Poquott residents headed to the voting booths June 20 with concerns over a future community dock and a lack of communication between residents and the village board.
With five candidates to choose from for two trustee seats, incumbent Jeff Koppelson and newcomer John Richardson garnered the most votes with 180 and 195 votes, respectively. Challenger Debbie Stevens, who ran with Richardson on the Peace Party ticket, received 178, while incumbent Harold Berry had 170 and Angie Parlatore came in fifth with 28 votes.
Results of the election were not finalized until early Wednesday afternoon. Village clerk Joseph Newfield said there were 306 voters and 84 absentee ballots. The counting of the ballots continued late into the night and 10 absentee ballots were challenged. The village met with the Suffolk Board of Elections Wednesday at noon and all ballots were verified and counted.
In a previous interview with The Village Times Herald, Koppelson said he was hoping to continue the work he accomplished in his first two years, citing the repairing and repaving of roads in the village, beach cleanup and working on plans for the dock. He said he was satisfied with the work he had accomplished with the mayor and his fellow trustees.
Jeff Koppelson
“We want to continue our progress,” Koppelson said. “We’ve made a lot of good progress along with the mayor. We have a mission with what we want to do with Poquott.”
Richardson, a New York City firefighter, said in a previous interview he felt there was a lack of transparency in the village, and he would like to be “a conduit for the village and the residents.”
He said his background as a firefighter would be an asset to the village.
“I work in a firehouse with 14 people,” he said. “I can definitely say I’m a team player, I have good communication skills. I will stand by what my platform is.”
Port Jefferson Village residents took to the polls June 20 with few options, as incumbent Mayor Margot Garant; incumbent trustees Larry LaPointe and Stanley Loucks; and judge John F. Reilly each ran without opposition. Garant received 427 votes, LaPointe 410, Loucks 394 and Reilly 371. No write-in candidate for any of the four seats received more than 10 votes according to Village Clerk Bob Juliano.
Garant will begin her fifth term in office while LaPointe embarks on his fourth and Loucks his second. Terms last for two years.
While this year’s Poquott Village election for two trustees may not be as contentious as years past, plenty of important community issues remain at the forefront for residents. Plans to build a community dock and communication between the board and villagers are at the top of the list.
During the June 20 election, residents will choose from five candidates to fill two available seats, including two incumbents — Harold Berry and Jeff Koppelson — and three newcomers — Angela Parlatore, Debbie Stevens and John Richardson.
John Richardson
The newcomers
Richardson, a New York City firefighter, and Stevens, owner of Smoothe Laser Center and Medi Spa in East Setauket, both said there is a lack of communication between the current village trustees and residents. The two are running under the Peace Party ticket and have signs around the village that read “Your Village, Your Decisions.”
“I think there has been a lack of transparency, and there has been a lack of public input,” Richardson said in a phone interview.
Stevens said when she attends village hall meetings, residents are given the opportunity to state their question or comment, but discussions rarely follow.
“In all the 26 years I’ve lived here, I have never felt such an air of such divisiveness,” Stevens said in a phone interview. “And I just want the opportunity to be the voice of the residents, and to bring back peace, and be on a board of trustees who will really listen to the residents’ concerns.”
Richardson, who has lived in Poquott for 16 years, said the village has felt polarized in recent years. He said residents haven’t been included in votes for plans that significantly affect their lives and homes. He said while meetings may be published in the paper, the trustees do not use their email system to notify residents as often as they should.
Debbie Stevens
To get approval to build a community dock, according to Richardson, residents were asked to fill out and return mailed surveys, rather than participate in a vote.
He said those that did not have a resident’s name on it were thrown out.
When it comes to the construction of a community dock, both feel there needs to be more input from residents.
“It doesn’t matter what I think, it matters what the Poquott residents think,” Stevens said.
Richardson said his background would be an asset to the village, and he wants to work with the mayor as “a conduit for the village and the residents.”
Stevens said her experiences as a business owner and her work with charities, which includes fundraising for Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, are assets because she has the listening and communication skills to bring everyone together.
“I would really love to restore the communication between the Poquott residents and the board of trustees and the mayor,” she said.
