50.0°,
Overcast Nassau County, is it too late to say I’m sorry?
I think it’s finally time for Nassau County and me to kiss and make up.
If you’ve read my columns over the past few years, you know I’m not particularly fond of the government, the infrastructure or the people out here.
Four years after moving from my native Queens to East Meadow, I wrote a particularly scathing piece that I now wished I hadn’t. I want to admit now that I was wrong — or at least not in a position to be so judgmental at the time.
The gist of the column was that East Meadow — and Nassau County as a whole — stank. I complained about everything I could think of, from police to schools to sanitation.
Growing up, I had been sold on the fact that Nassau County was better than Queens, I wrote at the time. The schools were stronger, the services were better and the streets were safer, I had been told. In the column, I whined that that was complete hogwash and, if I had my druthers, I’d move back to Queens.
No, Nassau County isn’t a utopia. But what county is? A decade after moving here, I am counting my blessings.
First off, all four of our kids went to school in-person last year. If we still lived in Queens, they would have mostly learned remotely between September and June. As a teacher at a Queens high school, I see the deleterious effect that extra year of remote learning had on our students. But we largely dodged that in Nassau County.
And our schools aren’t just good, they’re great. The other day, my 10-year-old, Adriana, was playing her saxophone for my dad. Impressed with her skill, he asked where she was learning to play. “In school,” I replied.
I spent 12 years in parochial and public school in Queens, and after all that, I was able to play maybe a few notes on the recorder. I’ve heard Adriana’s elementary school band perform, and I would put them up against any high school band in Queens any day of the week.
My 15-year-old stepson, Jake, decided this year that he wants to play football. But if we still lived in Queens, there’d be no guarantee that his school would even have a team. Meanwhile, my 18-year-old stepson, Nicolas, is All-County in cross-country, and will likely be All-County in wrestling, too. That’s partly due to the amazing coaching staff and sports programs we have here. If he wrestled on a city team, there’s a chance his coach may not have ever wrestled competitively.
Elia, my 8-year-old, is still figuring out what she wants to do. She announced the other day she wanted to try field hockey. I love the fact that I was able to say, “Sure, hon. Whatever you want.” I don’t think they play field hockey in Queens.
When I wrote that column that I now regret, I intimated the Nassau County police weren’t making the streets any safer here than the New York Police Department was in Queens. Not true. The cops out here do a great job.
About three years ago, I slipped off my stoop and cut my head pretty badly. Jill called 911. I was amazed at how fast we had two officers in my living room. It’s very reassuring to know there’s always a patrol nearby.
While I escaped my life in Queens relatively unscathed, I was mugged at 11 and jumped and beaten up at 15. And those didn’t turn out to be isolated incidents. The high school I went to wasn’t the safest, and I had to be very careful where I ventured. I can count on one hand the number of times I ate lunch in the cafeteria. I probably used the restroom once in four years.
Thank God my kids will never have to experience that.
I also wrote that the Town of Hempstead sanitation guys often took their time plowing the streets after a snowstorm. But they did an amazing job of handling that blizzard a couple weeks back.
I’m still not wild about the pizza in these parts, but I’m not above admitting that a lot of what I wrote in that column years ago was unfair. So, Nassau County, here’s your metaphorical smooch. I hope you’ll forgive me.
Nick Buglione is a teacher, freelance journalist and former editor of the East Meadow Herald.
