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Victoria Espinoza

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Victoria Espinoza is the editor of the Times of Huntington & Northport. She once broke her elbow trying to eat a cookie.
https://www.victoria-espinoza.com/

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Northport Superintendent Robert Banzer and Board President Andrew Rapiejko discuss the district's letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Photo by Victoria Espinoza

The Northport-East Northport Board of Education is seeking a moratorium on state-run teacher evaluations for the current time.

In an open letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Superintendent Robert Banzer criticized the fact that

public schools are still required to administer state assessments to measure student progress, despite the fact that these tests have been put on a temporary freeze.

“The district cannot use the state assessments for teacher evaluation, so it must use a form of Student Learning Objectives and report those scores for teachers even though they will not be used to determine teacher effectiveness,” Banzer said in the letter.

Student Learning Objections, first implemented in 2012,is a teacher evaluation tool used when state assessments are not in effect.

“As a result, we are burdened with setting aside time for both state assessments and SLOs, which will increase the amount of time preparing, administering and scoring assessments,” Banzer’s letter said.

In the letter, Banzer proposed that the moratorium be extended to eliminate Student Learning Objections to comply with the recommendation of the state task force, to reduce the amount of time spent on state assessments.

“Needless to say, the poor implementation of the state assessments and their use as an instrument to measure teacher effectiveness over the past few years undoubtedly minimized their effectiveness as an instructional tool,” Banzer said. “Instead, it has turned into a political debate and created a fracture between and among parents, educators, board members and political leaders that needs repair.”

Trustees applauded Banzer’s letter at the board meeting on Thursday, and discussed other concerns with the current state of Common Core.

“I think it’s really important that we engage the community,” Trustee Donna McNaughton said at the meeting. “I know that the knee-jerk reaction is to say ‘this was done so poorly … I’m not doing anything else until we change what these things are.’ But we don’t want to have four years go by and the tests haven’t changed.”

The board plans to set a date in February to meet with the community and explain where the district is now, with the changes to Common Core and teacher evaluations, along with what a student’s day will look like if they choose not to participate in the state assessments this spring.

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Members of the 2nd Precicnt pose after they receive awards. Photo by Dana E. Richter

To one group in Huntington Station, it seems that relations between the 2nd Precinct and residents have greatly improved in 2015.

Huntington Matters Neighborhood Watch, an organization that aims to unite citizens and law enforcement to deter crime, awarded several members of the 2nd Precinct this week for their work bettering the relationship between them and community members in Huntington.

Huntington Matters was first formed in response to multiple homicides that took place in Huntington Station over the past two years, including one incident involving Maggie Rosales, an 18-year-old girl who was stabbed to death on Lynch Street.

“A murder here and there became the norm,” said Rob Rockelein, a member of Huntington Matters. “We’re trying to bridge the gap between the average homeowner and town government, and keep a finger on the pulse of what people are worried about.”

Rockelein said the precinct has stepped up as of late and opened up the dialogue within the community since the horrific homicides that started his group.

“They have made a lot of progress,” Rockelein said. “We feel these officers went above and beyond their duties. There is a very transparent relationship now, which is the way it should be. There is no such thing as a bad question from the public.”

Rockelein also said he appreciates the way that multiple departments respond to incidents in Huntington Station and come to the 2nd Precinct meetings as much as possible.

Matt Harris, another member of Huntington Matters, said he agreed with Rockelein.

Harris said he was particularly proud of the Suffolk County Police Department 2nd Precinct Explorer Post 201, which was awarded in recognition of their first assisted arrest.

“They’ve been really making an effort to accommodate our requests,” Harris said in a phone interview.

Harris said the explorer group prevented someone from driving while intoxicated during a spring clean up in town last April. Huntington Matters honored members Harris Wilner, Michael Sullivan and Angel Villitoro.

Inspector Chris Hatton was one of the recipients, receiving an award for community accessibility, and Rockelein said he has been “ultra responsive and very accessible” since he took over from Inspector Edward Brady in July. Brady was also awarded that night for community response.

“It’s nice to be recognized,” Hatton said in a phone interview. “We’re really happy to have this partnership and we feel like we’ve been very responsive to their needs.”

