Serving Great Neck, G.N. Plaza, G.N. Estates, Kensington, Kings Point, Lake Success, Russell Gardens, Saddle Rock and Thomaston
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Friday, December 14, 2018
Vol. 93, No. 50
HOLIDAY GUIDE
PLAZA STORES TO CLOSE
SUOZZI VIES WITH OCASIO-CORTEZ
PAGES 35-54
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Great Neck bids farewell to local hero, firefighter Hundreds pay tribute to Ray Plakstis, lifelong G.N. resident, at local services BY JA N E LL E CL AUSEN
PHOTO BY JANELLE CLAUSEN
Donna Plakstis, Ray’s wife (right), struggles up the steps of St. Aloysius Catholic Church in Great Neck.
Ray Plakstis Jr., a former fire chief, business owner and lifelong Great Neck resident, was never one to seek the limelight even as he touched countless lives. But the week following his death at 57 from what family members and his fire company believe was 9/11-related cancer on Nov. 30, his name was praised all around the peninsula.
Handfuls of people observed moments of silence in board meetings. Last Wednesday and Thursday, hundreds flooded Alert Fire Company’s headquarters to show their respects – including firefighters from around Nassau County. And on Friday, family, friends and firefighters filled the pews of St. Aloysius Church for a final sendoff. “It’s like the whole world showed up,” Rebecca Rosenblatt Gilliar, a civic activist in Great Neck, said on Continued on Page 75
Reassessments hit North Shore hard BY J E S S I C A PA R K S
crease and those that will see a decrease. Many homeowners who will Nassau County Executive Laura Curran’s proposed reas- see increases in their property sessment has put county resi- taxes are on the North Shore. Great Neck, Port Washington dents into two camps: those that will see their property taxes in- and Manhasset are three of the
top five districts to be hit with the most property tax increases of $5,000 or more, according to a report by Newsday. The report ranks Great Neck second with 910 increases expected over $5,000. Port Washington is fourth with 776, followed by Manhasset, which can expect 664 homes seeing such an increase. Curran, at a news conference"held at a taxpayer’s
home in Baldwin on Tuesday, called it “the day of reckoning.” She said she is bringing equality to the tax rolls and protecting those who have been overpaying their share of taxes for a number of years. Former County Executive Edward Mangano froze the tax rolls in 2011. “I am changing a corrupted assessment system that was created and maintained by a cor-
rupt administration,” she said. Those who will see increases are typically those who have filed grievances about the tax assessments on their homes in the past, Jeffrey Gold, an attorney and former member of the Nassau County Board of Assessors, said. When people grieve and win a reduced assessment, the county still needs to generate the Continued on Page 87
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