14 minute read
A Candid Conversation with Village of Lawrence Trustee Eli Kutner
Inside the Village Boardroom
A Candid Conversation with Village of Lawrence Trustee Eli Kutner
By SuSan Schwamm
TJH: Thanks for joining us today, Eli. The Village election is next week. You’re running unopposed. Why should people come out and vote at all?
EK: Good question. The first part is easy: it’s important to show we have an engaged voting populace which translates into a voice that we have in other elections and with other candidates.
More than that, I think it’s important for the leaders of the Village to have a mandate from the residents that they want them in office and are satisfied with the job we’ve been doing. That, and also, you can always have a strong write-in candidate from left field, which I have heard we might have, so nothing is really assured. If anything, it makes every vote count even more.
Are you satisfied with the job you’ve done over the past two years?
Before going into it, I think it’s necessary to point out in a positive way that the board is made up of four trustees and the mayor, each one of us with different views and priorities. I think we’ve done a wonderful job of discovering common ground and finding ways we all agree can help keep the Village great.
In regards to being satisfied, there is always more to do, things you wish were done differently or even didn’t do, but overall, from being on the inside, I’m very satisfied with what we’ve accomplished. Give us some examples of where you feel you’ve done things right. That’s a long list, actually. My main source of pride is what we’ve put together on the security side. I noticed the problem, and it was my first priority upon my appointment. The Village has been and continues to be hit with a fair amount of “petty” crime. Our stance has been, all crime is crime and can, heaven forbid, escalate rather quickly. More important, crime destroys our sense of security and wellbeing, things all resi-
dents of the Village deserve.
To that end, we developed a sophisticated security net to halt the problem. We arranged for two car patrols at night, all of whom are off-duty or retired cops or licensed security officers. This is not something that I should repeat and they would never use them, but I sleep better at night knowing that most of them pack heat with private gun carry-permits.
People are very concerned about security. Is your answer to have little cars with yellow lights patrolling the Village?
We’ve done more than that. We installed 13 high-tech cameras at all points of ingress into the Village and at Zion Park. The cameras have a feed which is monitored by the Village during the day, and at night, the feed is sent directly to the patrol cars. With a special algorithm that picks up and identifies human movement, and sends out alerts when this occurs, we are tracking when people enter the Village late at night in real-time, and our security units are notified immediately for response. We’ve caught quite a few suspicious people prowling at night and escorted them out of the Village.
It’s not foolproof, though. You can’t be everywhere all at once and there are still some criminals who walk our streets, but we’ve gotten the message out that if you’re interested in committing crime, you’d do better off doing it someplace other than Lawrence. It’s been an effective deterrent.
Is there anything more to do?
We’ve been in constant contact with the 4th Precinct to coordinate our security measures. They’ve been supportive but I’d like to increase the police presence in the Village. It’s a tall order, they’re spread pretty thin, but we keep pushing.
I’d like to increase the numbers of patrol at night but that’s an expensive item that needs massaging with some of my peers on the board.
An important point everyone should know is that residents have to call incidents in. The police delegate officers to locations with the most reports of crime, and we as a community have not been active on this as much as we should be.
And then there’s the small things we’ve done. We installed a locked gate at the entrance to the LIRR at Lord and Cumberland to cut down on entry from that spot. We’re putting up signage at points of entry announcing the cameras and reminding people they’re under surveillance. Whatever we can do to increase security measures, I’m for it.
Most important, people need to lock their doors and cars at night.
That’s impressive. What other accomplishments do you like to boast about?
We’ve done a lot of what we set out to do in the beginning of the term, and I have to thank the entire board for their work on them. Paris Popack did a great job in taking the initiative to the remodeling of Zion Park, a task that was way overdue. Looking back in retrospect, what could you have done better?
I’ve learnt a lot on the job…it’s really more about listening than talking. We could have been more pro-active in
communication with residents about projects we were considering.
