Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation Has Money For History Specific 501c3 Organizations

By Pat Biancaniello

Kathryn M. Curran was the guest speaker at the Smithtown Historical Society’s “Grant Funding Opportunities” workshop Tuesday, October 15.  Curran is the executive director of the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation;Kathryn M. Curran, Executive Director Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation a foundation with an annual $5 million dollar grant budget for 501c3’s with history focused missions or properties.

The Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation (RDLGF), established in 1987, supports projects  that promote the understanding of the role Long Island and particularly Suffolk County has played in the “American Experience”.  Robert David Lion Gardiner, until his death in 2004, was the Lord of the Manor of Gardner’s Island owned by the Gardiner family since 1639. 

The focus of the meeting was to inform attendees of grants available through the foundation and other sources but also to provide grant writers with information that will elevate their application.

Ms. Curran was light hearted but no nonsense when she advised grant applicants to do their homework before applying. She made it clear that the RDLGF does not give money without carefully assessing applications. 

She emphasized that no project would be considered without a site visit by the executive director. Her advice is to make sure the site is both clean and inviting. Do a realistic assessment of what your organization is and how it fits with the mission of the RDLGF.  Is your website current? Are the displays interesting, inviting and in good condition?  Do you have a collections policy and is it implemented? 

The RDLGF is generous and with so many organizations desparate for additional resources Curran made it clear that the RDLGF wants to help BUT a great deal depends on the application.

She provided the following information about the application assessment: What we look for:

Sustainability - The organization shows the ability to financially support the project indefinitely and the project contributes to the sustainability of the organization.

Organizational Capacity - The organization demonstrates the financial and human resources as well as intellectual capacity to manage the project successfully.

Community Impact - Projects will benefit and enhance the knowledge of the large audience and /or local community.

In Depth Knowledge - Proposals reflect a thorough understanding of current practice and knowledge about the subject matter.

Project-Based Design - Work plans consist of a set of logical, interrelated activities tied directly to addressing the key need or challenge identified in the proposal.

Demonstrable Results - projects generate measurable results that tie directly to the need or challenge it was designed to address.

Sensible and Justifiable Budget - Applicants craft a budget well-suited to both the scope of the project and the organization’s capacity; the amount requested should neither be inflated nor insufficient to complete the project’s success.

Visit the RDLGF website at www.rdlgfoundation.org for additional information about the foundation and/or additional resources that are available. 

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP - It's Historic: Early Voting Is Here

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

 An historic event is coming to Suffolk County and the rest of New York State in coming weeks: early voting. Instead of going to your polling place on Election Day, you’ll be able to go to a variety of places in Suffolk and vote early. The early voting period starts on Saturday, October 26 and ends on Sunday, November 3. Election Day is Tuesday, November 5 this year.

 “Voting is a fundamental right and an essential part of our democracy, but regrettably, far too many registered voters do not participate in elections due to time constraints. To provide New Yorkers with additional time to make it to the polls, the State Legislature has authorized early voting in New York during a nine-day period before any general, primary or special election,” comments State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. of Sag Harbor, a co-sponsor of the legislation facilitating early voting.

Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the measure and said: “At a time when the federal government is doing everything it can to disenfranchise voters, we are making it easier for New Yorkers to participate in the democratic process and crack down on corporate influences in our election.”

New York State isn’t alone. All over the United States there has been a move toward early voting. The time periods and arrangements for where voting takes place vary. The National Conference of State Legislatures details the rather complex pattern on a website headed “State Laws Governing Early Voting.” www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/early-voting-in-state-elections.aspx

The list starts with Alaska where early voting begins 15 days before the election, continues to Arizona which provides for 26 days before election and goes on to Arkansas (15 days), California (29 days), and deep down there is Vermont (with a whopping 45 days!). 

(Absentee voting, for which an excuse is needed, is mixed with straight-out early voting.)