Rockelein said that everything is moving in the right direction in regard to the communication and that everyone involved is rising to the occasion and working together.

“Crime is definitely down in Huntington and the 2nd Precinct area in general,” Hatton said. “We now have the opportunity to focus on quality of life issues going forward.”

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Northport High School students practice their interview skills with exectuives from local businesses during an event thrown by the Northport High School Academy of Finance. Photo from Bob Levy

Northport High School Academy of Finance students put their interview skills to the test this month at a mock interview event where they received feedback from local executives.

About 35 administrators from Long Island companies including Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc., KPMG accounting firm, Douglas Elliman, and MetLife Premier Client Group all gave students advice on what they should be communicating in an interview, how to act professional and how to dress, according to a press release.

“Our students took all the necessary preparations for this interviewing event,” Allison Schwabish, coordinator of the school’s Academy of Finance, said in statement. “We impressed on them that in order to get the internships that they will be applying for as a part of our program they will need to polish their interviewing skills.”

Schwabish said the 80 students who participated in the event on Jan. 14 went through a series of “speed interviews” where they worked on not only interview skills, but networking skills.

“This mock interview event was the perfect taste of precisely what we will face when conducting interviews in the business world, which is something that will definitely aid use in our future endeavors,” senior Emilie Reynolds said in an email.

Jake Sackstein, a fellow senior student, echoed Reynold’s sentiments.

“A year ago, I wouldn’t have dreamed about comfortably partaking in an interview, but now personal business interactions like this come as second nature,” he said. “It showed me how valuable the program is to me and I will continue to draw strength from it in the future.”

Northport High Schools’ Academy of Finance is a part of NAF, formerly known as the National Academy Foundation, a network of career-themed academies for high school students that includes multiple industries such as hospitality and tourism, engineering and the health science industry.

Student John Charles Unser said he appreciated the opportunity to work with so many prominent businesses.

“I was able to interview with Fortune 500 companies such as KPMG and Ameriprise Financial Services,” he said in an email. Unser said he was asked many difficult questions but was “able to provide appropriate examples and answer with professionalism.”

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Councilwoman Susan Berland first tried to limit leaf blowers two years ago. File photo

There was a strong desire for change blowing into town hall during a Huntington Town Board meeting on Jan. 12.

More than a dozen residents spoke out asking the board to reconsider a limit on gas-powered leaf blowers, citing the health problems the blowers can cause. But board members are divided about taking action.

“Lots of people have asthma in Huntington and gas leaf blowers make it worse,” Donald Payne, a Centerport resident said at the meeting. “The particles they release stay in the air for hours.”

Payne also brought up the fact that the town could be losing money by continuing to invest in gas-powered leaf blowers.

“When you pay someone to rake or sweep, most of that money stays on Long Island,” he said. “If you buy gasoline, most of that money leaves Long Island.”

Peter Calcandy, a Halesite resident, said he was concerned with the noise disturbance these blowers continue to have on the community.

“The daily noise from gas-powered leaf blowers that occur nine months out of the year seven days a week and up to 12 hours a day has eroded this wonderful lifestyle,” he said at the meeting.

Bonnie Sager, a Huntington resident, said that residents are not asking for a ban, but merely a restriction during June, July and August.

“There are no leaves in the summer and all gas leaf blowers do is create more emissions and unreasonable levels of noise,” she said at the meeting.

Sager said the town should make the switch to lithium battery blowers, which do not use gasoline, have batteries that can last several years, are recyclable and are much quieter.

She is part of Citizens Appeal for Leafblower Moderation, an organization that wants Heckscher State Park to be used as a model for a green zone, which is an area maintained with zero emission lawn-care equipment. CALM’s goal is to limit the use of commercial gas leaf blowers during the summertime and educate the public about the health hazards gas blowers have.

More than 700 residents have signed a petition asking the town’s board to limit the use of these blowers during the summer months, but this is not the first time this issue has come to the board.

In May 2014, Councilwoman Susan Berland (D) drafted legislation to limit the use of leaf blowers. However, there was not enough support from the board to pass the bill.

