In defense of Darcy

To the Editor:

As for dumping Jim Darcy (“Time to retire Murray and dump Darcy,” July 7-13), many of us would yell a resounding “no.” Ever since he started in public life, Mr. Darcy has done so much for his (and our) Valley Stream.

When he first became mayor, he worked to bring Valley Stream back to its former self. At that point, the village was $1 million in the red, and he made it a $1 million surplus. Mr. Darcy and his board raised the Moody’s rating to A3. And he did it without raising taxes.

As for the children, if it weren’t for Ed Cahill and Jim Darcy, the roller rink in front of the Valley Stream train station would not exist. Now, people want to expand that area for skateboarding.

As councilman, he has worked tirelessly helping to maintain taxes at reasonable rates and responding to all his constituents that ask for help.

He is a person that gives of himself to attain great things for Valley Stream. Not too many people are willing to give up their precious time to help the county or village.

Concerning the FEMA dilemma, he started the communication among area residents, FEMA, Sen. Charles Schumer and Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy. Several meetings were organized by him to help his constituents.

Since the federal government is responsible for what FEMA does, they should be held responsible for the mess that was created. If you want to dump someone, let’s try Senator Schumer and Congresswoman McCarthy. They work for the federal government and should share the blame to clean it up. People are hurting. They have the jurisdiction; let them use it.

Mr. Darcy has worked flawlessly for us in the past, and I have no reservation that he is not going to do the same now.

Ed and Carolyn Lenahan

Valley Stream