Friday, February 7, 2025
Shortly after the dawn of this new year, residents of Bellmore were greeted by another in a decades-long series of crises stemming from the steady deterioration of Nassau County’s aging infrastructure.
On Jan. 6, Bellmore Avenue was closed in both directions between Sunrise Highway and Clarendon Avenue due to a water main break, which created a hazardous situation for motorists and massive traffic headaches on some of the county’s most heavily traveled roads. Our South Shore communities have been here before, with alarming frequency.
Last year, Baldwin was impacted by two major water main breaks, the first in June, which forced residents to go days without clean water, cost businesses thousands of dollars and necessitated a boil-water order from the county Department of Health for thousands in Baldwin, Island Park, Oceanside, Roosevelt and South Hempstead. Another, in September, beneath Winona Road, interrupted water service for 115 homes and caused severe flooding throughout the impacted area.
Both of these incidents involved pipes owned by the for-profit Liberty Water, which further underscores the importance of completing the transition to municipal water under the newly formed South Nassau Water Authority.
Then there were the spring and summer of 2023, during which the South Shore was thrown into disarray by three sinkholes in the space of two months. In May, Lido Boulevard, in Lido Beach, was badly damaged, and rendered impassable, by a sinkhole. In June, a 42-inch sewer main under Baldwin’s Grand Avenue failed, spilling untreated sewage into nearby Brookside Creek and the backyards of neighboring residents, causing environmental damage and making the road impassable until mid-July. Finally, in July, Foxhurst Road, in Oceanside, was closed following the eruption of an underground water main, which caused the road above to buckle.
All of this leads to one unavoidable conclusion: Nassau County has a serious infrastructure problem, which will only get worse if we don’t take decisive action now to address it once and for all. Unfortunately, County Executive Bruce Blakeman and his administration have demonstrated little drive for fulfilling the duties of his office, and that extends to his handling of Nassau’s capital infrastructure plan.
Each year we are directed by the county charter to adopt a capital infrastructure plan for the following year no later than Dec. 15. Since taking office in 2022, Blakeman and his administration have had three opportunities to enact a plan, but he has fulfilled this baseline governmental responsibility only once, despite repeated calls from my colleagues in government and me, as well as concerned citizens, to make infrastructure a top priority.
The capital plan for fiscal year 2025 is currently caught in a state of inertia because of the Blakeman administration’s refusal to negotiate and finalize a comprehensive and equitable plan. After meeting with the administration, the legislative minority submitted revisions to Blakeman as part of this process. Despite our repeated requests to meet and finalize the plan and a corresponding bond ordinance to fund projects, however, he has been unresponsive, further delaying implementation.
Not only could these delays further impede our ability to maintain, repair and update infrastructure so that we do not experience additional catastrophic failures, but Blakeman’s inaction is slamming the brakes on economic development opportunities in Nassau. Infrastructure projects are a key driver of good jobs across the spectrum of construction trades, and every day that this drags on further is another day that these hard-working men and women are deprived of a chance to put their skills to use in building our collective future.
Capital infrastructure plans — and specifically the borrowing that funds the projects in them — are one area in which we, in the Legislature’s Democratic minority, continue to hold bargaining power. Passing a bond ordinance requires a 13-vote supermajority, and we will not provide that 13th vote for additional borrowing until the Blakeman administration presents a fair and equitable capital plan proposal that meets the needs of the communities we serve and provides a clear plan for funding those projects.
Our infrastructure is in serious need of major investment, and the piecemeal approach currently in use will only delay the inevitable. It is time to implement a plan that serves all of the county’s 1.4 million residents and puts us on a road to a safer and more secure future.
Debra Mulé represents Nassau County’s 6th Legislative District and is the Legislature’s alternate deputy minority leader.
