Letters to the Editor: East Rockaway, Lynbrook

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The letter concerning the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant written by the Legislature’s Democrat minority leader, Kevan Abrahams, was distressing (“Let’s rebuilld the sewage plants the right way,” Aug. 15-21). Abrahams, who represents Hempstead, Uniondale and Roosevelt, tries to justify the unjustifiable: his and his legislative caucus’s inexplicable refusal to fund the reconstruction of this critical piece of infrastructure from Sandy-caused damage. Abrahams doesn’t care that his caucus’s actions are condemning my constituents — residents of Bay Park, East Rockaway, Oceanside, Island Park and others — to more terrible odors and fouled waterways. He also doesn’t care that he is endangering the health and safety of the Nassau’s entire South Shore.

Abrahams’ rationale is illogical and cynical. He says that he is merely safeguarding expenditures of tax dollars. Nothing can be further from the truth! He also ignores a major fact: under Democratic control, Nassau was left with a $350 million-plus deficit, as well as the Bay Park plant teetering on utter collapse after a decade of neglect.

The Bay Park plant is a complex, integrated unit. It doesn’t operate properly and isn’t a good neighbor post-Sandy because Abrahams won’t allocate money to fix it. Repairing just some portions may sound good but accomplishes nothing. Experts have testified that repairs must all be done together, starting with the severely corroded electrical system, to be done right. My Democrat colleagues also endanger much-needed federal funding for the plant’s repair so future storms do not cause raw sewage to back up in people’s homes again.

If we demonstrate our seriousness by authorizing the critical spending needed to safeguard the plant against future weather events, and to build the long-needed ocean outfall pipe, Nassau will more than likely obtain 90 percent federal funding. But if we listen to Mr. Abrahams and sit on our hands and not take protective measures to fix and mitigate the plan, no aid will come.  

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