Darien Ward pushes for data-driven governance in Hempstead

During two stints as president of the Baldwin Civic Association, Darien Ward learned an important lesson: political pressure works.

Now, Ward wants to bring that experience to the Hempstead Town Board, making his first foray into politics, challenging Republican Laura Ryder for her seat.

Ward says he’s always understood the important of town government, but felt called to serve after a building moratorium was imposed — and then lifted — in Baldwin by Hempstead town officials. The confusion there showed him government needs to be transparent and accountable, and if elected, vows to ensure town business is not conducted in the dark.

“There has to be a commitment,” Ward told reporters as part of a recent Herald Roundtable session. “If you really want government to be a partner with the community, then you have to be as transparent as you can be.”

Ward favors creating more housing for people struggling to make ends meet in one of the most expensive regions in America to live. But he said he isn’t in favor of inundating already overburdened communities with a glut of housing. Instead, Ward would create a town database of housing stock — available to the public — so people can easily identify which communities need smart housing.

“My system is very simple,” Ward said. “Affordable housing needs to be defined. Many people use the word ‘affordable,’ but don’t really understand the term. Affordable housing should be a data-driven process, meaning the Town of Hempstead should know where the housing stock is and what kind of housing it has. We should know how much senior housing we have, and where. We should know how many single-family homes we have, and where.”

That process, Ward said, would result in better housing options that meet the needs of individual communities while making neighbors part of the process.

“How do we now make decisions as to where we could put affordable housing?” Ward asked.

Part of his plan includes creating walkable downtowns with small businesses supported by apartments.

“We need to have a concentration of young people that will keep the vitality of some of our communities,” Ward said. “You can’t just have laundromats and dry cleaners everywhere. Each community has something special that makes it unique, makes it a destination. Let’s encourage that.”

To further highlight his emphasis on making the function of town government open, Ward said he would host “State of the District” meetings in neighborhoods to encourage involvement.

“We can be more accountable,” he said. “We can be more proactive. We can be more visible. Government can better serve its constituents by being that way. I will change the tenor of government from just being reactive to being proactive.”

Infrastructure issues over the past several months and the proposed Liberty Water rate hikes have especially shown the need for government to be proactive. Ward said officials in charge of governance should anticipate problems and work to fix them early, rather than complaining after-the-fact.

“You knew about this. It was on the horizon for X number of years,” Ward said. “Why, then, all of a sudden, are we reacting to it rather than being proactive? My conversation is going to be setting a climate of anticipating what the problems could be, and not just waiting for problems to happen.”

If elected, Ward said he would work to ensure an equitable distribution of resources throughout the town.

“You want people’s vote? You want people to accept government?” Ward asked. “We need to be visible and be on the ground in communities.”