Nassau County Executive candidate Adam Haber on Friday outlined his plans to help conserve the environment and preserve the county’s parks, while criticizing current County Executive Edward P. Mangano and former Executive Thomas Suozzi for their environmental maintenance in the face of changing climate conditions and so-called “superstorms.”
At a news conference at East Hills Village Park, where he received the endorsement of the Park Advocacy & Recreation Council of Nassau, Haber accused Mangano of privatizing Nassau parks as exclusive “pay-to-play facilities” and accused Suozzi of closing parks during his administration from 2001-2009.
“I don’t want parks privatized, I want them to be free and for everybody in the county to use and enjoy them and that’s not the path that we’re on right now,” Haber said. “We’re basically selling tennis courts and building ice skating rinks that are pay-to-play facilities and we’re being pushed for a public-private partnership on our greatest resource.”
Mangano spokesman Brian Nevin said in a statement that such public-private partnerships have provided the county with world-class facilities without cost to taxpayers. As a result, he said, “park and pool attendance has soared with the addition of privately financed athletic fields, new indoor ice rinks, free concerts, the World War II tank museum, restored veteran facilities and post-Sandy pool improvements.”
Haber, a businessman from East Hills who will face Suozzi in a Sept. 10 primary, said he chose the park to outline his views on the environment because he worked on the committees that created and opened the park in 2006 on the site of the former Roslyn Air National Guard base.
Haber said Nassau parks were among the county’s greatest resources and should be protected for continued use by future generations of Nassau residents.
But the environmental impacts of the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant in East Rockaway and the Northrop Grumman Corp. in Bethpage, Haber said, have led to the deterioration of Nassau facilities and adversely impacted the county’s water supply.
Haber said Suozzi “laid the groundwork for the failure caused by Hurricane Sandy” because mismanagement and understaffing led to wastewater spills and toxic pollution that were exacerbated when the storm hit last fall.
“He was warned again and again that these plants were destined for failure,” Haber said of Suozzi.
The Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant was shut down for two days after nine feet of salt water entered the plant following Superstorm Sandy. Earlier this month, county officials voted down plans to repair the plant.
Mike Florio, a spokesman for the Nassau County Legislature’s Democratic Caucus, defended Suozzi, saying in a statement that pollution and waste accumulated by the plant was Mangano’s fault, not Suozzi’s.
“When the Democrats were in the majority, over $400 million was approved to repair Nassau’s sewer infrastructure, but unfortunately those funds sat unused by County Executive Mangano as he sought to sell the sewer system to a private company,” Florio said. “These upgrades may have prevented some of the damage experienced during Sandy.”
Haber said the county must devote itself to rebuilding the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant, rather than begin the project “in fits and starts,” and must be transparent with Nassau taxpayers in determining the project’s cost.
“The strategy of holding critical services hostage as leverage must stop. Last time it was social services and kids’ lives, now it’s sewage treatment plants and saving the environment,” Haber said. “We should get a transparent process going, bond the project in one shot so we can apply for federal funding right away, establish an independent oversight panel and get this thing done.”
In the aftermath of Sandy, Haber said he was among those responsible for bringing the Massachusetts-based charity All Hands Volunteers to aid in Long Island’s rebuilding process, and that the county must adapt to ever-changing weather patterns and environmental conditions.
“I want my son and daughter to enjoy the same clean air and water that I grew up with, and I want their kids to be able to breathe fresh air and drink clean water without worrying about it,” Haber said. “Our public parks must be preserved, our natural spaces must be protected, our water supply must be clean and secure, our sewage treatment plants must run efficiently and we must tackle the reality of climate change.”
Haber said his administration would make county offices more green by moving forward with energy performance contracts, purchasing environmentally-friendly vehicles and renting roof space for the installation of solar panels, which he said would generate revenue.
Haber added he would also make Nassau County Police precincts a regular site for expired prescription drug disposal. The police department already participates in the Drug Enforcement Agency’s drug take back events throughout the year.
“We must pass on an environment to the next generation that is better than the one that was handed to us,” Haber said. “We owe it to our children. We owe it to ourselves.”
