it’s not welcoming.
I knew there were three presentations scheduled for this regular meeting and advertised as public forums. Earlier in the day, I queried Supervisor Ed Wehrheim and our Town Clerk, Vincent Puleo about the room inadequate size of the room. Obviously it would not accommodate the potential residents who are interested in the various, important presentations. He told me it was too late to change the location. The advertised public forums to be presented were: King’s Park Market Analysis sponsored by the King’s Park Civic Association, Cell Tower information presentation for consideration of a possible code exception and the Smithtown United’s NY Ave. proposal toward the completion of a Comprehensive Master Plan.
As the room filled up, I gave my seat to one of the presenters of the King’s Park market analysis report presentation. Many of us were stranded, waited outside the room on the stair landing until my neighbor Gerry Halloway tried to find a seat. Gerry is 80 yrs. old, recently recovering from an accident and dependent on his cane to stabilize his balance. Sadly, the security guard told him there were no seats and Gerry would have to stand. At that point, I insisted that someone inside the room give up their seat for our senior citizen. When Gerry was seated, I left the room again to wait outside with approximately ten others. There was no way to hear the discussion taking place in the meeting room. Then, we were asked to be quiet because those inside the room were distracted by our conversations.
It’s imprudent to invite Smithtown residents and then clearly NOT anticipate that those interested citizens would actually attend these advertised, public forums. The room has approximately 35 chairs, which are usually empty. Granted, this is a recent phenomenon; but this undersized room has been fully populated during the last two, most recent, previous Town Council meetings. The disappointed consensus of those who tried to attend (stairs, landing and down the hallways) was obvious. I called the next day to express my concern. Ed Wehrheim returned my call, but I didn’t experience any satisfaction or assurance of creating a better, more appropriate accommodation.
The presentations are available on-line; but I was there to participate and show my concern. It’s time to consider the Smithtown community by providing adequate space and hearing from those concerned and respond accordingly.
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Amy Fortunato is a Smithtown resident who ran on the Democratic line for Smithtown Town Council in 2017.