Sea Cliff candidates meet with villagers ahead of election

Another year brings another election to Sea Cliff, as Nick Pinto, currently serving as deputy mayor of the village board, seeks reelection and George Williams runs for the Village of Sea Cliff Trustee post for the first time. Both candidates are running unopposed and laid out their qualifications and goals for office at the Civic Association-organized Meet the Candidates event.

The candidates began the March 7 event at Village Hall with brief introductions of themselves, and described their past political experiences as relevant.

This election marks Pinto’s third run for public office, having served for the past two terms as a village trustee. Pinto, who works as a criminal defense attorney, described how important his work on the village’s recent Long-Range Plan, which would provide a road map for Sea Cliff to rework its zoning codes and numerous other issues, is to him and the village.

Pinto emphasized that he believed finishing the plan is essential, and was a major part of why he wanted to continue serving the village.

“Zoning is how we define the character of our village. It’s one of the great powers we have,” Pinto said. “Our (zoning) code is over 50 years old, and I look forward to rolling up my sleeves with the rest of the (Long Range Planning) committee and starting the hard work of redefining what Sea Cliff is, where we are going and how we will grow in an intelligent manner in the next 50 years.”

While this election marks the first time Williams has run for office in Sea Cliff, that does not mean he is an unknown figure. He has lived in the village since 1987, and professionally is a consulting physicist who serves as the director of maritime technology for a Chilean tech company called Hidrógeno Sur.

Williams will be running to replace Tannaz Nasirzadeh-Balooch, who will not seek reelection following the cessation of her first term in office. In a separate interview Nasirzadeh-Balooch said that while she has loved the chance to serve her community during her time in office, she needed to step away from the role, at least for a few years, to focus on her children and her family’s business.

Williams emphasized that he was running for office because he loves Sea Cliff, and wants to protect the village’s unique character as well as the local businesses that make up Sea Cliff’s business district. He added that he watched similar communities get swallowed up by larger corporations throughout his life, and believed that supporting the Long Range Plan would help preserve Sea Cliff’s cultural and business identity.

“I grew up in the Midwest and watched the interstates destroy main streets, and watched the malls and cloverleafs destroy main streets,” Williams said. “One of the things that I think I bring to the table is that

I don’t necessarily have all of the answers, but I know how to ask questions.”

After the two candidates introduced themselves, they spent some time taking questions from community members who had gathered that evening to meet the candidates. Stephanie Sobel, an active community member and wife of Trustee Mark Sobel, asked the two candidates what they thought were the major opportunities facing the village right now.

Pinto responded that he believed that the biggest opportunity for Sea Cliff currently is the examining of the zoning code, as this impacts not only residents but also businesses and the very character of the village. He reemphasized the fact that the code has not been updated for years, and that the work that he and the rest of the village board are doing to revamp it mark a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“The code was written in 1970. That’s as old as me, and if you ask my kids that’s ancient,” Pinto joked. “So the biggest opportunity we have is the zoning code. We can open it up, look at it and make some changes that will benefit a lot of peoples’ lives in a lot of great ways.”

Williams agreed that zoning was the village’s largest opportunity, and emphasized the necessity to find the balancing act between residents, businesses and protecting the aesthetic beauty of Sea Cliff and its public spaces.

“Zoning is the big issue right now,” Williams said. “I realize the sensitivity of the zoning issues, and I think that legislation is going to be the main focus, or at least the most widely felt, legislation that gets passed by the board.”

Sea Cliff’s election is March 19. For further information, call Village Hall at (516) 671-0080.