By Brain Bohl
Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi made a visit to the University on Monday to discuss the major problems plaguing the area. He outlined challenges the county faces such as high taxes, increasing volume of traffic and lack of affordable housing. Without getting into specifics, Suozzi talked about his broad vision for future improvements.
“We want to keep neighborhoods with single family houses with low crime and low unemployment while addressing the problems of the pockets of poverty and high taxes,” Suozzi said.
The lecture also focused on Nassau’s recent series of economic achievements. The county has had a succession of bond rating increases to go along with consecutive budget surpluses.
“The county has had surpluses every year, we have balanced every budget and we got rid of $6 million worth of debt early,” Suozzi said. “We have not increased taxes for two years in a row.”
To ensure the financial soundness of the county, Suozzi’s administration has concentrated its efforts on improving the bond ratings for Nassau, he said.
“We got more bond upgrades than any municipality in America in one and a half years,” he said. “We are now fiscally stronger in Nassau County government than we have been in a dozen years.”
Suozzi also talked about pending developments for the Nassau HUB. The plan calls for lowering Hempstead Turnpike underground near the EAB Plaza and creating a “Central Business District” of approximately six office buildings.
Dubbed the “vision of new suburbia,” the HUB project includes a partnership with Computer Associates Founder and current New York Islanders owner Charles Wang. Wang’s vision for a new Nassau Coliseum, along with an adjacent athletic complex and a 60-story hotel-condo tower resembling a lighthouse, is estimated to cost $200 million. Suozzi said Nassau residents would benefit greatly from the new facilities.
“From the EAB Plaza to Hofstra University to the Roosevelt Field Mall, the county has a tremendous connection of local properties that could be a boulevard if they were connected to each other,” Suozzi said.
The last item on the agenda was the “Fix Albany” campaign. The venture was designed to implement politicians in New York’s capital that would unseat incumbent state legislators who have become complacent. Citing that New York local taxes are 72 percent above the national average, Suozzi said he has championed the fight to “improve the quality and efficiency of public officials in Albany.”
Not everyone has been impressed by the success of “Fix Albany.” Some politicians have criticized Suozzi for using the campaign as a stepping stone for a possible run at Governor in 2006.
“Tom Suozzi believes that the trick is reforming Albany, but he hasn’t yet told us how,” Westchester’s Assemblyman, Richard Brodsky, said in an interview this month in Newsday.
Suozzi brushed off the barbs, claiming they are nothing more than partisan attacks. He added that he has no plans to run for governor in the near future.