By Norman Gersman
During the early evening of March 19th I found myself in the auditorium of East Rockaway High School in the midst of a huge crowd of mostly local residents attending the "Bay Park Sewer Consolidation Informational Meeting", hosted by County Legislator Jeff Toback and County Executive Thomas Suozzi. The very next morning I picked up Mr. Suozzi's newspaper and read that the size of the crowd was "200 or so", which was an obvious attempt to belittle this important meeting. For the record, their were at least two hundred people sitting in just the first six rows of the full auditorium and mezzanine. I am sure it was just an honest mistake by Mr. Suozzi's newspaper....yeah
The meeting was a two and a half hour collision between the suave persona of the County Executive and the residents of Bay Park/East Rockaway and Oceanside who have been dumped upon by his administration. I believe Mr. Suozzi really enjoyed himself using all the expertise he has garnered over the years in attempting to curry favor from hostile crowds. I had to admire his skill and savy in first making fun of the people's cheers for the Republican Hempstead Councilperson Anthony Santini, and then quieting everyone by threatening to leave if "you abuse me". Sometimes Suozzi was sweet, sometimes rude. His mood seem to swing from anger to charm very quickly. It was theatre.
Why were so many residents in attendance? On January 14, 2008 the Democrats in the Nassau County legislature passed a enactment that consolidated the Cedarhurst and Lawrence sewage treatment districts into Nassau County sewage department in a plan that will bring millions of gallons more sewage to the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant without any discussion or notification to the residents of Bay Park/East Rockaway. The waters around Bay Park are already dead, the odors of the plant right now are disgusting, and the plant is presently nearing capacity. Also, the legislation allowed Nassau County to purchase the sewage treatment plant in the City of Glen Cove saving that city's residents millions in sewage fees. In fact, the County Executive was once the mayor of the City of Glen Cove and his cousin is now the mayor. But most of all the lack of communication and respect for the local residents have angered them to the point that this can and will become a major political issue in the future
Mr. Suozzi spoke to the audience and tried the old "I am on your side" approach by talking about our high property taxes and how he wants to bring them down. He went through all the reasons for high property taxes: waste and fraud, unfunded state mandates, not enough state aid, and of course too many special districts. He too is very concerned about the odors from the Bay Park sewage treatment plant, the capacity of the plant, and the truck traffic.
He explained that the two huge sewage treatment plants situated on our south shore, the Cedar Creek plant and the Bay Park plant, were designed to handle 100 percent of Nassau sewage. Right now 85 percent of Nassau sewage goes to these two plants, and the balance going to 11 sewage treatment plants owned by local sewage districts or the State of New York. He then handed the microphone to Ray Ribeiro who is the Commissioner of the Nassau County Department of Public Works.
The activists who have been involved from the start must have been amused by Mr. Ribeiro, who as if by magic has now found a "Sewer Consolidation Master Plan" ! He has taken an engineering report on the technical possibility of building diversion pipes from Cedarhurst and Lawrence to the Bay Park sewage treatment plant and has renamed it a "master plan". In the entire publication, the word "environment" is printed about 6 times. But he explained to the audience that closing the Cedarhurst and Lawrence sewage treatment plants and diverting the sewage to Bay Park would be a tiny bit improvement to the environment. Excuse me....but how can a sewage master plan not FIRST call for the construction of long ocean outfall pipes for Cedar Creek and Bay Park ? The only way our south shore bays are going to environmentally improve is if we build the ocean outfall pipes and upgrade the plants first. The so-called "Master Plan" is a fiction.
Connie Petrucci, a resident of Bay Park, put the entire presentation in perspective when she spoke, demanding that before diverting more sewage to her neighborhood the County must build the ocean outfall pipe and upgrade the Bay Park plant. If the County truly cared about the environment it would understand what should be done first.
What was not explained:
1) The County has no clue how many millions of taxpayer dollars the construction of the diversion pipes from the Villages of Cedarhurst and Lawrence to Bay Park is going to cost. Because for the same amount of money those Villages could upgrade their facilities and avoid the construction mess.
