A Frustrated Resident of South TOBAY

Note: This was sent to the Massapequa Post and forwarded on to us.

Dear Editor:

The Massapequa Post isn't exactly known as a humor publication, but I must compliment you on the very funny joke that is the article on page 1 of your July 4, 2007, issue, which had the headline: "Hearing set on proposed building moratorium for the Massapequas".

Maybe the article wasn't meant to be funny, because it is on a serious topic, specifically concerning the area of Massapequa south of Merrick Road. But it's the funniest thing I've ever read in your newspaper.

Like any good joke, the punch line was saved for the very end. After explaining the public hearing will be held so "residents will be able to have input into the question", with a quote from Oyster Bay Town Supervisor John Venditto that each community in the Town has "specific needs and concerns", the article reveals in the last sentence that this hearing concerning Massapequa will be held at a time and place that could hardly be more inconvenient for most Massapequa residents: at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday, 20 miles away from Massapequa, at Town Hall in Oyster Bay.

It should be obvious to all that if Town officials were really interested in public comment on a Massapequa-only issue, they would hold their hearing in Massapequa, in the evening.

It was just a coincidence, I'm sure, that right next to this article was a photo of Mr. Venditto and other Oyster Bay politicians at an Elks Lodge event in Massapequa. But that was good for a few extra chuckles.

Of course, Post readers see photos of Town officials at Massapequa civic-group events all the time.

But we won't be seeing them in Massapequa for this public hearing.

[Insert your own punch line here about elected officials who spend too much time dashing to and from photo-ops, and not enough time thinking about how to best serve the people who elected them.]

Stanley Newman
Massapequa Park