Valley Stream
The MarkeT
HERALD
The MarkeT July 23, 2020
case
The Ultimate Local home Show
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the MArKet the Ultimate Home Showcase - Inside
Vol. 31 No. 30
North students raise $12,000
District 13 revote set for July 28
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JUlY 23 - 29, 2020
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Tax breaks for Roosevelt apartments? through county and village planning agencies over the past year and a half. In addition to a Residents and school officials PILOT agreement, the applicant, voiced reservations about tax Vantage on Roosevelt LLC, is breaks, including a 14-year pay- seeking sales and mortgage ment in lieu of taxes recording tax agreement, that the exemptions. Town of Hempstead Perhaps the most Industrial Developvocal opposition to ment Agency is conthe proposed develsidering for a proopment, and the tax posed 17-unit luxury breaks, came from apartment building School District 24 slated for the corner Superintendent Dr. of Roosevelt Avenue D o n S t u r z , wh o and Cochran Place. raised concer ns At a July 14 hearabout potential ing, two residents school overcrowding and officials for Valand lost revenue in a ley Stream District time of deep eco24, in which the pronomic uncertainty. posed development “Any time a resiwould be located, dential project and the Central comes up in Valley High School District Stream, it’s always a weighed in, either in Dr. DoN StUrz concern,” Sturz said. opposition to or with School District 24 “Our schools are questions about the already at full capacsuperintendent proposed tax breaks, ity, and these resiwhile the developer dential projects and his attor ney always have a potenoffered some additional informa- tial to increase enrollment and tion. thus costs.” It is latest development in the It costs on average $23,239 to apartment proposal, whose vari- educate a student in District 24, ous iterations have been making according to data compiled by their way in fits and starts Continued on page 3
By Peter Belfiore pbelfiore@liherald.com
o
Peter Belfiore/Herald
More tHAN 1,000 demonstrators packed Sunrise Highway in Valley Stream on July 16 in solidarity with resident Jennifer McLeggan, a Black single mother who alleges she suffered what she says was racially motivated abuse from her white neighbors.
#StandwithJennifer protest draws hundreds to V.S. By Peter Belfiore pbelfiore@liherald.com
More than 1,000 demonstrators packed the Valley Stream train station on the evening of July 16 before marching on Sunrise Highway and heading to the Village Green in a show of solidarity for local resident Jennifer McLeggan, whose accusations of harassment by neighbors sparked a viral movement with the hashtag #standwithJennifer.
It was the largest Black Lives Matter demonstration to take place in Valley Stream, after a photo of a sign that McLeggan had placed on her door was shared widely on social media. On it, she outlined three years of alleged struggles with a trio of white neighbors in what she claims was racially motivated abuse. M a n y a t t h e p ro t e s t remarked that McLeggan, a single Black mother who works night shifts as a nurse, represented the experience of
living as a Black person in America. Others, mostly residents, voiced dismay that the behavior Mcleggan alleges she endured could continue unchecked in a minoritymajority neighborhood such as Valley Stream. “We’re here to stand with Jennifer,” Elmont resident Kenny Copeland, 32, said. “We heard her story.” “She’s not the first, but we want to make sure she’s the Continued on page 10
ur schools are already at full capacity, and these residential projects always have a potential to increase enrollment and thus costs.