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Coram resident Logan Mazer, above, presented a map of least change, a proposal he said would preserve communities of interest on the Brookhaven Town Council.

From gavel to gavel, it looked like any other public meeting of the Brookhaven Redistricting Committee. 

But this was no meeting at all, at least not officially. Without a stenographer, an advising counsel or quorum, the three members present were left alone in a hot and humid room to hear public comments on redistricting.

George Hoffman (left), Rabia Aziz (middle) and Gail Lynch-Bailey (right) during an unofficial public meeting of the Brookhaven Redistricting Committee. 

On Friday, Aug. 5, five of the eight members of the Brookhaven Redistricting Committee failed to make an appearance at a public meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Setauket Neighborhood House, standing up the three Democratic appointees to the committee and dozens of Brookhaven residents. For a committee that is, by design, supposed to be nonpartisan and independent, this marks yet another setback in a redistricting process which has become an all-out circus.

Meeting cancellation

George Hoffman, a Setauket resident and member of the redistricting committee, explained the last-minute cancellation of Friday’s meeting. He said originally the committee suspected it would have enough members to hold the meeting. 

In the final hours leading up to the meeting, Hoffman said the quorum quickly dissolved as more committee members announced they could not attend. By mid-afternoon, the committee’s counsel, Vincent Messina, informed the remaining members that the meeting was canceled.

“This afternoon at 2 or 3 o’clock, we were told that Vinny Messina canceled the meeting without even discussing it with the chairpeople,” Hoffman said. “They decided to cancel this meeting without any concern for the people that were already coming. They only pulled it from their website at 4:30.”

Hoffman, who has clashed publicly with the committee’s counsel, has criticized the way in which the redistricting process has unfolded. Despite a looming Sept. 15 deadline, Hoffman said the committee members have had little to no input throughout this process.

“The committee has been completely divorced from the mapmaking process,” he said. “Other than just sitting here at the public meetings that we’ve had, we’ve never met with the mapmaker, we’ve never explained what we would like to see in the maps.” Referring to the two maps that have circulated on the committee’s website, he added, “Those maps came out of nowhere. We never accepted them as a committee, even for discussion purposes. They’re just a fiction.”

Between the mysteriously created maps and the cancellation of public meetings, Hoffman has expressed growing frustration with the outside counsel. “We’ve tried to pull together this commission, but they keep insisting that those maps that they created somehow have validity, which we say they don’t.”

Messina could not be reached for comment.

‘The most egregious and unnecessary thing that I see in these proposed maps is dividing Port Jefferson Station.’

—Steve Englebright

Public comments

New York State Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) reflected on the days when there were at-large elections for the Brookhaven Town Council. With at-large elections, the residents did not feel connected to their representatives. 

The change to councilmanic elections did not change the balance of power in Brookhaven, according to Englebright, but it strengthened the connection between representatives and constituents.

“It was not something that favored the Democratic Party — what it favored was the democratic principle,” Englebright said. “It favored direct representation, it made Brookhaven grow up, if you will, within the context of the promise and premise of a direct representation form of government.”

New York State Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket), above, condemned draft maps that propose the splitting of Port Jefferson Station and Terryville into separate council districts. 

Englebright addressed the precarious future of Port Jefferson Station/Terryville, which is split  under the two draft proposals on the committee’s website. He supported keeping that community of interest unified under one council district.

“Port Jefferson Station, under the mysterious map, would be divided — the library would be in one part, the high school would be in somebody else’s district,” the assemblyman said. “We worked hard for communities to have … direct representation, so the most egregious and unnecessary thing that I see in these proposed maps is dividing Port Jefferson Station.”

Logan Mazer, a resident of Coram, responded to the two map proposals on the committee’s website. “When I saw the two maps that were put out, I was disgusted and horrified that they would attempt to make such a dramatic change from the current maps that we have now,” he said. 

Mazer proposed a map of his own. “Today, we have a viable option with my map, the map of least change,” he said. “While I will be the first to admit that the map has its flaws and is not perfect, I wholeheartedly believe that it is the best option to create fair and equitable [districts] for all of Brookhaven Town.”

Ira Castell, a member of the Port Jefferson Station/Terryville Civic Association, supported Mazer’s proposal, arguing that it best comports with the town code and keeps communities of interest together.

“That meets the letter of the law and the intent of the law,” he said. “It keeps the capacity for this community of interest — ours here in the 1st District — to stay together.” He added, “It’s not the ‘Port Jeff Station/Half of Terryville Civic Association.’ We are all united.”

Castell defined the term “community of interest.” A community of interest, he said, “is for people who have a common policy concern and would benefit from being maintained in a single district. Another way of understanding a community of interest is that it is simply a way for a community to tell its own story.”

Under this definition, PJS/Terryville constitutes a community of interest, according to Castell. For this reason alone, it should be unified within the town council, he indicated.

Port Jefferson Village trustee Rebecca Kassay, above, stood in solidarity with her neighbors in PJS/Terryville. 

Port Jefferson Village trustee Rebecca Kassay also made an appearance at this unofficial meeting. Speaking as a private citizen, she stood in solidarity with her neighbors in Port Jefferson Station/Terryville. 

“I have had tremendous success … working alongside the civic association, the chamber of commerce and these other groups in Port Jefferson Station/Terryville, who have made phenomenal progress,” Kassay said. “As their neighbor, I know that our success in revitalizing the uptown of Port Jefferson village hinges on the success of Port Jefferson Station/Terryville.” She added, “I do not want to see that community split up because there is so much strength there.”

