The candidates in the race to become the next member of the Great Neck Parks District Board of Commissioners have been separately campaigning for months, since retiring commissioner Ivar Segalowitz announced he would not seek re-election.
On Tuesday at the Great Neck House, those four candidates met face to face to convince the gathered crowd of residents why they are best qualified to become the next parks district commissioner.
Dan Nachmanoff, Neil Leiberman, Martin Markson and Ray Plakstis Jr. participated in the Great Neck Parks District “Meet the Candidates Night” event moderated by the League of Women Voters and the Great Neck Rotary Club, offering differing views of the park district needs and the person to fill them.
The special district’s election will be held on Dec. 13. The park district is comprised of all Great Neck Villages and unincorporated areas with the exception of Great Neck Estates, Harbor Hills, Lake Success, Saddle Rock and University Gardens.
Markson cited his experience as a charter member of the district’s open space committee, which he said allows him to continue his work at the park district.
“What distinguishes me from the other candidates is I have specific experience to enable me to continue my work,” Markson said. “Let me repeat that, I said I will continue my work because I’ve served as the chairman on the park district’s open space committee for the last five year and I’m ready to hit the ground running.”
A retired engineer, Markson said he would not support any major “costly” improvements to the park district and was against any type of control or consolidation proposed by Nassau County.
Leiberman said he brings with him 38 years of experience in the New York City public schools as a health and physical education teacher and a guidance counselor, as well as sales experience with two private firms. He stated his biggest strength is being a “people person.”
Leiberman is the husband of Great Neck News columnist Karen Rubin.
Working as a commissioner in the parks district has been a dream for the retired educator, since he last ran to join the board 12 years ago.
“Our parks are more than places and facilities, they are the people who staff it and our residents and guests who use it,” Leiberman said. “I bring business experience in sales and marketing as an entrepreneur and a licensed real estate agent. No one understands better than I the value of our parks to our property values and I want to devote my time and energy to the community I love.”
Focusing on ways to help save money for the district through proper budgeting was Plakstis who said he wanted to fix the budget. He is a third-generation owner of Doray Enterprises, a company his grandfather started 75 years ago, and is also a 27-year veteran of the Alert Fire Department.
“If you compare the park district budget with the year 2000 to the budget this year, you’ll see it double from $7 million to $15 million and what does this mean?” Plakstis said. “It means that this was a gigantic increase in spending, an increase of such proportion that if we residents had been able to vote on the spending, we might certainly have voted no. I’m the right person for the job because I’m the only candidate whose mandate is to take a hard look at spending in the parks and save the community its hard earned cash.
Nachmanoff praised the work of the current commissioners, but in regards to the economic times he said “the party is over.”
“We have a great board of commissioners for the last years and I have no complaints, they built some beautiful projects,” Nachmanoff said. “But, you know what, the party is over now. We have difficult economic times we live in and we aren’t building anymore big projects, it is just not going to happen. What we need is to reduce expenses, and the fact of the matter is any tax increase is always a problem in the economy we have now.”
Nachmanoff said his experience in local government for the past 15 years and his ability to secure grants for the park would make him best for the job. He is the former mayor of the Village of Russell Gardens and was also president of the Great Neck Village Officials Association.
Nachmanoff received an endorsement from Segalowitz in a letter to the editor in the Great Neck News.
A Village of Kensington resident proposed a unique question where she outlined that due to there being four candidates vying for one position, the votes could end up being split by 25 percent each, with one candidate winning with only 26 percent of the votes. She continued by saying how that would result in 74 percent of voters being against a winning candidate.
“In order for that not to happen, would you consider withdrawing your candidacy and urging the electorate to vote for someone else running, someone who had similar views to yourself,” the Kensington resident asked.
None of the candidates were willing to step down and restated why they believe they are best for the position.
Leiberman said that no one wants the parks position more than him and he has been campaigning for months to be park commissioner.
Markson said he was not ready to give up when he firmly believes he is the candidate with the most experience.
Nachmanoff cited his experience as an administrator and his love for the parks and maintaining them as the “jewels” of Great Neck.
Plakstis asked if the resident was speaking about some type of primary and that they were just following the democratic process.
State Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel asked each candidate for a punch list about the park district infrastructure, and their ideas and vision
“I think one of the first things we want to talk about, infrastructure, is we basically have the infrastructure we need, what we will do is maintain the facilities, Nachmanoff said. “We have to look at cost reductions, energy conservation, evaluate our programs, and have to have a better utilization of the space we have now.”
Markson also weighed in on the issue of the park district’s infrastructure.
“I’m committed to keeping parks in good condition rather than deteriorate and run down as has happened in past and required very expensive repairs to restore them to a safe operating condition, Markson said. “I am aware that the splendid Great Neck parks are an important component to the attraction of property values to people looking at the community.”
Plakstis said their is a great need for repairs to park facilities.
“We need to look at our infrastructure because a lot of it needs repair,” Plakstis said. “We have buildings that are leaking, foundations not right, plumbing problems. Some need wiring, plumbing and infrastructure would be the highest priority.”
Leiberman dismissed the idea of adding new facilities to the district.
“There will be no more building for now,” Leiberman said. “Yes, I heard there are some issues, and there would be with any infrastructure to maintain upkeep, but you would have that anywhere with new buildings. One idea we can do to raise money is at the ice skating rinks where we can put advertising around the boards.”
