Thoughts on Gibson buildings, flood maps

To the Editor:

Some of the comments made by a couple of people in the Herald article “The eyesore of Gibson” (April 27-May 3), I believe, were misdirected. Dr. Leonard M. Bleicher, a want-to-be Gibson real estate tycoon, deliberately destroyed the very stores he purchased. Let it be known that it was Bleicher who owns the property and who deliberately destroyed his stores and left them to decay, making the property “The eyesore of Gibson,” not those who appealed Bleicher’s original plans, approved by the Board of Zoning Appeals.

We appealed the original plans, in which Bleicher received variances to skirt village code to allow for hardly any front or rear setbacks, no play area for children — which incidently was still approved at a later time — only one entrance and exit on Muller Place, and other variances. It was this appeal, although Bleicher won, which forced him to rethink his plan and create an additional driveway on Gibson Boulevard.

Nevertheless, according to village code, the amount of square footage at this location should be 23 units allowed, not the 39 the BZA granted variances for, and four times the amount of automobiles of the eight two-family houses located directly across the street, which would cause four times the amount of traffic. Bleicher could have been receiving about a dozen store rental incomes all along, but greed always requires more than the norm. He could have built and received income from 23 units without hiring former Valley Stream mayor, Dominick Minerva, whose office is conveniently located in the building next door to Village Hall, or paid for his own cronies, or hired expert witnesses including a traffic expert witness saying there wouldn’t be increased traffic. If you multiply the amount of cars by four using simple mathematics, you would know there would be four times the amount of cars or traffic.

Anyway, Bleicher not only succeeded in convincing the BZA and Valley Stream officials, but also some people mentioned in your article who assume that anything would be better at this location than the eyesore Bleicher deliberately made of his Gibson stores.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency sent “the Destroyer” to Gibson homeowners and to Bleicher’s plans when it placed Gibson in the high-risk flood zone in 2009. Our elected representatives from Valley Stream, the Town of Hempstead and Nassau County had 60 days to appeal FEMA’S decision but never did, even though FEMA never performed a valid base flood elevation study of Nassau County or Valley Stream.

Now two years have passed, and I have not seen or heard of the county, town or village even writing a letter to FEMA requesting they put Valley Stream and parts of the Town of Hempstead back into the non-flood zone where it belongs. Here’s the clincher — any new building or construction in a FEMA high-risk flood zone must meet FEMA high-risk flood zone criteria. In other words, you must build at the BFE level, which in the case of Valley Stream was raised to 11 feet, 4 inches. Anyone in the high-risk flood zone, including Bleicher, may not build a lower level or basement, and you must use FEMA specified flood zone materials to protect against flooding.

If you join FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program, you are saying you are in agreement with FEMA and will abide by the requirements. In other words, Bleicher must build according to FEMA’s specifications, but not as formerly planned or approved. After two years since FEMA placed one-third of Valley Stream in the flood zone, my question to county, town and village officials is: Are you ever going to write a letter to FEMA or file legal action to legally force FEMA to put Gibson and other parts of Valley Stream back into the non-flood zone where it belongs, especially with the knowledge that FEMA has never performed a valid U.S. Army Corps of Engineers GPS base flood elevation study of Valley Stream, the Town of Hempstead and Nassau County?

I have heard the cries of the residents of Gibson in your article, and they want anything better to replace the boarded up vacant stores. Although I am soon to be 61, disabled, and struggling just to breathe with only 30 percent lung capacity, I have requested a very big long-shot in asking for federal financial assistance to purchase the property from Bleicher and put up a beautiful new building in accordance with FEMA flood zone specifications, and set up new business, which would also provide much-needed jobs. As I said it’s a very big long-shot, but I am at least trying to do my part as a 56-year Gibson resident, and trying to offer something beautiful, and much better under the circumstances for a win-win solution for all.

With regard to FEMA, I am not an elected official or an attorney, but I spent much of the summer seeking justice by writing to FEMA officials, Sen. Charles Schumer, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy and others. Kudos to Senator Schumer, Gerry Petrella, Mike Morey and all of his staff who appear to be diligently working to correct the situation with apparently new legislation to force FEMA to either perform a valid base flood elevation study of Valley Stream or put the properties back into the non-flood zone with reimbursements of flood insurance costs homeowners were forced to pay from 2009 on.

While it was the responsibility of our elected officials, it was actually myself who began complaining to FEMA at the beginning of 2010, after my Letter of Map Amendment was denied. Then, the grassroots efforts of Carol Crupi at the Gibson station, which snowballed into the support of larger and larger groups of residents, many of whom were also very disenchanted with FEMA too, really caught the attention of our elected officials. Kudos to all the residents of our wonderful village and Senator Schumer and his staff for bringing us up to this point, which I hope will eventually lead to putting Valley Stream, and especially Gibson, back into the non-flood zone.

Alan Schaechter

Valley Stream