Parlatore, a full-time patient care specialist and a resident of Poquott for 18 years, said she is the most neutral of all the candidates, as she is not aligned with anyone. However, like Richardson and Stevens she said communication is suffering in the village. She said when it comes to the dock no one is sure what the majority of the residents want. She said the survey prevented many from expressing their true opinions because it wasn’t anonymous, like a vote would have been.
Parlatore said she feels fortunate to live in Poquott and would like for it to continue to be a wonderful village to live in.
“I feel that I’m good at communicating with people and trying to find common ground between a group of people who are trying to aim in one direction,” she said.
The incumbents
Berry, a 33-year resident of Poquott, and Koppelson, a 45-year resident, are running under the Continuity ticket, and said they should be reelected because they get things done in the village.
Seeking his second term, Koppelson said he hopes the two can continue their progress with the other trustees as well as Mayor Dee Parrish. Berry, the village’s deputy mayor who is currently completing his second term as trustee, said the two plan to work on the community dock, continue improving village roads and cleaning up Poquott beaches among other projects.
Harold Berry
Koppelson said the trustees have been making a number of improvements around the village while staying within the budget. According to the former psychiatric treatment program director, Poquott has had a budget surplus for the third year in a row.
When it comes to village roads, there have been many improvements as well as plans to resurface more roads in the near future, something Berry said was neglected before Parrish was mayor.
“For 12 years before Dee got in, roads and repairs were basically non-existent, they just weren’t done,” Berry said. “So the roads deteriorated greatly.”
Both candidates said they would be in favor of a community dock, which is still in the planning stages. The project would cost $150,000. Koppelson said while he understands some residents may not want their taxes to increase, he said the trustees can find other ways to pay for it. He said due to the surplus, village taxes will not increase significantly.
“The bottom line is we’ll be able to pay back the principle over the five years just out of the surplus we’re running and saving money by doing a lot of the work ourselves,” Koppelson said.
He also said community members organized an event and donated $16,000 towards paying for the dock, which will pay for the interest cost of the bond for the first two years.
Jeff Koppelson
Berry said the dock willallow boaters and fisherman to easily pull up to it to load and unload their boats, unlike now when they must use a dinghy or kayak to get to their boat.
“The boaters and the fisherman are getting older,” Berry said. “It’s just a matter of ease of getting to your boat and safety.”
Koppelson said there are additional benefits to constructing a dock.
“It will be well used but also it will definitely increase real estate prices,” Koppelson said. “I really do think people will benefit from it in the long run.”
The two pushed back on the challengers’ claims village hall doesn’t properly communicate issues and upcoming votes to residents. In addition to sending out emails, Koppelson said the meetings are open and any hearings on a proposed law are published in The Village Times Herald for two consecutive weeks. Videos of the meetings are also posted on the village’s website the following day and minutes are voted on at the next meeting.
The Village of Poquott elections will be held at Poquott’s Village Hall, 45 Birchwood Avenue, June 20 from noon to 9 p.m.
From left, Councilwoman Valerie Cartright (D-Port Jefferson Station), Councilman Kevin LaValle (R-Selden), Councilwoman Jane Bonner (C-Rocky Point), Supervisor Ed Romaine (R), Town Clerk Donna Lent (R), New York State DEC Supervising Forester John D. Wernet, Councilman Dan Panico (R-Manorville), Councilman Michael Loguercio (R-Ridge) and Councilman Neil Foley (R-Blue Point) . Photo from Town of Brookhaven
At the May 11 Town of Brookhaven board meeting, Supervisor Ed Romaine (R) and the town board were presented with a flag from the Arbor Day Foundation that designates Brookhaven as a Tree City USA. This is the second consecutive year that the town has received that award as a result of the supervisor’s Greening Brookhaven initiative to plant 10,000 trees by 2020, a goal that has already been accomplished, according to Romaine.
The Tree City USA program was established in 1976 as a nationwide movement that provides the framework necessary for communities to manage and expand their public trees. Tree City USA status is achieved by meeting four core standards of sound urban forestry management: maintaining a tree board or department, having a community tree ordinance, spending at least $2 per capita on urban forestry and celebrating Arbor Day.
Councilwoman Lynne Nowick smiles. Photo from Lynne Nowick
Smithtown Councilwoman Lynne Nowick (R) has been serving the public for more than 20 years, and she has no intention of slowing down.