Supervisor Frank Petrone (D) said at the meeting last Tuesday that this idea was left open-ended in 2014 because he felt the board needed more information and added that the issue needed to be tackled gradually.

“One of the issues at the time was the fact that it must be, one, phased in or, two, there has to be an educational promotional program that will bring people to an understanding and, number three, there has to be an explanation of the various forms of technology,” he said. “Until then, it’s a project that’s very difficult to examine and implement without doing a full-fledged program.”

He said the town had success when they used an educational program for limiting grass clippings a few years back. The program included teaching residents about mowing fewer times a week and using a specific type of blade to reduce the impact of clippings. Petrone said it was highly successful.

“This is the direction we have to go with,” Petrone said. “We said we would be willing to examine a program and that offer still sits there from my point of view.”

He also said the program would have to focus on educating landscapers and giving them proper direction.

Berland said at the meeting that she is still “absolutely in favor of this,” and that her challenge is convincing the rest of the board to agree.

In a phone interview, she said she would be open to starting with just banning the blowers on Saturdays and Sundays and then working their way up to the entire summer.

Berland said she thinks enforcing this would not be too difficult, because if any resident sees a gas-powered leaf blower in use when it shouldn’t be, they need only take down the name of the landscaping truck or residence and report it to code enforcement.

Some of her fellow councilmembers disagree.

“I think it would be very difficult to enforce,” Councilman Mark Cuthbertson (D) said in a phone interview. “It could be a significant hardship on business. We would need to see if it’s even feasible for our workforce.”

Councilman Gene Cook (I) said he thinks banning the leaf blowers for the summer months would be too much of an abrupt change, but he is open to learning more about the alternatives and seeing if there is a possible way to enforce change.

“I think we would need a slower method to get people used to the idea,” he said in a phone interview.

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Suffolk County Legislator Steve Stern. File photo by Rohma Abbas

U.S. Rep. Steve Israel’s announcement that would he would not see another term in the 3rd District, which spans from the North Shore of Queens through parts of Smithtown, has sparked discussion across the region about who will succeed him. Suffolk County Legislator Steve Stern (D-Dix Hills) is the latest to throw his hat into the race for the seat.

Israel (D-Huntington) made the decision two weeks ago that he would not be seeking re-election in November, and legislators and lawmakers from across Long Island have been declaring their intention to fight for his seat. This week, Stern said he believes his record sets him apart from the rest as a candidate who listens to his neighbors.

“My record tells a story, it highlights issues that are important to me,” Stern said in a phone interview. “When my neighbors see what’s happening in Washington, they think their voices are not being heard. I know I will be the congressman that hears them.”

He said his record has consistently supported the local issues that are important to the residents of the 3rd District and many pieces of legislation he has drafted have become state and national models.

Stern said that with his family in mind, he created the Safe and Sustainable Procurement Act, which bans baby products made with BPA, a chemical found in plastics that can seep into the food or beverages inside the plastic containers and have harmful health effects.

“It was the first legislative initiative banning these type of products throughout the entire country,” he said. “I was proud that this local bill was used a model for other jurisdictions.”

This act was eventually adopted by the New York State Senate, the European Union and the Food and Drug Administration.

The Protect Our Fallen Heroes Act is another piece of legislation Stern created that expanded to the national level. The purpose of this act, he said, was to protect the sanctity of funerals, specifically military funerals, from protesters.

Stern said this is now the adopted policy of all national cemeteries. The federal version of the bill, Respect for America’s Fallen Heroes Act, was first enacted by Congress in 2012, two years after Stern’s original bill was drafted.

Recently, Stern worked with Israel to adopt Stern’s Housing Our Homeless Heroes Act into a federal bill to provide housing for homeless veterans.

Stern also said many of his initiatives were accomplished with bipartisan support on the county level.

“I have a proven leadership, working with colleagues from both parties,” he said. “The way that I have been able to do my job, it clearly shows I am a representative that is sorely needed in D.C.”

Israel has served in Congress for the last 15 years, and said that after this year he feels it is his time to step down and make room for a new perspective.

