No bonus $3 million for Five Towns

Planning continues for NY Rising reconstruction projects

Posted

The Five Towns NY Rising Community Reconstruction Program Committee was not one of the eight winners of a bonus $3 million that will be used to implement the post-Hurricane Sandy rebuilding projects that have been proposed as winners were announced in Albany Wednesday.

Fifty committees statewide, including 13 in Nassau County, competed for the extra money. The Five Towns is expected to receive a total of $27.6 million from a tital of more than $650 million for projects in Lawrence, Cedarhurst, Woodmere, Meadowmere Park, Hewlett Bay Park and Hewlett Neck to repair damage, mitigate fllodding and improve communication.

Bob Block, co-chair of the Five Towns’ committee, said it was important to keep a positive outlook. “We are now working forward to guidance on how the governments start the implementation process,” he said. “It was an honor to present what was accomplished in the Five Towns.”


In the Five Towns, project focus is on infrastructure, access to evacuation routes, and studying the coastline, Block said. “We need to do a better job of informing our residents the location of and access to these routes,” he said. “Our infrastructure projects for mitigating flood waters are not a one-size-fits-all approach.”

The committee’s plans for infrastructure include the use of pervious paving, bios Wales (natural grass and tree structures that collect storm waters) and rain gardens, and increasing the pipe capacity for rainwater. “The pipes serve as a repository for rain water, collecting it after storms,” Block said.

Block said that his committee listened to several different perspectives. “We did it more with our ears, followed New York state protocol, and experts,” he said. “We listened to our neighbors. And mayors. We spent a lot of time gathering information, and with that, we came up with our plan.”

Prior to the presentations, several elected officials spoke, including Nassau County Ed Mangano, who noted the effect of Sandy on his county. “Many of us remember the storm as if it were yesterday,” Mangano said. “There have been 5,000 county residents who have received more than $212 million in NY Rising money.”

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who was remembered by Block for his visit to the Five Towns Community Center before Thanksgiving 2012 to help hand out turkeys, said the job is not done in proceeding with the infrastructure work. “Implementation of these project plans is even harder than conceptualization and planning it,” he said. “Seeing development does wonders for the morale of the community. Don’t lose that unity.”