Save our Holtsville Ecology Center
Ben Vitale

The current budget proposal for Brookhaven Town, Suffolk County, NY, indicates that it will no longer support the Holtsville Ecology Center. The community has been pleading with our politicians to maintain support for our treasured facility, to no avail. Residents have been signing a petition and voting on Facebook; at last count we had 27,000 signatures and "likes." Our politicians still refuse to listen to reason!

Our Ecology center is not just a facility; it's a venue! Many if not all of our children go there on school trips. Our children get to enhance their perception of their surroundings, by doing ecology related crafts. This is so important for their emotional growth! Moms and Dads get to spend quality time with their children, at our Ecology Center. What is more important than that?

The Pool is a must! The availability of a Pool, has a monumental effect on the emotional development of a child.

Almost all of the plants that you see throughout Brookhaven are grown at this facility.

Residents go to the Ecology Center to clear their minds; they walk, they jog, and also, some bring their bikes. We are talking about the emotional well being of our adult community; in this case we are talking about the 20 and "30 something" crowd.

The EC has crafts for the adults. Many residents attend the Master Gardeners Club, events.

The issue is not just about animals; it is about an emotional bonding experience between parents and children. This facility is an inseparable part of our community.

Let's put the animals last! Closing the Ecology Center will have a lasting negative impact on the children and adult residents of Brookhaven Town.

The Ecology Center Facebook page has a few good suggestions that should be considered before  closing our wonderful facility.

A politician once told me that he always pays attention to the number of letters, calls, and Emails, that he receives. He told me that if he receives 1 email about a certain issue; there is probably another 10 people that agree with the correspondence.  If we only consider the 19,000 people that signed the petition; that would be 190,000 people that would like to retain our Ecology Center. The present population of Brookhaven is 486,040 people; this indicates that almost 50 percent of our residents want to save our Ecology Center.  

If the Brookhaven Government is looking for money to pay for the Ecology Center, it might be a good idea to contact Paul Pontieri and the Trustees of Patchogue Village. The Patchogue Village Government has demonstrated their expertise in identifying sources of Grant Money.

I hope Timothy Mazzei comes through for us, with his proposal to save our Ecology Center.

See the News 12 Coverage:
http://www.news12.com/articleDetail.jsp?articleId=334323&position=1&news_type=news

Voice Your Opinion on Patch
http://patchogue.patch.com/blog_posts/save-our-holtsville-ecology-center

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