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Dean Skelos joins effort to close Courtesy Hotel

BY EDEN LAIKIN | eden.laikin@newsday.com

July 23, 2008

The highest-ranking Republican in the state has joined West Hempstead residents in calling on Republican town Supervisor Kate Murray to close down the crime-ridden Courtesy Hotel.

A letter to Murray from State Senate majority leader Dean Skelos, joined by Assemb. Thomas Alfano (R-North Valley Stream), said the situation has gone on far too long and "the community has reached a breaking point."

The two men, whose districts include West Hempstead, said they were "very concerned by the lack of action by the Town to solve this matter to the satisfaction of the greater community."

West Hempstead residents have been fighting to have the Courtesy closed down for nearly a decade. Many support the sale of the hotel to a private developer who has proposed building condos on the site. The proposal would require new zoning.

"Continued delay relating to the demolition and redevelopment of this site has seriously damaged the credibility of the ongoing process," the letter read. "As the State representatives who represent West Hempstead in the Senate and Assembly, respectively, we are calling for immediate action ... the Courtesy Hotel must be removed immediately. West Hempstead deserves nothing less."

Murray responded in a letter by turning the tables and asking Skelos and Alfano to help the town's efforts to expedite the hotel's closing. She said the town is trying to buy an adjacent parcel owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority which, when added to the hotel site, would bring developer Trammell Crow's proposal into compliance with zoning and density codes.

"Your active support and help are what's needed at this juncture," Murray's letter read. "Will you help the community ... overcome the serious hurdle of acquiring the one-acre MTA parcel ... in a manner that facilitates redevelopment of this site?"

West Hempstead activist Rosalie Norton said yesterday the MTA property should not be a roadblock in preventing the sale and removal of the hotel.

"The issue is getting rid of the Courtesy, not acquiring MTA property," she said. "In order for us to be relieved of the burden of this business in our community, it has to be demolished. The only viable solution" is having it sold to the developer.