St. Paul's Park

10/18/2026

Maybe someone could explain how an old building with no use is better than a park where our residents, of all ages, can come together as they are today at Mineola Memorial Park.

10/17/2026

Even on an overcast day, Mineola Memorial Park gets a crowd. Congratulations on your vision Mineola.

10/02/2026

Excellent GC Editorial on how this BOT has broken their word to the residents as they kick the St Paul's Can down the road.

https://www.gcnews.com/articles/a-promise-to-the-public/

NO TRUSTEES WERE HARMED CREATING THIS PICTURE

(Any resemblance to Trustees, serving or not, is entirely coincidence)

09/25/2026

BOND RESOLUTION PULLED.

For those who volunteered to collect signatures to make sure residents have a real vote as was promised, the BOT has postponed the $10,000,000 bond resolution. Therefore, our weekend organizational meeting will be rescheduled in a week or two.

Continuing with this BOT’s lack of transparency when it comes to St Paul’s, no reason was given for the postponement of the bond resolution.

Please continue to follow the BOT’s agenda, as Mayor Finneran made clear he does not feel bound by the votes on previous resolutions, nor his public promises in regard to having a democratic resident vote on any money's spent on St Paul’s.

Please continue to contact additional volunteers that will help us gather 3600 signatures in 30 days. It is important that the door of every house and every apartment on every street is knocked on. It is a tough slog, but democracy is worth it. And at that point, if the resolution is passed, that is all well and good. At least residents have had a say.

If you are willing to help, either knocking on your neighbor’s doors and collecting signatures, or any other way, please write to: [email protected]

Again, thank you to all those that volunteered.

09/23/2026

For those that actually believed Mayor Finneran, and this group of Trustees, when they repeatedly promised they would spend no resident money on St Paul's without a specific vote of the residents, like the disappearing fake Senior St Paul's Tax Exemption, we have no one to blame but ourselves.

After last year's record debt, to be followed by what will be even a larger record debt this year, no one should be surprised when they see their tax bills explode.

09/07/2026

An update on the St Paul's Landmark Society and the McDonough-Coll-Ciaffa St Paul's Conservancy's fundraising efforts for August. As the Preservationists inch towards the fundraising for their "Security and Camera System for St. Paul’s", perhaps they might consider adding a camera or two on the inside of the building. For purposes of Transparency, it would be helpful to let the residents see the inside of the building during a heavy rain, NOT the smaller but fairly stable Chapel and Main Hallway, but the larger wings where so many floors have collapsed. Since the BOT has budgeted $10.1 million to be raised thru debt this year for mothballing, wouldn't it be helpful for residents to see the additional collapses that have occured the last 3-4 years, as Mayor Finneran has not allowed any non-Preservationists to tour the building and inform the residents.

08/05/2026

That is some crowd they had in Mineola Memorial Park for a Lovesong concert!!

07/31/2026

The St. Paul’s Park Group continues to believe that a park that will bring residents of all ages together, rather than a building that will continue to drain the finances of this village, while dividing residents, is in the best interest of the majority of the village.

07/31/2026

Send a message to learn more

03/15/2026

CAP Candidate’s $10,000,000 Election Hoax!

We read Mayor Finneran’s full page ad this past week (GCNews, page 3) explaining that Trustee Muldoon is “somewhat excitable” and prone to misspeak. However, we feel when it comes to the costs of St Paul’s and anonymous “ballpark” figures, that is unacceptable for the largest financial decision this village has ever faced.

We have repeatedly questioned the CAP Candidates $10,000,000 costs for their “Landmark Compromise” (Read: “mothballing”) as intentionally misleading both for the extreme low and unsourced estimate as well as them stating that it ends the debate and future expense till “future generations”

In 2010, the Garden City School District and the Village of Garden City were involved in significant capital projects and environmental reviews, including looking at the St Paul’s School itself. An Environmental Impact Statement(EIS) was required before the Board of Trustees could move forward with plans for the building. (https://gardencityny.net/DocumentCenter/View/144/St-Pauls-DEIS-Executive-Summary-PDF) The cost estimate in 2010 for replacing the roof and windows and repairing masonry to stabilize the building would cost approximately $13.9 million, sixteen years ago.

This did NOT include landscaping or an “ornamental fence that is in the $10,000,000 “Landmark Compromise” we first saw last week. The “Stabilization” work was considered alongside a potential demolition project, which was estimated to cost roughly $5.8 million to $6 million at that time (that at the time included Ellis Hall, which has since been demolished). The report also found that replacing the dilapidated building with a park was far more environmentally friendly than adaptive reuse.

Putting the above costs in 2026 dollars, the estimated cumulative increase in roofing and masonry materials and labor costs since 2010 is 125% to 140%, or well over doubling. If you use the GC 2010 EIS estimate of $13.9Million for replacing the roof and repairing masonry and waterproofing the building, that adjusts the cost of “stabilization” to $31.275 Million in current dollars, or nearly triple the undocumented “ballpark” $10,000,000 the CAP candidates have publicly touted the last two weeks.

This does not account for the additional 16 years of further decay and damage the building has endured, logically resulting in far higher remediation work than even the inflation adjustment factor yields. The CAP candidates pretend that the building will have no maintenance cost going forward, which contradicts candidate Muldoon’s 2004 assertion that we have spent $18,000,000 on the building and gotten “nothing useful”, but won’t have another $18,000,000 or more going forward.

Lastly, as to Trustee Muldoon’s claim that “this solves the problem for generations”, we were glad Candidate Gerald Smith spoke the truth in his Newsday interview this past weekend, whether unwittingly or otherwise. Gerard Smith admits that his “Landmark Compromise” does not resolve the issue, but is actually “leaving the restoration for later” according to Newsday. So CAP candidates, which is it?

Two years ago, three of the four CAP candidates ran on a fake Senior St Paul’s Tax Exemption. Unfortunately for the residents, in their enthusiasm to Save Every Brick, these three are at it again.

Donald MacLeod

Send a message to learn more