The incumbent is looking for another term on the town board this fall, and said she wants to build on the successes of her two-decade long tenure.
“My heart is in it,” Nowick, a life-long St. James resident said in a phone interview. “I feel I am the best candidate because I have been working on this town for 22 years, and I will continue to work for this town.”
At the Smithtown Republican convention last month however, things did not go according to plan for the GOP town board incumbents, as chairman Bill Ellis led the way for three new challengers to get support from the party over Supervisor Pat Vecchio, Nowick and Councilman Tom McCarthy.
At the meeting Nowick said losing the nomination from the party would not deter her and she would “see them at the primary this September.” She said she preferred not to comment on the party division during the interview, saying she wanted to focus on her job.
She said her experience working in government for many years is a strong asset for her.
“I have a good rapport and relationships with county officials, as I worked with them for 17 years, and I feel that’s important to be able to work with them,” she said, referring to the years she served as a Suffolk County legislator for the 13th district.
During her tenure as a county official, Nowick said she was able to preserve properties and open space in Smithtown, including areas in Head of the Harbor, St. James and near the Nissequogue River. She said she was also able to secure funding for a sewer study project in Smithtown, and was instrumental in creating the first family concert series in Suffolk County, which was held in Smithtown.
“That was a shot in the arm for the community,” Nowick said. “It helped the town flourish by bringing families to the downtown area. That is downtown revitalization at its finest.”
Nowick added she was proud of the work she did focusing on keeping young kids safe and healthy.
She banned the sale of cough suppressants to young people, as well as the sale and possession of salvia, a psychoactive plant. She also worked to get a safety label put on energy drinks to warn consumers about the health risks, and created a drug take-back program in Smithtown.
“I was always trying to take care of the young people,” she said. “I believe parents aren’t always aware of the dangers.”
In terms of the success she’s had while serving as a town board member, the councilwoman said she’s proud of the town’s financial stability.
“We can brag about the fact that we have the gold standard on bond ratings with a AAA,” she said. “We’ve managed to maintain almost the lowest amount of debt per capita in Suffolk County, and our fund balances are strong and stable.”
She also highlighted the fact that Smithtown residents experienced a tax decrease this year, and there is expected to be no tax increase in 2018.
For the future, Nowick wants to continue to build on the sewer projects for the town, as well as improve infrastructure like the sidewalk project on Lake Avenue in St. James.
Vecchio praised Nowick’s efforts serving the town.
“She has been a diligent and dedicated councilwoman who has complete knowledge of all the issues that confront the town and she is an influential voice in meeting the issues,” he said in an email.
A Huntington resident signs the steel beam. Photo by Kevin Redding.
By Kevin Redding
When it comes to revitalization, Huntington Station is building a future as solid as steel.
Supervisor Frank Petrone (D) could barely contain his excitement June 8 as he, along with town board members and developers, kicked off Huntington Station’s long-planned revitalization phase with the signing of a steel beam to be installed over the entrance of a new, mixed-use building currently under construction at the intersection of Northridge Street and New York Avenue, a site on which the town has been trying to develop a property for decades.
“Finally, this is happening,” Petrone said to cheers and applause from at least 50 residents and local leaders standing in front of the construction site. “All of you who are here have been inspirational in his whole process and we know it’s taken a long time, but it’s happened…and thank goodness it’s happened.”
The mixed-use building, under construction since January and expected to be completed in October, will be made up of 6500 square feet of retail space on the first floor, with May’s Gourmet Delicatessen signed up as the first and only commercial tenant so far, and a total of 16 one-bedroom apartments, eight on the second floor and eight on the third, for a total cost of $5.5 million. According to the town, it’s projected to “generate $55,007 in tax revenue the first year, rising to $132,016 (at present rates) in 15 years.”
Huntington officials and community members smile. Photo by Kevin Redding.
This will serve as the first concrete project in Huntington Station’s next phase of youth-friendly revitalization and was developed in partnership with Renaissance Downtowns, a nationally-renowned development group chosen by the town to be a master developer in 2011. Blue & Gold Holdings, a Huntington-based contracting business, is in charge of construction.