Following adjournment, members of the public agreed to bring their grievances to Brookhaven Town Hall during a meeting of the Town Board on Thursday, Aug. 11, at 5 p.m.

—Photos by Raymond Janis

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File photo
By Bruce Miller

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is receiving $10 billion for infrastructure improvements from the federal government, and we along the Port Jefferson line need a small part of this money for better services.

Bruce Miller, above. File photo from the Port Jefferson village website

As a former Port Jeff Village trustee, I spoke with the former Long Island Rail Road president, Phil Eng, and the LIRR executive planning and technical staff about this issue. They presented plans of their own: double tracking, bridge expansion and reconstruction, electrification and the possibility of battery-powered trains.

My sense of all of this: The LIRR plans are so grandiose and unrealistic that there were no plans at all, just a convenient excuse to do nothing. Rather than bells and whistles, we need a simple upgrade to some form of electric service.

Commuters all along the North Shore are taking the Ronkonkoma line. Some residents even drive to Huntington or Hicksville for decent transit.

Due to inadequate services, our local commuters sit in 10 to 20 miles of unnecessary traffic to get to an electric rail. The pollution generated along the Port Jeff line from diesel requires us to either transfer — often in inclement weather — or “commute to the commute.” This is unacceptable and very ungreen.

LIRR’s logic is to deprive the North Shore of commuters and then argue against electrification due to insufficient ridership. Because of this, we are among the farthest commuters away from New York City, paying among the highest fares, with the shabbiest service.

For decades, LIRR has demonstrated a profound disregard for our local communities. Most travelers islandwide have had electrical service for a generation … or three! The fact that we haven’t joined them should say a lot about LIRR’s priorities and its feelings for its North Shore travelers.

New York State Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) and Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn (D-Setauket) have advocated for moving the Port Jefferson train station west to the 120-acre Lawrence Aviation property.

The Village of Port Jefferson needs to engage with Englebright and Hahn to negotiate an adequate tract of land with the LIRR west of Routes 25A and 112. The advantage of this is great.

It would eliminate the Main Street grade crossing and its resultant traffic. It would free up rail yards east of the existing station for a swap of land and subsequent incorporation into Port Jefferson Village. In addition, the freeing up of the existing station property could be used for parkland and recreation.

This is urgent. Decisions on that $10 billion windfall are being made now. The opportunity to electrify the line will not come for another generation. 

Bruce Miller served as Port Jefferson Village trustee from 2014-2022.

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Photo from Brookhaven Town website

Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine (R) has encountered several hurdles throughout his tenure. In Part II of this two-part series, he forecasts the upcoming redistricting process for the town council, highlights the challenges of offering adequate public transportation to Brookhaven residents and shares the lessons learned from his decades in public office.   

What are your expectations for the upcoming redistricting of the Brookhaven Town Council?

I don’t expect many changes whatsoever. I don’t expect it to be controversial. There will be some people who are partisan who will want to make it controversial, but it will not be partisan.

I expect it will be done fairly. I do not expect many changes at all. I do expect that the minority-majority district stays together, and that’s the district that includes North Bellport and Gordon Heights, which are the two major minority areas in our town, as well as Coram.

So I don’t expect many changes at all. The only changes that would have to be made are for the shift in population that the [2020] Census would project.

Now I don’t have anything to do with redistricting. We have a Redistricting Committee and we are waiting for the Redistricting Committee to come and offer choices, which will be discussed by everyone on the Town Board.

But the council will be voting on the maps, correct?

At some point, but I’m not going to vote for any major changes. I expect there to be only minor changes as reflected by a shift in population. And I do expect to keep the 4th [Council] District together, which includes Gordon Heights and North Bellport, so that those major minority communities continue to have the opportunity for representation.

In draft maps circulated by the Redistricting Committee, there is a proposal to split the Port Jefferson Station/Terryville community, along with Mount Sinai, between two council districts. Would you vote under any scenario to separate those communities of interest?

There might be a scenario in which I would take a look at that. You’re asking a simple question to a complicated answer. There are other factors that you have to take into account, such as keeping a minority district intact. The second district, which is represented by Jane Bonner [R-Rocky Point], has to grow. Where does that grow? How does that affect things?

If we don’t do that, how does that affect the other districts? Because it’s like a Rubik’s Cube: You have to turn all the sides to get it perfect. I want to hear their explanation and I certainly want to listen to why they thought that was the better choice. I want to listen to that, and I’m not about to rush to judgment on anything without hearing a full explanation, and I’m sure those issues will be raised at our public hearing.

What are your thoughts on the state of public transit in your township?

I am a huge supporter of public transportation because there are a lot of people that depend on it. The bus system in this county is so broken. We don’t get even half of the subsidy that Nassau County gets. It’s just incredible, the lack of coordination between buses and trains, which is so needed because not everyone owns a car or wants to use a car.

Do you believe that the Long Island Rail Road is doing enough to expand services into Brookhaven?

I live in the largest town [by area] and the second most populous town in the State of New York, and yet it is served by 19th-century technology: diesel, which is a polluting, dirty fuel.

I have been beating and beating on this issue since the day I came here. We should have had electrification of all of our lines much earlier than this and we’re still arguing over it. Every year we argue that, the price goes up. So we’re stuck with diesel, which is a polluting fuel.

