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, June 14, 2019
Vol. 94, No. 24
REVITALIZING DOWNTOWNS
PLAZA PROJECT COST RISES
GOP DELAYS ASSESSMENT PHASE-IN VOTE
PAGES 35-38
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Transient housing targeted Lake Success offers new law BY E T H A N MARSHALL AND JOHN NUGENT The Lake Success Board of Trustees introduced a bill designed to limit transient housing in the village Monday, considering factors like how long a permit and rental term would last and how family would be defined. The law arose from a proliferation of Airbnb rentals, which allow homeowners to rent rooms in their house to travelers, sparking concern among residents, village officials said. “There has been a marked increase in the number of private homeowners offering short-term rentals to nonresidents,” Lake Success village Administrator Patrick Farrell said. The board came to an agreement that the permits would limit residential rentals to one year. The rental permit must be renewed after one year. Violations of these permits would result in fines for the homeowner, with the first offense Continued on Page 69
PHOTO BY JANELLE CLAUSEN
Village of Great Neck voters will choose between the slates of Mayor Pedram Bral, right, and mayoral candidate James Wu on Tuesday.
Battle lines drawn in VGN race Contested race sparked by revitalization features waves of allegations, questions BY JA N E LL E CL AUSEN Village of Great Neck voters will decide on two trustees and who should be mayor on Tuesday in a hotly contested race that has set off accusations of dishonesty and questionable campaign tac-
tics.
James Wu, a Manhattan real estate broker and 10-year Great Neck resident, is challenging Mayor Pedram Bral, the director of minimally invasive robotic gynecologic surgery at Maimonides Medical Center, who is seeking his third term as mayor. Running for trustee with Wu on the “Village for All” slate are Julia Shields, a community activist and Great Neck resident for more than 50 years, and Harold Citron, a retail analyst who has lived
in Great Neck for about 20 years. They are challenging incumbents Steven Hope, a property manager and trustee since 2017, and Annie Mendelson, a software product manager at Refinitiv and trustee since 2015. When announcing his run, Wu said he would bring an “openness to the whole community,” and a willingness to listen and work to solve problems. He has also suggested that the administration is engaged in a “top down approach” to government, where residents are not included.
“I think we need [an approach] where the people are actually listened to and the problem is that the administration has not shown this,” Wu said at the time. “If this changes, it would be for the better because that’s how government should be.” Bral has debated this characterization, noting the village’s live streaming of meetings and saying he has a record of “being accessible,” and said his administration has accomplished many things, such as the installation of LED Continued on Page 56
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