Village residents demand input on project

A coalition of community activists rallied on the stairs of Hempstead village hall Tuesday to demand the inclusion of minorities and women in a $2 billion downtown revitalization project.

"We want development," said village resident Earl Lynn Jr., who owns the nearby Nakisaki restaurant. "We want to build this community."

The coalition's demands included ensuring that a significant number of contracts go to minority and women village contractors and a third of new housing goes to area residents.

The coalition, which included about 40 activists from Hempstead and Uniondale, presented signatures from more than 1,000 village residents. They said residents signed the petitions to demand that the project benefits them and that they will not be priced out of their homes later.

"We want people to be able to stay after the development is completed," said Monica Diaz of the Workplace Project, a Hempstead-based advocacy group for immigrant workers and their families.

Lynn and others said the village must draft a binding agreement with developers that will meet the needs of its diverse population.

Last month, Mayor Wayne Hall appointed Jack Profit of the local social service agency Urban Strategies to head the town's community benefits committee, to craft an agreement between developers and villagers and ensure the plan includes input from residents and business owners.

Donald Monti, president and chief executive of Renaissance Downtowns of Plainview attended the rally and said he is in "complete support" of a community benefits agreement. "Development is too important for this village," Monti, the lead developer on the project, said to a group of activists after the rally. "What we need to make sure is that we work together."

Mayor Hall said he supports the group's aim, but "lost" as to the reason for the rally. "It surprises me when these people come out to protest something we're already doing," Hall said. "We're making sure our residents are going to get the full benefits of any development that comes into business."

Village resident Joseph Gill, a member of the local chapter of New York Communities for Change, said "We want to make sure no one's excluded in any way . . . to make sure people are going to do what they say they're going to do."