Other than a mile on the main line in Ronkonkoma, all of my three lines — the southern, the main line and the northern line — are all diesel. Electric ends at Huntington, and from Huntington to Port Jeff it’s all diesel. Electric ends at Ronkonkoma and everything east is diesel. Electric ends on the Montauk line at Babylon, and everything east is diesel.

The investment has been skewed away from this Island. Our voice has not been raised, there hasn’t been an investment in providing modern technology. And I’m talking about 20th-century technology, which is electric; 21st-century technology is maglev [a train technology supported by magnetic repulsion] … Forget it, they’re not even talking about the future.

Most 20th-century technology has bypassed my town because the [Metropolitan Transportation Authority] has not made any investment. All the money seems to be funneled into the City of New York. We have a million-and-a-half people out here in Suffolk County, and that’s wrong.

It’s so frustrating. I am passionate about these issues and I am in public office to do something, not to sit here and collect a salary but to do something and to make a change for the better for everyone in this town.

Could you summarize your approach to budgeting, taxation and public expenditures?

I believe there’s a role for public expenditures. I also believe, living as I do on Long Island, that our taxes are way too high and that we have too many levels of government. It’s amazing: If you go elsewhere in the United States, you don’t have all the levels of government that we have here.

I’m a great believer in — as much as possible — not raising taxes and being fiscally responsible. Someone said, “Can you sum up your political philosophy?” Yeah, I’m a fiscal conservative, a social moderate and an environmental liberal. It’s really simple.

When I arrived, it was no fault of Supervisor [Mark] Lesko [D] or Supervisor [Brian] Foley [D], both of whom I had known for many, many years, that they were caught up in the 2008 recession. Things were bad, the town had taken on debt and we were not viewed as financially stable.

When I came [into office], I said, “Let me see the last audit.” The audit had numerous exceptions that pointed out the failings of the town. I worked on that audit and those exceptions to improve our financial condition. And I have to say, I am blessed with a very good finance commissioner, Tamara Branson. She is very, very good, along with a number of other people in the finance department.

I worked with them and the following year, the rating agencies gave the town a AAA bond rating and we’ve never had less for as long as I have been supervisor. We’ve always stayed at or below the tax cap and have always tried to limit and look at things on how we could be more efficient in delivering services because there’s a tremendous amount of inefficiency built into governmental services.

What motivates you to continue your work to this day?

I’m motivated because I see that with effort and energy, you can make a difference, if only incrementally. I am about doing all I can to move Brookhaven forward. I owe it to the people that elected me.

There are a lot of bad things about public life, but the great thing is that you meet a lot of great people. You get involved with civics and other organizations; you see people donating their time and energy for the public good; and it’s great to work with people like that. We have a lot of nonprofits and civics that we work with to make this town better.

That keeps my motivation going, and I’m just going to continue to do that and focus on the job as supervisor every day I come to work, whether it’s on the small problems or the big problems.

Looking back, which project or initiative are you proudest of? And conversely, what do you view as your greatest setback along the way?

I would say that the things I’m proudest of are saving as much open space and farmland as possible — both as a [county] legislator and a supervisor — and putting a plan together to preserve the Carmans River Watershed. I view that as a tremendous achievement, not of myself, but something that will endure because it will mean that these areas will not be developed.

My greatest disappointment is not getting people to do the right thing, like the MTA with electrification, or the [New York Department of Environmental Conservation] on working with us to strengthen recycling. These are all regulatory things, and we need people to be less regulatory and more innovative in terms of approaching issues such as recycling and mass transit.

Also, I have been here for a while and I see the structure of government. Brookhaven would be much better off by itself as a county. To have one level of government to be able to go to and get things accomplished would probably be better, but that’s not practicable and that’s not happening.

That being said, you set yourself up, you work at it every day, and hopefully you will make a difference. The biggest thing I can do when I’m eventually retired is to look back upon the town and say, “I left it better than when I found it.”

What do you consider to be your legacy at Town Hall?

I think it would be embodied in the phrase, “Save what’s left.”

Is there anything else you would like to say to our readers?

First of all, I’m very honored to be a supervisor and I remind myself every day of what an honor it is to serve the people of Brookhaven, who have been extremely kind to me by electing me by large margins each time I’ve run. They have given me the confidence and the faith to do their work every day.

I am so lucky to have the trust and support of the majority of the people in this town. I don’t forget it and I am very grateful for it, so I would say thank you for the opportunity to serve. I hope that those who follow me come with the same passion, commitment and dedication. And I am sure that there are many who came before me who did the same.

If we can continue that, our society is going to be a good society and my grandchildren are going to grow up in this town. I am just honored to be here.

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Brookhaven residents gathered at the Rose Caracappa Senior Center, above, in opposition to the proposed draft maps. File photo

Dozens of local residents turned out on Tuesday, Aug. 2, at the Rose Caracappa Senior Center in Mount Sinai to voice their concerns over the proposed redistricting plans for the Brookhaven Town Council.

The meeting was called by the Brookhaven Redistricting Committee, which has recently drawn public scrutiny over proposed maps that suggest significant changes to Council Districts 1 and 2. In an attempt to clear up any confusion surrounding two existing maps circulating on the town’s website, members of the committee held their own deliberations on this matter.

‘These maps, to me, don’t seem sensitive to what communities are and what communities can achieve when they work together.’

