Bill Cutrone was reluctant to stay on the executive board for the Lakeville Estates Civic Association, and he isn’t alone.
Cutrone and North Lakeville Civic Association President Betty Leong said the North New Hyde Park civic groups each had trouble finding two people to join their respective three incumbents on the ballot for Wednesday’s elections.
“I had to drag people to volunteer to be on the board, including myself,” said Cutrone, acting president and spokesman for the Lakeville Estates Civic Association. “There is no opposition because we need X amount of people, and it’s hard to get X amount of people.”
The dearth of candidates reflects the groups’ dwindling participation spurred by demographic changes in the area, despite their recent accomplishments and membership growth over the past year, Cutrone and Leong said.
Both presidents said each group would have a full slate of five candidates when members vote during a special meeting at 7 p.m. April 6 at the Manhasset-Lakeville Company 5 firehouse.
But the ballot could change if someone drops out and another person volunteers, Leong said.
She and Cutrone declined to give the new candidates’ names before the vote, but North Lakeville incumbents Jean Capobianco and Mike Currie are running with the Leong, and Lakeville Estates incumbents Chris Cataldo and Estelle O’Brien are running with Cutrone.
Cutrone said some members he asked initially agreed and later backed out, and now want to be “low key” in their leadership positions.
Leong said some were hesitant because they felt they could not possibly replace Marianna Wohlgemuth and Marietta DiCamillo, two sisters who resurrected and led the civic associations.
“Nobody wants to get involved. Nobody wants to do anything,” Cutrone said. “It’s a lot easier to say, ‘Let them do it.’”
Leong said candidates run for general executive positions and the boards decide among themselves who will take what office.
The groups have long been without full executive boards, but they want to fill all the positions this year to comply with their bylaws, Cutrone and Leong said.
Many other civic associations are dealing with low membership and participation and do not have full boards, they said. That could lead to the state revoking their tax-exempt non-profit status, but Cutrone said that’s unlikely.
Like those other groups, Leong said, North New Hyde Park’s are struggling with demographic changes that have left a few active members to do most of the work.
More people are joining and paying dues, Leong said, but it’s hard to get the young parents who have recently moved in to come to meetings or work on projects when they’re already busy with parent-teacher associations, sports leagues and their children’s other activities.
“It’s a whole different world that we live in that we have so many other interests and this is just something minor to them,” Cutrone said.
The older people who have not moved away or died no longer want to be civically active, Cutrone and Leong said, and there’s less of a desire among the younger newcomers to be involved.
Leong said the groups’ outreach efforts to newer residents have been somewhat successful, but she’s noticed they aren’t as eager to get to know their neighbors.
“As a person who moved to the suburbs, you want a sense of community,” she said. “I think we’re losing that.”
After the election, the civic associations may form a committee of executive officers and members to plan events and coordinate projects as a way to encourage participation.
The committee could add to the groups’ recent beautification efforts by planning a block party and a yard sale, or getting the civic associations a tent at the New Hyde Park street fair, Leong said.
“We try our best to keep our civic association moving, to reach out to people in our neighborhood, to get what’s needed in our neighborhood,” she said.
