By Scott Brinton
The race for the Town of Hempstead's Sixth Councilmatic District pits two 20-year civic activists, Gary Hudes and Viki DeJong, against each other. For the most part, the two remained outside the political fray until recently. Now, each is hoping that the constituencies they have built through community service will carry them to Hempstead Town Hall.
Mr. Hudes (R-Levittown) was appointed by Hempstead Supervisor Richard Guardino to the town council in the summer of 1999, but lost his seat in last November's general election.
The candidate says he differs in few ways with his opponent. "I don't think there is a huge difference," Mr. Hudes said during a League of Women Voters debate on October 18 at the Bellmore Library. The two even "have worked on some similar campaigns."
Ms. DeJong (D-Salisbury), however, contends there is one large difference between the two candidates -- that she is beholden only to herself, not a political party, while Mr. Hudes's primary loyalty lies with the GOP.
"The difference is, and it has been proven over the years, I literally would come into office with absolutely no obligation to anybody except the people I represent," said Ms. DeJong.
Mr. Hudes countered that, in office, he would be his own man and that his four-month term as councilman proved this assertion. "I thought, when you get into these offices, you have to do what people say. I was still able to do what I needed to do, start programs that I thought would be beneficial to the community," he said.
Election Day is Tuesday, November 7. For the first time, candidates for town council are running for specific districts. A 1997 ruling by federal District Court Judge John Gleeson did away with the town's previous system of at-large council races, because it violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Mr. Hudes and Ms. DeJong are seeking office in District 5, which takes in North Merrick, East Meadow, Levittown, Salisbury (South Westbury), and parts of Wantagh and Seaford.
Under Judge Gleeson's ruling, half of the six council members, who earn $47,500 annually for their part-time positions, will receive one-year terms their first time out. The other half will serve for three years, after which all candidates will win four-year terms. Mr. Hudes and Ms. DeJong are running for a one-year seat.
The two candidates' civic work has defined them. As president of the 6,000-member Nassau County Chambers of Commerce and former president of the 350-member Bellmore Chamber, Mr. Hudes has focused on bulwarking small business, after many traditional "mom-and-pop" shops were hit hard in recent years by competition from the malls and so-called super stores.
Mr. Hudes has reached out to small businesses through a partnership he developed between the Nassau Chambers of Commerce and Hofstra University, which provides seminars on topics ranging from customer service to storefront renovation. To date, some 3,000 business owners have taken part in the workshops. Mr. Hudes said he has also helped wipe out graffiti locally as chairman of the Nassau County Graffiti Task Force. He also serves on the Long Island Power Authority's Clean Energy Committee.
For two decades, Ms. DeJong has led the Citizens Campaign for Civic Action, which originally was formed to ensure that the incinerator off the Meadowbrook Parkway (now owned by American Ref-Fuel) ran clean. However, the organization has since branched out to address "economic/social" justice issues, said Ms. DeJong.
In recent years, the candidate said she has fought to have more "affordable" housing built in the Town of Hempstead. "There are abandoned warehouses that can be turned into affordable housing," she said.
For six months this year, Mr. Hudes and Ms. DeJong have worked closely together on the six-member Town of Hempstead Cell Tower Task Force, which Supervisor Guardino impaneled to study the potential effects of cell towers on residents and to issue recommendations for their construction. A six-month town ban on cell-tower construction ended in early October.
Ms. DeJong said, "We have to find a place that's safe for [the towers], away from children." The task force, she said, is recommending that companies erect cell-tower antennae atop tall buildings and water towers, as well as share towers to reduce their number.
Mr. Hudes said the task force helped bring "civility" between town residents and cellular providers, whereas in the last year, the two sides have fought bitterly over the location of towers, such as the one proposed in Merrick and the one already built in North Bellmore.
Mr. Hudes also praised the town's Republican leadership for accruing a $50 million budget surplus, saying Hempstead has "earned the highest Wall Street credit rating of any town or county on Long Island" because of it.
Ms. DeJong, who said the surplus amounts to $26 million, contended that at least part of those monies should go toward improving town properties, such as the parks. If more went to services, she said, "There would still be enough left for a rainy day."