— Jonathan Kornreich

George Hoffman, a Setauket resident and member of the redistricting committee, questioned the legitimacy of the draft maps. Under these proposed boundaries, Council Districts 1 and 2 would see significant changes, as half of Port Jefferson Station/Terryville would be swapped for half of Mount Sinai.

During the meeting, the committee announced that it had not yet met with the mapmaker or had any discussion on the maps. To clear up confusion, the board voted unanimously to designate the existing maps as unofficial.

“We don’t have any official maps before us,” Hoffman said. “Every map that’s submitted, either by our attorney or by the public, is going to be given equal weight.”

Public comments

Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich (D-Stony Brook), who currently represents Council District 1, stated that the intended purpose of redistricting is to rebalance council districts based on changes in population. Because his district does not need to adjust for population, he said he was “mystified” when he saw the draft proposals.

“It’s just very disappointing to me to see a map like this get created because I think that people more and more have a sense of cynicism toward their government,” the councilmember said. “There’s a feeling that government serves its own needs more than the needs of the residents, and these maps, to me, don’t seem sensitive to what communities are and what communities can achieve when they work together.”

Leaders representing various community organizations addressed the committee during the public hearing.

Joan Nickeson, a Terryville resident and community liaison for the Port Jefferson Station/Terryville Chamber of Commerce, said the proposed maps would divide the community if approved.

“The proposals that were put forth that belong to your mapmaker that you have not yet met cleave our advocacy power with the chamber,” Nickeson said. “They cleave our school district buildings from the other school district buildings, neighbors from neighbors.” She added, “It is unconscionable that these maps got out into the public without the public being able to ascertain where they came from.”

Salvatore Pitti, vice president of the Port Jefferson Station/Terryville Civic Association, considered the proposed redistricting scheme for Council Districts 1 and 2 nonsensical. According to him, the plans undermine the years of close coordination between the civic association and its representative on the town council.

“It has taken us years to get us to where we are, and now we’re going to start from scratch,” he said. Referring to the draft maps, he added, “It makes no sense. It does not work for our community.”

Francis Gibbons, a resident of Terryville and member of the PJS/Terryville Civic Association, discussed how residents of Port Jefferson Station and Terryville have coordinated their efforts in service to the greater community.

“We have people that have worked together for years to make our communities whole,” he said. “And you think tearing them apart is a good thing?”

Ira Castell, a resident of Port Jefferson Station and member of PJSTCA, referred to Port Jefferson Station/Terryville as a community of interest with longstanding ties to Council District 1.

“It is one of the organizing principles of any redistricting effort to avoid cracking and to unite and retain communities of interest,” he said. “A community of interest is a neighborhood, community or group of people who have common policy concerns and who would benefit from being maintained in a single district.” He added, “Segmenting our community, we will no longer have a united voice to advance our story with one councilperson who represents all my neighbors, with whom I share a common purpose.”

‘Our community does not want to be split.’

— Brad Arrington

Nancy Marr, president of the League of Women’s Voters of Suffolk County, reiterated these objections. “People who share a common history and are connected by common institutions such as community libraries or civic associations should be in the same council district,” she said.

In his opposition to the proposed maps, Brad Arrington, vice president and corresponding secretary of the Mount Sinai Civic Association, defended the preservation of Mount Sinai as a contiguous community.

“Our community does not want to be split,” he said. “Mount Sinai is a community of interest. It is a unified community. And from being on the civic association for 17 years, I can say that we are a very cohesive community.”

The redistricting process remains ongoing. The next meeting will be held Friday, Aug. 5 at 6 p.m. at the Setauket Neighborhood House, 95 Main St., East Setauket. 

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In advance of the early voting dates of August 13-21 and the New York State primary election on Tuesday, August 23, the League of Women Voters of the Hamptons, Shelter Island and North Fork will be holding a Republican Congressional candidates primary debate on Zoom on Monday, August 8, 7-8 p.m., hosted by Southampton Town’s SEA-TV.

Invited to participate are the three Republican Congressional candidates in the newly-drawn 1st C.D.—Michelle Bond of Port Jefferson, CEO of the cryptocurrency Association for Digital Asset Markets; Anthony Figliola of East Setauket, a lobbyist with Empire Government Strategies and former Deputy Supervisor of Brookhaven Town; and Nicholas LaLota of Amityville, chief of staff to the Suffolk County Legislature’s Presiding Officer and former Republican Commissioner of the Suffolk County Board of Elections.

The winner of the Republican primary will face Democratic Congressional candidate Bridget Fleming of Sag Harbor, an attorney and Suffolk County Legislator, in the general election on Tuesday, November 8.

The August 8 debate can be viewed live at 7 p.m. at www.YouTube.com/c/SeaTVSouthampton and can also be seen anytime afterwards on the same YouTube channel, starting the following day, August 9.

The public is invited to submit questions for the candidates. Email them by August 5 to LWV Voter Services Committee chair Barbara McClancy at [email protected]

For those not able to vote in person on the early voting days of August 13-21 or on primary election day, August 23, absentee ballot applications in English and other languages are available on the NYS Board of Elections website at www.elections.ny.gov . After mailing in the absentee ballot application and receiving the actual absentee ballot back, postmark deadline is August 23.

For questions, call the Suffolk County Board of Elections at 631-852-4500.

