Two candidates running for Village of Great Neck Plaza trustee failed to reach an agreement last week to debate after a heated e-mail exchange over the forum’s format.
Trustee Gerald Schneiderman and challenger Jonathan Stein each blamed each other for failing to reach an agreement for a debate for which both had called during an exchange of charges the previous week.
“Contrary to your statement, I never challenged you to a ‘one on one debate,” Schneiderman said to Stein in one e-mail. “Once again, your assertions are not supported by the facts.”
Schneiderman said he asked the League of Women Voters of Port Washington-Manhasset to moderate a debate Sunday, arguing that the league is a well-respected, neutral moderator that had done debates for local elections before.
Stein Schneiderman didn’t have the “right” to make the request.
“You never asked me to contact the League of Women Voters or any other group,” Stein responded in an e-mail to Schneiderman. “You just went ahead and assumed you could. And that is part of your problem – your sense of entitlement.”
Stein also objected to including Trustee Lawrence Katz who is running against Stein and Schneiderman for two trustee positions on March 18. Voting will take place from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Village Hall at 2 Gussack Plaza.
Judy Jacobson of the League of Women Voters of Port Washington-Manhasset said the league agreed to moderate a debate Sunday between Stein, Schneiderman and Katz.
Jacobson said the debate was canceled after Stein objected and questioned Stein’s tactics. Schneiderman and Katz said they were not willing to debate without the other included.
“Candidates can’t cherry-pick which other candidates will be at a debate,” Jacobson said.
Both Schneiderman and Stein called for a debate during an exchange that began with Schneiderman demanding that Stein retract what Schneiderman called libelous statements in Stein’s campaign literature implying that Schneiderman was involved in a payoff scheme.
In a release on his website titled “Trustee Schneiderman Caught Urging $2,500 Payoff by Plaza Board,” Stein said Schneiderman would “rather pay-out $2,500 in taxpayer dollars than take responsibility, and blame, for upcoming, and unpopular, actions about to be taken by the Board that will further burden Plaza Residents and shoppers financially by making it more costly to live and do business in the already faltering Great Neck Plaza.”
Stein was referencing recommendations made by the consulting firm Level G Associates to the village trustees about ways to alleviate parking congestion downtown. The suggestions included possibility raising meter rates and shortening parking time on Middle Neck Road.
When Schneiderman asked Stein to retract his statements, he also challenged him to a debate along with Katz.
Stein said in one of several e-mails he exchanged with Schneiderman that he only agreed to a one on one debate with Schneiderman to challenge Schneiderman’s accusation that Stein had made libelous statements and whether Schneiderman has done anything for the village in his time as trustee.
Stein also said in the e-mails that Schneiderman and Katz lied in a campaign advertisement they took out with the Great Neck News that said the two have never overridden the state tax cap in a village budget. Stein said that Katz and Schneiderman had voted to override the state tax cap at their December meeting.
“It seems that the truth is a stranger to you Gerry,” Stein said to Schneiderman. “I just saw your latest ad in the [Great Neck] News – what a lark.”
Schneiderman and Katz voted to give the village the authority to override the tax cap, but the $6.5 million budget itself did not go over the 2 percent cap. Schneiderman told Stein in an e-mail that trustees vote to authorize themselves to exceed the tax cap as a precautionary measure. He also said to Stein many municipalities, school districts and special districts do the same.
“Your e-mail demonstrates an alarming lack of knowledge of the relevant state statute and the action of the village in regard to that statute,” Schneiderman said. “Our campaign ad was completely accurate.”
Schneiderman also said to Stein that trustees voted to repeal the override last week, in accordance with state legislation. Because the village did not go over the cap Plaza residents should expect to receive tax refunds.
Stein responded in an e-mail, saying he understood the legislation, but was alarmed that Village Clerk Patricia O’Byrne had to explain this concept to the board.
Plaza trustees passed a $6.5 million budget in January, which did raise taxes from 4.44 per $100 valued assessment to 4.77.
“In other words, like the Parking Consultants, you would escape consequences – in this case, NYS Mandated Consequences for raising taxes in excess of the cap,” Stein said to Schneiderman in an email. “It’s a two-step – an ‘out.’”
Stein, an attorney, has said village trustees focus too much on parking turnover and not enough on the character of the village. He also questioned the effectiveness of the Great Neck Plaza Business Improvement District, saying he did not believe they were effectively spending the money they receive from district property owners.
Schneiderman has been a trustee since 2000, and served as chairman of the Board of Zoning Appeals from 1982 until 2000. Katz has been a trustee since 2012, and served as a member of the Board of Zoning Appeals from 2010 until 2012.
