Panzenbeck keen to serve her community

Pamela Panzenbeck says she’s leaving it to voters to decide if she should serve a second term as Glen Cove mayor. But if they do choose her on Nov. 7, she says it will be a vote to help her “keep that momentum going.”
“It’s my job to sell Glen Cove, and to say, ‘This is what I’m doing,’ and, ‘This is what we’re planning to do,’” Panzenbeck told reporters as part of a recent Herald Roundtable session.
That’s not just to those who live and work in Glen Cove, but also those outside who make decisions that could have lasting impact on what happens in Glen Cove — like the financial analysts at Moody’s Investors Service. Ratings from that company can determine how expensive it would be for the city to borrow money for ongoing projects.
“It’s my job to talk to these evaluating people and to get them to understand where we’re going with our finances,” Panzenbeck said.
Moody’s improved Glen Cove’s credit outlook from stable to positive last May. The last time the city earned a positive outlook was in 2017, but only lasted a year.

Panzenbeck is pleased with the Moody’s upgrade, and says the score reflects the hard work she’s put into changing the course of Glen Cove’s financial condition. Yes, Glen Cove made the state comptroller’s list of fiscally stressed local governments for 10 years, but she noted the score has significantly improved since the city is “two-tenths of a point” away from being removed from it.
Generally, Panzenbeck says, those kinds of improvements can take years to correct.
Outside of being the mayor and a three-term city councilwoman, one might be hard-pressed to find someone in Glen Cove who doesn’t know Panzenbeck. Her family came to the North Shore in 1845. Her great-grandfather and great-uncle were both commissioners of the public works department, and her aunt started the girls softball league — now named the Martha Donaldson League.
Panzenbeck has served on several committees and boards, whether it be with Rotary, the city’s beautification commission, or her time with the Glen Cove Hospital Auxiliary.
The Republican incumbent is proud of her accomplishments since she took over as mayor last year, which includes renovating the city’s parks and beaches that had been left to deteriorate.
There is still a lot of work to do, however, especially when it comes to the city’s three Long Island Rail Road stations as well as gauge post-pandemic demand for a commuter ferry service out of Garvies Point. Panzenbeck has counted parked cars, conducted online surveys, and listened to the community’s feedback on how to revive the empty ferry terminal.
At this point, Panzenbeck says the cost of the ferry wouldn’t be comparable to the LIRR.
“You’d be taking a tremendous gamble to guess that we’d be at 150 people to ride the ferry every day,” Panzenbeck says, with plans to revisit the topic next spring.
She feels torn about a recent request for proposals for 111 Lattingtown Road. Jeanine DiMenna, the 10-year owner of The View Grill, is competing against Kent Monkan, owner of KVM Food Corp., to redevelop the site.
The competition has caught the attention of surrounding North Shore communities. And while Panzenbeck is treating the proposal request as a business transaction involving DiMenna, she still considers the entrepreneur a friend.
“The hard thing is I don’t have the ability or the wherewithal or permission to just give it to her,” Panzenbeck said. “It’s a process that has to be followed, and people have to understand that. And I think a lot of people do understand it.”
When reflecting on her childhood, Panzenbeck said growing up in the city was wonderful because of its diverse population. That wasn’t something she always had a chance to experience, especially earlier in her career when she was a teacher outside the city.
“It’s kind of really a shame when you’re not exposed to different kinds of people,” she said, “and you don’t get to experience other cultures.”