• County Plans To Ram Sewer Consolidation Down Residents Throat •
The Nassau County Legislature's Public Works Committee held a special hearing on Monday, May 18th at the Legislative Building located at 1550 Franklin Avenue in Mineola to discuss the county's consolidation plan.
The hearing, which started and hour or so late, was attended by about 30 Bay Park/ East Rockaway residents who spoke out against the county plan to consolidate the sewer systems of Cedarhurst and Lawrence into Bay Park.
The usual shenanigans that ensues at every legislative meeting was on full display to the civic minded residents who took the time out of their busy schedules to attend.
The people of Bay Park/East Rockaway spoke eloquently and offered myriad reasons why the county needs to back off of their consolidation plan until it realistically addresses the ecological problem of dumping almost 70 million gallons of treated sewage into our bay on a daily basis. Why can't the county understand our very simple request:
UPGRADE THE BAY PARK SEWAGE PLANT BEFORE YOU ADD MORE CRAP TO THE PILE!
REALISTICALLY LOOK INTO "GREEN" ALTERNATIVES TO SEWER TREATMENT!
BEGIN SEEKING FEDERAL STIMULUS FUNDING FOR AN OCEAN OUTFALL PIPE!
The hearing lasted 2 hours, but sadly, the heartfelt words of the residents fell on deaf ears and the committee members voted along party lines (Jeff Toback and 5 fellow Democrats voted YES, while Fran Becker and 3 fellow Republicans voted NO).
The committee voted yes to let the county enter into an intermunicipal agreement with the villages of Lawrence and Cedarhurst and will seek the funds needed by trying to obtain a loan from the NYS Environmental Facilities Corporation.
If that fails, then the villages of Lawrence and Cedarhurst will try to bond the money themselves and then cut a deal with the county whereby Nassau County will be responsible for any portion of the loan payments that isn't cover by the villages sewer tax income. This, of course, means we all end up paying for the loan that the villages bonded for and our taxes are covering the cost of having their sewage pumped to us!
Once the consolidation plan goes before the full legislature . . .
Monday, June 8th @ 10:00AM
at the Theodore Roosevelt Legislative Building, 1550 Franklin Ave., Mineola, NY
then it will be voted in along party lines (10 Democrats, 9 Republicans). Because of the back door way they are seeking the funding to do the consolidation plan, it would not need a super-majority of 13 votes like all other capitol budget items normally do.
One could only hope that our pleas to the legislators would lead to one of the Dems having a change of heart and deciding to buck Suozzi's Master Plan marching orders and be environmentally responsible instead.
Stay posted as news of our valiant effort to stop the consolidation plan from happening goes forward. In the meantime please email or phone the county legislators who will be voting YES to sewer consolidation along party lines, which will ensure it's approval, and tell them you are a concerned citizen that is against sewer consolidation and demand the county provide significant upgrades to the Bay Park plant first.
Legislators Who Will Vote YES To Sewer Consolidation
Jeff Toback - (516) 571-6207 • email: jtoback@nassaucountyny.gov
Kevan Abrahams - (516) 571-6201 • email: kabrahams@nassaucountyny.gov
Roger Corbin - (516) 571-6202 • email: rcorbin@nassaucountyny.gov
Joe Scannell - (516) 571-6205 • email: jscannell@nassaucountyny.gov
Judy Bosworth - (516) 571-6210 • email: jbosworth@nassaucountyny.gov
Wayne Wink - (516) 571-6211 • email: wwink@nassaucountyny.gov
Dave Mejias - (516) 571-6214 • email: jmejias@nassaucountyny.gov
Judy Jacobs - (516) 571-6216 • email: jjacobs@nassaucountyny.gov
Diane Yatauro - (516) 571-6218 • email: dyatauro@nassaucountyny.gov
Dave Denenberg - (516) 571-6219 • email: ddenenberg@nassaucountyny.gov
