Oceanside GOP club talks Hochul, Albany and baseball

Assemblyman Brian Curran made it clear at the Oceanside Republican Club meeting on Feb. 8 that he was not the biggest fan of the housing plan in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s recently proposed budget. “The entire plan will redefine Nassau and Suffolk,” Curran said.

The club welcomed members, their family members and friends to the VFW hall on Weid-ner Avenue for a visit from State Sen. Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick and Mordechai Twersky, account executive for the Brooklyn Cyclones. Baseball — and Hochul’s spending plan for the state — were hot topics of discussion.

The governor is seeking the construction of 800,000 housing units to address the statewide housing shortage. Her plan would include a mandate that the supply of affordable housing increase by 3 percent every three years in both Nassau and Suffolk counties. If localities did not meet this quota, the state would have the option of overriding local zoning laws and developing higher-density housing within half a mile of Long Island Rail Road stations.

“There’s no available space,” Curran when asked where developers would find land that could be rezoned for multiple-unit housing. “Developers may try to buy land from property owners.”

Hochul’s plan is to build higher-density housing for transit-oriented communities, with working families in mind, as she said in her 2023 State of the State speech on Jan. 10.

Town of Hempstead board members created an online petition called “Stop Governor Kathy Hochul’s Urbanization Plan,” which had garnered nearly 16,000 signatures as the Herald went to press.

Curran believes Oceanside is in a unique position to effect that change, given the Republican majority in the Assembly, and he urged club members to sign the petition.

Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick summarized the main topics of discussion among Republicans in Albany — election law, budget hearings, bail reform and public safety. “I am here to serve you,” she said, encouraging club members to connect with her by visiting her office or through social media.

The club’s executive leaders, Craig Mollo, the Town of Hempstead’s deputy commissioner of highways, and Thomas Cesiro III, president of the Cesiro Insurance Agency in Oceanside, host events that mix policy discussion and networking with fun activities, such as Pasta & Politics: Meet your Candidates and the Oceanside GOP Candidates Breakfast. The club is a subgroup of the Nassau County Republican Committee.

“We always like to bring in a guest speaker to entertain or pique the crowd’s interest,” Cesiro said of the idea of inviting Twersky to speak. “I’ve been to the (Cyclones) games, and it was a lot of fun.”

Twersky told the crowd about his experience working with the team, answered their questions and handed out Cyclones caps. Members entered a raffle at the beginning of the night for a chance to win a baseball bobblehead doll, and member Barbara Davis had the winning number.

“I think it is wonderful to have guests come and talk,” Davis said. “Especially (government) representatives, because we normally don’t get to see them, if not on TV, and the more they associate with the people, the more you want to vote for them.”