Serving Port Washington, Manorhaven, Flower Hill, Baxter Estates, Port Washington North, Sands Point
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Friday, March 31, 2023
Vol. 9, No. 13
PortWashingtonTimes Washington 2023
BEST OF
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BEST OF NASSAU COUNTY NOMINEES
HARBORSIDE DECLARES NORTHWELL RELAXES COVID MASK MANDATE BANKRUPTCY AGAIN
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PROUD SPONSORS:
Popoleski makes false claims about paper
F I F T H G R A D E R S TA K E T H E STAG E
Says Port Times budget numbers wrong, later acknowledges accuracy BY C A M E RY N O A K ES Village of Manorhaven Mayor John Popoleski falsely claimed Wednesday that the Port Washington Times published wrong budget information in a recent story, singling out the author of the story and pointing her out during a Board of Trustees meeting. “This whole article is bogus. It’s 100% wrong,” Popeleski said. “The editor or the newspaper reporter should have contacted me, because we are not at a 5.6 increase. We are under our tax cap, which is 1.9%. And also, this article doesn’t even discuss about the other revenues that we get in this village, which is rental registration, which is also our village justice.” Popeleski also said the story was a political tactic of former Mayor Jim Avena and part of “the smear campaign that the Dejanas won.” The reporter has never been in contact with either Avena or Peter Dejana, a Manorhaven businessman and philanthropist with connections to Avena. Popeleski has since spoken with the reporter and confirmed that the information included in the story is correct. He was offered the opportunity to provide comment about the incident and has yet to do so. The reporter recorded the audio of the meeting, which is permitted under
state law, and can be listened to or read via transcription. The disputed story, which appeared in the March 17 issue of the Port Washington Times and was published on theisland360.com website, does not state that Manorhaven’s taxes are increasing or decreasing. The original story states: “The tentative budget documents do not include a breakdown of the 2023-24 tax levy. The village clerk did not respond to multiple requests for the information.” Popeleski provided the tax information Saturday night, which shows a proposed tax levy of $3,509,147 for 2023-24, about a 2% tax increase. The tax levy for the 2022-23 budget is $3,440,340. Blank Slate’s original story about the village’s budget used information from the tentative budget proposal provided by the village. These documents are on the village’s website and a printed copy was provided to the reporter at the village’s March 8 workshop meeting. The story states that the proposed budget, which has not been adopted by the board yet, is increasing by 5.6% compared to the current budget. It is made clear that this is the total budget increase, not alluding to taxes increasing. Continued on Page 35
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE PORT WASHINGTON UNION FREE SCHOOL DISTRICT
Fifth grade band and chorus students from Port Washington’s elementary schools performed at the Elementary All-District Band and Chorus concert.
Manhasset’s Daniel Gately targeted by activist group BY R OB E RT PE L A E Z An email to Manhasset School District officials called for an investigation into the assistant superintendent for curriculum after he made
statements to a journalist associated with the far-right Project Veritas site about diversity, equity and inclusion. The email, signed by “Manhasset Parents.” was sent from the email address “ManhassetParents@
proton.me.” Efforts to reach the sender’s to verify their identity were unavailing. Donald Gately, who was hired by the district in 2022 to also oversee Continued on Page 34
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