by Stewart S Lilker

While other communities work tirelessly to present a tidy and groomed picture to the rest of the world, Mayor William F. Glacken and the Glackenite Trustees turn a blind eye to political cronies and the connected, as Freeport’s main thoroughfares, Sunrise Highway and Merrick Road look like giant garbage dumps to Freeporters and Long Islanders alike.

Freeport has a village ordinance which does not allow business’s to be run from trailers. For years, McRides Taxi has been running their taxi business, with the blessings of Glacken, from a trailer in the LIRR parking lot.

Everyday, tens of thousands of LIRR riders are treated to a bird’s eye view of the rusted roof of the McRides trailer, as they pass through Freeport every day. The trailer was supposed to be a temporary solution for McRides and dates back at least seven years.

After Glacken’s first unsuccessful run for Mayor, in which Glacken’s campaign posters were absent from the sides of the trailer, his second campaign featured a tremendous banner on the back of the trailer, touting his candidacy. Now, instead of a vote for Glacken banner, is what has become the railroad’s only resident outhouse.

At times, Freeport’s Mayor has explained that he experiences sleepless night and when he does, he wanders around the streets of Freeport. Unfortunately, he hasn’t wandered to the train station for some time, for if he did, he would have seen the terrible condition of the McRides trailer, the outhouse out back, and garbage bags laying around with all sorts of trash blowing in the wind.

Not left far behind is Merrick Road in Freeport. Political sweetheart, Paul Conte, recently sold his parking lot on Merrick road, after making an insiders deal with Glacken, allowing him to be the only purchaser of a village parking lot. For years, Conte ignored the appearance of the property, allowing paper and weeds to wedge themselves in the fence of his car lot, causing an unsightly mess for all to see.

The new owner of the property, Phillips International, has been allowed to let the property become overgrown with weeds and infested with garbage, as Glacken and his Glackenite empty suits, have conveniently turned a blind eye on the mess that is viewed by thousands, everyday.

by Stewart S Lilker

Freeport’s main thoroughfares are some of the dirtiest and ill kept on Long Island. The rail road and the business district are, as a rule, litter strewn and ignored by Freeport’s Mayor Glacken and his Glackenite Trustees. Your reporter wondered, after the departure of NY City’s Rudi Guiliani, if Mayor Bloomberg would be keeping the city as clean as the former mayor.

On Thursday, June 27, 2002, your reporter hopped on the LIRR and headed off to the Big Apple.

Upon my arrival in Manhattan, I headed uptown on the subway, getting off at 50th and 8th Avenue and walking back one block to 49th Street. The subway stations and platforms were immaculate.

I arrived at 49th Street the same time one of NYC’s street sweepers arrived on the scene. He was the old fashioned kind, human, and arrived pushing his cart and ready for action. After spending years looking at Freeport’s littered streets, 8th Avenue looked spic and span, but not to our street cleaner, all decked out in red.

He left his cart and picking up his broom and dust pan walked along the curb, picking up scraps of paper that were barely discernible from the other side of 8th Avenue. When he got to the Lincoln Town car, he reached up between the curb and the car, making sure not to miss a scrap.

The job completed, he went back to his cart and headed uptown, on the prowl for more litter. The condition in which he left the street demonstrated the pride this city worker has in his city.