“While I will miss this place and the people I have had the privilege to serve, I am looking forward to spending more time home,” he said in a statement. “Simply put, it’s time to pass on the torch.”

Stern said Israel would be missed, but also said he is eager to continue his legacy, which includes continued support for veterans.

“I have had the great privilege of working with Congressman Steve Israel for the past 10 years,” Stern said in an email. “He has been an outstanding advocate for our community and especially for our men and women currently serving our great nation.”

Stern gave Israel kudos for his collaboration on the legislator’s Housing Our Homeless Heroes Act and said it was an honor to work alongside him.

Aside from Stern, Suffolk County Legislator William “Doc” Spencer (D-Centerport), Huntington Town Councilwoman Susan Berland (D) and state Assemblyman Chad Lupinacci (R-Huntington Station) are among the North Shore politicians who intend to campaign for the seat. From Nassau County, North Hempstead Town Board member Anna Kaplan threw her hat into the ring.

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Ethan Feuer, of East Northport, will serve as USY president for 12 months. Photo from Laurie Kamens

A Northport High School senior has proven to be a diverse and formidable leader.

Ethan Feuer was recently elected by his peers as international president of United Synagogue Youth. USY is Conservative Judaism’s premiere youth group and has taught young men and woman the values and skills they need to become exceptional leaders in their religious and secular communities.

“I want to spend this year inspiring others,” Feuer said in a statement. “Starting right now, we need to redefine USY as being about relationships. If you can change one person’s understanding of what they’re capable of, how much people care about them, or how powerful a source for change they can be, you change everything.”

The international presidency is the highest office a young man or woman can achieve at USY, and according to a statement, USY said Feuer is a leader in both his home community and at the organization, and he serves as a role model to his peers.

“Each of the newly elected leaders impressed us with their vision for the future of USY. We can’t wait to work with them as they empower new generations of teens and make their dreams a reality,” David Levy, director of Teen Learning for the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism said.

Feuer is a senior and honor roll student at Northport High School, where he has worked in peer tutoring and several other extracurricular activities.

As president, Feuer will spend this year leading thousands of teens from across North America and guiding them toward the organization’s principles of social action/justice, social acceptance and inclusion, and the nourishing of their Jewish identities.

“It is the most exciting, yet most humbling, experience I have ever encountered,” Feuer said in an email. “This opportunity means the world to me, since I have dreamed of leading United Synagogue Youth since the eighth grade. It is truly an honor to serve as a leader and role model to thousands of Jewish teens, and the newly elected board is already proactive and ready to be the change that USY needs.”

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Missing Persons Squad found the body of Stella Y. Lee, a 22-year-old woman from Great Neck, in a wooded area of Caumsett State Park in Lloyd Harbor on Jan. 9 at 2:30 p.m.

According to detectives, on Saturday, Lee’s 2012 Honda was located in the parking lot of Caumsett by a park employee. An intensive search of the area commenced. An officer of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation located the deceased’s body and the investigation has determined that no criminality was involved.

Lee was last seen on Thursday, Jan. 7, at 3:27 a.m. in Great Neck and was reported as a missing person.

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Congressman Steve Israel. File photo

After serving Long Island for more than 20 years, U.S. Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington) has said he will be stepping down in November to pursue other interests and give someone else a chance at leading the 3rd District, and his announcement last week has led to an even broader political conversation facing the greater North Shore of Long Island.

A North Shore native, Israel held his first leadership position as president of his high school class in Levittown. Years later, he was sworn in as a councilman on the Huntington Town Board in 1993, when he said he strived to bring stability to a then conflicted and divided government.

Israel said the lessons he learned at the town level never left him as he moved on to the national political stage.

“I focused on putting partisanship aside [in Huntington] and rebuilding the town’s finances,” he said. “With [Supervisor Frank] Petrone, together we brought to the town the highest bond rating on Long Island and ending political bickering.”

Petrone (D) echoed the sentiment. “We forged ahead because we supported each other,” Petrone said in an interview. Petrone came into office as a Republican but with Israel’s support he eventually switched parties.

“We both had a commitment to work together for the benefit of the residents,” he said.