I encountered situations where I’ve had to take a strong stance with my peers, and that was hard.
I’ve also had to make decisions on issues where there it was a tough call to do so.
In terms of Zion Park, people are frustrated. It looks like they tore it up and put it back together. Is that where our tax dollars are going?
Ouch. The first part of the answer is that we’ve learnt first-hand what “supply issues” and “weather delays” mean. Those were things that set us back literally for almost a year.
Listen, looks can be deceiving. It’s been a big project and will be stunning once fully completed. There’s more there than meets the eye, and we’ll be building a phase 2 – a splash pad and sprinkler park for the kids that I think the community will really enjoy. There are also items I’m pushing for to come in the future. Based on feedback from residents, we’re pushing for bathrooms to be built but that faces some logistical problems that we are working to overcome. I hope we’ll get there.
Another item we set out to do was determine the best path forward with the former water treatment plant. There were a lot of ways to go on that one. I think what we came out with – with the lots for houses – was the best way to go. We made $8M for the Village, kept commercial development away, and we’ll be putting a small park there, as well, so I consider that a real win.
Now, there’s improving the Central Avenue business district that I’ve been pushing on. And that’s gone slowly. We need the cooperation of our landlords there and that’s something I hope I can continue to work on. I’m considering legislation to create a sense of cohesion and style to the commercial area there. We’ll see how it goes.
Can you give us some examples of where the job gets hard?
In terms of spending money, that’s a real responsibility. We’re not talking about insignificant numbers, and it’s the people’s money. I’ve had to soul search on making the right choices. Sometimes, I’ve had to push for funds and sometimes I’ve had to say no to expenditures. The Village security measures and Zion Park are items I’ve tried to allocate as many funds toward as possible. I faced some opposition there and that’s where you work hard to get your point across and forge consensus.
I thought you guys were going to put a pool in by the country club. What happened with that?
Another excellent question. It was a plan I initially supported. In a vacuum, it’s a great idea. We were met with a lot of vocal opposition, though. That’s something you need to listen to consider but the nail in the coffin for me was the cost. I think spending a certain amount of money made sense, but the total check on the project came out to be excessive and I couldn’t get on board with it in the end.
There are lots of things you’d love to do but sometimes the most important thing to do is to say no. We have to be judicious in how we spend the people’s money.
Congestion on Central Ave. is crazy. What are you doing about it?
You’re hitting a sore point with me now. This drives me crazy. The Five Towns simply does not have the infrastructure to handle recent population growth. One thing we’ve been able to do on Rockaway Turnpike is to time the lights right. It’s a simple thing but hard to do, as some of it becomes a county, town or even NYC issue.
Mayor Alex Edelman worked adroitly to coordinate with all of local government to make sure it happened. It’s been effective but the problem is we simply don’t have the space and resources for continued population growth at this rate.
Something that we’ve worked very hard on is taking a stance on development surrounding the Village. We’ve fought hard against the “sixth town” and developments on the other side of the LIRR tracks. It’s a continuing fight. Some of my good friends are developers on those projects but as representatives of the residents, we’ve had to come out hard to protect the Village.
What’s bothered you the most and what have you enjoyed the most about the job?
Hmm…When you have lots of residents on both sides of an issue, you’re going to end up disappointing some people. We’re here to do a job and that means meeting the desires of as many residents as possible. That’s a tall order.
And then, it’s obviously frustrating when you can’t get your way on issues as you see them. You try your best and push as hard as you can and you hope your efforts pay off.
In terms of what I’ve enjoyed, by far, that’s the satisfaction of making a real difference in the quality of life in our Village and protecting all the wonderful things we enjoy about living here. It feels great to do a job where you’re making an impact for others and help-
ing your neighbors. As a trustee, you’re a lightning rod when it comes to residents’ requests and some items need immediate attention. We’re in constant touch with the Village staff, and together we work quickly to meet residents’ needs.
