Delia Deriggi-Whitton highlights infrastructure, transparency, and environmental progress in Nassau legislature re-election bid

Delia DeRiggi-Whitton, 57, of Glen Cove, is seeking her eighth term in the Nassau County Legislature, and emphasizing her record of community projects, transparency and environmental protection. A graduate of Hofstra University and a former senior claims adjuster for State Farm, DeRiggi-Whitton began her public service on the Glen Cove City Council before being elected to the Legislature in 2011.
Now completing her second year as minority leader, she said she finds her role “very rewarding” and believes the Democratic caucus’s unity has been key in moving projects forward. “We’re really unified, which you have to be,” she said, “because in order for us to get any projects moving forward or anything else, we all had to stick together.”
At a roundtable with Herald reporters DeRiggi-Whitton said she hoped to continue the progress on several major infrastructure projects on the North Shore, including Shore Road and Crescent Beach in Glen Cove. Crescent Beach, she said, recently received a positive evaluation from the Board of Health, and the long-planned Shore Road project, stretching through Sea Cliff and Prospect Avenue, will soon begin with flood mitigation measures. The work, she said, will take several years to complete.
She also noted that funding has been secured for another Shore Road project, in Port Washington. “The tale of Shore Roads has been throughout my career,” she said, recalling her first term, when Shore Road in Bayville collapsed during Superstorm Sandy.
On the issue of battery energy storage systems, DeRiggi-Whitton said she wrote a letter to state officials in support of a moratorium, and continues to call for transparency from state officials. She said she has heard conflicting information about the proposed facility at Glenwood Landing, and believes residents deserve clarity. “If they want to put the battery storage units there, they should tell us that that’s what’s happening,” she said.

She voiced concerns about safety, citing an incident in California in which a lithium battery fire forced the evacuation of an eight-mile radius. “I’m all for green energy,” DeRiggi-Whitton said, “but I don’t think that the lithium battery storage unit is tested enough to put in such a highly densely populated area.” She also raised financial concerns, noting that ratepayers would likely bear the costs of system upgrades.
“Our rates are gonna go up significantly,” she said. “And most of the benefit, from what I’m understanding, is going across Hempstead Harbor into an A.I. factory.”
DeRiggi-Whitton also discussed immigration enforcement, citing an incident near the Glen Street train station in which federal agents operated without notifying the city police. “The communication has to get much, much better,” she said, adding that recent agreements between the county and federal immigration authorities could expose Nassau to financial risks if problems occur in county detention facilities. “Something goes wrong, and we’re gonna get sued,” she said.
While she said she maintains cordial relationships with Republican legislators, DeRiggi-Whitton criticized County Executive Bruce Blakeman for holding up funding for Democratic-led districts. “Basically what he’s doing is he’s holding up money that helps local districts,” she said, noting that Republican legislators have had dozens of grants approved while Democrats have been left out. “He’s taking the credit for it.”
Environmental issues remain central to her platform. DeRiggi-Whitton said that improvements at Scudder Pond and Crescent Beach have significantly reduced contaminants flowing into Hempstead Harbor, but added that the Republican majority has not advanced environmental legislation proposed by her caucus, including a bill that would lower nitrogen in fertilizers.