Quartet of Five Towns villages have Uncontested elections

Incumbents running for re-election in Hewlett Bay Park, Hewlett Harbor, Hewlett Neck and Woodsburgh are running unopposed in the June 21 elections.

Hewlett Bay Park incumbent Trustees Gail Rubel and Antonio Olivero and Mayor Alex Salomon are running for two-year terms. Incumbent Trustee Renee Zylberberg is running for a one-year term and Village Justice Stephanie Kaufman is running for a four-year term.

Rubel, a Hewlett High School alumnus, grew up in the village. Though she left in 1980 to attend college and law school, she returned to the village in 2003.

Rubel’s father was a long-time member of the village zoning board. “I thought I too should fulfill my civic duty for the village so [I] became a trustee in 2013,” she wrote in an email. Rubel plans to keep fulfilling that civic duty as trustee — a title that she has held consecutively since 2013.

Salomon, a village resident since 1996, has served on the village board for 26 years —as a trustee, as deputy mayor and mayor. He believes “that every individual should play an active role in the community he or she resides in,” he wrote in an email, and added that it is a privilege to live in Hewlett Bay Park.

He is committed to the community’s future. “We owe it to the next generation to hand them over a highly desired, diversified community,” Salomon wrote, “living in harmony where all residents are proud of its history and heritage.”

Zylberberg, a Five Towns resident since 1986, has lived in the village since 2013. Former mayor, Steve Kaufman, had asked her to become involved previously, however life — from raising her children or caring for ill parents — imposed.

Kaufman moved out of the village this year. Salomon became the mayor and his trustee seat opened up. Salomon asked Zylberberg if she would join the board. “The time was just right,” Zylberberg said. She was appointed in April. 

Zylberberg said she has always been interested in what is happening in her community and thinks that she can make a difference, and believes her experience as an attorney gives her a skill set which aids her service on the board.

Stephanie Kaufman and Olivero did not respond to comment before the Herald went to press.

In Hewlett Harbor, Mayor Mark Weiss and incumbent Trustees Thomas Cohen  and Kenneth Kornblau are running for two-year terms.

Kornblau, a Hewlett Harbor resident since 1993, became involved with the board in 2002 on different project committees and, after serving on those committees for five years, became a trustee in 2007.

He said he serves on the board as his way of giving back to the community and help ensure that the village “thrives,” he said, through hardships such as Hurricane Sandy and Covid.

Because of his background in real estate and law, along “with the complementary skill sets,” Kornblau said, of fellow trustees, the village board has been successful and the village has remained “one of the friendliest and most tranquil and beautiful in the world.”

Weiss, a Hewlett Harbor resident since 1994, became a trustee in 2004. He became mayor three years later. Weiss pointed to the village improvements under his administration, including infrastructure upgrades, improved security, paving roads and mitigating flooding. He is “determined, over the next two years,” Weiss said, to work with the board to preserve the village and keep it appealing to new families.

Cohen, a Hewlett Harbor resident for at least 30 years, has served the village since roughly 2002.  As a resident, Cohen feels it is his duty to contribute and give back to the beautiful community of Hewlett Harbor, he said.

Hewlett Neck incumbent Trustees Aron Schnell and Moshe Blinder, along with Mayor Ross Epstein, are running for two-year terms. Incumbent Village Justice Brett Cooper is running for a four-year.

Blinder, a Hewlett Neck resident for five years, has been on the board for two years and enjoys “the civic responsibility of helping our village and its residents,” he wrote in an email.

He wants to stay involved on the board because “I care deeply about my community [and] have a passion to enhance and ensure its integrity,” he wrote. “We're also working on some great projects I want to see to fruition.” 

Epstein, a Hewlett Neck resident since 2010, was appointed by former Mayor Stu Troyetsky to be on the Village Roads Commission. Epstein served on the commission for nearly one year before Troyetsky decided not to run for re-election and asked Epstein to run for mayor in 2012. Epstein won and has held the position since.

“I enjoy working with our past and present board of trustees and village staff,” Epstein said, “and if I can continue to help our community, I am very happy to do so.”

Schnell and Cooper did not respond to comment before the Herald went to press.

Woodsburgh incumbent trustees Carl Cayne and Shira Hoschander are running two-year terms. Both did not respond for comment before the Herald went to press.

Voting for Hewlett Bay Park is at Village Hall on 30 Piermont Ave., Hewlett.

Hewlett Harbor voting takes place at Village Hall, 449 Pepperidge Road, Hewlett Harbor.

Woodsburgh and Hewlett Neck residents can cast ballots at the Keystone Yacht Club on 190 Woodmere Blvd. South, Woodmere.

Voting for all villages will take place from noon to 9 pm.