After reading Wendy Kreitzman’s letter of support for Ted Rosen in the Aug. 21 Great Neck News, it didn’t surprise me that Rosen, the current deputy mayor of the Great Neck Plaza administration, would have Kreitzman write a letter supporting his mayoral aspiration. Kreitzman, former editor of the Great Neck Record, had always been known to be a friend and ally of the current mayor and her administration.
Phil Orenstein, who helped organize the security team for an event that hosted a controversial speaker at Chabad of Great Neck in April 2013, criticized Kreitzman’s coverage in a posting on Patch. According to Orenstein, Kreitzman’s treatment of the event was so biased that he alluded to it as her “latest disgraceful false report,” also noting her “steady pattern of lies and false reporting” in the Record.
Orenstein rallied the community to come together for a press conference in front of the Great Neck Record office to protest Kreitzman’s journalistic bias in his posting on Patch:
“For decades, the corrupt yellow rag, the Great Neck Record has been disseminating leftwing propaganda and lies and propping up the feudal fiefdoms of corrupt local mayors. The paper’s editor, Wendy Kreitzman should know; her husband is Mayor of Great Neck! However they pushed their luck too far with their latest disgraceful false report on last Sunday’s wonderful event at Chabad of Great Neck. The community is sickened by the steady pattern of lies and false reporting and we will be outside their offices Sunday morning to protest Wendy Kreitzman’s corrupt stewardship of the newspaper. Please arrive by 9:45 to be ready for the press conference. Bring flags and signs: • Great Neck Record of Lies! • Stamp out journalistic fraud! • Wendy Kreitzman Must Go! •”
Orenstein even quoted the late U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan: “You are entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts.”
Phil Orenstein’s statement about Kreitzman’s journalistic bias and her fractious and contentious behavior with members of the Great Neck community spoke volumes. Nevertheless, Ted Rosen accepted her letter of support.
In Kreitzman’s letter, she did write one thing of value: “I am not a Village of Great Neck Plaza resident, but I am a “Great Neck as a whole” resident for over 45 years and a constant observer of all of the villages, so I really do know that an election in each village is of major importance to each and every one of us.”
The upcoming Plaza mayoral election is indeed “of major importance to each and every one of us.” The current administration has failed to protect pedestrians, has created a village known for its traffic congestion and lack of parking, has contributed to the downward spiral of our business district and rather than improving the quality of our lives, they have worsened it considerably.
During their long tenure as Plaza trustees, Ted Rosen and Pam Marksheid have been faithful rubber stamps to the mayor’s my way or the highway policies. And for decades, there has been no transparency in the policy-making of the current administration, as well as an inability to listen to and work with others. After decades of non-leadership, why would anyone expect them to change now?
Leonard Katz will govern with transparency; he has nothing to hide. He will not disregard his constituents’ concerns, but rather will listen to them and learn from them. He will be an effective and trustworthy mayor.
It is our responsibility to effect positive change in Great Neck Plaza by writing in our votes on Sept. 15 for Leonard Katz for mayor and Marnie Ives and Robert Farajollah for trustees!
Muriel Pfeifer
Village of Great Neck Plaza
