From LONG ISLAND – by Ann Parry (annparry.com) October 2, 2021
VIDEO –Click bottom right corner for Full Screen – Bellmore Family Street Festival, Sept. 25, 2021:
The first Saturday in autumn, August 25th, Bob and I visited the 34th Annual Bellmore Family Street Festival. The food, the smells, the crafts… were tantalizing, and the people were the highlight of the afternoon.
As we walked to the carnival rides at the opposite end of the festival, I ate grilled corn on the cob, chatted at various political booths, and browsed at countless crafts booths, including one where I bought a solar powered blue bird for my front garden.
Bellmore, NY, U.S. Sept. 25, 2021. At center, JASON ABELOVE, the Democratic candidate for Town of Hempstead Supervisor, visits the South Shore Women’s Caucus booth at the 34th Annual Bellmore Family Street Festival.
We were about to leave when we ran into my daughter Sue’s family, so the five of us headed off together towards the carnival rides and ices.
Bellmore, NY, U.S. Sept. 25, 2021. NYS LegislatorSTEVE RHOADS (R-19th District) speaks with a visitor at the 34th Annual Bellmore Family Street Festival.
After the bonus hour or so of family fun at the festival, Bob and I decided, once again, to leave.
Just before we turned off Bedford Ave to head to the car, DAN YNGSTROM — wearing his bright pink Chamber of Commerce of the Bellmores VOLUNTEER shirt (as seen early in above video) — said a cheery hi.
Bellmore, N.Y., U.S. Sept. 25, 2021. Musician at theNew York Musician’s Center (NYMC, 701 Bedford Ave) sings, while accompanying himself on electric guitar, during the 34th Annual Annual Bellmore Family Street Festival.
FEATURE PHOTO (at top of post): Bellmore, NY, U.S. Sept. 25, 2021. L-R, NYS Senator JOHN BROOKS and visitor BOB STUHMER, wearing a face mask because of COVID-19, chat at the senator’s booth at the 34th Annual Bellmore Family Street Festival.
Yesterday, April 26, activists held a rally in Mineola about the unfair burden of paying dam-bursting rates – about to rise 26% higher on May 1st – for water from New York American Water, a private company.
Living in Merrick, I’m among over 124,000 customers of NYAW in Nassau County who pay rates many times higher than county residents with municipal water.
Since 2011, I’ve been covering rallies and attending meetings about the extreme, unfair difference in rates customers pay for water from private companies versus municipal water in Nassau County.
But the notable changes water customers have experienced over the past 11 years have been repeated sales from one private water company to another, and a flood of rate hikes.
Recently, however, New York State Senate Bill S.989a passed – sponsored by Sen. James Gaughran (Dem.-5th District, Northport) – which relates to the assessment of property owned by water-works corporations – including creating a Nassau County Water Authority and exempting water works corporations in counties of populations over one million from a special franchise tax.
In addition to NYS Sen. James Gaughran, Sen. John Brooks (Dem. – 8th Dist., Seaford), Sen. Leroy Comrie (Dem. – 14th Dist., St. Albans) Sen. Todd Kaminsky (Dem. – 9th Dist., Long Beach), and Sen. Kevin Thomas (Dem. – 6th Dist, Garden City) actively supported the bill’s passage, and speakers at the rally thanked them.
But for New York American Water customers to avoid the 26% rate hike, and for such changes to take place, the NYS Assembly must also pass corresponding legislation before May 1st. [See UPDATE near end of post]
Before May 1, 2021, NYS Assembly Bill A07279 passed, which “relates to the establishment of the north and south shore water authority and capping the rate a water-works corporation may increase its rates and charges.” It was sponsored by Rep. Charles Lavine (Dem. – Dist. 13, Glen Cove), and co-sponsors Rep. Judy Griffin (Dem. – Dist. 21, Rockville Centre), Rep. Michaelle Solages (Dem. – Dist. 22, Elmont), and Rep. Michael Montesano (Rep., Ind., Cons. – Dist. 15, Glen Head).
NYS Assembly Bill A07279 differs from NYS Senate Bill A.989.a in some significant ways. For one, the NYS Assembly bill would form a North and South Shore Water Authority, covering fewer New York Water Authority customers than the Nassau County Water Authority NYS Senate Bill S.989.a would cover.
