An Open Letter to Vanessa Tamari

Dear Vanessa,

We don’t know each other well – mostly through the PTO and as neighbors – but our relationship, although limited, has always been cordial and civil. In that spirit, I hope you won’t mind my posing some questions about issues that trouble me and many residents about your candidacy for re-election as Great Neck Park District Commissioner, especially since your candidate statement, posted only yesterday (4 days before the election) by Joseph Lavi on the Moms and Dads of Great Neck Facebook page, does not allow comments or questions. Some of the quotations in my questions reference that statement, others your stated goals from your debate of 3 years ago.

I also hope you will agree that civil discourse requires answering questions as they are articulated, without digressing to “straw man arguments” and other issues that skirt the actual points being raised. So let me begin:

Why did you refuse to debate your opponent on your record and other matters of concern to the community, a process which has been the norm of our society for decades? It is also part of the Recommended Code of Conduct for Candidates for Commissioner of the Great Neck Park District (p. 14). Why did you not even respond to the League of Women Voters' invitation to debate? What is "positive" about that? Does this model “pride in our community”? Are you proud of that treatment of the public, the League, and your opponent? Do you understand that so many find this dismissive and makes it appear that you and the Park District are hiding something?

Why were there more absentee ballots than live ballots cast in last year's election? (This year’s election has already seen at least as many absentee ballots issued as last year’s live vote count.) Why didn't the signatures on so many of those ballots match the signatures on the corresponding applications, as demonstrated by a forensic handwriting expert?

Why did your name and that of last year's incumbent candidate Tina Stellato appear so many applications as the designated persons to pick up those ballots at the GNPD office on behalf of the applicants? Why did so many absentee ballot applicants not receive their ballots? Why were there also names on some absentee ballots of people who never applied for them?

Do you understand how it is virtually impossible for any critically thinking resident who is facing the above information head on to come to any other conclusion than that there is corruption and electoral fraud going on at GNPD?

Why did GNPD spend $600,000 on a 1 1/2 hour concert in Sept. at Steppingstone, while there are dilapidated and unsafe basketball courts in parks on the south side of town that could be refurbished at one third of that cost, as well as unsafe walkways (covered only with sealant which does nothing). Why are there security cars only at parks in the north, but not in smaller ones in the south?

Particularly, how does this comport with the very first of your stated goals in your debate 3 years ago, a “plan to improve park safety and cleanliness”? And with your 2nd goal to “personally inspect the premises on a regular basis” (have you really done so?), your 4th goal to “ensure that timely repairs are made”, and your 5th goal to “promise to be fiscally responsible in planning and spending without compromising the quality of service”? And your statement that “all parks should be re-examined especially smaller parks such as Lakeville…:”. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVqsShD5O3g starting at 1:37:45)

Your 3rd goal was a pledge to “keep the lines of communication open with employees”, a pledge that many employees have asserted has not been kept. But what about communication with GNPD residents? Why are notices of Board meetings no longer posted with any reasonable notice on the GNPD web site, and why does one now have to subscribe to emails or texts to get them, rather than being able to look them up at will?

And why are the email addresses of the Commissioners and administrators no longer available on the web site as they used to be? Since you have provided no contact information to the public that I can see, I will message you with this letter on your Facebook page, as well as post it everywhere I can, in the hope that you see it.

What has happened with your “I fully support the construction of an indoor recreation center”? And your goal that “fenced-in facilities for dogs to socialize off-leash should be placed on local parks that can be reached by foot. This should be done without compromising aesthetic beauty or safety of park patrons.” How does that square with the dog fence at Allenwood being raised, then taken down shortly thereafter? And again, with your pledge to be fiscally responsible in planning and spending?

What specific "improvements" have you made to our parks? In fairness, two areas where you personally may have made some inroads:

“I would like to see a variety of music, dance, and entertainment options representing the diversity of our town for the summer series at Steppingstone”

and

“I would like for there to be more festivals, fairs, and social gatherings….including a winter holiday festival…”

But we already had a fine summer series at Steppingstone. Many of the new events appear exorbitantly expensive, and now have been separated into more expensive VIP areas that are cost-prohibitive for many and which serve not “to unite our community” (your stated goal in the Moms and Dads statement) but to divide us. What happened to the “all residents” mentioned in your goals of 3 years ago?

Similarly with the winter holiday festival, with its flashy tents, igloos, firepits etc. which are out of reach for many residents. And why is this festival always held the weekend before the election? In fact, why is the GNPD election always held in December, right after the November General Election, a peculiarly strange time when turnout is likely to be far from optimal?

There is more that I could ask, but this letter is long enough. Unfortunately since you have seen fit not to debate, I must leave it to you to find a public forum to post your response where it will be seen by the preponderance of GNPD residents.

Thank you in advance for your time and on-point responses, and for your past service to our community.

Sincerely,

Robert Yamins

Great Neck

P.S. I see now that Mr. Lavi's post of your statement on Moms and Dads of GN was actually shared from the Jonathan Ielpi Park (a GNPD facility) Facebook page where you originally posted it yourself. I haven't been able to search all of the labyrinthian GNPD rules and regulations, spread over many different documents, but using a GNPD network to campaign for Commissioner when that venue is not available to your opponent would seem a violation of those regulations in spirit, if not in letter. Do you have any comment on this?