Your readers should know that our lawsuit to preserve the 40-acre forest at Christopher Morley Park involves far more than the preliminary injunction that was denied on July 2, and which we will be appealing (“Judge Lifts Injunction on Morley Air Stripper,” July 4, 2014).
I and two others, professionals living in Roslyn Estates with their families, filed over three-hundred pages of documentation and legal and factual argument showing how the Town of North Hempstead, the Roslyn Water District, and Nassau County utterly failed to follow basic precepts of the main New York state environmental protection law, known as SEQRA (“see-kruh”).
I mis-spoke in your article saying that the judge was not receptive to our arguments. I should have said he was persuaded by claims of the water district that they would not begin building until September, so no injunction was needed yet. The judge made no clear statement about how he felt about the overall case.
We disagree that the assurance of the district is enough, especially since they don’t own or control land in the park yet.
Opponent of building the air-stripper in the park have held rallies involving the Sierra Club Long Island Group, the Nassau County Green Party, and Parks and Recreation Council of Nassau (PARCNassau), and a statewide group called Parks and Trails NY has written to the Governor to oppose the so-called “alienation” of park land for the air-stripper project.
I believe we have a good case in court, as well as the support of the larger community to protect the park. I urge Nassau County legislators and the county executive stand up for them.
Your article also failed to note that a prior lawsuit I filed against Nassau County was not just resolved in my favor, but led to the invalidation of a county ordinance and an unwritten policy that were being used to prohibit any rallies from taking place in county parks.
As a presumed defender of the First Amendment I would have expected your newspaper to be more enthusiastic when a fundamental breach of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly rights is corrected in your own community.
I certainly am.
Richard Brummel
East Hills