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Romaine discussed ways in which local government and New York State must adapt to meet the needs of a changing environment. File photo

Town of Brookhaven Supervisor Ed Romaine (R) has served in elected office for decades. In Part I of this two-part series, Romaine discusses the problem of coastal erosion, innovative ideas for recycling and why you won’t see his name on a sign at a town park.

What sparked your interest in environmental protection and which issues concern you the most?

Long ago, I made a choice between my eyes and my ears, and I chose my eyes. People can argue whatever they want, but I’ve seen what this Island was. I grew up on Long Island. I’ve watched it change and I know what it needs.

The things that concern me about this Island are the threat of climate change and rising sea levels, which is why we’ve bought hundreds of acres at Mastic Beach — to convert them back to wetlands, to act as a sponge.

The week before I was elected in 2012, Hurricane Sandy hit. I went down to Mastic Beach, which was part of my original district in the ’80s. I knew the mayor and I went down with Dan Panico [R-Manorville], who was the councilman, and we took a tour.

Neighborhood Road is the road that runs east and west through Mastic Beach. Everything south of Neighborhood Road was flooded. And the other thing I remember about that disaster was the smell. With all the trees and the downed wires sparking, it smelled of sewage because all their cesspools were inundated, and it smelled of oil because they all had above-ground tanks that spilled over.

It was so devastating when I went down there. Mastic Beach has recovered since, but I will never forget the disaster that hurricane caused and the flooding that it unleashed. Marshlands act as sponges that are capable of handling a flood like that. That is why I am deeply invested in trying to buy up as much of the marshland that was built upon years ago and get rid of some of the small homes there.

The other concern is the carbon footprint we leave. I’m a big supporter of renewable energy. When I was a [county] legislator for the 1st District, I bought more land and preserved more farmland than the other 17 districts combined.

The pattern of development has been so intense that we’ve screwed up this Island by sprawl. We should have thought more carefully about the pattern of development here and what we could do in terms of public transport, in terms of public services — and we didn’t.

What is your preferred approach to the issue of eroding bluffs, a growing problem along the North Shore?

Sometimes people live along those bluffs, so you want to see what type of engineering solutions there are to secure or stabilize bluffs. I know the Village of Port Jefferson is debating what to do about the Port Jefferson Country Club because their tennis courts are going to fall in [the Long Island Sound] and then right after that, probably the clubhouse.

My view would be the same as it would be for Mastic Beach — to retreat from the bluffs. But again, sometimes you can’t do that because people live atop them, so you have to look at engineering solutions that would help stabilize the bluffs. It’s Mother Nature at work. Can man-made solutions resolve it? Sure they can … temporarily. Clearly, what should have been done is something that would have prevented building near or on the bluffs.

Can you discuss the recycling initiative that your office has undertaken?

Back in 2017, China announced its [Operation] National Sword policy. It said, “Hey, we’re not buying any more recycled goods from the United States.” Well, that created all types of problems.

Unfortunately with recycling, a lot of what needs to be recycled rests with the State of New York, and they have not been innovative. The [Department of Environmental Conservation] has chosen to be a regulator and not an innovator. Let me give you an example: glass.

Glass is one of the largest contaminants in the recycling process. To recycle, what do you need? You need a marketplace. Recycling doesn’t work if you don’t have a marketplace to reuse the goods that you’re recycling, which is why recycling has collapsed in large parts of this country.

What we’re looking for from the State of New York is called a BUD — a beneficial-use determination. We believe glass should be an aggregate used in concrete. Concrete is the most carbon-intensive production of any substance that we know. And the way you can end that is by substituting glass in that process as an aggregate, and we’ve allocated for that.

What this requires is the state DEC to give us a beneficial-use determination. Now we’ve proved that because we’ve built these huge drainage rings for our recycling center and we got state permission to use glass as the aggregate in the concrete. They are not even looking at that.

At Stony Brook University, there’s a boathouse. It’s painted blue and was built in 1989. Do you know what it was built out of? Ash. The strength of that building is stronger today than the day it was built in 1989. Guess what we do with our ash? We put it in our landfill. Yet we don’t get a beneficial-use determination to use ash in concrete, in asphalt or in other products. This would create a market for glass and ash.

Also, I’m waiting on the state legislation. I have an ally in the state Legislature — an old friend of mine, someone I served with in the [county] Legislature in the ’80s, and we still work together to this day: [Assemblyman] Steve Englebright [D-Setauket]. I’m trying to say, “Steve, what are we doing here? There’s so much we can be doing.” We need a “Bigger, Better Bottle Bill.” We need to create markets for products because if we don’t, recycling will not work and will not be effective.

If you give enough time and you watch a leaky faucet, that water one drop at a time over a long period of time will make a difference. I always remind myself of the one drop of water. Because if you keep on hammering away at it, change will come. If only incrementally, it will come for the better, for things that should come, for things that are so common sense that even the opposition can’t argue against it. And usually, the opposition tends to be monied interests that have some kind of economic benefit to them, not to the society as a whole.

How did you end up in the supervisor’s office?

I started out as a teacher. I taught for 12 years, almost all of it at Hauppauge. I was very active in the teachers union there. I was the treasurer of the teachers union on their executive committee. In fact, one of my students was Jay Schneiderman, the supervisor of Southampton [D] — I taught him seventh-grade social studies.

I was always active, kind of on the sidelines as a volunteer. In 1979, in the Town of Brookhaven — which had been under Democratic control for four years — the Republicans won everything and they needed people to go into town government. I had done a lot of work for the school district on federal and state aid, so they asked me to become a part-time federal and state aid coordinator.

