Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Growing up in Levittown and now raising my family just doors from the home where I was raised, I’ve seen firsthand what makes our suburban way of life so special — safe neighborhoods, good schools, and a culture that values family and hard work. As a Nassau County legislator, I have made it my responsibility to protect those values.
When the prior administration scheduled $150 million in property tax hikes, I stood firm and helped stop it. I worked to cut over $70 million in property taxes, and have frozen property taxes in every budget since. At the same time, I helped make Nassau the safest county in America by investing in police, increasing neighborhood patrols and ensuring that law enforcement has the resources it needs to fight crime.
In addition to holding the line on taxes and keeping neighbors safe, being an elected official is also about standing up when outside forces try to change who we are. And when you’re the supervisor of America’s largest township, that responsibility is even greater — because you’re the last line of defense between local families and extremist politicians in Albany who think they know better than we do.
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s so-called “Housing Compact” is the perfect example. While it has been repackaged, renamed and reintroduced by state legislators over the past three years, the goal is the same every time: to override local zoning, strip away community input and force high-density, city-style housing into residential neighborhoods.
From mandating thousands of new apartments near every Long Island Rail Road station to allowing spot zoning — which means large-scale buildings could go up right next to single-family homes — this plan would have a devastating impact on local schools, traffic, parking and emergency services. For residents like us, it would mean a massive strain on infrastructure, with overcrowded classrooms, overflowing parking, and longer response times for police and first responders. It would be an irreversible blow to the suburban character our families have spent generations building.
This flawed policy is a direct attack on local control — just like congestion pricing. Thanks to the governor, hardworking Long Islanders are now slammed with a $9 tax every time they drive into Manhattan — a steep penalty for thousands of residents who rely on their cars for work, medical appointments and everyday responsibilities. Worse, none of the revenue returns to our local communities. Instead, it funds the chronically mismanaged Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which has long prioritized New York City while neglecting Long Island’s needs. That’s not a transit plan — it’s a commuter tax on the middle class.
These are the kinds of attacks on our way of life that our town supervisor must be ready to stop — because no one else is going to do it for us.
I’ve already shown that I’m willing to take on tough fights. I helped block a massive county tax increase, fought to deliver a property tax cut, and never stopped pushing to make Long Island more affordable. I stood with police when others stayed silent. And I stood with taxpayers every time Albany reached into our wallets.
Now I’m running for town supervisor to take that fight to the next level — to protect our neighborhoods, defend our zoning laws and preserve the quality of life that generations of Long Islanders have worked to build. For me, this job isn’t about politics. It’s about standing up for our way of life.
John Ferretti represents Nassau County’s 15th Legislative District and is the Republican candidate for Hempstead town supervisor.
