Letters to the Rockville Centre Herald Editor (May 5-11)

Support Downing for school board

To the Editor:

I met Donna Downing nearly two decades ago. She was enrolling her twins, Lucy and Matt, into our 2-year-old Mommy and Me program. I was the educational director of St. Mark’s Nursery School at the time. I’ve since retired, but am still actively involved with the nursery school.

I have a grandson still enrolled there. Over the years, the school has had many families come through its doors. Our families choose a cooperative because they want to be involved in their children’s education. What started out as a parent-director relationship developed into a friendship of great respect and admiration — on my part, anyway. Donna is very easy to admire.

She has developed into a strong and successful woman. Besides being a dedicated and loving mother of four, she was able to advance her education and become an adjunct professor at both St. John’s University and now Molloy College. Those are achievements to be admired without having children.

As a cooperative parent, Donna’s responsibilities included several roles over her years there. The biggest and most challenging was the position of co-president. She served her term along with Christine Bingham, another hardworking woman. That year, the school came across several difficult and sensitive situations.

Although Donna may appear outwardly as a soft-spoken, very sweet person, don’t misjudge her. She is a strong, brilliant person that will handle any difficult situation with diligence and compassion. She doesn’t back down from a challenge. She will get the job done. She is honest, trustworthy and cares deeply for the Rockville Centre community and for the school district. She will lead the Board of Education in a positive direction, one that will only serve to help the children enrolled in the district.

All four of her children either attended or still attend Rockville Centre schools. Please vote for her to join the school board on May 17.

Shirley Perri, Rockville Centre

Proposed storage facility should go solar

To the Editor:

Re “Developer seeks self-storage unit for Rockville Centre” (April 21-27): It seems reasonable to assume the proposed structure will have a considerable roof area, as will many other commercial structures in our future. It’s time for village leaders to update our building code to require rooftop solar units on large-area commercial roofing to supply on-site electricity. This could begin with the developer’s negotiations with village officials, because a storage facility is likely to be capable of self-sufficient power.

The business benefits by hedging against rate increases and inconvenient outages, and by having less overhead. The village benefits by limiting demand on our local grid, consistent with goals for our future. Leaders take advantage of such opportunities. This is an excellent opportunity for County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s environmental leadership.

It’s a sound business investment. The future can begin in RVC.

Brian Kelly, Rockville Centre