Motivated in part by the death of his youngest son, Ken Kraft turned his attention toward the Village of Manorhaven.
“I channeled a lot of my sorrow into positive energy,” said Kraft, whose son Tommy died in a motorcycle accident last December at the age of 22.
“My kids mean everything to me,” he added. “When my son had the accident I basically went into the back room and just started writing ideas just to keep my mind going.”
Kraft grew up in Manorhaven, moved to Glen Head to raise a family, and In April 2015, moved back to Manorhaven with his wife, Patti, and their four children to renovate a two-family home they have owned for 34 years.
Kraft, a retired Nassau County police officer, is now running for village trustee. Others candidates vying for two open trustee seats include Roy Smitheimer, founder of the Greater Port Washington Business Improvement District; Barbara Ruemenapp, a retired Pan American Airways employee in sales and marketing; and incumbent Trustee Priscilla von Roeschlaub.
Candidates running for mayor include Trustee James Avena and former Mayor Gary Pagano, who served from 1992 to 1998.
Mayor Giovanna Giunta and Trustee Kevin Gately are not running for re-election.
The village of Manorhaven will hold elections on June 21 from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Village Hall.
Kraft said if elected he would like to create a “workable village board,” which he said has been lacking.
“It’s been like a gridlock, nothing can get done,” Kraft said. “And the only people that suffer are the people in the village.’’
Since October 2015, Kraft said, he has formulated more than 13 proposals that were forwarded to village officials. The proposals include suggestions for part-time code enforcement officers, parking, better care of the Dog Preserve Property, and changes to the garbage and recyclable schedule.
Kraft said the main issues in the village include protecting waterfront properties and addressing current parking problems throughout the village during the winter and summer.
He said he is running for trustee with hopes of improving code enforcement, parking conditions and the roads as well as what he called the unacceptable condition of the village’s preserve.
“Parking has been a nightmare down there,’’ he said. “We have alternate side parking, it’s a nightmare in the winter and in the summer it’s not too great either.”
Kraft said he recently joined, along with other concerned residents, to request a six-month building moratorium, which was approved by the village board on April 21, 2016.
The moratorium is to halt development on the waterfront properties in Manorhaven until a study can be conducted.
Although Kraft is running by himself, he said he doesn’t think that will have an effect on his chances.
“I thought if I come in by myself and people know what I’ve done, I think I’ll have a better chance,” he said.
Although he’s running in his own political party, the Proactive Party, Kraft said he’d have no problem endorsing Pagano and Ruemenapp.
Kraft is currently a member of the board of directors of the Glen Head/Glenwood Landing Business Association as well as a recent member of the Port Washington Chamber of Commerce.
Kraft said his interest in the village paved the way for the formation of the Manorhaven Action Committee, where, he said, “over the past eight months many residents have come together to express their dissatisfaction with the current operation of the village government and its inability to address many quality of life issues that have apparently existed for quite some time.”
He graduated from Nassau Community College with an associate degree in marketing and from C.W. Post College with a bachelor’s degree in marketing.
He was a member of the Port Washington Fire Department’s Flower Hill Hose Company. He served in the U.S. Army, where his assignments included Fort Hood, Texas, and Vietnam. He was a police cadet, police officer, and sergeant with the Nassau County Police Department for over 37 years, finishing his career with the Bureau of Special Operations where he supervised the C.A.P.E.R. Alarm Program for victims of domestic violence and threats to life.
Kraft’s volunteer experience includes coaching over 1,000 boys and girls in soccer, basketball, baseball and softball and conducting after-school programs for fishing and basketball in his North Shore School District community.
He was also a member of the Glenwood Landing American Legion Post 336 in Glen Head, where he served as house chairman, board of directors member and food drive coordinator, raising money each year to provide holiday meals for families and seniors in need in the North Shore/Glen Cove area. He also coordinated collection of 1,500 DVD’s for Walter Reed Army Hospital and the Northport VA Hospital.
