Public hearing on Nassau bus plan canceled

Republican Nassau lawmakers Monday scheduled, and then canceled, a long-awaited public hearing on the county's plan to have a private company run its bus system -- further fueling criticisms that the privatization process has been bungled from the start.

It was the first time that the Nassau County Legislature formally met since County Executive Edward Mangano on Thursday released the contract hiring Illinois-based Veolia Transportation to run the county's bus system, which will be renamed NICE Bus -- Nassau Inter-County Express Bus.

Veolia is set to take over the system on Jan. 1. Mangano picked Veolia from three bidders in June.

To the surprise of many people in the county's legislative chamber, county Republicans announced during Monday's meeting that a public hearing on the contract would take place Thursday at 1 p.m.

Legis. David Denenberg (D-Merrick) called it "a slap in the face of Nassau residents" that after months of calls for such a hearing, Republicans would announce it on such short notice, and with little time for any criticisms and concerns over the contract to be properly addressed.

Presiding Officer Peter Schmitt (R-Massapequa) later announced the hearing was canceled because of an error in the public notice published in newspapers on Nov. 7. No new date was set, but Nassau officials said they expect the hearing to take place early next week.

A vote by the legislature's Rules Committee on the contract also was postponed. The full legislature is expected to vote on the contract on Nov. 28.

Denenberg said a public hearing should have been held months ago, when there still was time to negotiate a better deal with other private bidders or with the MTA, which has operated LI Bus for 38 years but recently terminated its agreement with Nassau over a funding dispute.

"The only alternative we have right now is Veolia or nothing," Denenberg said.

Schmitt assured lawmakers, and the public, that they would get a chance to address all their questions and concerns over the contract to Veolia officials during the hearing.

"Whatever we're going to do here, we're going to do it right," Schmitt said. "I don't care if the hearing goes on for 15 hours."

Some union workers and transit advocates Monday voiced concerns over the contract to the legislature during an unofficial public comment period. They said they feared that the deal gives Veolia too much power, including to cut service and raise fares in some situations with little or no input from the public.

"When you read it, it really looks like Veolia wrote this for themselves, to protect themselves," said Lisa Tyson, director of the nonprofit Long Island Progressive Coalition.

Veolia officials weren't available for comment Monday night.