Israel took that mind-set of minimizing political bickering all the way to Washington, D.C. There, Israel created the Congressional Center Aisle Caucus to promote civility, compromise and change the divisive partisan atmosphere in the nation’s capital. As chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, he said he told all candidates he worked with that “if they wanted any hope, they needed to think not as a Congress person, but as a local councilperson.”

He said serving in Huntington was all about problem solving, and there is currently a “huge thirst” for the same in the U.S. Congress.

“I never would have been in Congress without serving in Huntington.”

Israel said he was proud that after leaving Huntington, he was able to continue to build on town projects while serving in Washington and taking a Huntington problem and developing it into a national solution.

For example, in his work with the Housing Our Heroes Act, Israel collaborated with Suffolk County Legislator Steve Stern (D-Dix Hills) to use the legislator’s bill crafted to house homeless veterans and turn it into a national piece of legislation that provided housing for veterans.

“He was of great assistance to me on my landmark ‘Housing Our Homeless Heroes Act,’ and it was an honor to work with him on his innovative ‘Housing Our Heroes Act’ to end veterans homelessness,” Stern said in an email.

Before the Housing Our Heroes Act, Israel worked with U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley) to help put veterans back to work with the Hire More Heroes Act, signed by President Barack Obama (D) in 2014. The law created an incentive for small businesses to hire more veterans who have health care coverage provided by federal departments.

“When we’ve worked together, we found it enhances and multiplies our success,” Zeldin said in a phone interview.

Suffolk County Legislator William “Doc” Spencer (D-Centerport) said Israel and his staff were an invaluable resource to help pass legislation like the Sunlight Law, which was signed into law in April and ensures that veterans and their families will directly benefit from charitable donations and penalize any person who impersonates a decorated veteran.

“He has represented us well and has really supported his Long Island constituents,” Spencer said in a phone interview.

Looking ahead, Israel said his advice to his colleagues still in Congress is to spend little time in Washington as well.

“The trappings of power in Washington can trap you,” Israel said. “I pride myself on never spending a weekend in that place. Go to a diner, and at pizza places in your district. That is where you will learn the most.”

Huntington Councilwoman Susan Berland (D) volunteered for Israel’s congressional campaign in 2000 and said she became good friends with him through that time.

She later went on to win Israel’s seat in Huntington once he left for Washington.

“He taught me it was important not to loose sight of solving one problem at a time,” she said in a phone interview.

She also took over Israel’s role on the Keep Huntington Beautiful campaign that sponsors annual community clean-up programs and gives Huntington residents a chance to participate in keeping their town clean.

The departures of both Israel and Zeldin’s predecessor, former Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Bishop, have left room for fresher faces from Long Island to make their mark in Washington, but those who follow the race said it could lead to a shift in power for North Shore representatives.

Jeffery Segal, a political science professor at Stony Brook University, said Israel will be leaving a powerful position and could have even expanded his reach if he stayed.

“Congressman Israel has been the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee,” Segal said in an email. “That makes him extremely influential in terms of securing support for projects he favors. Nancy Pelosi, the minority leader, is 75 years old. Steny Hoyer, who as minority whip is second in leadership, is 76 years old. Congressman Israel is only 57 years old.  Israel possibly could have become one of the Democratic leaders and possibly even Speaker.”

Since Israel’s announcement last week, many lawmakers have come out to say they will consider running for the soon to be vacant seat. Berland, Spencer and Stern are among the many who have said they may throw their hat into the race.

Assemblyman Chad A. Lupinacci (R-Huntington Station) has already formed a campaign committee for his possible run.

“There are serious issues facing our country and I think that my elected experience at the state and local level will prove invaluable in helping to get the country headed in the right direction,” Lupinacci said in a statement.

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Above, Richard Boziwick smiles with his wife. Photo from Boziwick

One Northport man has helped bring the spark back into the village’s New Year’s Eve celebration.

Richard Boziwick, owner of R. P. Luce & Company Inc. on Scudder Avenue in Northport, helped Northport Harbor ring in the new year by organizing a fireworks show. He said the Centerport Yacht Club used to have an annual fireworks display that was suspended about seven years ago. He used to look forward to watching them from the Northport Yacht Club every year and wanted to bring that celebration back for everyone in Northport to experience.

