Editorial: Suffolk-style gridlock

The mountainous budget problems facing Nassau County have occupied a lot of attention lately, but Suffolk has had problems of its own - serious disagreement between County Executive Steve Levy and the legislature on some key issues: the county nursing home, the budget, Levy's plan for affordable housing in Yaphank. You don't have to look to Washington to find governmental gridlock.

Of course, Levy argues that there's no gridlock on the issue of the John J. Foley Skilled Nursing Facility in Yaphank. He proudly says he has won. But not so fast. There are twists and turns ahead in that battle with the legislature.

Like other county executives before him, Levy believes the county ought not to be in the nursing home business. And there's a good case for that view. He proposed to sell it to a private operator, but the legislature opposes it. His Plan B was to close it down and sell the license and the facilities. He put that plan in his budget. The result: not enough votes to sell it and not enough to keep it open. So Levy believes he can close it in March, with no further approval from lawmakers.

But the county still needs permission from the state health department for the closure. Meanwhile, unless the legislature changes its mind and agrees to the sale before the end of the year, Levy intends to close it. That would cost more than 250 workers their jobs and force about 250 residents to move - many of them younger and harder to place than the average nursing home resident. Meanwhile, Levy and Presiding Officer William Lindsay (D-Holbrook) are not exactly seeing eye to eye on a signature Levy initiative, the Legacy Village project on county land in Yaphank. It would provide 1,300 units of affordable housing, plus other uses. Lindsay once supported it, but now he wants to cancel the development contract and sell the land.

Levy and the legislature have exchanged salvos over other issues, such as the timing of a new police class. And he's at odds with five countywide elected officials over his tight control of their hiring. The combative Levy and the laid-back Lindsay have been firing statements and press releases at one another for months. The issues seem small-bore, compared to Nassau's structural imbalance. But real lives are at stake. The residents and employees of the Foley facility shouldn't have to end up paying the price for this staredown. hN