I started there, and the first thing I got was a massive grant for community development. We got a huge, multimillion-dollar grant, but there were conditions on hiring staff. So they asked me to become the first commissioner on housing and community development for the town. I asked the school district to give me a leave of absence — they were very kind and gave me three in a row. And finally I told them, “Look, I’m not going to come back,” because I was into that job. I did that for five years and loved it.

All the sudden, the [county] legislative seat in which I lived had opened up and they asked me to run. Even though it was a little bit less money, I thought about it for a while and I said “yes.” I ran and was elected to the Legislature in ‘85 and then again in ‘87. I was getting ready to run again when our county clerk died. In between, I had run for Congress and did very well — I got 49.6% of the vote against an incumbent, Mr. [George] Hochbrueckner [D-NY1].

I ran for county clerk, won all 10 towns and went on to win five elections as county clerk. In that time, I had moved, the lines had changed and I got elected to the 1st Legislative District as their county legislator, which included all of eastern Brookhaven from Shoreham to where I live in Center Moriches, as well as Riverhead, Southold and Shelter Island. I loved that district and didn’t lose an election district for the four times I ran. And I was getting ready to run again when Mr. [Mark] Lesko [D], who was the [Brookhaven] supervisor, resigned midterm.

I was asked to run for supervisor and I thought long and hard about that. The major reason I did that was because I had a son [Keith] who was a town councilman and died in office. He always told me that at some point in life he wanted to be a supervisor. That motivated me to say “yes.” I wound up winning five terms as supervisor. So that’s the very short synopsis of a long story.

Brookhaven is an old township that has endured for three-and-a-half centuries. What does it mean to you to be a part of that tradition, and what do you see as your place in it?

The one thing I know about history is that people are quickly forgotten. That’s why I made sure that when I became supervisor, I said, “Other than in Town Hall, I don’t want my name on any town signs or anything.” And you will not see my name on a town park or anything because I made it clear that I’m just passing through.

I believe one of the greatest things I did was save 1,100 acres and put them in the Central Pine Barrens — 800 of which was National Grid property. The legacy that I leave will be a legacy that benefits people, but they will not know it was me.

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Brookhaven Town Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich, right, delivers a presentation alongside executive board members of the Port Jefferson Station/Terryville Civic Association. Photo by Raymond Janis

Members of the Port Jefferson Station/Terryville Civic Association deliberated on a range of issues during their monthly meeting held on Tuesday, July 26 at the Comsewogue Public Library.

Redistricting

Headlining the meeting was Town of Brookhaven Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich (D-Stony Brook), who addressed the ongoing redistricting process for the Brookhaven Town Council, calling the current redistricting scheme a threat to his district.

“The intention of redistricting is to rebalance election districts — council districts, for example — based on population changes,” he said. “But in practice, what happens is that both political parties tend to take advantage of this to redraw districts that they believe will be more favorable to their own party.” 

Kornreich, who represents Council District 1, will see significant changes to his district’s boundaries if the current plans are approved. The proposal for Council District 1 is to transfer roughly half of the Port Jefferson Station and Terryville community into Council District 2. In exchange, CD1 would receive roughly half of Mount Sinai. 

“It is unclear to me what is going to be gained from this,” Kornreich said. 

What will be lost is the continuity of planning and progress that he believes has characterized his tenure in the district. “All it does is split the hamlet. … It splits this hamlet that we have worked so hard to work on together.”

The consequence, Kornreich fears, is that public investment in the PJS/Terryville area will be diluted and redirected to areas with greater voting power. He urged community members to attend upcoming hearings of the Brookhaven Redistricting Committee. 

“This is a time for community unity,” the councilmember said. “You understand what’s at stake. So get educated about it and speak up on behalf of your community.”

Ed Garboski, PJSTCA president, spoke of the ways in which the community has come together in the past to protect its interests. He considered the current redistricting controversy a cause for collective concern and action.

“We need to come together,” he said. “We have to have a voice, and it has to be a loud voice.”

Several members agreed to attend the Tuesday, Aug. 2 public meeting held at 6 p.m. at the Rose Caracappa Senior Center in Mount Sinai to resist the current redistricting plans.

Jefferson Plaza

Another order of business was discussion on the proposed redevelopment of Jefferson Plaza, an expected $100 million investment by the Hauppauge-based real estate group, Staller Associates.

Members considered preparing a statement relating to several inquiries regarding traffic, architectural design, community benefit initiatives and the preservation of the historic character of the area. 

“I like the general approach of this concept,” said one civic association member. “I just don’t want to see a rush to judgment. I want to see us work together collectively to fine-tune it in the best possible way.”

Public safety

Two officers from the Suffolk County Police Department attended the meeting. Several of the members expressed their frustrations over frequent acts of “aggressive panhandling” throughout the area, requesting a greater police presence in the areas where the practice is most widespread. 

One member raised the issue of speeding along Canal Road, which he said has been “constant on Canal ever since they fixed the road.”

Noise pollution generated by loud mufflers has also created a public disturbance. While there are laws regulating loud mufflers, the Suffolk police officers said that they are restrained in enforcing them due to provisions in the law that require a measurement of decibels.

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David Calone, left, with state Assemblyman Steve Englebright. The assemblyman is one of the local leaders who encouraged Calone to run for county executive. Photos from Calone’s campaign

A former congressional primary candidate is aiming for Suffolk County’s executive seat.

