Valley Stream remembers Minerva

Dominick Minerva was a relative newcomer to Valley Stream when he was elected to the village’s Board of Trustees in 1971. Four years later, at age 34, he became the youngest mayor in the state.

Minerva died on Aug. 6 after a battle with lung cancer. He was 71. Those who knew him remember him as an honest man, a great lawyer and a mayor who was ahead of his time.

The Brooklyn native moved to Valley Stream in the late 1960s and quickly got involved in local politics. In 1970 he ran for the State Assembly against a popular incumbent, but was unsuccessful despite strong support in Valley Stream. The following spring he was elected to the village board as the top vote-getter. He also ran for Assembly and lost in 1972.

Minerva graduated from law school in 1966. He was a prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice and worked with the Rackets Bureau of the Nassau County district attorney’s office. In 1973, he opened his own practice with Albert D’Agostino, a partnership that continued until Minerva’s death.

“He was a brilliant lawyer,” D’Agostino said. “He was very task-oriented. Once he started something, he didn’t stop until it was accomplished.”

Minerva had two children, Matthew and Dominick Jr. He is also survived by his wife, Linda, and grandson, Cole.

Legal career

Minerva and D’Agostino met outside the Valley Stream American Legion hall in the summer of 1967, at a Republican Club meeting. Their paths would cross several times over the next few years.

“Dominick always wanted to start his own firm,” said D’Agostino, who graduated from law school three years after Minerva. “He was the one who actually had the idea, and it was a good idea. I don’t know that there are too many partnerships in Nassau County that lasted as long as ours.”

And perhaps contrary to the typical practice of attorneys, their partnership was based solely on a handshake, D’Agostino explained. He couldn’t recall one argument between the two men, who became good friends and even once lived on the same street.

Their practice started out in a small storefront on Merrick Road, and is now next to Village Hall.

According to Dominick Minerva Jr., who became a partner several years ago, his father’s specialties included real estate, land use and zoning, and municipal and labor law. “He loved it,” Dominick Jr. said. “He loved practicing law and he loved being in business.”

Vincent Ang, the village clerk from 1992 to 2010, said that Minerva was the coveted attorney for developers appearing before the Board of Zoning Appeals. “Dominick knew the village and he knew the codes thoroughly,” Ang said. “His impact definitely can be seen. If it was a major project in the village, you could guess that he was involved.”

Ang said that Minerva’s biggest mark on the community is probably the King Kullen shopping center. He represented the developers in what was a very controversial proposal.

Village Justice Robert Bogle knew Minerva well. He often appeared in court, representing clients charged with zoning or code violations. Bogle said that Minerva always sought resolutions that were fair to both his clients and to the village. “He wasn’t one of those tricky lawyers,” Bogle said.

D’Agostino said that while both partners ran the law firm, it was Minerva who was the primary business administrator and spent the most time mapping out business strategy. Three days before Minerva’s death, D’Agostino visited him in the hospital, and they talked about ongoing cases.

Minerva must have known his time was coming to an end, D’Agostino said, because he spent the last several months tying up loose ends at the firm. Then again, that was no different from his typical day at the office. “He couldn’t leave until he finished everything he felt he had to accomplish,” D’Agostino said.

Dominick Jr. said that his father was the reason he got into law. “He was definitely my mentor,” he said.

Leading the village

The 1970s were the beginning of tempestuous times in Valley Stream politics. Minerva ran for trustee on the Republican Party line in 1971, beside mayoral candidate Tom Ward.

But the Republicans dropped Ward for the 1975 election, and picked Minerva as their candidate. He won a three-way race against Ward, who was running on the new Integrity Party line, and Democrat Frank Giampa.

Minerva became the first mayor whose roots in Valley Stream did not go back many years. His agenda included ambitious plans to beautify the village, focusing on its parks. According to Bogle, he sought to make the Village Green the centerpiece, and also spearheaded revitalization efforts at Barrett and Hendrickson parks.

As mayor, Minerva sought Housing and Urban Development money from the federal government to improve the village’s aging infrastructure. Many residents, however, feared that would mean the addition of low-income housing projects in Valley Stream, and fought the plan. In a rematch in the 1979 election, Ward defeated Minerva with 61 percent of the vote.

Minerva would move to Lido Beach in the early 1980s.

John Mastromarino was a trustee candidate on the Ward ticket in 1979. He said it took a few years for him and Minerva to get over the bitterness of that election, but they soon developed a good relationship.

“Local politics is funny,” Mastromarino said. “Allegiances come and go.”

He added that Minerva worked hard to bring business to Valley Stream, even buying a full-page ad in U.S. News & World Report to promote the village. “I have high respect for the man,” Mastromarino said. “He was a progressive, definitely loved Valley Stream. He was probably ahead of his time.”

Ang, who grew up and still lives on Hendrickson Avenue, recalled that Minerva briefly turned it into a one-way street when the toll was raised from 10 cents to a quarter on the Southern State Parkway and drivers were using Hendrickson to get around it. Residents couldn’t even get out of their driveways, Ang recalled. The tolls booths, between exits 13 and 14, were razed in the early 1980s.

D’Agostino said that when Minerva was mayor, District 30 closed its Washington Avenue School and was going to sell the west end building. The district would have made very little money, and D’Agostino, the district’s counsel, persuaded the Board of Education to rent the school.

Minerva managed secure the building for the village, which used it as a library annex and cultural arts center for a few years before it was eventually leased to a nursery school. “Without Dominick, that school would not have been preserved,” D’Agostino said.

He noted that Minerva also believed that the key to downtown revitalization was to add more parking, and he secured some property on the side streets to expand parking before he was voted out.

“Had he been in for another term, “D’Agostino said, “Rockaway Avenue would look a lot different today because there would be more parking.”

Fond memories

Minerva loved to play golf, according to his son, and was a member of the Hempstead Golf and Country Club. He played three times a week up until this year.

Dominick Jr., who was born while his father was the mayor, said the two got along very well. “I’m going to miss the personal time I spent with him,” he said.

When Minerva ran for the Assembly in 1972, he stood on stage with all of the Republican candidates — along with President Richard Nixon and Gov. Nelson Rockefeller — at the then new Nassau Coliseum. D’Agostino said he still remembers that moment fondly.

Minerva’s death hit him quickly, he said, when he realized that he wouldn’t be able to call his longtime friend and business partner anymore. “He was a good person, a good friend,” D’Agostino said.

Ang, who was Minerva’s paperboy as a kid, said that he was one of the most knowledgeable men he knew. “I liked his wisdom and his advice,” Ang said. “He was a real nice man. I’m going to miss him.”