2)Why Bay Park should not get an ocean outfall pipe to disperse the effluent from the plant, and further upgrades, before the diversion is constructed. Suozzi and Rubiero stated that they are seeking money for the ocean outfall pipe but have not the slightest idea which century the money will be found.
3)Why the Villages of Cedarhurst and Lawrence, and the residents of the City of Glen Cove are being given a gift worth millions of dollars because they no longer have to pay for the upgrades to their local plants or the maintenance of their plants and the people who live in Bay Park/ East Rockaway get not one red cent of tax breaks...but do get the sewage.
4)The sight of Adrienne Esposito, Executive Director of the Citizens Campaign For The Environment, sitting with the County Executive defending the consolidation as it stands today is extremely disappointing. Why is she accepting and defending a flawed plan? She understands and knows that if the County gets away with this diversion plan it will be decades before it finds the money to upgrade the Bay Park plant and build an ocean outfall pipe.
Oh yes, County Executive Suozzi pressured a very doubtful Public Works Commissioner Ribeiro into promising that by April 30, 2008 all trucks carrying FOGS (fats, oils and grease), about 47 per week, will no longer go to the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant in an effort to reduce the terrible odors eminating from the plant. Where they will instead go....who knows, certainly the Commissioner did not have a clue.
The bottom line is that this diversion plan is fatally flaw from both an environmental point of view and a political point of view. The plan was thrown into the legislation as an afterthought to the purchase of the sewage treatment plant in the City of Glen Cove. The true cost of this purchase had to be hidden from the Nassau County taxpayer, thus the consolidation plan. But the residents of Bay Park/East Rockaway are going to give the County Executive a huge headache....it just started.
Name: Maryellen Draude
E-mail: emmy4999@yahoo.com
Date posted: April 04, 2008 - 05:44 am
Message: Thanks for getting the word out Norman. Your article is interesting, well written and truthful. Thanks again!
Name: Nassau County Civic Association, Inc
E-mail: ncca@nassaucivic.com
Date posted: April 01, 2008 - 04:43 pm
Message: Good work Norman.
www.nassaucivic.com
Name: James Trantel
E-mail: tranny57@aol.com
Date posted: March 30, 2008 - 08:16 am
Message: Once again,thank you for your support Norman. You are doing a great job getting out truthful information to the public.
Name: Janie Howard
E-mail: Shenansma@aol.com
Date posted: March 27, 2008 - 04:31 pm
Message: Hey,
you are doing a fantastic job. I am the recording secretary for the Bay Park Civic Assoc. We had a meeting with them plant officals in 11/27/07. (we have had many with them in the past). They did talk at length about a "20 year master plan" I guess that can mean anything & they certainly did not state 20 years at the Meeting at the HS. They also stated on 11/27 that they receive 7-8 trucks a day of FOGS, a day and were looking to have it sent to a bio fuel co. in PA. They never mentioned at our meeting that they received trucks from Suffolk co. & I was shocked to find out it is more like 45-50 trucks! They also didn't mention that the pipe that comes into the plant is over 60 years old. they twist facts to their own use & Suozzi is like a school yard bully losing the fight. I heard from Connie that the legis. meeting yesterday was very contentious & that you let them have it!! we'll see how it goes April 7th...it is not a done deal & people must realize that. Once in a while goverment must work for the people, not against them. thank you
Janie Howard
Name: Norm
E-mail: norm@longislandreporter.com
Date posted: March 27, 2008 - 01:38 pm
Message: The rest of Nassau thanks you guys in Bay
Park and East Rockaway for carrying this fight for everyone. The ocean sustains us all.
Name: Trish Louw
E-mail: tdlouw@optonline.net
Date posted: March 27, 2008 - 01:08 pm
Message: Thanks for your support Norman. This sums up the 3/19 Town Hall meeting perfectly. As you say, the battle has just begun -- but we are ready!
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