Editorial
EDITORIAL: Our pick for Hempstead Town supervisor
The fate of a new Nassau Coliseum and, more important, the grand Lighthouse project that would surround it, rests with Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray. Her action will define not simply the success or failure of her leadership, but the future direction of Nassau County.
Murray and five of the six members of the town board are Republicans; their party has controlled Hempstead for more than a century. All of them will vote on a zoning change for 77 acres of asphalt at Mitchel Field, which would allow dense housing and commercial and retail buildings. That development, in turn, would pay for a new county-owned arena - and keep the Islanders here - with no investment from taxpayers.
Unlike most other Long Island town supervisors faced with major projects, Murray, 47, of Levittown, chose not to work with the developers on the size or details of their proposal. She repeatedly described her role as that of a judge, not a cheerleader. But there was room for something in between.
Certainly it's the town's responsibility to review the detailed engineering studies to make sure all the road improvements to handle increased traffic are in place, and that plans for more water pumping and sewage flow are sufficient. And she is right to double-check the math to make sure those new tax revenues materialize.
Now, with Election Day near and Charles Wang, the outspoken developer and owner of the Islanders, entertaining offers to move the team, Murray's staff is finally engaging in talks about what size project fits the property.
Is this real progress? Maybe just as real as the Islanders winning the Stanley Cup this season. Yet, when Murray met with the editorial board, she seemed confident that a project, in some form, would go forward.
Democratic challenger Kristen McElroy, 35, an attorney from Garden City, came very close to unseating veteran state Sen. Kemp Hannon last year, leading Democrats to nominate her for this even tougher contest. McElroy is running as the anti-Murray, saying she would have negotiated with the Lighthouse developers from the beginning, accusing the supervisor of playing politics with the project.
She rightly hammers away at the town's extensive patronage and the iffy jobs that are larded through the town - the latest evidence of which is provided by the Nassau County comptroller's audit of Oceanside's Sanitary District 7. She would lower the cost of town services through consolidation.
McElroy, however, acknowledges that she has no experience as an executive or manager, and that her budgeting experience is mostly limited to running a household. That makes her unprepared to run a town with a 2010 budget of $386 million.
While the Lighthouse project has overshadowed the everyday workings of the town, Murray deserves credit for improving the Nassau Road business district in Roosevelt and for constructing more than 200 affordable homes.
Murray is seeking a fourth term, another two years at the helm of Nassau's largest town. In 2011, voters will be able to see for themselves whether she and the GOP town were able to deliver a brand-new Coliseum, the most immediate return on the Lighthouse project. Trusting that she will make the right decisions for her town and county, the editorial board endorses Murray. hN