Last week, Setauket’s David Calone announced his intention to run for county executive on the Democratic ticket in 2023. Due to term limits, Steve Bellone (D) will not be running.

“I would bring a lot of different perspectives and a lot of backgrounds to the regional leadership of the county executive position,” Calone said in a phone interview. 

Running for the office is something he has been thinking about for a few months. The candidate said he became more committed to his goal after conversations with many who provided strong moral support, such as John Durso, president of the Long Island Federation of Labor, state Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket), county Legislator Kara Hahn (D-Setauket) and Town of Brookhaven Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich (D-Stony Brook).

Without any formal fundraisers, Calone has already raised nearly a million dollars for his campaign, he said.

Currently, Calone, a former federal and state prosecutor, is the only one who has thrown his hat in the ring, but candidates have until early next year to submit their petitions. If other candidates decide to run for county executive on the Democratic ticket, a primary would be held.

The candidate said he wanted to start campaigning early because Suffolk County is a vast area to cover.

“I’m looking forward to meeting with people across Suffolk County over this next year and hearing their ideas and issues, and then we can work to solve those challenges,” he said. 

When he ran in the Democratic primary for Congress in 2016 in the 1st Congressional District, he lost to former Town of Southampton Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst by a slim margin of slightly more than 300 votes. He said from the experience he learned how to run an extensive campaign.

“I was able to learn about all the issues affecting people across Suffolk County,” he said. “Many issues are common across the whole area, but there were also some very specific local issues,” adding while some may worry about environmental issues, in contrast others are trying to make ends meet.

Background

Calone grew up in Mount Sinai and graduated from Port Jefferson high school. He went on to achieve his undergraduate degree from Princeton University and his law degree from Harvard. He and his wife, Presbyterian minister Kate Jones Calone, have three children and moved to Setauket 10 years ago when Jones Calone joined Setauket Presbyterian Church.

While a federal prosecutor, his focus was terrorism and international corporate fraud. As a state prosecutor, he fought health care fraud, and won a case that, at the time, was one of the biggest returns of taxpayer money — more than $70 million, according to him.

He is president and CEO of Jove Equity Partners LLC, which helps to start companies and works with owners to build their businesses.

“I’m looking forward to meeting with people across Suffolk County over this next year and hearing their ideas and issues, and then we can work to solve those challenges.”

— David Calone

County issues

Calone listed protecting the environment, improving transportation and economic development among his biggest concerns.

Working in the private sector and being involved in various businesses for more than 15 years, he said experience has provided him with a good deal of knowledge regarding economic development.

The candidate said he believes in supporting small businesses and providing workforce development to make sure “people get the skills they need for the next generation of jobs.”

“I think it is going to be critically important, too, because we live in a very high cost area,” he said. “We need to have people getting good paying jobs to be able to afford to live here.”

His company also created the Long Island Emerging Technologies Fund to help launch businesses coming out of local research labs, which in turn creates local jobs.

As board chair of Patriot Boot Camp, which was recently acquired by Disabled American Veterans, Calone has played a part in helping veterans, active military members and their spouses start their own businesses. He said while the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs holds job fairs, they don’t focus on entrepreneurship, which many military members may be well suited for due to being disciplined and hardworking

He also feels there are different ways to bring town governments together to address similar problems.

When he was chair for eight years of the Suffolk County Planning Commission, the group worked on streamlining solar panel permits throughout the county as each town had a different set of rules, which caused headaches for solar panel companies. The towns came together and agreed on one form, which made the process more streamlined, and the committee received the National Association of Counties 2012 National Achievement Award for the effort.

Calone said he would also like to improve transportation in the county, pointing out that many of the buses are empty or nearly empty and therefore a waste of fuel. He said he would like to see the pilot program that county Legislator Bridget Fleming (D-Noyac) started in Southampton expanded to the whole county. When someone needs transportation, they use a cellphone app and smaller buses are used. He said requesting a bus would be similar to using Uber or Lyft and the service overall would be more efficient.

Regarding development in the county, he said developing near major roadways and travel hubs such as Ronkonkoma train station, as other elected officials have suggested in the past, makes sense. He also said it’s important to create more affordable housing.

“We need to have more housing that works for people at different times of their lives,” he said. “One of the key things is if young people move away, because they can’t find housing here, they’re more likely to stay away and not come back. But if we can keep them here because we have the kind of housing that they need, and the good-paying jobs that they need, they’re more likely to stay here and be the buyers of those single-family homes in the future.”

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Pixabay photo

By Lisa Scott

Independence Day traditions bring together families, friends and communities to celebrate being American. It’s not traditionally a time for introspection over barbecues, at ballparks and beaches and enjoying (or hiding from) pyrotechnics. But in 2022 July 4 occurred at a time of deep national concerns: economic, environmental, judicial, governmental and local. 

Journalists, pundits, academics and attorneys have weighed in on end-of-term Supreme Court decisions which overturned Roe v. Wade and New York State’s restrictions on concealed carry of guns, brought religion further into publicly supported education and severely limited the ability of the EPA to address carbon emissions in a time of severe climate change. 

The New York Times on July 3 wrote, “The United States appears to be drifting apart into separate nations, with diametrically opposed social, environmental and health policies… The tearing at the seams has been accelerated by the six vote conservative majority in the Supreme Court, which has embraced a muscular states-rights federalism.” 

