Candidates kick off campaigns

The candidates running for seats in the village election on March 18 were announced last week, after the Feb. 11 deadline to submit petitions passed.

The incumbents, running on the United Community Party ticket, are Mayor Ed Fare, Trustees Vincent Grasso and Dermond Thomas, and Judge Robert Bogle, who is running unopposed for re-election as village justice. Challenging Fare, Grasso and Thomas are Marty Zirpolo, Ingrid Izaguirre and Johanna David-Young, respectively, who are running on the Neighborhood Party ticket.

Fare said his campaign would be run mostly on weekends, as his mayoral duties require his attention during the week and his governing and campaigning must be kept separate. The UCP held a fundraiser on Feb. 8 that Fare called successful, with more than 300 people attending. He said that no more are planned, but another is not being ruled out.

Ellen Ingber, a campaign manager for the Neighborhood Party, said her candidates held a fundraiser on Sunday. Turnout was lower than expected due to bad weather, she said, but fundraising will continue as the campaign progresses.

Both campaigns said they would focus on face-to-face meetings with residents as they canvass neighborhoods, as well as promotion via signs and mailings.

Ingber said that development in the village would be a central issue to her party’s platform, with new and proposed multistory buildings looming large in the minds of many residents she has spoken to. “Multistory buildings shouldn’t just be plopped into empty lots,” she said. “It needs to fit into the surroundings. Valley Stream has to change, but there has to be a plan.”

She said that a building’s impact on traffic, schools, nearby homes and other factors needs to be fully understood before it’s built, and objected to projects that have been approved by the board without traffic studies. She described Rockville Centre’s development as smart and coordinated.

“Valley Stream is not doing that,” Ingber said. “Valley Stream has no viable plan for where to build and how to build.”