The action by the New York State Legislature came in an “election reform” package that included requiring primaries for state and federal offices to be scheduled on the same day. This is seen as saving money, increasing turn-out and reducing voter confusion. Virtually the entire nation did this—with New York State the only state in the country to hold federal and state primaries on different days last year. 

The reforms included, too, allowing young people to pre-register to vote when they are 16 and 17—with their registration designated as “pending” until they become 18.

Key to passage of the reforms was having a Democratic majority take over in the State Senate where voting reform efforts died in recent years.

Any registered voter in Suffolk County may cast an early ballot in a variety of locations.  They may vote at any of the early voting sites no matter where they reside. 

In the Town of Smithtown, the site is Nesconset Elementary School, 25 Gibbs Pond Road. Other locations in Suffolk include: Dix Hills Fire Department at 115 Deer Park Road in Dix Hills; Islip Town Hall Annex, 401 Main Street in Islip; Brookhaven Town Hall, 1 Independence Hill in Farmingville; Southold Senior Center, 750 Pacific Street in Mattituck; Riverhead Senior Center, 60 Shade Tree Lane, Riverhead; Babylon Town Hall Annex, 81 Phelps Lane in North Babylon; Shelter Island Youth Recreational Center—American Legion at 1 Bateman Road; Windmill Village, 219 Accabonac Road, Community Room #2, in East Hampton; and the gymnasium at Stony Brook Southampton, 70 Tuckahoe Road in Southampton.  

The times these early voting locations are open: Saturday 10/26 10:00 am-3:00 pm, Sunday 10/26 10:00 am-3:00 pm, Monday 10/28 7:00 am-3:00 pm, Tuesday 10/29 12:00 pm-8:00 pm, Wednesday 10/30 8:00 am-4:00 pm, Thursday 10/31 8:00 am-4:00 pm, Friday 11/1 12:00 pm-8:00 pm, Saturday 11/2 10:00 am-3:00 pm and Sunday 11/3 10:00 am-3:00 pm.

However, these locations are subject to change and updates can be found on the website of the Suffolk County Board of Elections at <https://www.suffolkcountyny.gov/Departments/BOE/Early-Voting-Information> or by calling (631) 852-4500.

There have been various calls through the years for changes in voting in the U.S. to encourage a larger turn-out. One proposal has been to change Election Day to a weekend to make voting easier than having it during the workweek. Another suggestion is to make Election Day a national holiday. Another suggestion is to move some or all voting to mail, and added these days, online voting. Having early voting is a big advance.

As the website VOTE EARLY NY (voteearlyny.org) declares: “For the first time in history, New Yorkers have a choice: Vote Early Oct. 26-Nov. 3 or Vote on Election Day Nov. 5.”

Karl Grossman is a veteran investigative reporter and columnist, the winner of numerous awards for his work and a member of the L.I. Journalism Hall of Fame. He is a professor of journalism at SUNY/College at Old Westbury and the author of six books.   

Town Of Smithtown Recognizes Brad Harris With Lifetime Achievement Award

Bradley Harris with golf pro Michael HebronDuring a Celebratory Golf & Lunch event on September 25th, the town presented Brad Harris with a Lifetime Achievement Award. The award was give to honor the “keeper of Smithtown History” for a life dedicated to public service.

“This is an honor that is long overdue… Brad Harris has worn every hat in the betterment of our community. He’s an educator, a former town councilman, a published writer, and our town historian. Brad Harris has literally devoted his lifetime to our great town and its children and that is truly extraordinary.” - Supervisor Ed Wehrheim

Brad Harris was a Social Studies teacher for the Commack School District for over 30 years. He was appointed the Town Historian by former Supervisor Patrick Vecchio in 1978, and he maintained that position for almost 40 years, retiring in July of 2017. In 1980, he was elected as a Smithtown Councilman, and served on the Town Board for 12 years. He was instrumental in organizing the 350th Anniversary of Smithtown’s Founding by Richard Smith. Brad Harris has penned 3 books about the history of Smithtown; ​Then & Now: Smithtown​, ​Images of America: Smithtown​, and ​Images of America: Kings Park​.

