Mangano makes a visit to Lakeview

The Lakeview community had a rare chance to get direct answers about county concerns from Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano last week when he visited the Lakeview Public Library.

Dozens of residents — including several children — turned out on April 6 to ask the executive about financial and other problems the county is experiencing.

“Do you think it’s possible for Nassau County to stop borrowing money in this tragic and treacherous economy?” asked Robert Castles, a sixth-grader at the Howard T. Herber Middle School in Malverne. “How can Nassau County stop borrowing?”

Mangano said his administration plans to stop borrowing completely by 2013 and that he will continue to make reforms and cuts, despite receiving “little cooperation” from across the political aisle. “This political nonsense is hurting people,” he said. “Our plan is to fix this county in a few years. We must come together to work together.”

The executive went on to tell residents that the county may have saved some $20 million as a result of restructuring, and that he plans to fully fund youth programs, a concern of many residents. Marshall Myers —  a resident of West Hempstead who, as an active community member and executive vice president of the West Hempstead Community Support Association, fought for more than a decade to have the crime-ridden Courtesy Hotel closed — said he was concerned about how the budget cuts would affect county police.

“[The] POP Unit is very important to our community,” Myers said, adding that he feared that cuts in the Problem Oriented Policing Unit may negatively effect the safety of the community.

In response, Mangano assured him and Lakeview residents that crime is down in the area and that more police officers are patrolling the streets. Deputy Police Chief Thomas Krumpter, who is replacing retiring Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey and joined Mangano at the meeting, responded to residents who complained about graffiti, encouraging them to report it so police can better track it.

Residents also raised concerns about the dangers of potholes along Woodfield Road, aiming their questions at Nassau County Public Works Commissioner Shila Shah-Ganordia, who also accompanied Mangano to the meeting. Some attendees complained that they have had to resort to dangerous driving, such as swerving into other lanes and oncoming traffic, to avoid potholes. Shah-Ganordia told them that the administration is aware of that the road needs to be resurfaced and that her department will temporarily fix the road with concrete come summertime.

Mangano attempted to end the meeting on a sympathetic note, telling residents that he understands the pain to be caused by the many layoffs proposed in his budget. He said he hopes to alleviate some of that pain by offering an early-retirement incentive to encourage higher paid employees to retire.

“We’re the administration that stands for you,” he said. “[A] little working together can get us through these tough times.”