What do you think about the proposed name for the proposed town owned Country Club park district? This is one man’s take. Feel free to share your perspective.

What We Name Things Matters by Michael Miller for Anton News

“The Levitts were wrong. They didn’t need the race clauses to sell their houses. In 1963, two weeks before Dr. King gave his famous speech at the Lincoln Memorial, there was Bill Levitt, Spokesman of the Industry, in headlines across America defending the right of builders to refuse to sell to African-Americans where segregated neighborhoods were the custom. He considered Long Island to be one of those places, and Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland, where Levittowns II, III and IV went up, amid picket lines and state government lawsuits. There’s no clear evidence that Bill Levitt was personally bigoted. He made it clear that it was strictly business, which probably makes it all worse.

Levitt & Sons finally adopted an open-housing policy in April 1968, five days after Dr. King’s assassination.

It wasn’t Bill Levitt’s job to enlighten a population or broaden people’s minds. The Levitts made houses. It was the people who lived in those houses who made communities. The park’s name should reflect that.”

The town board has officially approved the creation of the Roslyn Country Club park district. The Island Now reports that “Residents in the park district would pay an average of $800 to $1,000 per year for the debt service on the $7.5 million bond the town board plans to issue to renovate the pool and tennis courts.”

As the town moves forward, it is the communities prerogative to ensure the process moves forward in a logical and open manner.

The town board had voted in June to approve the purchase of the 7.3-acre property on which the recreation facilities are located from owner Manoucher Malekan for $2 million using a town environmental legacy fund. Malekan would retain ownership of the Royalton at Roslyn Heights, a catering facility on 2.7 acres of the property, under a proposal that has been agreed to but not yet signed.

Read the full story at The Island Now.

The Town of North Hempstead distributed a Public Notice to Roslyn Country Club residents that will be discussed in detail on Wednesday, October 10, 7:30 at The Wheatley School. If you did not get it, you can review it here (“RCC Poll & Tennis” Town of North Hempstead Public Notice).

The following was sent by the Roslyn Country Club Civic Association

To our Neighbors:

As you know, the Town will hold a meeting Wednesday 10/10 at the Wheatley School at 7:30pm to provide more information on its proposals to rebuild and reopen the Roslyn Country Club and respond to our questions.

The Town will gauge our degree of interest, as a community, in proceeding with creation of the special district that will be the foundation of a brand-new RCC. IF AND ONLY IF the Town identifies overwhelming levels of interest on Wednesday, will they then be in a position to move forward.

YOU ARE HEREBY DRAFTED!
The Town can only assess the interest we express on Wednesday at the meeting! We sincerely hope you attend to express your views whatever they may be. But the RCCCA can do no more than alert neighbors to the meeting. The rest is up to you. PLEASE ENLIST A FRIEND OR TWO (OR MORE!) TO JOIN YOU.

SO OUR TOWN REPRESENTIATIVES UNDERSTAND THE VIEWS OF OUR NEIGHBORHOOD, HELP US ATTEND IN MASSIVE NUMBERS! PLEASE IMPRESS UPON YOUR FRIENDS IN THE RCC COMMUNITY HOW VERY IMPORTANT ATTENDENCE IS. PLEASE BRING THEM WITH YOU!

If you agree the RCCCA is serving our community, please pay your dues and make patrol payments if you are not now current! We need your participation if the RCCCA is to continue its work. You can check your dues and patrol status by following the links at www [dot] rccca [dot] org. Remind your friends to do likewise if their names are missing from these lists!

As reported by The Island Now back in August, the RCCCA legal council, paid for by over 200 residents of the RCC community, have filled a petition to withdraw from the case. They say, as can be read below, that the RCCCA is undergoing a course that is “both unrealistic and not in the best interest of RCC homeowners.” When I attempted to gain clarification on why the RCCCA thought the park-district plan was better for the community, I was told the RCCCA has never made such decisions and is solely providing choices to the community. Decide for yourself.

“It has become apparent to us that the proposed taking of part of the Country Club property by the Town of N. Hempstead has numerous problems. First and foremost, it is practically impossible to obtain the consent of the Roslyn Country Club (“RCC”) owners to the taking of part of the Country Club property without condemnation. There is nothing in the Town budget that provides for the cost of the condemnation of the individual easements of the RCC homeowners or what the RCC homeowners may be entitled to as compensation for their easement rights.

As we previously indicated to you our real estate expert has indicated that each homeowner’s property would be worth an additional $25,000.00 if they had access to the pool. In addition they may be entitled to damages for the prior loss of use of the pool, tennis courts and other facilities. The two litigations together may disclose that Mr. Malekan has a nominal interest in the Country Club facility because we believe that damages for the loss of use of the Country Club for seven (7) years plus the loss of the easement rights exceeds the value of the property.

Assuming the Town purchases the property from Mr. Malekan for $2,000,000.00 and assuming that Mr. Malekan has a net rent of $500,000.00 for the catering facility, we would value his interest in the property at 7 to 10 million dollars minus the claims of easement holders. Obviously if RCC homeowners are successful in the current lawsuit and are successful in recovering for the value of their easement, their recovery may be well in excess of the value of the property.

We further believe that the Town, even if the referendum is passed in November, would take two to three years to open the pool to the public. It is also possible since the Town is contemplating fees of at least three times more for the membership than that of other pools operated by N. Hempstead that this pricing of the membership in the pool may lead to a lawsuit against the Town of N. Hempstead.

We believe that the only practical resolution of this matter is to force Mr. Malekan to sit down at the table and structure a deal where he operates the pool and other facilities at a fixed price for the Country Club members and that the members have some interest in the catering facility and the rent therein as well as for other facilities.

We believe that the committee has entered into a course of conduct without our assistance and contrary to our advice. We believe that what the committee is trying to obtain is unacceptable to many homeowners in the RCC as well as other taxpayers. We believe that your actions are both unrealistic and not in the best interest of RCC homeowners.

If you wish to continue your current course of conduct and act contrary to our advice we will have no other alternative but to withdraw as counsel from this matter.”

I apologize to the community for not updating this website in several months. The Roslyn Country Club Facebook Page has been kept more up-to-date, so be sure to “Like” it to stay informed of the Roslyn Country Club happenings, even when this website appears dormant.

This post is just a brief update of what has occurred since the last post on this website.

Since the town approved the purchase of the Roslyn Country Club in June – to make it a Town Park – and approved a bond to rebuild the country club, the surrounding civic associations have protested, gathering more than enough petitions to force the issue to be voted on in November. The petition was/(is?) being challenged in court by some active RCCCA members. The town has apparently backtracked on the challenged – already approved by the town board – proposal, knowing it will not pass in a referendum, to now proposing to create a Park District, which was announced this past week.

“… just some water, getting hotter, in the flames…”