Town of Oyster Bay Democrats want to protect everyone’s way of life

The three Democratic candidates running for seats on the Oyster Bay Town Board include a lesbian, an American man of African descent, and a man of Indian descent.

Danielle Medeiros, Sydney Martin and Ravin Chetram say flyers mailed to them from the town on several occasions that tout a commitment to “protect our way of life” angers and confuses them. To them, it’s a poorly veiled prejudicial message ignoring the fabric of the town’s diverse community they are part of. Worse, it implies their presence — and neighbors like them — may not be positive additions.

“What we bring to the table is truly what Oyster Bay is,” said Chetram, a businessman who’s also vice president of the Oyster Bay-East Norwich Chamber of Commerce, during a recent Herald Roundtable session.

“We bring our skillset, our experiences, but mostly who we are. We look like what people look like in the town, and the board doesn’t look like our district.”

All of the current town board members as well as town supervisor Joseph Saladino are Caucasian, which the Democratic candidates say does not represent the majority of residents living in the town.

Additionally, three board members and Saladino live in Massapequa, which Democrats say is an area that is ultimately favored unfairly by the local government. They’d like to see that change, and believe if they are on the board, it will happen.

Medeiros, an attorney who is a newbie to running for public office, said the issues that need addressed have nothing to do with the fact that everyone serving the town are Republican.

“There needs to be a different perspective on the board,” she said. “Not everything should be rubberstamped. There is a void in every sense of diversity there. That, coupled with serious ethical concerns, was the impetus for me to say, ‘Now is the time to run.’”

Chetram, Medeiros, and Martin — a pastor and retired New York City Fire Department firefighter — believe the road to change is to create electoral districts. If districts have a board member assigned to it, unfair practices by the town favoring areas where the majority of the board members live would cease to exist.

“I want an equitable spread of resources across the entire town,” Medeiros said. “Things should be done based on need, not on location.”

Martin lives in East Massapequa, which he referred to as the “other” Massapequa. Extensive roadwork has been performed in Massapequa, but not in his area, he said. He continues to wonder why the current board believes their completion of 35 percent of the town’s roadwork is something to instill pride.

“Joseph Saladino has been in office for seven years,” Martin said. “That’s 6 percent of roadwork a year.”

To “protect our way of life” also refers to a commitment by the town to stop Gov. Kathy Hochul from mandating any version of her vision to have housing units built near commuter rail lines. The town and other Long Island officials say they will stop this from happening so the suburbs do not become another borough of Manhattan.

All of the candidates agree that lack of affordable housing is a problem, and they’d like to see young people remain on Long Island. But Martin doesn’t agree that Hochul’s idea should be shelved entirely.

“They keep saying we don’t want to look like Brooklyn or Queens. Everyone came from there,” he said. “If we had something like an old brownstone here, I could put my mom on the ground floor, my wife and I could live on the second floor, and my adult children upstairs.”

Chetram would like to see changes made to benefit small businesses, and wants to see firsthand why “things aren’t being done for small businesses.” Sometimes when he is at a ribbon-cutting — which he arranges for the chamber — town representatives aren’t there.

“It’s not only embarrassing, it reflects on the town,” Chetram said. “The town hasn’t told the business what they need to do, and the landlords themselves don’t even know the situations for proper (certificates of occupancy) and permits. And I’m tired of it.

“That’s one of the reasons I’m doing this, to make sure business flows smoothly, and to have everything operational so they can run their business and make money.”

Medeiros, who lives in Farmingdale, says the town needs to control its wasteful spending — so-called “soft dealing.”

“If contracts are not properly vetted, residents don’t know if that’s the best rate they could have gotten, if it’s the efficient way to get it done,” she said. “Another example of wasteful spending is the salaries in Oyster Bay, which are very top-heavy. Raises were given to politically appointed officials — I think it was over $600,000, in October 2020, during Covid.”

Her work as an attorney would be beneficial, Medeiros said, because she could review legal documents and dissect and digest information quickly.

“I have to be completely unbiased every day,” she said. “I also operate under (a) very strict rules of ethics. What’s unique about me is I’m apolitical in my job. There have been serious ethical considerations in the town. Transparency is a huge part of my day. Unbiased transparency is what this town needs and deserves.”

She wants to collaborate with county officials and police. She would ensure education and awareness was provided to address discrimination.

“I would keep our town safe,” Medeiros said. “On a state level, the attorney general has a gun buyback program, and it’s successful in getting illegal guns off the street. That’s something we should consider.”

As for what that original flyer’s message to “protect our way of life” means, Medeiros continues to be baffled.

“Are you protecting our family values by not having any housing?” Medeiros asked. “Are you protecting our way of life for our seniors who worked hard to be here and now don’t want to leave or have nowhere to go? I’m not sure exactly what that means. If it’s not about protecting the way of life of minorities or the marginalized groups, then what is it?”