Blakeman must spend Nassau's federal pandemic funds wisely

Maybe Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s uncertainty about how to use $265 million in federal pandemic aid can become a win. 

Why not let the people chime in, from communities throughout the county, with ideas for what’s needed and wanted, to expose shortfalls or potential leaps forward?

Blakeman recently said he’d spend the money on initiatives to boost mental health and help small businesses. He also mentioned funding infrastructure and social services, but never offered details.

He has so much cash on hand because in addition to $190 million that arrived this month, Blakeman freed up $73 million from the last tranche of federal largesse by canceling former County Executive Laura Curran’s program to provide $375 to most county households. Blakeman said a new federal rule restricting that benefit to families earning less than $76,050 slowed applications dramatically. 

It was never a great plan to send small checks to so many households that didn’t suffer financially during the pandemic, rather than focusing resources on repairing economic damage or improving the county in permanent ways.

Better uses must be identified, and fall within spending guidelines that allow the money to assist small businesses, households and hard-hit industries, spur economic recovery, and invest in water, sewer and broadband infrastructure. With a recession possibly looming, there will be a lot from which to choose.

Ideally the money, which must be allocated by the end of 2024 and spent by the end of 2026, would go to one-shot grants that create expanding ripples of future benefit.

One worthy starting point: innovative ideas utilized elsewhere. In Birmingham, Alabama, for example, community health care workers are employed 20 hours per week to work at clinics and conduct outreach. For another 20 hours per week, the workers are trained in health-related occupations that provide a post-pandemic career path. In Northeast Ohio, pandemic aid helps manufacturers reshape their operations to fit changes COVID-19 has wrought, and the ones yet to come.

What does Nassau need?

Are there groundwater remediation and sewer projects where cesspools and septic tanks are still being used impactful enough to deserve some of this funding? Post-pandemic societal changes threaten to exacerbate coming shortages of both teachers and nurses. Is promoting such careers, or retaining current workers, a way to better the county’s future?

The pandemic uncovered and highlighted significant shortcomings in the quality of health care and education provided in Nassau's poor and minority communities. How can the county best address that?

There is no shortage of needs, or worthy ideas. But funding the right ones means transferring ideas from kitchen-table conversations to budget conferences.

Blakeman should set up a grassroots public process to identify the best ideas, evaluate them transparently, and choose winners wisely.