The Village of Floral Park’s March election will see re-election bids from two incumbent trustees: one who’s been in office five years, and another for less than two weeks.
Trustees Kevin Fitzgerald and Archie Cheng are running unopposed with the Citizens Party, for a third and first full two-year term, respectively.
The elections come as Floral Park is faced with two proposals — a video casino at Belmont Park, and the Long Island Rail Road’s third track — residents feel are being foisted upon them, Fitzgerald said.
“One of the things that makes the battle easier is that the entire community, not surprisingly, is behind us in fighting both,” he said.
Cheng has lived in Floral Park since 1978 and had been the village’s prosecuting attorney since 1984. He also sat on the Floral Park-Bellerose and Sewanhaka school boards and was president of both.
Village of Floral Park Mayor Thomas Tweedy appointed Fitzgerald to the Village Board in 2011 after he served on Floral Park’s Third Track Task Force, which was part of the effort to stop the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s 2005 plan to build a third track along the LIRR’s Main Line.
The village recently resurrected that group and tapped Cheng, who was inducted as a trustee Feb. 2 after the December death of Trustee James Rhatigan, to lead it.
Opponents in Floral Park and other villages have said the MTA’s newest proposal for a third track along 9.8 miles of the LIRR between Floral Park and Hicksville would disrupt businesses and residences, create traffic and noise problems and result in the taking of private property.
The MTA has said the project, expected to cost $1 billion to $1.5 billion, would ease commutes for east- and west-bound travelers and spur economic development on Long Island by creating better commute access for the labor pool living in New York City. The plan is expected to require 50 property acquisitions, down from 200 in the previous plan.
The authority has said it will conduct an environmental review to address community concerns and will continue meeting with local officials about their concerns.
Cheng said Floral Park’s task force is working to get support from other local officials and has started a Twitter campaign to convince Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who announced the project in January, to remove it from his state budget.
“We’re coming at this in various ways and I’m waiting to see with my committee how they want to approach this next,” Cheng said.
Fitzgerald said MTA officials have been more proactive in engaging with communities about the third track, and LIRR leaders were receptive to Floral Park’s concerns at a January meeting.
But not much has changed in terms of proponents’ arguments for a third track and opponents’ arguments against it, he said.
“I’m hoping they’re thinking Floral Park has real good reasons to oppose the third track,” Fitzgerald said. “As opposed to just hearing about it and reading about it, we do appreciate them coming here and seeing it in person.”
Fitzgerald chairs the village’s Belmont Park Task Force, which has been fighting Nassau Regional Off-Track Betting Corp.’s plan for a video casino west of the grandstand at the Elmont racetrack.
OTB and other proponents say the casino would bring much-needed revenue to Nassau County and provide millions in additional revenue for local businesses.
Opponents say it would increase crime and traffic and decrease property values in the area.
OTB has said it is working to formulate a community benefits package for how the casino would benefit the host communities, but one has yet to emerge.
Fitzgerald said it’s “very disheartening” that Floral Park could host a casino when it’s rejected casinos several times in the past. The village has better ideas for how to use the Belmont Park land, he said, such as getting a corporation to build its headquarters there.
An OTB spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment.
The village also faces some long-term budgetary issues, Fitzgerald and Cheng said, such as handling road repairs and contract negotiations while staying within the state-mandated tax cap.
Cheng said the Village Board and other department heads have helped him adjust to his new post. Many issues are familiar from his time on school boards, he said, but he does want to learn more about the village’s capital projects.
“There has been a lot to learn, but I’ve done it in the past in a different capacity,” Cheng said.
Though they’re unopposed, Fitzgerald said he hopes to see a high number of residents vote for him and Cheng as “proxy” for not wanting a casino or third track.
“I look at it as I’m doing a job for my friends and making sure Floral Park remains what it is and what it was and what it could be,” he said.
Floral Park voters will cast ballots March 15 from noon to 9 p.m.
