Village voting on June 19

There are 19 seats up for grabs in six villages in the Five Towns on June 19. Seven are contested, including mayor of Lawrence, the second-largest village by population in the Five Towns, behind Cedarhurst.

Lawrence, Atlantic Beach and Hewlett Harbor all have two incumbents facing a single challenger in an at-large election, in which the two highest vote-getters win. All terms are two years.

Lawrence

Deputy Mayor Michael Fragin is challenging incumbent Mayor Alex Edelman, who was elected in 2016, when the previous mayor, Martin Oliner, reached his limit of three two-year terms.

Edelman said he wants to stay in office, believing that he still has work to do and knows how to get it done. “I think I know this community, and I want to do what’s best for the village,” he said. “This isn’t a political career for me, this is a job . . . I’m interested in getting the job done.”

In 2016, Edelman was unopposed. Asked why he didn’t run that year, Fragin said, “It wasn’t the right time. Now it is.”

Asked what his priorities would be in a second term, Edelman spoke passionately about improving the Lawrence Yacht & Country Club. He said he would like to add an aquatic center and a coffee shop, and make other improvements, using funds from the development of homes on former sewage plant land on Rock Hall Road.

The property has been a topic of debate at the past several village meetings, with Edelman and Trustee Uri Kaufman disagreeing on the best use of the land. The lot is zoned for seven single-family homes, but Kaufman had wanted to investigate the possibly of building a hotel there, though he has recently backed away from that idea. “Why put up a commercial property that will cause commotion and traffic?” Edelman said. Some 25 people, he said, have expressed interest in the proposed homes.

Fragin said he wished the issue had been debated more privately, and that the board would come to a collective decision. He said he wanted to look into other possibilities besides homes, but was not in favor of a building a hotel. “My basic feeling is that the property should have a public benefit to all the residents of the village,” he said.

Lawrence trustee race

Kaufman is running for a second term, and is being challenged by Stanley Kopilow and Syma Diamond. Since his disagreement with the mayor, Kaufman said, “We looked at a hotel and determined it doesn’t make sense, but there are other possibilities. Maybe an assisted-living facility, a different number of houses, a yeshiva voiced tentative interest … We only get one chance at this.”

He also said he believes in transferring ownership of the golf course to a private owner, and would like to see a monitored enclosure at the Lawrence train station to keep bicycles safe and dry.

Diamond is also running for her second term “because I’m raising children in the village and want it to be a wonderful place for others to raise their children as well,” she said.

She said she would like to see homes “in character with the village” on the sewage plant land, and upgrades to Zion Park on Central Avenue.

Kopilow, the newcomer in the race, has been a Lawrence resident since 1977, and was raised in Cedarhurst. He too said he would like to see the sewage plant land become a series of homes, adding that he believes there is a demand, and that the additional tax revenue could be used to improve the country club, which he called “the gem of the community.”

“Most villages never had the foresight to put aside land,” Kopilow said. “And it seems to me that there are people on the board who don’t know what a gem we have.”

The Lawrence Association will host a Meet the Candidates night at the Lawrence Yacht & Country Club, 101 Causeway, at 8 p.m. on June 14.

Atlantic Beach

Kevin Kelley is challenging Trustees Linda Baessler and Edward Sullivan for their seats on the village board, and Mayor George Pappas is running for re-election unopposed.

“I’m not a politician,” said Baessler, a trustee since 2009. “I consider myself a public servant.”

She said she is running to continue helping the village move forward. “We’ve made a lot of progress in improving the village, from banning short-term rentals and lowering the speed limit on Park Street from 30 to 25 mph,” she said. “We should keep plugging away, trying to make improvements.”

All three candidates cited safety along Park Street, the village’s main road, as one of their top concerns. Nassau County will renovate the roadway in 2019, but there are other concerns. “We’ve worked with Nassau County police to have as much enforcement as possible,” Sullivan said. “We’ll be getting more coverage this summer thanks to our efforts.”

Sullivan said he would also like to continue not only improving the village’s infrastructure, but also adding community activities like the campout on the beach, the fall festival and the start-of-season beach cleanup. “I want to keep improving the community atmosphere,” he said.

Kelley inherited his mother’s home in Atlantic Beach in 2014, and moved to the village full-time in 2016. An avid bicyclist, he said he was as concerned as anyone about vehicles speeding on Park Street, likening the road to a “drag strip” and saying that drivers treat it like it’s the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

He took issue with the lack of support in the village for a proposed plastic bag ban. Kelley said he believes that if officials won’t follow Long Beach’s lead and institute a fee on the bags, they should voice their support for such a measure as the County Legislature debates it. “The board hasn’t been proactive enough,” he said. “The oceans are choking with plastic.”

Mayor George Pappas is running for his third term unopposed. Pappas and Sullivan made many of the same points about infrastructure improvements and community events. “I’m looking forward to working with our trustees,” said Pappas, citing the work on the village’s tennis center as a project he wants to complete.

Hewlett Harbor

Hewlett Harbor also has three candidates running for two seats on the board, and a mayor running for re-election unopposed.

Mayor Mark Weiss is seeking his fourth term. “In my point of view, it’s a privilege to be a mayor,” he said. “I’m running because of what I and trustees have been able to do over the last few years: build strong relationship with all the utilities, gas, water and Verizon. Working with them, we’ve been able to rebuild our infrastructure to large extent … We’ve paved half our village at about 20 percent of the cost because we’re wired in with the utilities.”

Incumbent Trustee Thomas Cohen is running for his fifth term, and was named village police commissioner in 2016. Cohen has focused on improving relationships between the village and the Nassau County Police Department’s 4th Precinct. “This has resulted in better communication between homeowners, the village and first responders and, more importantly, a safer neighborhood,” he said. “Home robberies have been reduced, and our roads are safer for pedestrians and drivers alike.”

Kenneth Kornblau, a trustee since 2007 and the deputy police commissioner, said he believes he fills a vital role on the board. “As the only lawyer and real estate professional on the village board,” he said, “I believe I add an important dimension by being able to judiciously examine issues relating to our Village Code, as well as negotiating complex contracts that come before us, including in our negotiations with area utilities and providers of state and federal grants.”

Challenger John Novello moved to Hewlett Harbor from Cedarhurst last August. He was the chairman of the Cedarhurst zoning board, and is currently the deputy commissioner of the Town of Hempstead’s Building Department.

Novello said he believes he can represent new community members and longtime residents. He expressed concern about what he described as a lack of improvements in village flood mitigation. “It’s important that something gets done,” he said. “We’re surrounded by water.”

Uncontested races

All the candidates in Hewlett Bay Park, Hewlett Neck and Woodsburgh are running unopposed.

In Hewlett Bay Park, Mayor Steven Kaufman is running for his eighth term. He was first elected in 2002, and has been involved in village government for 26 years. Trustees Joel Schinder and Gail Rubel and Village Justice Stephanie Kaufman are running for re-election.

Ross Epstein is campaigning for his fourth term as Hewlett Neck mayor. Incumbent Trustees Steven Hochberg and Aron Schnell are also up for re-election.

The village’s former mayor, Mitchell Dix, is running for the new position of village justice. “I want the position for the same reason I was mayor: I see an opportunity to help the community,” he said.

Two trustee seats are up in Woodsburgh. Carl Cayne and Barry Platnick are both running for re-election, Cayne for his eighth term and Platnick for his third term.

Have an opinion about the village elections? Send your letter to the editor to jbessen@liherald.com.