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Community Corner

Letter to the Editor: Ask Questions, But Leave Pitchforks Home

Malverne Civic Association President Peter Robideau gives his thoughts on tonight's public meeting with Long Island American Water.

As a Malverne resident and president of the Malverne Civic Association, like all of you, I'm eager to hear how Long Island American Water addresses our concerns tonight at the open meeting. (Click for details.)

The Malverne Civic Association will be assisting with the meeting tonight. We have sign-in sheets and we'd like everyone attending to sign in and we will keep everyone posted with any developments (or lack thereof) going forward.

I want to point out some facts as I see them (please correct me if any of these statements are incorrect):

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  1. Many Malverne residents have issues with the quality of the water, but not all homes have the brown water coming out of the taps (Let's find out why!)
  2. The problem isn't exclusive to Malverne residents - villages/towns nearby have the same issues with the water.
  3. The water treatment plant never went online. Questions: Why wasn't this information shared with the customers and when will it go online? Once it is operational, will all the brown water run clear?
  4. There has been much media coverage surrounding this event. While at first glance this may appear as "all good" (additional pressure for LIAW to take action) it also is telling the public that Malverne has bad water, which may influence home buyers and [deter] retail customers from purchasing prepared food from our village merchants. Question: Once the water issue is resolved, will these media outlets broadcast "Clear Water in Malverne"?

The meeting room has a capacity of 180 people. The village sent the phone message out to all residents and businesses yesterday and a Fire Department representative will be on-site. We've been asked to maintain a headcount (based on the sign in sheets) but once attendance hits 180, people will not be allowed in. I hope we hit the 180!

This is a very personal issue, and emotions tend to run high in these types of situations. I'm hopeful that this will be a civilized, fact finding meeting and not a demonstration or rally requiring crowd control! (Please leave the pitchforks and torches at home.) 

I look forward to a successful first meeting and a quick resolution to our water problems.

Thanks again to Tom Grech for pulling this together! See you tonight.

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