Community discusses issues close to home

Elmont community members learned about resources avaialble to them, including a free tax assessment grievances seminar last week at Elmont Memorial Library.

The meeting was hosted by County Legislator Carrié Solages and Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages, with representatives from the Nassau County Police Department, the Nassau County Board of Elections and Nassau Inter-County Express Bus, also known as the NICE Bus. The Solages also updated the community about current and upcoming projects, as well as legal, tax and budget changes this year.

An issue on community members’ minds was the need for the Elmont Community Center, which was delineated in the plans for the Belmont Park Redevelopment Project.

“A couple of weeks ago, a number of community leaders who are here tonight came together and made a very clear message to UBS and the Arena partners that as per our community benefits agreement they are supposed to be investing in our community with a community center,” said Carrié.

Currently, Michaelle said the main thing to work on is finding a location. One problem is that these locations need a lot of repair.

“When we go to purchase a property, the price gets jacked up,” Michaelle said.

They noted that the UBS Arena is looking for interns who live within a four-mile radius of the arena.

Michaelle and Carrié announced that there will be a government task force dedicated to retail theft prevention. Another police matter community members are concerned with is illegal vapes being sold to both minors and adults. Michaelle said she would rather crack down on the distributors to address the issue.

The problem of trash in the streets was discussed at length with the community members in attendance.

“There are specific rules,” Carrié said of the issue. “The town may be responsible, or the county or the state. But we have to work together. So, even though this may not be in my jurisdiction, I have to work with other people to get it done.”

There were several complaints from audience members about the rampant trash problem, which is exacerbated by the fact that a lot of this trash is on private property.

“That goes to our quality of life,” Carrié said.

The Board of Elections spoke with the audience about the restoration of early voting at the Elmont Memorial Library for the coming elections. They are also actively looking for election workers.

NICE Bus shared some figures about being one of the largest suburban transit agencies in the nation. On a daily basis, the NICE Bus has 70,000, 300 40-foot buses operating and 1,500 para transit door-to-door rides.

The NICE Bus system is hiring maintenance workers and bus operators, whether they have a commercial drivers license or not. Every job comes with full benefits and a chance at upward mobility.

“We need more services for seniors,” said community member Lynette Battle. “We have a high senior population, and they’re like an afterthought. The NICE bus is good. But we just need a senior center, activities and resources—whether it’s medical or things of that nature.”

The largest portion of the meeting was dedicated to a tax assessment grievance seminar. For more information, visit the facebook group “NASSAU - GRIEVE YOUR TAX ASSESSMENT FREE.”

“I didn’t know how to go about grieving my taxes, so this was very helpful for me,” said community member Suzette Morgan.