My name is Frank Genese. I am one of the trustees of the Village of Flower Hill, and for the first time in recent history, there is a contested election for Mayor and three Trustee seats.
Since my present term is not up until next year and I have been on the board for three years, I think I can offer an interesting perspective on the upcoming election and the candidates running. In addition, some of the mud being slung mischaracterizes the work we have done.
Brian Herrington, the present deputy mayor, is running for mayor. Trustees Randall Rosenbaum, Gary Lewandowski and Bob McNamara, our present mayor, are running for Trustee positions. They are being challenged by Kate Hirsch and three others to fill those same seats running as the Liberty Party.
Opposing ideas are the essence of democracy but I’m surprised Kate chose to do this after serving alongside her for three years. If you run for mayor, you should have a reason, and none of hers makes sense. In the letters I have seen she mentions issues but is careful not to indicate what she might do on many of them.
For her to say she is going to make changes begs the question, why didn’t she already propose them and what is she going to do? While she has been on the board for approximately 45 meetings, she has only introduced 11 resolutions in three years. Resolutions are the main vehicle for the action of our board and she barely participated.
Meanwhile, the other members of our team have led efforts to hire auditors to increase interest payments to the village, build new park structures, improve Middle Neck Road., raise the smoking age to 21, increase pedestrian safety, address zombie homes, and much more.
Her main talking point is saving the village money. “Lowering taxes” and “fighting for every dollar” is what we ALL do and have been doing. In fact, my colleagues she has been attacking have not raised the tax rate in four out of the last six years. Through the hard work of my colleagues with the Flower Hill Party, our Village is one of only a very few local governments to accomplish this. You can’t run a village on generalities.
According to Niche, which rates communities across the country, Flower Hill has a better livability score than Beverly Hills and we are one of the best places to live in the United States. We work with our local fire departments to protect our residents from fire, we work with Nassau County Police to have one of the lowest crime rates in the country, we pave the roads, pick up the garbage three times a week, plow the snow and your Flower Hill village taxes make up only about three percent of your total tax bill. Actually, for village services, residents are paying about $2.50 a day. Her ideas to lower taxes by cutting services will diminish the very things that have made our village such a great place to live.
The Flower Hill Party candidates led by Brian Herrington bring a total of nearly 30 years of institutional knowledge about how to run our village and I think they/we are doing a good job. They also work with residents in an open and collaborative way. After reviewing village records, I have concerns because Kate’s slate has not voted in village elections, nor could I find a record of them ever attending or participating in a Board of Trustees meeting.
The Flower Hill Party has ensured that the present Board of Trustees representing Manhasset, Roslyn, and Port Washington – it is composed of people who focus on what they know, offering their expertise and passion to make sure all the reasons we moved here are supported. Kate’s slate does not fairly represent the entire village and would reduce the representation from Manhasset and Roslyn. So why, you might ask, would you make a change that erodes the balanced representation on the board of all our communities?
These unpaid Trustee positions are important and before you take the helm you should at least show up. So, I ask that instead of installing a slate with little governing experience you vote for a team with a proven track record on “Row A” and support the Flower Hill Party on March 18th.
Frank Genese
Flower Hill