“We’re going to attract millennials to this facility, and that speaks highly because the station is a hub, the station is a nucleus of people that commute, especially, and that’s who we are looking to attract,” Petrone said. “There was considerable money put into this, and commitment, because that’s the commitment necessary to start the engine of economic development. The collective work with the communities, with Renaissance Downtowns and with the town has paid off.”
Town Councilman Mark Cuthbertson (D) and Councilwoman Susan Berland (D), both integral players in the town’s revitalization efforts, were equally excited about the progress being made on the site.
“Today is a great day for Huntington Station,” Cuthbertson said. “Anytime we can see brick, mortar and steel [in Huntington Station] with housing going up is a good sign. We have beautiful mixed-use buildings like this going up in Huntington Village that really, really add to the downtown area…but when we can have a building like this, when the economics are right, when government and the private sector come together and are able to do this in Huntington Station, we’re certainly on the right track.”
Berland assured the crowd that although it’s been long in the making, the project will be worth the wait.
“The businesses that are going to happen here and the people who are going to be able to move in to the heart of the station and live here and prosper here and shop here —it’s going to be fantastic,” Berland said. “It’s a beautiful design and it’s going to be a beautiful project when it’s done and we wish everybody who’s going to move in here lots and lots of happiness and years of shopping in Huntington and spending your money. They say the best things in life are worth waiting for and, well, this is absolutely worth waiting for.”
Don Monti, chairman of Renaissance Downtowns, referring to Petrone, said, “Huntington Station is something he’s wanted to see developed for many years and I’m happy and proud that prior to the supervisor departing that the dream has come true…and this is just a beginning… the first of many to come.”
“We’re going to attract millennials to this facility, and that speaks highly because the station is a hub, the station is a nucleus of people that commute, especially, and that’s who we are looking to attract.”
— Frank Petrone
Future projects proposed by Renaissance Downtowns, currently in the approval process, include a mixed-use building at the intersection of New York Avenue and Olive Street that will include 66 apartments and ground-level retail, a hotel and office building at New York Avenue and Railroad Street, and artists’ studios in what is currently a municipal parking lot at New York Avenue and Church Street.
Dolores Thompson, a community activist for more than 70 years and the mother of Town Councilwoman Tracey Edwards (D), said she’s been trying to bring back Huntington Station since it was “taken away in the 1950s.”
“This is one of the things that I wanted to see before I leave this world and to be here today and be able to witness the fact that we actually have started is like a blessing…I’m so pleased to be here,” Thompson said. In terms of what she hopes will come to Huntington Station, she laughed, “We need a hair salon, then a shoe store, we want a gathering place and a community room…we want everything, okay?”
Robert Rockelein, a member of the civic group Huntington Matters, called this “progress in the right direction.”
“The revitalization has been backsliding for decades, it’s long overdue and it’s going to help populate and reflourish the downtown area,” Rockelein said. “I’d like to see more neighborhood-established businesses rather than regional chains obviously, and give people that live and work here an opportunity to establish something here and build their American dream.”
Local leaders, developers and residents each took turns signing their names on the last piece of steel to be installed on the mixed-use building, which will be placed at the entrance.
Brookhaven Town Highway Superintendent Dan Losquadro and Councilwoman Jane Bonner inspect the Sound Beach shoreline stabilization project. Photo from Town of Brookhaven
Sound Beach’s shoreline is now stabilized.
In October 2012, Hurricane Sandy changed the typography of much of the North Shore’s beaches and dunes. In Sound Beach, the bluff at Shore Road and Amagansett Drive became severely eroded. With roads and homes at risk, the Town of Brookhaven Highway Department began a four-year, multiphase $1.3 million project in May 2013 to steady it.
“The hardening of our infrastructure leaves us less vulnerable to damage from future storms,” Highway Superintendent Dan Losquadro (R) said. “In the long run, the results of this project will save taxpayer dollars due to fewer erosion costs in the area.”
To stabilize the bluff, almost 2,000 cubic yards of clean fill was added and an outfall pipe replaced, which broke during Hurricane Sandy. The work was approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and $233,651 in federal assistance was received to help with the cost of the project.
The work on the bluff and the repair of the pipe were never meant to complete the project, but, according to Losquadro, was just a first phase.
“In the long run, the results of this project will save taxpayer dollars due to fewer erosion costs in the area.”
