Bynoe makes a difference by being a leader

With the recent shake-up of Nassau County legislative districts in Nassau County, Siela Bynoe is now set to represent all of Uniondale, Westbury and New Cassel, plus parts of Hempstead and Carle Place. That is, if she’s re-elected.

And not that it’s necessarily a given: Bynoe has spent weeks now introducing herself to many new constituents. But she expects her platform of education, advocacy and community service to shine through.

“My job at that door is to learn what is impacting residents, what are their concerns," Bynoe told reporters as part of a recent Herald Roundtable session. “My hope is that they take away that I'm reachable, that I'm a grassroots leader, and most importantly, that I come away with some real tangible items to deliver on.”

The 46-year Westbury resident has served on the legislature since Robert Troiano’s exit in 2014. Now running for her fifth full term, Bynoe expects to keep pushing for legislation surrounding affordable housing, tenant living conditions, climate change, community walkability and traffic, police reform, and issues such as more paid time off for county employees.

Some of her legislative work includes passage of the Ground Water and Public Water Supply Facts Report Law, which requires the county health department to publish an annual report on the state of the public drinking water and implement water quality preservation strategies. She also pushed for the implementation of police body cameras for seven years before it finally passed in 2021.

“I want to make sure that we are looking at the best ways to protect families,” Bynoe said. That include not only some of her work surrounding traffic-calming, but mental and behavioral health as well.

Bynoe strongly believes that easy access to mental health resources is central in addressing some of the most pressing issues in modern society. She has passed legislation that secured unanimous, bipartisan support for a study and recommendation on alternative police responses to mental health crisis calls.

Responding to the study, Nassau County began integrating social workers into its police responses to mental health calls, and created its own mobile crisis unit — an on-the-go team of mental health professionals who are dispatched where a law enforcement approach may not be appropriate.

Bynoe also pointed out that the state has more than $2.6 billion from a settlement with multiple drug manufacturers found responsible for the opioid epidemic. Of that, more than $55 million has been delivered to Nassau County, with a portion of it allocated for recovery, prevention and education.

Yet, according to Bynoe, none of this money has been spent.

“We have a tremendous opportunity to meet the needs of those who might be struggling with some level of addiction or behavioral health issues,” the county legislator said. “I’d like to play a role in finding innovative, impactful ways to use that money.”

But being a Democrat in a political minority on the legislature has its challenges.

“When you're in the minority, you have to leverage your vote to make sure that the county executive’s plans include our streets,” Bynoe said. Case in point, the last capital plan that was coming through — I was working to try and get additional streets included and I was getting some pushback, so it helped that a third party (AARP and Vision Long Island) came out with a report that indicated that these streets were dangerous. And that was my leveraging point.”

As a result, Bynoe said she secured $41 million for improvements to Hempstead village’s roadways.

“For me, it’s about projecting families, investing in our communities,” Bynoe said, “and making sure that we’re engaging our young people.”