Suffolk Closeup - At 95 Simon Perchik Still Cares About The Environment

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

 “This is a real turning point in how we handle environmental cases in Suffolk County,” Suffolk District Attorney Timothy Sini declared last month with “Operation Pay Dirt” resulting in a special grand jury handing up a130-count indictment against 30 people and nine corporations. 

     Pleading guilty already has been Anthony Grazio of Smithtown who Mr. Sini’s office charged was the “ringleader” of the scheme of sending fill contaminated with toxic substances—including arsenic, lead and mercury—to 24 sites in Nassau and Suffolk. He was sentenced to two to four years in prison and ordered to pay $500,000 in restitution to victims.

Moreover, the grand jury has also just issued a 53-page report which stated that New York State needs new laws to prosecute illegal dumping and increased regulation for the disposal of hazardous material. It also called for making sand mining without a permit a crime.

Mr. Sini noted that he has made prosecuting environmental crimes a top priority of the Suffolk DA’s office and has hired prosecutors and investigators seasoned in such cases.

“Beautiful! Beautiful! Beautiful!” declares Simon Perchik, Suffolk’s first environmental prosecutor—indeed believed to be the first full-time environmental prosecutor in any DA’s office in the U.S.

He’s now 95, in retirement in The Springs in East Hampton Town, and remains as sharp as that proverbial tack.

It was 1975 and newly elected Suffolk DA Henry F. O’Brien hired Mr. Perchick who became head of an Environmental Crime Unit in the DA’s office.

Asked last week what is needed today to battle environmental polluters, Mr. Perchik was clear: “A will.”

In his five years as Suffolk environmental prosecutor, Mr. Perchik took the position that: “If polluters only have to pay civil penalties, that, they figure, is the cost of doing business. Facing criminal charges—that’s an entirely different thing.”

He was super-active in going after those who caused pollution including big institutions such as the Long Island Lighting Company and Brookhaven National Laboratory.

“The problem I had,” said Mr. Perchik, “was government. My biggest enemies were the county health department and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.” Suffolk’s Department of Health Services was “only interested in problems involving paint chips.” It and the state DEC “tried to cut me down every inch of the way.”

“I got no help from either of these agencies.” 

 In contrast today: the DEC joined with the Suffolk DA’s office in “Operation Pay Dirt.”

 But back in his time in the DA’s office, said Mr. Perchik, not only wouldn’t the DEC cooperate with the DA’s office’s environmental efforts but actively fought his initiative to prevent pollution. “There was no good law on the books that would prevent the pollution,” said Mr. Perchik. “After the pollution occurs, you could arrest the guy but there was no requirement, for example, that a gasoline tank had to be inspected every year.”

When he tried to get the Suffolk Legislature to pass such a law, the regional DEC director “leaned on every legislator and the measure didn’t pass.”

Now, says Mr. Perchik, environmental action is “more a political issue” and governments on the local and state levels are “in favor of doing something.” 

He’s always been a fighter. During World War II, at 21, he piloted a B-17 bomber over Germany and elsewhere in Europe. His first environmental fight came before he moved to The Springs. He was living on Staten Island, practicing law in Manhattan, and was outraged to find that “when you got off the ferry” from Staten Island “you had to walk into clouds of fumes from idling buses.” He brought a lawsuit and “they stopped idling the buses.”

When Mr. O’Brien was elected DA and considered having an environmental prosecutor, Maurice Nadjari of Huntington, a former chief assistant Suffolk DA, suggested Mr. Perchik. Mr. O’Brien as an assistant Suffolk DA worked with Mr. Nadjari and also went with him when Mr. Nadjari was appointed a “super-prosecutor” to go after governmental corruption in New York City. They were friends starting with attending NYU Law School together.

