There is a lot to be said for having a woman’s, a mother’s, a young person’s perspective on the three-member Great Neck Park District board.
Tina Stellato brings an excellent background, even better than many first-timer commissioners.
She has worked part-time in the park district in the Parkwood tennis center as a tennis pro for 17 years and brings retail, management, negotiations and buying experience.
At the candidates’ debate – which was organized and hosted by the Great Neck Chinese Association and North Shore Asian Civic Association – incumbent Dan Nachmanoff presented himself as the one with experience, and that is true since he has been on the board for the past five years, and prior, had served as mayor of Thomaston, president of the Great Neck Village Officials Association, and had an appointed position with Nassau County as director of Intergovernmental Relations, after a professional career as a dentist. On the other hand, I recall he didn’t open his mouth for the first year on the park board, and even at the debate, struggled to find paperwork when asked what went into the $18 million budget rather than having a command of what portion of the pie goes to personnel, facilities and utilities, maintenance, programming, and what percentage is paid from taxes versus fees.
He appropriately used the word “we” and “team” a lot.
On the other hand, he came across as being domineering, arrogant and disrespectful to Stellato – contradicting his calm gentlemanly image – and I wonder to what extent this figures into the fact that there isn’t a single woman supervisor in the park district.
The last one – Lisa Goldberg, deputy superintendent – was apparently discouraged from pursuing the superintendent opening because she was a mother with young children. Shortly after, she was gone.
As for the question of conflict of interest, Stellato said she would end her employment with the park district should she win –“I think of being commissioner as full-time job, I want to take it seriously and do the best for the community,” she said in a phone interview – and that that she would be able to follow state laws against nepotism by recusing herself from anything to do with her husband’s contract.
Indeed, several commissioners and administrators have close relatives working in the park district, and Stellato’s husband, Rob Villegas, has been working at the park district since 1988, running an extremely successful program – it’s not as if he were being snatched out of nowhere for a new job with the district.
But should Stellato lose the election and the park commissioners or administration take retribution against her or her husband, that would be grounds for a lawsuit if not the public’s ire, I would suspect.
Already, at least two individuals who recently left were given unusual going-away settlements, making the circumstances of their departure suspect.
Stellato shows a great enthusiasm, energy, willingness to learn and new perspective. She has set her sights on introducing new programs – not just for children but adults – and new sports, such as pickle ball (so popular with seniors in Florida).
She is to be lauded for coming up with an Aces for Autism program in the tennis center, an excellent companion to a skating program for special needs children. But she also has a grasp of cost-effectiveness that goes into considering every new program. She wants to improve upon what we have, not undermine it.
“My dream would be to have rec center. There are so many sports we could start programs for: ping pong, fencing, badminton, a golf simulator, volleyball,” she said at the debate. “The options are endless. I would love to find a property to buy or rent for new programs.”
To its credit, the commissioners, guided by the talented superintendent Jason Marra, have been open to implementing many new programs, new revenue streams, facilities (they are studying the possibility of solar panels), have explored acquiring a site for a rec center, using new online capabilities to gauge the wants and needs of residents.
Stellato would be in that camp.
The Great Neck Park District Election is Tuesday, Dec. 12, 1-9 pm. There are four election districts; consult the November newsletter for polling places or call 516-482-0181.
Holier than Thou: for the first time in I can’t remember when, I considered not voting in the Great Neck Water Pollution Control District’s election on Dec. 5, even though it was uncontested and a worthy commissioner, Jerry Landsberg, was running for reelection.
It was a matter of principle because the district moved its election from Dec. 12, when all the rest of special districts across New York State were scheduled to hold election, in order to observe Chanukah.
In fact, somebody in the Great Neck Village must have clout, because this required state Legislature approval, which only applied to Nassau County’s special districts to choose to change their election date, no matter the extra cost and the likelihood that even fewer people than usual would turn out for the special district election.
None of the other special districts in the Great Neck Peninsula area changed the date, which means people had to come out and vote twice.
That was an unnecessary accommodation – Hanukkah isn’t one of those holy days which keep people from driving or sitting in a synagogue.
Even if families would be having a special gathering, certainly anyone who wanted to vote could find five minutes in the day to come to vote, 1-9:30 p.m. (I guarantee there wouldn’t be any waiting), or vote by absentee ballot before.
In fact, the fuss over Hanukkah is an American creation, to elevate Jewish culture alongside Christmas; Kwanza was a similar creation (happy holidays!).
The action the GNWPCD took was an unnecessary intrusion of religion into state, breaching that wall of separation.
This may seem a petty matter, but look around at what the Trump/Republican/religious right are doing – the fact that the Republican Tax Scam includes a provision that establishes the legal precedent for “personhood” – the prelude to stripping women of their reproductive rights and right to self-determination.
The Republicans in their tax scam plan to expand the 529C college fund program so parents can use tax-exempt money for parochial and private K-12 tuition (even homeschooling), a work-around the prohibition of tax money going to parochial schools. This combined with the elimination of deductions for state, local and property taxes, will further undermine funding for public schools as well as home ownership (not to mention your home values could plummet 25 percent) while incentivizing parochial schools.
And the Republicans also overturn the Johnson Amendment, which converts religious institutions into PACs – a particularly insidious breach of separation of church-and-state because the religious leader preaching from the pulpit has a special ability to coerce.
Being respectful to different faiths and cultures – for example, acknowledging the growth of our Asian population by making the Lunar New Year a school holiday, along with Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur – is different that than having a religion dictate to government. That’s what the establishment clause is about.
The Great Neck Park District, which held a hearing on whether the public wanted to change its election date, is to be commended for keeping the Dec. 12 date.
