In her second term, North Hempstead Town Supervisor Judi Bosworth has kept a tight rein over the budget, earning upgrades in the town’s bond rating to Aaa, the highest offered a municipality, thereby keeping the town’s borrowing costs low.
Bosworth, a Democrat, has done this while the town provides a high level of services for such programs as Project Independence, an innovative program for seniors started by her predecessor, Jon Kaiman, and maintaining and, in some cases, upgrading parks across the town.
The Building Department has continued to re-establish trust following the inspector scandals that occurred during Kaiman’s administration and improved public access with the creation of a public liaison.
But still more needs to be done to reduce delays in the permit process, especially at a time of strong growth in permit requests in the town.
Bosworth has managed to do so with an open, nonconfrontational manner that has avoided some of the friction that existed under her predecessor with the public and some council members. She has also been an energetic traveler and strong ambassador for the town, seemingly taking part in every community event.
Bosworth also pushed to tighten the town’s ethics regulations and disclosure requirements as well as their enforcement following the arrest of Gerard Terry, the former North Hempstead Democratic chairman who held two positions with the town.
Changes were also made to one department’s practice of taking payment in cash following the arrest of one its workers for keeping some of that money for herself.
We would like to see Bosworth take a more active role in forging a plan to aid downtown business districts across the town, a process often frustrated by the many overlapping government jurisdictions.
Bosworth is opposed by Stephen Nasta, a retired NYPD inspector and member of the Bronx DA’s Office as well as a lecturer at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Nasta, who said he considers himself more a Conservative than a Republican, is calling for a halt in town tax increases, which seems to be a solution in search of a problem given the town’s bond rating and record of hikes that fall within the state tax cap.
We salute his pledge to meet with members of all the town’s chambers of commerce and form a think tank to find possible roadblocks to development, as well as a commitment to meet with officials to overcome them.
But Nasta, who lives in Great Neck, has only lived in the Town of North Hempstead for three and a half years and, we believe, would be handicapped by his lack of knowledge of this diverse town.
He is also competing with a town official who has done a very good job.
We strongly endorse Judi Bosworth for town supervisor.
