He succeeds Jacqueline Papatsos, who was first elected in 1990 and served four four-year terms. Ruzicka was appointed to the village's Board of Trustees to complete the final six months of a trustee's term in 1993, and was elected to his first term the following year. Since June 2005, he has served as deputy mayor. Ruzicka has lived in Island Park for 53 years. The Herald's Joseph Kellard sat down with the new mayor at village hall to discuss his goals and other issues last week.
Why did you decide to run for mayor?
I've been involved in the village for most of my life. I started off as a teenager as a lifeguard, I joined the Island Park Fire Department and was chief in 1989-90, and was involved with the Little League when my kids were growing up. My children live in this village. The reason I got involved is because I love this village. It was a progressive thing. I became a trustee and saw that I can make a difference. So becoming mayor seemed like the next logical step.
What are some of your goals as mayor?
There are so many things, and we have so many concerns. The first is street flooding. We installed tidal flex valves, which is one of the first projects I got involved in. It was very successful. We've been able to abate a lot of the saltwater going into our draining system. However, that does create a problem: At high tide and in heavy rains, our streets flood. It's a battle. But in fact I have a meeting today with an engineer to see what we can do to alleviate that problem. So that's a major concern.
We're also trying to beautify the village. We will be starting phase three of Operation Downtown [on Long Beach Road from Sagamore Road to the Island Park Post Office], and we hope that gets started sometime in June. But we're waiting on a federal grant that Nassau County administers.
Also, crime is always a problem. We had a great meeting with the inspector of the 4th Precinct recently, and we have a good relationship with the police. They've been a big help to us. And what we need is anybody that sees anything suspicious, just report it to us. Because that's how we get our leads, and that leads to police doing a better job.
What are the main crimes the village is concerned with?
Drug use and sale, and speeding down side streets, which has always been a problem and we hear about it at every village board meeting, and somehow we have to try to cut down on that.
How can the village under your administration work together with Barnum Isle and Harbor Isle through the Town of Hempstead to improve the village?
We work very close with the Town of Hempstead through Supervisor Kate Murray and Councilman Anthony Santino. We have a good rapport with them. In the first week in June, we'll have their Town Hall Mobile down here at the village hall to give out passports and do fingerprinting for children. But the extent of our relationship with Barnum Isle and Harbor Isle is that they pay us for fire protection. We don't get involved with either area over things like parks or beaches.
In what areas will the village work with the Island Park School District and the Island Park Library?
We have a side road near Hegarty Elementary School, Deal Road, and it's in horrible shape. I've asked for state funding. I've gotten in touch with the school and asked them to send me a letter to emphasize the need for that road to be repaired. And Superintendent Dr. Ed Price helped us out with a letter. And I forwarded it to Sen. Dean Skelos to try to get some state funding so we can repave it.
Also, we've had a meeting with the police to talk about crime with kids. We're trying to get some learning process going so that our parents can learn about gang-related information‹what to recognize, what to look for. Right now we don't see any gang-related type of things. The children have been hanging out over in the park near the Hegarty School for years. The concern is that we feel there is a drug problem where there are deals going on, they're doing drug business over there. And it's hard for adults who have to walk by. So we're working with the police on this as well. We had signs put up in the park there that say no trespassing over a certain hour, which gives the police some ammunition to say, OK, you're not supposed to be here.
At the library, we worked very closely with them to get the new library built. We're very supportive of them, and we went to bat for them at a couple of meetings. Other than that, we haven't had anything organized with them. But if they need our help in any respect, we'd be there for them.
Will the village work with the Island Park Chamber of Commerce to try to bring in more businesses and keep shoppers in Island Park, rather than see them go to Oceanside or other neighboring towns? For example, is it possible a supermarket may open in Island Park?
One of our village trustees, Mickey Hastava, who used to be the president of the chamber, is still very involved in the chamber. And anything that comes up, we will entertain any motions. We will be looking at changing some of our ordinances as far as architectural design.
As far as bringing in supermarkets, as some people have asked, I just don't think they would survive with the big ones around in Oceanside and Long Beach.
As to getting more businesses here, if you look at Long Beach Road, we've had several new businesses come in recent years. We have an electrician business, a women's spa, a construction company‹and they're all in new, refurbished buildings.
Is there a business facade project in the works?
We don't have that anymore. There was a facade project years ago, before my time, in which the village paid for 50 percent of a business's new facade and the owner put in the other 50 percent. Not a lot of our businesses took advantage of it, mainly because most of their stores are rented.
What are the other issues you'd like Island Park residents to know about you as mayor and the Board of Trustees, and what all of you are trying to accomplish?
Being here 53 years, I've seen the village go through different phases. I'd like to bring back some more of the old traditions that we used to have here, with the fireworks and things like that, which escaped us there for a while, but now they're back. I'd like to try to bring the community back together more.
I know our commissioner of Beach and Recreation is looking into bringing in different programs in the summertime. We're looking into something similar to what they have in Long Beach, like a bandstand to hold concerts. Our end-of-summer fireworks and Labor Day races for the children is something that has gone downhill, with less and less participation. We're going to have to look at that and see how we can get the kids to be more active.
The Island Park Beach is a great spot, and it's been our mainstay for years. Again, a lot of people don't take advantage of the beach. It's a beautiful beach that is a great asset to our community. We have a gazebo there that can be rented on weekends, or any day, really, for parties.
Would you like to say anything about your predecessor, Jacqueline Papatsos?
I'd just like to say that Jackie was a wonderful mayor and served this community well for the 16 years she was here. There aren't enough adjectives I can use to describe how great she was.
Comments? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 287.
