Raja Singh for Nassau Legislative District 17
Raja Singh, Democratic candidate for Nassau County Legislature District 17 Credit: James Escher
Hicksville is poised for a renaissance, a revitalization that could make the community a bustling and attractive destination. But the hamlet and its neighboring communities need a representative who has a vision to move them forward.
Hicksville Republican Rose Marie Walker hasn't changed much in her six terms as the district's legislator. She touts an open-door policy for constituents and understands the county's financial concerns. But Walker has been unwilling to expand her thinking on what's possible for downtown Hicksville and unable to move the hamlet's revitalization forward. When asked for her vision, Walker, 70, pivots to what she doesn't want. "I don't want Hicksville to be high-rise buildings," she says. But no one is proposing anything close to "high-rise buildings" in Hicksville and Walker's imagination for the community's future seems to involve mostly wanting green space, open space and places to gather.
Hicksville Democrat Raja K. Singh is a real estate and immigration attorney who owns his own practice. He argues that many business owners in the district, including some of his clients, haven't known how to access grants and other help and need a lawmaker who can do a better job of connecting with them and providing information. Singh rightly points out that even as Hicksville has experienced demographic shifts, very little has changed in its infrastructure, housing and green space since he arrived in the hamlet in 2006.
Singh, 37, wants Hicksville to become the "center of Long Island" where people want to shop and dine and he welcomes more housing, restaurants and entertainment offerings around the train station, even if it means adding a few extra stories to make the housing more affordable. And he says he's "not opposed to doing the work myself to make these things happen."
Such leadership would be welcome.
Newsday endorses Singh.
Nassau Legislative District 17 covers Bethpage, Old Bethpage, part of Seaford, Plainedge, North Massapequa, Farmingdale.
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