Mr. Perchik is deeply involved in his passion besides environmental action: poetry. He is a widely published poet with his poems appearing in many books, journals and magazines including The New Yorker.

He has been described by Library Journal as “the most widely published unknown poet in America.” He should be better known for both his poetry and as a pioneering environmental prosecutor.

Karl Grossman is a veteran investigative reporter and columnist, the winner of numerous awards for his work and a member of the L.I. Journalism Hall of Fame. He is a professor of journalism at SUNY/College at Old Westbury and the author of six books.   

Nissequogue River State Park Foundation Celebrating 10th Anniversary

By Pat Biancaniello*

The Nissequogue River State Park Foundation (NRSPF)  will hold a celebratory 10th anniversary gala Thursday, October 10th at the Sunken Meadow Pavilion. The NRSPF was formed for the improvement and beautification of the NYS Nissequogue River State Park. NRSPF members work to raise awareness and funds for the beautification of the park.

2015 Turkey TrotThe foundation has raised money by hosting various events including an annual Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot, Sunset Run and Regatta On The River. Participation at the events has grown over the ten years with past and new participants coming from all over Long Island.

Since its inception the NRSPF, comprised of volunteers, has been actively calling for a park master plan to ensure that the park is properly preserved and its utilization  is appropriate for a park. In addition to fundraising for a master plan and creating a garden at the park, the NRSPF is raising funds for the addition of an accessible park for children with special needs. 

Work has begun on the Administration Bldg. thanks to the $1,000,000 donation from the Reichert FoundationIn addition to NRSPF fundraising, the Nissequogue River State Park has benefitted from the generous support of Helen and Charles Reichert who have supported every foundation event. Most recently they donated one million dollars to NYS Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation to help with the remediation of the park’s administration building. 

The Reichert’s, owners of the IGA in Fort Salonga and Northport, have a history of giving back to the community. Earlier this year they donated $226,642.68 to the Smithtown Historical Society for the remediation of the Obidiah Smith House on St. Johnland Road. 

Charlie Reichert, center with $1,000,000 check donated to remediate Admin Bldg.The Reicherts philanthropy is not limited to Smithtown. They have generously donated baseball uniforms for student athletes in Greenport, helped to preserve a vessel for the Fire Fighter Floating Museum,  they are huge supporters of Huntington Hospital and most recently promised to donate the five-cent bag fees collected at IGA to the Center for Mother and Babies at Huntington Hospital.

The Nissequogue River State Park has seen a steady increase in the number of park attendees with 227,179 visiting the park in 2018. On any given day you can find people walking, biking, boating, taking photos and visiting the healing garden.Kings Park Interact club members working at garden 2019 Kings Park students belonging to the 2018 Regatta on the River Interact Club clean-up the garden, local scouts do projects, students run the annual Regatta at the Nissequogue River State Park. Foundation members plan, advocate, fundraise and work towards the betterment of the park. And people like the Reicherts provide the resources to make things happen.*

The 10th Anniversary celebration is Thursday, October 10th at The Pavilion at Sunken Meadow,Sunken Meadow Boardwalk, Kings Park. If you are interested in attending or making a donation for this event contact the NRSP Foundation. All proceeds will go to expanding the Nissequogue River State Park playground. 

Nissequogue River State Park is located on St. Johnland Road in Kings Park

Nissequogue River State Park Foundation, PO Box 159, Kings Park, NY 11754

About the Foundation

The Nissequogue River State Park Foundation was established in March 2008. It united local community leaders under one umbrella organization to help enhance and beautify the park. The foundation has restored the cupola on the park’s Administration Building, helped paved the roadway around the park’s soccer fields, sponsored several cleanup projects, organized numerous recreational and cultural events, supported the expansion of the park’s hike & bike trail and funded the creation of a conceptual master plan for the park.

*Pat Biancaniello is a member of the Nissequogue River State Park Foundation