EDITORIAL: Mastic Beach deserves a chance

Too many village incorporation drives seem to be about exclusion. They increase political fragmentation and taxes, but don't add much value. Somehow, the village exploration in Mastic Beach feels different, and more worthy.

This is a working-class community that enjoys sweeping views of the barrier beach and the Atlantic breakers beyond, but it has an unfortunate image of disrepair. The value of the homes has gone down. Village supporters argue that absentee landlords have bought too many of them, done too little to keep them up, and turn their eyes away from illegal sublets. Each ill-cared-for house increases the perception of a community on a precipitous downhill slide.

By creating a village that would enable stricter code enforcement, proponents want to bring that physical decline under control. That's reasonable. Though proponents say new Brookhaven Supervisor Mark Lesko has listened attentively, the town is just too vast to do adequate code enforcement for every area. So they need a village and a village court.

If Lesko validates their petitions, a referendum of residents of the proposed village would happen within a couple of months. At a hearing next Monday, one issue will be whether this would increase taxes. Advocates say no. That debate is worth having.

The proponents make a good case. And there's a Plan B: If a new village doesn't deliver on its promise, a recent state law makes it easier to dissolve superfluous small governments. hN