— Dan Losquadro
“It was just a temporary ‘Band-Aid’ so the bluff wouldn’t erode any further and jeopardize the structural integrity of the drainage pipe,” he said. “Our ultimate goal was to eliminate the outfall over the bluff completely, abandon the drainage pipe and direct all of the water from this stream into a newly constructed recharge basin to the east of Amagansett Drive.”
He said the project offered the town the rare ability to eliminate an outfall pipe, preventing stormwater runoff from flooding the beach and entering the Long Island Sound, while also taking erosion pressure off the face of the bluff.
Once construction of the recharge basin near the intersection of Amagansett Drive and Shore Drive was completed in 2015, the final phase of the project began, which included the abandonment of the pipe and permanent stabilization of the bluff through the installation of a three- to four-ton armoring stone revetment wall, erosion control matting, wood terracing and native plantings. The project also included the installation of a new staircase from Shore Drive.
“As a town, we need to make sure there is reliable access that will be there season after season for our fire department and police in the event of an emergency,” Losquadro said.
This phase was completed with in-house resources and came in under budget.
Although the temporary stabilization of the bluff received funding from FEMA, the storm hardening and total bluff restoration was paid for through town capital funds. The total cost for Phase II — construction of the recharge basin — was $633,333 and for Phase III — storm hardening and bluff restoration — was $450,000.
“Completion of this project on time and under budget after being stalled by [Hurricane] Sandy is a welcome event to the residents of Sound Beach,” Brookhaven Town Councilwoman Jane Bonner (C-Rocky Point) said. “The bluffs along the North Shore are especially vulnerable to erosion, but the more we can do to stabilize our shoreline, the safer it will be.”
Town board decides not to renew contract with current owner due to violating tax laws
The Grateful Paw Cat Shelter is located on Deposit Road in East Northport. File photo by Victoria Espinoza
By Victoria Espinoza
Huntington residents rallied behind the Grateful Paw Cat Shelter, of East Northport, this week after the Huntington Town Board announced it was evicting the shelter for failing to notify the board it had lost its 501(c)(3) not-for-profit in 2015.
Town Attorney Cindy Mangano addressed the public before the speakers began at the board meeting Tuesday, June 13, summarizing how the shelter, run by the League for Animal Protection and served exclusively by volunteers had taken this turn. She said the shelter was notified April 20 by the town to evacuate their Deposit Road establishment within 90 days due to losing their nonprofit status and violating federal and state law.
“In April, everybody here knows it’s time to file your tax returns or seek an extension,” Mangano said. “Charitable not-for-profit organizations must do the same thing. Earlier this year my office sat with Debbie Larkin, the president of LAP, and we were in the process of drafting a new agreement when we learned that a resident had incurred a penalty from the IRS for claiming a tax deduction for a donation to LAP.”
“I’m a cat lover, but five years without a filing, and it was known and the town was not told. I personally don’t have confidence in the league anymore to go forward when they knew the situation existed.”
— Frank Petrone
Mangano said the shelter had actually lost its not-for-profit status in 2015, but never advised the town, which was a breach in their original contractual agreement with the town. According to the town attorney, the LAP lost its charitable status because they did not file paperwork in time with the IRS and the New York State Attorney General’s Charities Bureau office.
“When this came to my attention I scheduled a meeting with Ms. Larkin,” Mangano said. “She told us she knew but she failed to advise us of this fact. So I cannot in counsel to this board advise the board to enter into a new agreement with an organization that as we speak has violated its agreement with the town and is in violation of federal and state laws.”
Residents flocked to the podium to defend the shelter and its contribution to the Huntington community.
“I’m here today to appeal to the town’s decision,” Sharlene Turner, who has adopted many cats from the shelter, said. “Please give the league a renewed opportunity to prove itself.”
Turner suggested setting up strict guidelines and rules moving forward. She commended the dedication of the volunteer staff for providing a safe and warm environment for the animals.
“All volunteers know each cat by name,” she said. “They know their personalities and the relationship a cat has with every other friend in the shelter.
Donna Fitzhugh has been a volunteer at the shelter since 1989.