In speaking of the Village staff, I need to make a point here. There are things going on that people don’t realize. Mayor Edelman literally spends hours every day in Village Hall getting things done. And things are done well. The Mayor is a wonderful chief executive, and I think he doesn’t get enough credit for all the hard work and big results he’s done for the Village.
The same goes with my fellow trustees. They take pride in working hard. There’s a lot that goes into running a Village, and we have a top-notch staff. We don’t realize what the entire Village staff does for us every day from Ronnie Goldman, our Village administrator, all the way to our public works folks. They handle a lot that people don’t even realize. They’re very committed and they put their hearts into their work. That’s why I’ve supported salary increases. You can’t buy the level of dedication the What’s the story with the country club? What was all the fuss about earlier in the year and what is going on now? Also, it seems like the Village is constantly spending
money on the country club. Why? Another good question. We have been trying to work in kosher options into the country club for some time. I wanted the country club dining room kosher for upscale kosher dining during the week. I haven’t won on that one yet, but the thinking here is that the majority of residents of the Village are kosher eaters, as well are many of the club’s golfers. The Village needs to provide as much kosher options as possible for its residents there.
Originally, we were going to build a large structure next to the driving range that would have been very modern and nice. There was a lot of pushback on that from people in the area worried that their quiet street would turn into a major commercial thruway. While that is not absolutely clear, the board had to be sensitive to their concerns. Paris Popack and Jeff Landy worked hard on a compromise. We are extending the current building instead, and there will be a nice kosher snack shop there for the entire community to use.
In terms of other country club items, we replaced the old fleet of golf carts with a brand new one and reinstalled a new irrigation system. These were way overdue. People pushed them off for a while, and we saw it was necessary. Jeff has done a lot of work there, we’re getting golf simulators installed and remodeling the range building and reg-rading the range itself.
Why is all this necessary and why do I, as a non-golfer, have to pay for it?
It’s all about protecting the green space in our community. We need the country club to stay in the black so that we can keep it up and running, which thankfully, it now does, again thanks to the Mayor. We need it up and running because if the country club were to go away, that becomes open public land, which would draw tons of people, non-residents, right into the jewel of our Village. You do that, you lose the neighborhood.
To keep a good country club running, you need paying members from outside the Village. That means keeping up an impressive country club, which is what we are doing. As long as the cost of the club is net neutral, it’s a real win for everyone, even if you don’t play golf or tennis.
On tennis, kudos to Paris being all over it, making sure it’s top-notch and beautiful. Again, things we take for granted.
What large items are facing us in the future and what will you be doing about it?
First off, we have a problem with the bulkheads by the Marina. They’re broken and have needed to be replaced for the past 30 years. It’s a two-million-dollar project, and we’ve kicked the can down the road on this for too many years. We have to suck it up and get it done. People complain that we don’t need a marina anyway. They don’t realize that the bulkheads hold up a significant amount of water from the sea that would literally inundate parts of Lawrence without them. It’s become a safety issue. Mayor Edelman has been working ingeniously with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the state to handle and subsidize the project. I hope we’ll get that done in the coming term.
We also have to face reality about the budget. Inflation means money has lost a chunk of its value and it gets more expensive to get things done. We haven’t raised taxes in a meaningful way in years, and it costs a lot of money to service the Village properly. It’s highly unpopular but at a certain point you have to say the buck stops here. We need to face reality and work in modest tax increases. People say the Village has a lot of money in reserves, but it’s more complicated than that. We are mandated by the state to raise as much money as we spend, meaning a balanced budget, regardless of our reserves. The good part is I’m not talking about a lot here. Maybe the cost of one month of your annual cable TV subscription. We’ve got to have a real conversation about this.
Eli, it was a real pleasure speaking with you. This has given us a great idea about what goes on in Village Hall. We hope residents take the time to vote next week on Tuesday, June 21 at the Lawrence Country Club.
