Laura Cohen said she grew up loving the parks in the Great Neck Park District, and that love was rekindled when she moved back to Great Neck to raise her family.
“The parks are beautiful,” Cohen said. “The greenery, the facilities and the programming have been unbelievable and they are for my children now.”
Now, Cohen said, she would like to use the knowledge she has gained from using the parks with her husband and four children to make them better as a park district commissioner.
In doing so, Cohen, a former vice president of the Allenwood Park Civic Association who currently serves on the executive board of the North Shore Hebrew Academy, is joining several newcomers vying for two seats on the three-member park district board.
Cohen is running for the two-year open seat on the Great Neck Parks District Commission recently vacated by former Park Commissioner Ruth Tamarin.
She is opposed by former New York City police officer Frank Cilluffo; Sharon Epstein, the former president of the Parent-Teacher Association at E.M. Baker Elementary School and founder and owner of Body Dynamics Inc.; and Eileen Falk, an insurance broker who owns her own business.
Neil Leiberman, a longtime Great Neck resident and husband of Great Neck News columnist Karen Rubin, and Jeff Meir Stein, another political newcomer who works at North Shore Décor, are challenging current park district Chairman Dan Nachmanoff for a three-year seat on the board.
Cohen said the time she and her husband spend at the parks gives her first-hand knowledge of what the parks are like and how they are used.
Her husband, Elie Cohen, coaches their son’s Little League team and she can be frequently found with her children on the soccer fields, on the ice rinks or at the pool, she said.
Cohen said she is committed to fiscal responsibility, and wants to find new sources of revenue to help out the district taxpayers who pay for the parks.
She also said she wants to bring new life back to some of the park’s programs for users of all ages and wants to look at way to get more attendees – such as not scheduling children’s programs when some kids have to go to Hebrew school.
“I want to make the parks a top priority,” Cohen said. “I want to bring new energy to the Great Neck Park District.”
Eileen Falk, a third-generation resident of Great Neck, said she offers a different perspective than the other candidates.
“My passion is different,” Falk said. “The vision I have for the Great Neck Park District is different than any of the other candidates.”
Falk said she would like the park district to build an indoor recreation center that is open year round and to create more activities for residents 50 and older. She said she would also like the district to build an additional indoor skating facility for year-long use as well as address the high costs of pool membership.
Stein said he decided to finally get his name on the ballot after having a heated discussion with friends on the issues facing Great Neck.
He said he wants to make sure that the people who use the Great Neck parks are heard and listened to by the commissioners.
Too many Great Neck residents, Stein said, are apathetic, which is why they don’t come out to the polls.
“It’s a no brainer to have maybe one or two times a year we invited people to come to a town hall type meeting to be heard,” he said.
Stein said his experience at North Shore Décor, where he does a lot of his own window treatment installations, and his time before that in the catering business provide him with the kind of skills needed on the park district board – planning and working with one’s hands.
Stein said he also believed the job of a park commissioner is to listen to others’ ideas and assess their feasibility and work hard on implementing measures.
Residents of the Great Neck Park District, which includes all Great Neck villages and unincorporated areas – with the exception of Great Neck Estates, Harbor Hills, Lake Success, Saddle Rock and University Gardens – can cast their votes on Dec. 9 from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. . at one of four polling sites.
The polling sites are Great Neck House, located at 14 Arrandale Ave., E.M. Baker Elementary School, located at 69 Baker Hill Road, Great Neck Social Center, located at 80 Grace Ave., or at the Manhasset-Lakeville Firehouse located at 97 Jayson Ave.
