By Nick Buglione
The 13th District takes in East Meadow, North Merrick and North Bellmore.
Zimmerman, a longtime resident of Salisbury, charges that Gonsalves is just another rubber stamp for the Republicans, with a voting record clouded by party politics and partisanship.
"She's just not a leader," said Zimmerman, who cited Gonsalves' vote against Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi's proposed Sewer and Storm Water Authority as just one example of letting partisanship get in the way of good policy. "We need a leader from this district who is going to put the people before politics."
Gonsalves, who has represented the 13th District in the Nassau County Legislature since 1997, says Zimmerman isn't telling the whole story. "That is just a bogus argument," Gonsalves said. "I can't see how anyone can say that we don't act in a bipartisan way."
The legislator's two crowning achievements during her term were the product of cooperation with the other side of the aisle, she said. After much persistence, Gonsalves introduced open-space funding legislation this year, which passed unanimously. The legislation requires that 5 percent of the roughly $100 million the county will get from selling off 2,500 parcels of its property be earmarked for preserving open spaces.
"I'm most proud of getting the legislation for the open-space fund," Gonsalves said. "The environment has always been of concern to me."
Teaming up with civic leaders, the Herald and fellow Nassau County Legislator David Denenberg (D-Merrick), Gonsalves also helped expose the problems plaguing the woods that line the Meadowbrook Parkway and other parkways across the county. A task force has since been created, which is looking into creating trails in the woodlands as a means of preserving them.
Despite differences of opinion, Gonsalves and Zimmerman actually have a lot in common. Both are grandmothers and longtime residents of the East Meadow School District. The two also have been heavily involved in local civic associations and community organizations.
Gonsalves, who was a teacher before becoming a legislator, belonged to the Wenwood Oaks Civic Association in East Meadow and is one of the founding members of the Council of East Meadow Community Organizations. She is also a past president of the East Meadow PTA Council.
Zimmerman, the principal law clerk for New York State Supreme Court Judge Elaine Jackson Stack, is a member of the Salisbury Civic Association. As a distinguished lawyer, Zimmerman has held leadership positions with the Committee on Women in the Court and the Nassau County Women's Bar Association, and she is a member of the Family Law Guardians Advisory Committee.
The two also seem to agree that getting the financially strapped county back in the black is the most pressing issue that needs to be addressed. "Tom Suozzi has a great program and a proven track record, and we need to keep Nassau County moving in the right direction," Zimmerman said. "I think we can't do anything new until we get our finances in order. We have an enormous debt that we have to address."
And the 13th District is home to two entities directly tied to the county's fiscal solvency: the Nassau County Aquatic Center and the Nassau University Medical Center.
The county is still grappling over how to get the Aquatic Center, which loses about $2 million a year, to make money. Meanwhile, the Nassau University Medical Center is again planning to lay off staff in response to its fiscal woes. If the medical center goes under, the county would ultimately be responsible for the more than $250 million in bond debt service payments the hospital owes.
"I think we need the hospital in the community," Zimmerman said, though she stopped short of offering any concrete suggestions on aiding the ailing center. "Suozzi has commissioned an independent audit, and I'm really going to hold off on making any kind of statement until I see that report."
Realizing the tremendous strain that state-imposed increases in pension contributions have put on NUMC -- pensions cost it $10 million in 2003 and will likely cost it another $27 million next year -- Gonsalves said she plans to petition state officials for help.
She believes that in light of its financial difficulties, the medical center should be given breaks on pension contributions. "I'm trying to reach out to the state," she said.
If elected, Zimmerman said, she would focus on keeping the cost of government down and support the growth of technology in Nassau County. "I'm a leader who is going to support Tom Suozzi's efforts to get Nassau County on track to root out fraud, waste and corruption in government," she said.
Gonsalves has several things on her to-do list if she is re-elected, including revitalizing the downtown business areas in North Bellmore and North Merrick and improving public safety in the face of police-force cutbacks.
"I have a proven track record," Gonsalves said. "I work hard, and I fight for the things that are important to [my constituents]."
