By ANTHONY BOTTAN
- with, they say, the hopes of reuniting Lynbrook through the new, United Lynbrook Party.
"We need to identify the problems in the village and come up with workable solutions," Miccio said. "It seems [that] right now that the village is paralyzed."
Clifford said one of the biggest problems with the village administration is that it does not enlist the help of residents when it comes down to making decisions. "If an average person feels there are problems, they should be involved in the solution, and not have a solution pushed on them," Clifford said.
Maintaining the tax base and devising a master plan for Lynbrook is what Miccio said is needed to move Lynbrook "in the right direction." He said that Lynbrook is a fully developed village, and that a master plan that identifies what the village may look like in 20 years is the way to keep Lynbrook's business community vibrant. Miccio added that on several occasions, residents have stopped him to voice their displeasure with the current administration and that nothing seems to be getting done. "The village is stagnating," he said.
The new group is a party of solutions, Clifford said, and they want to represent the whole community, and not just special interest groups. Miccio agreed with Clifford and said that the attitude of the current administration is one that does not listen to the concerns of residents, and are more focused on representing special interest groups. "The government has become more focused on helping their friends," Miccio said. "There is a lot of patronage. We are moving in a direction where certain people have more rights or access to the government than a regular person."
Though no names were given, Clifford said the United Lynbrook Party is composed of Lynbrook residents who were involved in previous elections for several different parties, and that the new group is an amalgamation of several view points. The board needs to lead by example, Clifford said, and right now, it's leading by poor example. "What the board needs is CPR - courtesy, professionalism and respect," he said. "We need to go from a down to up method. The average person should have some input."
Miccio said if there was one thing he learned in his 16 years of service on the village board, is that there needs to be transparency in government. "If we have a small oligarchy of people running the show, it will be counterproductive," Miccio said.
"People are not happy and this government has become dysfunctional," he added. "When you have a meeting that goes on for seven hours and nothing gets accomplished; that's not good government. The mayor has become more shrill. Another trustee I served with...I just don't know what's come over him. We wanted a solution last year and it's gone in the wrong direction."
Clifford and Miccio invite anyone who is interested to attend the first meeting of the United Lynbrook Party on Sept. 10 at 7:30 p.m. at the Atria on 100 Peninsula Blvd. Their Web site is www.unitedLynbrook.com.
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