The Constitution has been evoked more and more in the past year; some demand a literal  interpretation, while others wonder what happened to its amendments’ rights and freedoms. 235 years ago our nation’s founders wrote “We the People” to commence the preamble to the Constitution, yet the common ground of our civic beliefs has severely eroded. 

Where you live determines what rights you have. We are no longer (if we ever were) equal Americans. But the League of Women Voters has and will continue to educate and advocate for voting rights which exemplify freedom — “the freedom to determine who we are, who we want to be and who we want to make the decisions about our country and our bodies” (Dr. Deborah Turner, President, LWVUS).

At our annual convention in late June the League of Women Voters of the United States  reflected on new barriers to voting and continued attacks on our democracy, and the ways in which LWV is working to register new votes, but particularly to “Get Out the Vote.” From 2020-2022 (even through the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic)) there were 12 million contacts with voters. The League’s efforts tackled systemic challenges to voting rights through advocacy, litigation and organizing. The goal was to build more trust in our elections, grow our electorate with equity, create fairness for voter access and ensure community districting truly reflects our population. 

The League’s Vote411.org voter information website was accessed by 5.5 million voters to view their ballot in over 40,000 races. Over 89,000 candidates were listed. Voters could check their voter registration, request an absentee ballot and review nationwide voting rules. 

LWV litigated on a variety of issues including voter access during Covid-19, the 2020 Census, redistricting, money in politics and excessive voter purges. LWV filed lawsuits in more than half the states to ensure adequate ballot notice and cure procedures, access to drop boxes and greater access to voting by mail. LWV also joined amicus briefs supporting common sense money in politics regulations and intervened in cases to prevent irresponsible voter purges. 

Our New York State LWV has also been active on the state level, including amicus briefs and litigation especially on NYS redistricting and the complications resulting from the court requiring redrawn Congressional and NYS Senate districts, leading to  two primary dates in 2022 (June 28 and August 23).

LWVUS also continued focusing on the protection and enforcement of voting rights in the 117th Congress which included the For the People Act, the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. Alongside national voting civil rights partners, LWVUS supported hundreds of state and local Leagues in leading and joining distributed actions around the country in support of federal voting rights legislations, resulting in hundreds of actions and thousands of voters engaged. In spite of this work, the US Senate failed to advance (combined) Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act past debate.

In 2022 and beyond, Get Out The Vote efforts must be stronger, louder, and even more creative. We can register millions, but if only thousands vote, have we truly empowered voters? Our democracy is not based on age, race, gender, or zip code — it is for everyone, and that is why we must not only fight back but lead the charge. This is not a partisan issue — This is an American issue. “We the People” should together want to make our democracy stronger and create a more perfect union.

Lisa Scott is president of the League of Women Voters of Suffolk County, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government and influences public policy through education and advocacy. For more information, visit https://my.lwv.org/new-york/suffolk-county or call 631-862-6860.

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County Executive Steve Bellone (D) was joined by several county legislators on Tuesday, June 13, at the H. Lee Dennison Building in Hauppauge, signing legislation that will fortify 12-year term limits for county offices.

Although term limits have existed in Suffolk County since 1993, the original statute was ambiguous. This new law, which was passed unanimously by the county Legislature last month, will cement 12-year terms for the offices of executive, legislator and comptroller. 

Bellone considered this a much-needed measure that has received “overwhelming support” from the public and that reaffirms the original intent of the 1993 law.

“People really believe and understand that there is a value in turning over the people who are in office, that after a period of years — 12 years in this case — it’s time to give someone else an opportunity,” he said. “If there is a time limit in office, there’s more likely to be a focus on what’s in the interest of people rather than maintaining themselves in that office.”

Presiding Officer Kevin McCaffrey (R-Lindenhurst) discusses the legislative intent of the 1993 term limit law. Photo from Steve Bellone’s Flickr page

The 1993 law was poorly written, offering a loophole for those eager to circumvent its legislative intent, allowing officials to bypass its 12-year cap after a break in service. Bellone said this new law closes that loophole, establishing a fixed-term limit of 12 total years for each respective office.

“This Legislature has made it clear in this action today that they want to limit government, that they want to limit the time that someone can serve,” the county executive said. “Our experience here in Suffolk County is that that is absolutely a good thing.”

Presiding Officer Kevin McCaffrey (R-Lindenhurst) shared why this law will benefit voters. By creating more turnover in county government, the term limits will make room for new blood and fresh ideas.

“I’ve served in the Legislature for a little bit over eight years now,” he said. “I have seen some come and go and said, ‘I hate to see them go.’ But you know what? Someone takes their place and we have an input of different ideas and different personalities, and I think it’s been positive.”

Suffolk County Legislator Stephanie Bontempi (R-Centerport), at podium, sponsored this legislation. Photo from Steve Bellone’s Flickr page

Legislator Stephanie Bontempi (R-Centerport) sponsored this legislation. Elected for the first time in 2021, Bontempi views the term limits as a motivating influence, creating a fixed window of time for her to deliver results for her constituents.

“There will be no more sitting idly, languishing over decisions for decades,” she said. “I want to actually produce results.” The legislator added, “It just simply is good government — new ideas, new candidates.”

The law will make one final pit stop before it is formally enacted. County voters will weigh in on the matter in a referendum this November. Both the county executive and the legislators present urged Suffolk County residents to ratify this legislation.

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