Nassau County Legislator Howard Kopel is seeking his ninth term representing the 7th Legislative District, with public safety, the cost of living and preserving the character of the Five Towns among the issues he says remain most important to him.
Kopel, 75, has lived in Lawrence since 1987, and has represented the district since 2010. He now serves as the Legislature’s presiding officer.
Asked what he is most focused on as he seeks another term, Kopel kept his answer simple. “It’s a matter of public safety and costs,” he said. “We work on that.”
Those priorities, he said, touch many of the issues district residents face, from emergency services and law enforcement to taxes and maintaining local infrastructure.
Kopel added that he wants to keep county expenses and taxes manageable while maintaining the services residents rely on. He noted that sales taxes are an important source of county revenue, and that economic growth can help generate revenue without an increase in property taxes.
“Sales tax is a large source of income for the county,” he said. “And that comes from growth, which is not painful, as opposed to increasing taxes directly, which is sometimes painful.”
Public safety remains a particular concern for Kopel, who said that the county has strong law enforcement leadership, and praised Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder and officers in the local precincts.
Combating antisemitism, Kopel said, requires both enforcement and education, particularly as incidents of hatred continue to affect communities across the region. “You’re always going to have the world’s oldest hatred, unfortunately,” he said. “But political leadership is there.”
Kopel also pointed to funding for emergency services as one way in which the county directly supports public safety. He cited assistance for local ambulance services and marine rescue operations.
Another issue he continues to focus on is the preservation of the Five Towns’ suburban character, particularly as development and traffic increase. “You’ve got congestion issues,” Kopel said. “And you’ve got overbuilding. It’s happening.”
Existing infrastructure, he said, is struggling to accommodate the growth. “The infrastructure was built 100 years ago, give or take, around there, and it really can’t support too much more,” he said. “And there’s no room to expand it.”
Kopel said he wants to continue pushing back against development that he believes places additional pressure on roads and other infrastructure. “I just want to try to preserve the way of life that people have moved out here to obtain,” he said.
Kopel has publicly criticized the Peninsula Public Library board of trustees, and said he believes the library needs state attention. He said he has worked with state and local elected officials to raise concerns.
“I think the situation is awful,” he said. “They’ve been effectively, in my opinion, destroying the place.”
After more than a decade in office, Kopel said he continues to run because he believes he can still contribute. “As long as I’m able to help people and do it effectively, that would be a reason,” he said. “And at the point when I’m not, that’s when it stops.”
