I attended the Aug. 17 Great Neck Estates Village Hall meeting.
The Old Mill 11 decision was on the agenda.
Mayor Wm. Warner pretty much said that the Village of Great Neck (my village) backed GNE in a corner by voting to approve Lalezarian (Properties) 11 house development, which will have no benefit to GNE residents who opposed the project.
In all fairness to GN Village residents, we fought tooth and nail starting in 2014. Many of your GNE residents attended. We fought to prevent an apartment building being built, then a second plan for 11 houses.
Mayor Kreitzman and Board of Trustees and our Planning Board spent untold hours. We put every tumbling block in the way, but (with) Paul Bloom as Lalezarian’s lawyer, we already knew that we would lose 50%; he is excellent, that’s why all the developers use him.
Our faint hope was that you had Tom Levine as your legal consul. I saw the difficulty on your words as you each read a statement. Please don’t blame our village. We gave in for the same reasons as you. We, too, are upset with the final decision. You did everything in your power to protect your residents, but sad to say there is no protection from a greedy developer, there is only blackmail.
Do as I say or I will sue and win, the village residents will pay the price. As to Lalezarian, you came to our country and became a successful developer. Mazel tov. But when is enough?
You grab any sliver of land to develop without any thought (other than the almighty dollar), to the consequences for years to come for the welfare of our existing residents.
In Aug. 2014 I said you have two faces. One that smiles when you get what you want and one that threatens to sue if you don’t… it seems to still apply.
Jean Pierce
Great Neck
