{"id":859,"date":"2011-05-20T16:49:33","date_gmt":"2011-05-20T16:49:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/middleislandcivic.com\/?p=859"},"modified":"2011-05-20T16:49:33","modified_gmt":"2011-05-20T16:49:33","slug":"the-buck-stops-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/s453969799.onlinehome.us\/mica\/?p=859","title":{"rendered":"The Buck Stops Here"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Lesko takes \u2018full responsibility\u2019 for Middle Island park<\/h1>\n

From The North Shore Sun <\/strong><\/em> By Jennifer Gustavson<\/a> | May 19, 2011 in News<\/a><\/p>\n

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Share<\/a>|<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Brookhaven Town Supervisor Mark Lesko announced Wednesday that he takes \u201cfull responsibility\u201d for the illegal clearing of trees at Bartlett Pond Park and said he has developed a proposal to restore the land.<\/p>\n

During the Central Pine Barrens Commission\u2019s monthly meeting in Riverhead, Mr. Lesko told his fellow board members that the town\u2019s intentions were good because it appeared that vines and other invasive species were having a \u201cdetrimental effect\u201d on the trees at the park located on Middle Country Road in Middle Island. Parks employees cleared the trees in February.<\/p>\n

The supervisor added that a restoration plan is in the works and that an arborist will assess the survivability of the remaining trees at the park. He also said a landscape architect will map out a plan to replant trees and shrubs.<\/p>\n

As the town moves forward with its plan, Mr. Lesko said he \u201cvehemently opposes\u201d any monitoring or oversight by the commission during the restoration process.<\/p>\n

\u201cI urge my Town Supervisor colleagues to also oppose that if it is suggested because I think that would have an effect on your townships,\u201d Mr. Lesko said during the meeting. \u201cI think this is a unique and isolated incident and we believe we have a proposal in plan to remediate the mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Pine Barrens Society executive director Richard Amper told the commission that while he appreciates Mr. Lesko\u2019s efforts, he believes the commission should pursue legal action in order to \u201cprevent this from happening again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis should not have happened \u2014 cannot happen \u2014 and is clearly a violation of state law,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

John Pavacic, executive director of the Central Pine Barrens Commission, said \u201cpreliminary information\u201d about the clearing of over an acre of land has been submitted to the commission.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to hear from the commission on whether or not they want us to do anything further,\u201d he said, adding that he believed the commission will make a decision by its next meeting, which is scheduled for June 15.<\/p>\n

jennifer@northshoresun.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lesko takes \u2018full responsibility\u2019 for Middle Island park From The North Shore Sun By Jennifer Gustavson | May 19, 2011 in News Share| Brookhaven Town Supervisor Mark Lesko announced Wednesday that he takes \u201cfull responsibility\u201d for the illegal clearing of trees at Bartlett Pond Park and said he has developed a proposal to restore the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/s453969799.onlinehome.us\/mica\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/s453969799.onlinehome.us\/mica\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/s453969799.onlinehome.us\/mica\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/s453969799.onlinehome.us\/mica\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/s453969799.onlinehome.us\/mica\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/s453969799.onlinehome.us\/mica\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/s453969799.onlinehome.us\/mica\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/s453969799.onlinehome.us\/mica\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/s453969799.onlinehome.us\/mica\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}