POLITICS

Village general election 2023: Fare knows progress made, progress coming

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He’s a third-generation Valley Stream resident and has become a pillar of village government for more than a decade. Now Edwin Fare is asking his neighbors to extend his time as mayor for a fourth term to build on the progress of the past and ensure the best possible future for the village.

A veteran of village politics, Fare was elected a trustee under his mayoral predecessor Ed Cahill in 2004. He honed and polished his understanding of village government for seven years before running for the village’s highest office on the United Community Party ticket. It was there he hoped to shun partisanship and instead focus on a higher quality of life as well as community-first issues.

Fare’s grandparents settled in Valley Stream in 1910, imparting an esteemed legacy of service to the community that he — more than a century later — seeks to build upon. Fare sees the role of mayor as a vehicle to make a difference.

In many ways, Fare has dedicated his life to the village, and in more ways than one. Like his more than three decades as a Valley Stream volunteer firefighter — and now its honorary chief. A technology teacher in the Valley Stream Central High School District. Chair of the historical society board.

It was Valley Stream Central High School where Fare graduated in 1980, before heading off to Long Island University to earn a master’s degree in computer science.

Joining Fare on this ticket are two other seasoned village officials. Dermond Thomas seeks a fourth term as trustee, while Melanie Jenkins is looking for her first full term as village justice.

Joining them is newcomer Kevin Waszak, who heads the village’s beautification committee and has lived in Valley Stream for nearly six years. He has also serves as a school board trustee at Holy Name of Mary School, and coaches its middle school basketball team.

Jenkins has lived in Valley Stream for nearly two decades, and has practiced as an attorney for more than 30 years.

Thomas, a corporate lawyer, moved to Valley Stream from Brooklyn in 2007, and became a trustee in 2011 after an unsuccessful bid for the Assembly. He has provided pro bono work for non-profits, small businesses, and victims of domestic violence. He’s also a Valley Stream Little League baseball coach.

“We’re running because we’ve done a lot of improvements and we have a lot more left to do,” Fare said. “We know what we’re doing. We know what we want to do. We know where we’ve been. And we know where we’re going.”

“We rebuilt our sanitation yard, reconstructed our pool parking lot, we built a community center in our community,” Thomas said. “We’ve really put a lot into the village, and we’ve done a lot for the community.”

Recreational options have expanded for families in recent years, including the Classic Car Show and outdoor dining on Rockaway Avenue during the summer. There is also Winter Fest during the Christmas season, and the much-attended fireworks display at Firemen’s Memorial Field.

“Our pool operations are wildly successful and beloved by the village,” Fare said. “There’s been massive upgrades. And we spent from Labor Day to Memorial Day upgrading the pool, and we have senior citizens telling us that the pool is better today than it opened in 1962.

Nothing makes us happier than that.”