Meet (some of) Bayville’s candidates

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Five Bayville residents vying for seats on the village’s Board of Trustees gathered at the Bayville Community Center for a Meet the Candidates forum on Monday. The candidates — all from the Bayville Revitalization Party — did their best to persuade the 60 or so audience members that they would be the best choice on Election Day. The contested positions are the mayor’s seat, three four-year trustee positions and the remaining two years of the term of Trustee Michele Principe, who died last December.

Five Taxpayer Party candidates declined, as a bloc, to attend the event, citing recent hostility on social media sites targeted at them, as well as a contentious campaign season. They said their feelings of frustration and anger were directed not at the candidates from the BRP, but rather at residents. Despite several attempts by moderator Laura Lane, senior editor of the Guardian, to persuade them that she would ensure that the forum remained civil, and that it was not a debate, but rather an opportunity for candidates to speak to residents about themselves, they said they would not be coming. Nameplates provided by the Guardian remained on the candidates’ table, Lane said, because she hoped that some, if not all, of the candidates might reconsider and attend. But that did not happen.

The room was quiet during the forum, and residents appeared to be very interested in what the candidates had to say. Carla Panetta, who has been campaigning for BRP, had called the Guardian prior to the forum sharing concerns that the event might be unruly. “The evening was well managed,” she said. “It was helpful that no one from the audience participated. No one even clapped.”

The forum

The first question to the candidates — “What will you do to unify Bayville?” — gave a nod to the allegations of contentiousness. The Revitalization candidates all cited examples of situations in which they had overcome sometimes tense political and professional disagreements.

Locust Valley Board of Education Trustee Erika Bruno, running for Principe’s half-term trustee seat, said that her experiences on the school board, and particularly budget negotiations, helped her look at the big picture in disputes and search for points of agreement amid disagreements. “As a [school] board member, I always try getting everybody to consensus,” Bruno said, “and the only way I think it could work, as far as unifying Bayville, is to find consensus among the two sides.”

Christopher Pflaumer, a candidate for trustee who chairs the Bayville Beautification Corp., disagreed with the premise that the campaign had been contentious, but responded, “The best way to [unify Bayville] is finding common ground, finding the middle point where you can both get what you want.”

Jennifer Jones, who works in technology and marketing, who is running for trustee, said that her profession often requires reconciling with people who sometimes don’t even have the same goal in mind. As for local politics, she said, “We all love Bayville. We’re all here for a lot of the same reasons.”

Alfred Avazis, who ran unsuccessfully for trustee two years ago, works in sales. He is running for a four-year trustee seat once again. He said that his job is about “sharing information, getting feedback and working with people who have come to a conclusion.” He added that contention was an unfortunate reality of elections, “but once the election’s over and you’re all sitting behind that dais in front of the village, that’s the time to come together and work as a team.”

Deputo Mayor Joseph Russo, who is running for mayor, said that in his four years on the board, he and other Revitalization Party members have worked with trustees from the Taxpayer Party on a regular basis. “Initially, it was very contentious, but I think that as time went on, we managed to work together,” Russo said. “I think we have a very good working relationship up on the board right now.”

On several of the issues raised at the forum, the candidates differed little. A new zoning regulation that limits the number of residential units built atop storefronts to five was supported unanimously. Rather than argue the merits of the measure, candidates took the opportunity to explain its nuances.

There was also unanimous support for a dog park — “We’re all dog owners up here,” Bruno noted. Russo said that there were several locations that could host such a park, that working with state and local environmental agencies would be critical to that effort, and that he thought Glen Cove’s new dog park would be a good model to follow.

Several residents submitted questions about the empty lot where Steve’s Pier, a seafood restaurant that closed down several years ago, used to be. Pflaumer said that after years of commercial proposals for the property that never panned out, he wanted to see the village rezone the lot to allow for residential properties to be built there.

Jones agreed, with a caveat that only single-family residences be allowed there to prevent overdevelopment. “It is private property,” Jones noted, “so I can have my wish list as long as I want,” but the village has limited options.

“One of our important jobs is to work with the other boards in town,” Avazis said, “and to find reasonable, creative ways to address that property.”

Russo noted that any zoning change to address Steve’s Pier would require the cooperation of the property owner, or else the village could face a lawsuit.

Weighing in on ways that village government could be run better, Jones said, “Better communication.” Keeping residents better informed, she added, would ease some of the frustrations residents expressed to her while she went door to door over the past two months. “From the perspective of a resident sitting in the audience [at a village meeting],” she continued, “you only see what you see from that side. You don’t see all the work that goes behind the scenes.”

After the forum

Negative social media posts continued during the days that followed the forum against members of the Taxpayer Party, leading at least one of its candidates to declare that they had made the right decision to decline to participate.

Several residents contacted the Guardian to voice their appreciation for the event. They said they felt better prepared for the election.

“In future I’d like to see both parties speak publicly,” Panetta said. “It’s important to see how they speak and how they react. When you’re going to be in charge of a $2 to $3 million budget, I think you should appear in public.”

Laura Lane contributed to this story.