Opposes Gibson name change

To the Editor:

This Hewlett Heights saga should not even be a topic of conversation. I am a resident of Valley Stream. Though I do not live in Gibson myself, I have grown up knowing the area very well and, additionally, have good friends who live there. To really get into the crux of the situation I would like to start from the beginning.

The reason that this is being discussed has no basis, other than that the founder of the “Hewlett Heights Association” stated that he desired the name change.  The person in charge and on the forefront of this campaign to rename part of Gibson Hewlett Heights has no validity in doing so. 

If carefully read (“A campaign for a rename,” Jan. 27-Feb. 3), Nicholas Natoli stated that he wanted to change the name of Gibson to Hewlett Heights for many reasons. The only confusing parts about his desires are, how do they in any way manage to involve a change of name? He claimed in the article that the changes would provide beneficial aid to the community. There would be land development and the like. How does land development involve changing the name of a community? Additionally, it’s a community that he does not live in. In fact, the matter at hand is a little strange in the first place, as this guy has no qualifications to be making such heinous claims. This is not a politician, this is not an attorney. This is a 22-year-old kid who is still in community college. He does not have the legal right to pursue any action on this matter. 

For all the chatter I read about him saying that growing up, he felt torn about where he belonged, I find that statement to be ludicrous. In fact, I see this entirely as a ploy to somehow get the spotlight and attention. If surveyed, most residents, if not all of the residents of Gibson, would agree they do not want to change the name of their community just because some child who does not live there decided to wake up with a crazy dream one day, saying, “Today feels like a good day to change the name of a town I do not live in.”

In fact, what really gets on my nerves is that I publicly joined Mr. Natoli’s Facebook group, considering it a public forum for free speech and opinion. I posted a comment that made it explicitly clear I was against his idea with a passion.  Within 15 minutes, I received a private Facebook message asking me who I thought I was to be criticizing him and his association (an association that does not even exist). He claims on his group to be a reasonable and mature person who has valid arguments, but all I found was a child who does not like to tolerate dissenting views and who does not appreciate the values of free speech if they counter opinions of his own. 

My entire claim here is that there should not have been any problems in the first place. The reason for that is that there should not have been even a discussion about this situation. If everyone who wanted to do something crazy ended up getting an article written about their crazy notions, this country would have very big problems. 

There is no basis or validity to changing the name of Gibson to any other name. Especially when the person stating he wants to change the name has no valid reasons to back up his reasoning as to why there should be a name change enacted. 

David Buziashvili

Valley Stream