I join my neighbors and adamantly oppose the Town of North Hempstead's proposed purchase of 51 Andrew Street in Manhasset. Any use of this home other than a single family home is simply not in the best interest of the area residents. Many area residents voiced their concerns over this proposal at the meeting at Town Hall on August 31, 2009 - pleading to the Town to retain this property as a single family home. In addition, the Town, to date, has not performed any due diligence and investigated any other possible options such as: 1) Leasing parking spots from private parking lot owners or the Manhasset Park District 2) Leasing readily available commercial space on the same block as Town Hall (Park Ave) or other available properties in the business district 3) Using remote parking lots (still within Manhasset and owned by the Town) to store Town vehicles and/or eliminating named parking spots in the current lot to free up unused spots on any given day The Town has not determined the use of this home and there is no cost estimate to convert this family home into office space. Assuming minimal additional expenditures to create these 10 spaces, the cost is roughly $70,000 per parking space. In addition, this property would be removed from the Town and the Manhasset School District tax rolls forever. Any proposed use of tax payer's funds without any investigation of alternate options and a full cost analysis is reckless. As a result, I urge you to VOTE AGAINST the purchase of this property, if not for the PLEA by your neighbors of Town Hall not to deteriorate their neighborhood, then, for these fiduciary reasons.

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