“It was great to bring this back for the village,” Boziwick said in a phone interview. “It’s neat to have something on the off-season and I think it’s something we needed.”

Boziwick has lived in the village since 1983 and is known to be deeply active within the community. He first got involved with the community’s coveted annual Cow Harbor race in 1985 as a runner, became a volunteer soon after, and was eventually appointed director for the race. He has also spent years on the Northport Planning Board and now serves as chairman.

As director of the Cow Harbor race and chairman of the planning board, Boziwick said he has been able to develop relationships with countless people throughout the village.

“I am in positions that have high visibility within multiple municipalities, so I meet a lot of different people,” he said.

He has been a member of the Northport Yacht Club for the past 20 years and is the rear commodore there, so his reach expands to the nautical community. A rear commodore assists the commodore in his or her duties to maintain the yacht club.

Through these relationships, Boziwick was able to reach out and hear not only that other residents wanted the fireworks back, but that they were willing to contribute to the costs.

The event was almost entirely funded by Northport businesses and organizations. The three major contributors were Northport Yacht Club, Centerport Yacht Club and the Great Cow Harbor 10k. Other smaller community sponsors included Northport Copy, Tim’s Shipwreck Diner, the Northport Historical Society and Jones Drug Store.

Boziwick said this first year of fireworks was quite a success, with more than 500 people coming to view the fireworks in Northport while sipping on hot chocolate and eating cookies supplied by Tim’s Shipwreck Diner.

He said that plans have already been solidified for next year’s fireworks, which he hopes will expand the show in terms of the types of pyrotechnics.

“I just love fireworks and I think it’s unique to have them on New Year’s, since so many towns and villages usually have them on the Fourth of July,” he said. “It’s been great to bring this back to the village because, in the end, it’s got to be something for the village.”

He also said he feels this is a chance for the Cow Harbor race to give back to the community and say thanks for allowing them to use the village every year to host this race.

“This event is meant for the people of Northport and their friends,” he said.

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Congressman Steve Israel speaks on the dangers of hoverboards at the Commack Fire Department on Dec. 15. Photo by Victoria Espinoza.

U.S. Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington) said on Tuesday that he would not seek re-election in November so he could pursue other personal ventures, putting a period at the end of his 15-year reign as a congressman in New York. His announcement set the stage for what is likely to be a hotly contested race in the North Shore-based 3rd Congressional District, which hasn’t seen a new representative in almost two decades.“Nearly 16 years ago, I was honored to take the oath of office and stand on the House floor for the first time,” Israel said in a statement. “Now, I’ve decided to leave the House in 2017. I hope to continue to be involved in public service, but it is time for me to pursue new passions and develop new interests, mainly spend more time writing my second novel.”

Israel first won a seat in Congress in 2001, after serving as a Huntington Town Board councilmember from 1993 to 2000. He chose to fight for former U. S. Rep. Rick Lazio’s seat when Lazio ran for the U.S. Senate. Israel defeated Republican challenger Joan Johnson and has been re-elected six times since then.

He currently serves as chairman of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee and was previously chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Congressman Steve Israel has served in office for eight consecutive terms. File photo.
Congressman Steve Israel has served in office for eight consecutive terms. File photo.

“It has been an incredible and humbling opportunity to serve my community,” Israel said. “I am grateful to my family, friends, staff, and most of all – the people of New York. While I will miss this place and the people I have had the privilege to serve, I am looking forward to spending more time home and frequenting my beloved New York diners. Simply put, it’s time to pass on the torch.”

Recently, Israel announced the Housing our Heroes Act, which creates a three-year federal pilot program that provides grants to purchase and renovate zombie homes for veterans use. He said it was one his most coveted moments in office.

“While there are many things I am proud of during my time in office, I am proudest of the work we’ve done to help New York’s veterans and military families, securing $8.3 million in back pay,” he said.

Israel is a Long Island native, growing up in Levittown, and has continually lent a hand to multiple local events including village hall openings, safety precautions and local legislation.

 

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