“I have volunteered over 3,000 hours,” she said. “As you can tell I love working with LAP and volunteering my time and energy to this very worthy organization that has been serving this community for over 43 years. Yes we screwed up, something happened, and we want to rectify this — we do not want to leave. We want to stay and serve the residents of the Town of Huntington.”
Haley Shore, an 11-year-old who donned cat ears at the meeting, said she’s been volunteering at the shelter for about seven years.
“When I heard the news Huntington was going to possibly close the shelter, I was devastated,” she said. “The shelter has become my second home. But this is not about me, it’s about the shelter and all the innocent cats. What are they supposed to do without all of their dedicated and loyal volunteers? For some of these cats this has been the only home they’ve ever known. The cats can’t talk, so we have to be their voices.”
Haley also brought a petition signed by many friends and neighbors.
Several of the volunteers asked the board what would happen to the cats if the shelter closed its doors. According to the town, two other shelters have offered to take over including The Little Shelter in Elwood. However volunteers argued they don’t offer the same amount of health services for animals as the Grateful Paw staff does.
“Yes we screwed up, something happened, and we want to rectify this — we do not want to leave.”
—Donna Fitzhugh
Supervisor Frank Petrone (D) assured the audience that all of the cats living at the shelter now would continue to be cared for, and the shelter would continue with its no-kill policy. However despite the pleas of many residents, he said he had great concerns moving forward with LAP.
“Animals will not be harmed,” Petrone said at the meeting. “I’m a cat lover, but five years without a filing, and it was known and the town was not told. I personally don’t have confidence in the league anymore to go forward when they knew the situation existed.”
Petrone said it’s not as easy as the shelter just refiling for not-for-profit status.
“These laws were broken,” he said. “So you’re telling us just go forward and let’s make it nice. Well it’s not that simple.”
No further decision was reached by the board at the meeting.
Good Samaritans and SCPD Marine Bureau divers help a driver submerged in
Port Jefferson Harbor April 6. Photo by Andrew Tetreault/Fully Involved Media Group
Following an April incident in which a man drove into Port Jefferson Harbor via the Town of Brookhaven boat ramp located at the north end of Barnum Avenue, Port Jefferson Village is calling for action.
Village Mayor Margot Garant announced during a board meeting June 5 the village has sent a letter to the New York State Department of Transportation and State Sen. Ken LaValle (R-Port Jefferson) asking for the traffic signal at the intersection of Barnum Avenue and West Broadway to be changed from having a standard green light to a green left arrow and right arrow. The April 6 incident saw a man in his early 60s drive into Port Jefferson Harbor via the ramp at about 5:30 p.m., according to the Suffolk County Police Department. The car was found submerged underwater and a few good Samaritans helped remove the man from the car. Members from the Suffolk County Marine Bureau dive team went in the water to search for possible additional victims. The driver was treated for serious injuries at Stony Brook Hospital and his current condition is still not known, according to Garant.
“People sometimes are losing their way on a misty morning or a foggy morning or a rainy morning or on a sunny morning,” Garant said during the meeting.
In the aftermath of the incident in April Garant called on the Town of Brookhaven to step up and do something to resolve the recurring issue, as the ramp is town property.
“It’s only a matter of time before this happens again,” she said.
A spokesperson for the town that asked not to be named responded to Garant’s calls for action at the time.
“The Port Jefferson boat ramp has existed at its current location for generations,” the spokesperson said. “A number of measures are in place including a multitude of ‘Do Not Enter’ signs, road arrows and other traffic control measures to clearly indicate that this is not an entrance.”
This is not the first time the positioning of the town ramp beyond the village intersection has been the source of controversy.
According to documents obtained from Brookhaven in May, both the town and village were sued by the wife and executrix of the estate of Richard Levin in 2007. Levin died Dec. 5, 2005, after driving into the water via the ramp at about 6 p.m. Alice Cialella, an eyewitness of the incident who was directly behind Levin in traffic, said Levin had his left blinker on, hesitated momentarily, then accelerated through the intersection and plunged into the harbor via the ramp.
“As a result of the negligence of the defendants in failing to properly maintain the intersection of Route 25A and Barnum Ave., in failing to properly safeguard against motorists driving onto said Port Jefferson ramp into the water, in failing to properly illuminate said area, in failing to provide fencing and warning lights — as a result of the aforementioned Richard Levin died,” the lawsuit read in part. “[The] town failed to submit any evidence that it maintained its property in a reasonably safe condition by providing adequate fencing, lighting or warning of the dangerous condition on its property.”
