For Nassau County, It Isn't Easy Being Green

Uhl Pledges An Environmentally Friendly Nassau; A Greener Suburbia

A few years back, appearing at Hempstead Town Hall for a pow wow on the Community Green Project which he chairs, Michael Uhl met up with then Town Councilman Joe Kearney, both taking an elevator ride to the fourth floor.

Michael was holding an aerial photo of Nassau County, depicting but a few areas of green (little open space being left in Nassau), alongside various shades of gray.

Having the Councilman as a captive audience, Michael held the photo up to Joe Kearney, and, referencing the plethora of gray space, asked, "How can we make this map green?"

The Councilman, without missing a beat, replied, "Paint it green!"

Michael shook his head in disbelief, exiting the elevator without a further word.

Councilman Kearney has long since retired -- out of state, of course -- leaving Michael, and the rest of us, to ask, "How can we make Nassau County green?"

Brownfields proliferate the landscape, adorned only by politicians' placards and empty promises to remove the blight.

Environmental Bond monies -- $150 million, to be exact -- languish, some of it allocated, much of it, not.

The condition of our parks, particularly the so-called "passive" parks that serve many of our communities, deteriorates.

The taxes pile on, and, like the perpetual drip of a faucet, the money flows out, almost imperceptably, with little beneficial result.

"How can we make Nassau County green?"

Don't ask our Nassau County Legislators, whose political posturing, infighting, and across the aisle finger-pointing have reduced the Legislature to a laughing stock, bringing initiatives to preserve open space, create green space, redevelop brownfields, revitalize and rehabilitate our parks and downtowns, to name a few, to a virtual standstill.

If only we could bottle all the hot air that comes out of our County Legislature. We'd solve the energy crisis in one fell swoop!

Every election year, the candidates talk about progress, about "moving forward," about change for the better. And, time and time again, whether as creatures of habit or giving them the benefit of our doubt, we return the same politicians to office, with little progress, scant forward movement, and, if there is change at all (certainly, not in our pockets), it is rarely for the better.

Of course, when we send the same entrenched politicos back to tackle the same, age old problems, is it any wonder nothing changes? What can we expect from those whose main objectives are to win the next election and serve as your Legislator for life.

"If we are going to change the way we do business in Nassau County," says Michael Uhl, "we have to first accept that the status quo is never good enough. You cannot expect the same people, with their tired ideas, to change the course, when their only mindset is to stay the course."

In an age when Americans are looking for alternatives to fossil fuels, and environmentally sound solutions to our energy concerns, why are our Legislators in Nassau County still clinging to the era of the dinosaur?

When did our vision of suburbia, with its green lawns and white picket fences, become blurred by political indifference and an unwillingness to put people before politics?

Maybe if we stopped watering the potted plants in local government -- those who have taken root in our legislatures and town boards, and now serve as little more than immoveable, inanimate objects -- we can begin to make Nassau green again.

Isn't it time for a change in your County Legislature? Michael Uhl knows it is. You know it is!