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Vote on precinct lease this Monday
Seeking details on project, residents to address Legislature
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Legislator Kevan Abrahams told residents that their questions would be answered prior to any vote on the proposed 1st Precinct lease deal. To make sure that happens, residents, including Baldwin Oaks Civic Association President Jackie Bell, right, plan to attend next Monday’s meeting of the county Legislature.
Mike Russo/Herald
A small group of Baldwin residents are preparing to take a stand against the Nassau County Legislature on Monday.
Armed with feelings of outrage and tough questions, area residents plan to ask legislators to postpone the vote on a lease that would authorize the construction of a new 1st Police Precinct in the Rosen Shopping Center on Grand Avenue until they have more information about the deal, which they say was done without notifying the public.
"It seems like you guys already made the decision for us," resident Enock Charlotin told Legislator Kevan Abrahams (D-Hempstead) at a meeting of the Baldwin Oaks Civic Association on Nov. 4.
Charlotin was one of a dozen residents who were questioning why the county was choosing to lease property to build the precinct, which would mean that residents would be paying for the construction, maintenance, rent and taxes on the new facility. He wanted to know why the county did not purchase a free-standing building like the former National Wholesale Liquidators building, which was for rent when the county was looking at different locations to build the new precinct.
Resident Joe Keegan agreed, as did most residents, that a new precinct was needed, but felt that purchasing property for the precinct, even it meant paying more initially, would be a better deal in the long run. "The precinct has to be moved ... wherever you move it, someone is going to complain," he said. "We'd like to have [the precinct] in Baldwin — maybe we can't have it in Baldwin. But to enter into a deal like that is a swindle. Go buy a piece of land. You don't want to be obligated to a landlord and get yourself tied up at this expense."
Abrahams, who led the meeting in place of Legislator Joe Scannell (D-Baldwin), who could not attend, said that county officials had explored a number of properties to purchase and build the new precinct, but because Scannell wanted to keep the police in Baldwin, their options were limited. He added that he is not aware of any Baldwin building other than the two-acre space in the Rosen Shopping Center that is suitable for such a facility.
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