Judge Joseph Farneti of the New York State Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit in January 2011 because the “acts or omissions of defendants were not the proximate cause of the alleged accident.”
Christopher Kelsch, a former village resident who was given a Carnegie Medal by the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission for trying to save Levin, said in an April phone interview he’d like to see action to prevent similar future accidents.
“People are dying here and it’s a simple fix,” he said. Kelsch also testified on behalf of Levin’s case in the 2011 lawsuit.
James Canale, left, has the support of U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin in his bid for town council. Photo from James Canale
Being a 25-year-old first-time candidate for public office might seem like a disadvantage to most, but don’t try to tell that to James Canale (R-Port Jefferson Station). Canale, a Port Jefferson Station resident for about 20 years, will run against incumbent Valerie Cartright (D-Port Jefferson Station) for a spot on the Town of Brookhaven board representing the 1st Council District in November. Cartright was first elected to the position in 2013 and is concluding her first term in office.
Canale said in a phone interview he sees his age and inexperience in politics as an asset for his campaign.
“Because I didn’t go to school for political science or political policy, I come in with a clean slate and no bias,” he said. “I am not entrenched in any party politics. I don’t owe anyone any favors. I’m just a regular guy and I want to make sure I never forget my roots. I see too many of my friends moving off Long Island because they can’t find opportunities here.”
Canale identified repeatedly with being a millennial and said a major focus of his campaign will be trying to find ways to create opportunities for young people to find employment and affordable places to live in Brookhaven. Also part of this new politician’s platform are the environment and animal rights issues.
Canale, who currently works part time in the town’s Department of General Services, echoed many of the policies regarding the environment from the town’s top Republican — Supervisor Ed Romaine (R).
“I don’t have kids but when I do I want to make sure that they’re able to have a high quality of life on Long Island,” Canale said. Sustainability, renewable sources of clean energy, investing in electric vehicles for the town fleet, the preservation of parklands and open spaces and clean air and water were among the environmental issues the candidate said he found most essential to the health and future of Brookhaven and Long Island as a whole.
Canale received the nomination to run on the Republican ticket from the Brookhaven Town Republican Committee earlier in June, though Chairman Jesse Garcia did not respond to requests for comment. Other than Romaine, another local Republican the young candidate views as a role model is 1st Congressional District U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley), and the congressman has taken notice.
“I endorse James Canale for Brookhaven Town’s 1st Council District,” Zeldin said through spokeswoman Jennifer DiSiena in an email. “James is an exceptional bipartisan candidate who is more than capable of taking on this role. James has demonstrated his commitment to fiscal responsibility, environmental protection, and making Brookhaven a better place to live and work. James will excel as a Councilman, and I am proud to lend him my support.”
Though Canale said he doesn’t necessarily fall in line with Zeldin on every issue, he said he’s extremely proud to have his support and lauded the work he has done for veterans and his bipartisan approach to policy. He referred to himself as a progressive Republican. He said he is “very pro-LGBT,” believes in the public education system — which the Comsewogue school district graduate said he’s proud to be a product of — and said supporting small businesses should be a priority for all Brookhaven shoppers.
Canale spoke respectfully of his November opponent, who did not return a request for comment.
“I do think my opponent has done a commendable job in the town,” he said of Cartright. “She’s a very good person and I have the utmost respect for her.”
Canale addressed the idea that he has stepped into a heated political climate, which could present challenges in his first foray into the arena.
“I’m a very honest guy with integrity, I always want to do the right thing,” he said. “I don’t have blinders on. I want to listen to everybody.”
Disclaimer: James Canale previously worked as a freelance photographer at Times Beacon Record Newspapers and directed “The Culper Spy Adventure,” a TBR News Media production.
Parlatore, a full-time patient care specialist and a resident of Poquott for 18 years, said she is the most neutral of all the candidates, as she is not aligned with anyone. However, like Richardson and Stevens she said communication is suffering in the village. She said when it comes to the dock no one is sure what the majority of the residents want. She said the survey prevented many from expressing their true opinions because it wasn’t anonymous, like a vote would have been.
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