New Five Towns village candidates announced

Voting is on Sept. 15

Posted

With all that is happening, here is one more item to place on your calendar: village elections on Tuesday, Sept. 15

There will be contested elections for mayor, trustees and village justice in Lawrence. Incumbent Mayor Alex Edelman of the Unity Party is being opposed by Trustee Daniel Goldstein from the People’s Party for the two-year term.

With Trustee Syma Diamond stepping down and incumbent Trustee Uri Kaufman running on the Harmony Party ticket, there are six trustee candidates for two board seats. Paris Popack, president of the Lawrence Association, and Eli Kutner are running on the Unity ticket. Bruce A. Backman and Joel M. Preminger are the People’s Party candidates. J. Lawrence Kolodny is running under the Taxpayers Party banner. It is an at-large election. The two candidates with the most votes win the two-year terms. 

Running for re-election on the Unity slate is Village Justice Gary Mandel, who succeeded Donald Buchalter after his retirement in 2018. Mandel was the village prosecutor for 14 years.  Mandel is being challenged by Shraga Rokosz of the People’s Party for the four-year term.

Voting will be held at the Lawrence Yacht & Country Club at 101 Causeway in Lawrence from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Because of the coronavirus pandemic social distancing guidelines will be maintained.

In Hewlett Harbor Mayor Mark Weiss, is opposed by Ron Austin, a senior level executive in the mortgage industry. Kim Volman and David Mosayo are challenging incumbent Trustees Thomas Cohen and Kenneth Kornblau. Volman is the CEO Citiva NY and Citiva USA, a New York City-based cannabis medicine company.

It is the first contested race since 2018 when former deputy commissioner of the Town of Hempstead’s Building Department John Novello ran as a challenger.

Cohen has been a trustee since 2010 and Kornblau since 2007. They are the village’s police commissioner and deputy commissioner respectively.

Voting is from noon to 9 p.m. at Village Hall, 449 Pepperidge Road in Hewlett Harbor.

Unopposed elections

Atlantic Beach Mayor George Pappas and Trustees Linda Baessler and Edward Sullivan are running for re-election.

Hewlett Bay Park’s mayor, Steven Kaufman is running for his ninth term. Trustee Joel Gail Rubel is also running for re-election. Trustee Joel Schneider is not. Dr. Antonio Oliviero is the trustee candidate.

Ross Epstein is running for a fifth term as Hewlett Neck mayor, and incumbent Trustees Steven Hochberg and Aron Schnell are also seeking re-election.

Carl Cayne is seeking his eighth term in Woodsburgh. Trustee Barry Platnick is not running. David Perl is the candidate.  

Updated to reflect the omssion of J. Lawrence Kolodyny from the newspaper story and two other corrections.