Town 2nd Distrct Endorsement
Posted
Re-elect Ambrosino to town council
Two fine candidates seek the District 2 Town Council seat.
Republican Ed Ambrosino, who has been on the town board since 2003, is one of the most visible and proactive elected officials in the area, regularly attending local Chamber of Commerce and civic group meetings and maintaining open lines of communication with residents.
His challenger, Democrat Scott Banks, who served on the board for a year in 2000, accomplished more in his abbreviated term than some officials do in four years.
Ambrosino, recognizing the strain on taxpayers and services created by illegal apartments, responded with the town's "Nail and Mail" legislation in 2005, which allows building departments to more easily serve summonses to landlords of suspected illegal apartments. After three unsuccessful attempts to personally serve a summons, building inspectors may post it on the door of an allegedly illegal dwelling and send a duplicate summons via certified mail.
The fines for owning illegal housing now range from $500 to $1,500 for a first offense to as much as $10,000 for a third offense. Under the town's old system, the maximum fines were $500 for a first offense and $1,500 for a third offense. In addition to the increases, the town added more building department personnel, established night shifts, and now sends undercover department workers to open houses to check for illegal apartments.
Ambrosino understands how vital businesses are to the neighborhoods they inhabit, and routinely presses building department officials to warn business owners who have neglected upkeep to tidy up or risk a summons. In that same vein, Ambrosino said he would only support video gaming at Belmont Park - a big issue as the economic revitalization of Elmont moves forward - if that revenue were earmarked for the development of businesses in Elmont, Floral Park, South Floral Park, Bellerose and Bellerose Terrace. Improved commerce would re-establish a viable commercial tax base, shifting some of the tax burden away from homeowners.
A lifelong resident of the district - raised in Elmont and now living in Valley Stream - Ambrosino is well aware of the community's needs. He is pushing to replace the old Argo theater at the corner of Hempstead Turnpike and Elmont Road with a grocery store. His plan is to retask the rear parking lot now used by commuters, who leave their cars there and take the bus to the subway, as parking for the supermarket. The old White Tavern down the road, a dilapidated structure that still stands and is now town property, would be replaced by a commuter parking lot.
We'd like to see some of Ambrosino's visions come to fruition over the next four years. He has earned the Herald's endorsement.
That's not to say, however, that Banks is not qualified. In his year on the town board, he introduced legislation on night town board meetings and wrote the town's original nuisance law, which he later abstained from voting for when - according to Banks - revisions were made by then-Supervisor Richard Guardino before it appeared on the agenda.
One of the initiatives Banks would push if he were elected is to hold one or two night meetings a year in each of the six councilmatic districts to bring government to the people. He is a well-informed, community-minded man. We hope this is not the last we hear from him.
Two fine candidates seek the District 2 Town Council seat.
Republican Ed Ambrosino, who has been on the town board since 2003, is one of the most visible and proactive elected officials in the area, regularly attending local Chamber of Commerce and civic group meetings and maintaining open lines of communication with residents.
His challenger, Democrat Scott Banks, who served on the board for a year in 2000, accomplished more in his abbreviated term than some officials do in four years.
Ambrosino, recognizing the strain on taxpayers and services created by illegal apartments, responded with the town's "Nail and Mail" legislation in 2005, which allows building departments to more easily serve summonses to landlords of suspected illegal apartments. After three unsuccessful attempts to personally serve a summons, building inspectors may post it on the door of an allegedly illegal dwelling and send a duplicate summons via certified mail.
The fines for owning illegal housing now range from $500 to $1,500 for a first offense to as much as $10,000 for a third offense. Under the town's old system, the maximum fines were $500 for a first offense and $1,500 for a third offense. In addition to the increases, the town added more building department personnel, established night shifts, and now sends undercover department workers to open houses to check for illegal apartments.
Ambrosino understands how vital businesses are to the neighborhoods they inhabit, and routinely presses building department officials to warn business owners who have neglected upkeep to tidy up or risk a summons. In that same vein, Ambrosino said he would only support video gaming at Belmont Park - a big issue as the economic revitalization of Elmont moves forward - if that revenue were earmarked for the development of businesses in Elmont, Floral Park, South Floral Park, Bellerose and Bellerose Terrace. Improved commerce would re-establish a viable commercial tax base, shifting some of the tax burden away from homeowners.
A lifelong resident of the district - raised in Elmont and now living in Valley Stream - Ambrosino is well aware of the community's needs. He is pushing to replace the old Argo theater at the corner of Hempstead Turnpike and Elmont Road with a grocery store. His plan is to retask the rear parking lot now used by commuters, who leave their cars there and take the bus to the subway, as parking for the supermarket. The old White Tavern down the road, a dilapidated structure that still stands and is now town property, would be replaced by a commuter parking lot.
We'd like to see some of Ambrosino's visions come to fruition over the next four years. He has earned the Herald's endorsement.
That's not to say, however, that Banks is not qualified. In his year on the town board, he introduced legislation on night town board meetings and wrote the town's original nuisance law, which he later abstained from voting for when - according to Banks - revisions were made by then-Supervisor Richard Guardino before it appeared on the agenda.
One of the initiatives Banks would push if he were elected is to hold one or two night meetings a year in each of the six councilmatic districts to bring government to the people. He is a well-informed, community-minded man. We hope this is not the last we hear from him.
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