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In The News
Town Approves NS Heritage Management Plan
North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman announced that the North Hempstead Town Board has approved, by a unanimous vote of 7-0, the Long Island North Shore Heritage Management Plan. The town board approved the town's participation in the plan at its meeting held on Tuesday, July 18.
Supervisor Kaiman said: "I'm pleased the town board has chosen to participate in the Long Island North Shore Heritage Management Plan."
"Participation will not impact our town's local autonomy," Kaiman continued, "but it will make us eligible to receive a variety of benefits."
"Through participation," Supervisor Kaiman added, "North Hempstead can strengthen its cultural and historical identity; qualify for increased funding --- including funding available solely for projects within the Heritage Area; and collaborate in projects between and among municipalities within the Heritage Area with the potential for additional funding."
A Heritage Area is a designation by New York State recognizing an area's common heritage based on cultural, historic and geographic criteria. The Heritage Area Program was established in 1982, is administered by the New York State Parks Department, and is designed to preserve, protect and promote an area's unique cultural and historic identity.
The North Shore Heritage Area was established in 1998 through legislation introduced by Assemblyman Steve Engelbright (Suffolk) and then-Senator (former North Hempstead Supervisor) Michael Tully. The boundaries of this Heritage area run from Great Neck in the west to Orient Point in the east, and extends south to the Long Island Expressway or Jericho Turnpike (whichever is furthest south) and north to the New York/Connecticut border on the Long Island Sound. There are 65 towns, villages and a city located with the boundaries of the North Shore Heritage Area.
There are currently 18 state-designated Heritage Areas, including Long Island, throughout New York State. Final boundaries of the North Shore Heritage Area are expected to be established in the fall of 2006. Participating municipalities are not subject to any governmental mandates.
"This is clearly a win-win situation for the Town of North Hempstead," Supervisor Kaiman concluded, "and I urge all of our local municipalities to join with us in this endeavor."
New help for LI Sound
With a bit of welcome bipartisanship, Congress offers funds for preservation
October 3, 2006 Even in the too-often hostile environment of the nation's capital, sometimes the right thing can get done, with a dash of bipartisanship and a recognition of common interests. That's how Congress was able to pass the Long Island Sound Stewardship Act, a long-overdue federal commitment to land preservation on the Sound. As a body of water shared by two states, it's a natural for a national investment.
On Long Island, the agents of preservation up to now have been primarily Suffolk County, the towns and the state. Now the two co-chairmen of the Congressional Long Island Sound Caucus, Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington) and Rep. Rob Simmons, a Connecticut Republican, have been working hard to get the federal government more involved. They introduced the bill in 2004, and last week, they got it passed.
In the Senate, New York's two Democratic senators, Chuck Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton, co-sponsored legislation along the same lines. Once the House bill passed, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) helped get it to the Senate floor, where it too passed last week, by unanimous consent. Once President George W. Bush signs it, as we hope he will, the legislation will make available up to $25 million a year for four years to preserve environmentally important land on both sides of the Sound. Some cautionary notes:
First, this is an authorization bill, not an appropriation. So the delegations in both houses, on both sides of the pond, will have to remain vigilant to get the funds appropriated.
Second, the Long Island Sound Stewardship Advisory Committee, a new entity that the act creates, must not reinvent the wheel. Long Island governments and advisory groups have done a lot of work identifying crucial parcels. To save the most important land, it's vital that the committee move quickly, and that means gathering information fast. So the Environmental Protection Agency should be sure that those appointed to serve on the committee include people who know these issues, from town and county governments and from local environmental groups.
The Long Island Sound Study, created by Congress to examine water pollution issues, already has turned up a lot of information. So has the Long Island North Shore Heritage Area Planning Commission, which focuses on historic value as well as on environmental quality.
So, in assembling the new committee, the EPA must pick its members wisely and move fast. Every acre lost to development means more storm water runoff pouring into the Sound, endangering a body of water so central to the life of our whole region.
