Residents react to Kopel victory
Decade-long Democrat incumbent ousted as legislator
After serving the 7th Legislative District for ten years, Jeff Toback will be replaced by republican Howard Kopel after losing this year’s election by more than a thousand votes. But for some East Rockaway and Bay Park residents, the change couldn’t have come at a better time.
Toback was an advocate for the consolidation of the Lawrence and Cedarhurst sewage plants to the county’s facility in Bay Park, which most East Rockaway and Bay Park residents opposed.
“I’m elated that he lost,” said Connie Petrucci, an East Rockaway resident who advocated against consolidation. “He was an adversary to this community, and when you have deaf ears toward your constituents, that’s what happens. You lose an election.” Petrucci said she is happy that “the little people finally won” and added that she worked hard with the Green Bay Parkers — a group of East Rockaway and Bay Park residents who fought against the sewage consolidation — to convince voters to oust Toback. “When a group comes together and they have one common goal, you can make it happen,” she said.
The sewage plant consolidation would send an extra 2 million gallons of sewage per day to the Bay Park facility. The plant currently processes 60 million gallons per day, and the state Department of Environmental Conservation allows it to process up to 72 million gallons. Currently, the Town of Hempstead is suing the county as well as Lawrence and Cedarhurst in an attempt to stop the consolidation until state environmental agencies determine how the extra sewage processed by the Bay Park facility will affect Reynolds Channel, where the plant pumps treated effluent. Lawrence and Cedarhurst were also in Toback’s legislative district.
Lorraine Keegan, a member of the Bay Park Civi Association, said she’s lived in Bay Park her entire life, and never put political signs on her lawn. This year, she said, her lawn was filled with pro-Kopel posters. “Toback didn’t want to listen to us,” Keegan said. “I’m very happy he’s out. We may not have a lot of money in this community, but we do have the power and the people who care about where they live.”
