While he currently resides in the Village of Mineola with his wife Stephanie and their children Olivia, Nicholas and Julia, Michael A. L. Balboni was raised in the Village of Garden City. Born May 12, 1959, Balboni spent his formative years playing in the Village's parks, attending the Garden City Public Schools until his graduation from Garden City High School in 1977, and later studying at Adelphi University, graduating in 1981. When his political career brought him to the New York State Assembly, he represented his new hometown of Mineola and the Village of his childhood, and the community in which his family still resides, Garden City. He served Garden City in the Assembly until the death of State Senator Michael Tully of the Seventh State Senatorial District left an unexpected seat open right before the fall elections.

Balboni made the choice then to leave the State Assembly and run for Tully's seat. Last fall he was elected to the State Senate, which was a bittersweet moment for residents of the Village, as they were proud of the Garden City-raised Balboni's accomplishments politically, but were going to miss his service, as the Seventh Senatorial District does not cover Garden City. Stewart Manor and Garden City Park residents had cause to celebrate as they gained a new State Senator to fill the shoes of well respected and very popular Michael Tully. Also, Garden City's State Senator of the Sixth Senatorial District, Village resident Kemp Hannon, was joined by not only a respected colleague but a former neighbor who has maintained a relationship with the Village through his family.

Nov. 3 Balboni will be up for re-election and Stewart Manor and Garden City Park residents, along with the other communities in the Seventh Senatorial District will have to decide whether or not to return Balboni to his post. Balboni spoke to a group of Anton Community Newspapers editors in the Anton offices in Mineola on Thursday, Sept. 17 to discuss the upcoming race. Balboni began by talking about the First Annual Women's Cancer Education Day that was recently held in Garden City at Adelphi University in cooperation with the SASS Foundation, the New York State Breast Cancer Hotline and Adelphi University.

He commented, "I have been in government for nine years and this is the first time I have felt I've made a difference on an individual basis. I was thoroughly overwhelmed by the emotion and the fear you could see in a lot of the women's eyes, but there was also tremendous hope and strength. " He also commented, "This was the first time that they didn't have to go into the city or out to Stony Brook for this kind of information." This event was a free symposium for cancer survivors, their families, and healthcare professionals. Speakers included William McGuire, M.D., who spoke on ovarian cancer, Maria Theodoulou, M.D., who spoke on breast cancer, and Carl McDougall, M.D., who spoke on colon cancer. There were panel discussions, exhibits, and workshops, which were attended by approximately 600 people.

Balboni noted that he was disappointed by the amount of financial support from the pharmaceutical companies. He said that $5,000 was raised, but he had really hoped to see "the pharmaceutical companies step up and underwrite" the event. He vowed to make pitches to these companies at future speaking engagements from now until next year's Cancer Education Day to help gain the financial support he and the other organizers were seeking.

Balboni recognized that there are tremendous concerns about the Hub plans and brought up the point that in order to construct the light rail system (a.k.a monorail or people mover) that will connect the designated areas of the Hub, private property will likely be condemned under the emminent domain laws. He says he knows that the residents of Carle Place are up in arms over proposals to have a light rail stop there, and he says more communities will likely agree with this sentiment when discussions of whose property will be taken to construct the rails are held. Garden City, for example, will possibly lose green space and perhaps some private property as well to the rails that would possibly run between Adelphi University, Hofstra University, Nassau Community College, Roosevelt Field, and Carle Place. Balboni noted, "It's a very expensive proposal for the taxpayers of Nassau County and I really haven't seen the support." He also noted, "How do you decide whose property to condemn?"

He also added his support to the efforts of State Senator Kemp Hannon to protect the residents living along the rail lines in Garden City that are scheduled to see freight traffic after the moratorium ends and says that communities like Stewart Manor, New Hyde Park, and Mineola, which he represents would also be affected. He says he is committed to protecting these communities and will continue his vigilance.

When asked what his goals are if re-elected he said, "How do you continue to let the good times roll?" He cited the status of the stock market, the reduction in state taxes, the changes made to the welfare program, the creation of the STAR program, changes to Workman's Compensation, and the elimination of LILCO as examples of the good times and promised to work to not only continue these initiatives, but to see more of these "positive changes" in the state. He also noted, "Four years ago, New York State had the highest taxes in the nation and was the last in job retention. Moving companies would say that New York was their best customer for moves out of state. We've started to turn that around." He said that, "Time magazine called New York 'tax hell' in 1992, but in the last few years we've cut taxes more than the other states combined."

He acknowledged that the numbers for moving out of state for "20 somethings" continues to remain high, and says that this is an issue he and his colleagues in the state need to work to address by creating the opportunities in technology and current industries to attract young people and to make living here affordable for them. He also commented that the real property tax is "an outdated system" that "doesn't take into account what you make" and said that the STAR program was the first step in helping New Yorkers deal with this problem, and that it will not be the last attempt on his part.

School aid was increased by $850 million, according to Balboni, who also says that one of the major conflicts within the state about how the aid should be based, whether it be enrollment based as city schools requested, or attendance based as the suburban schools wanted, was resolved when the aid was made general aid to each school. By providing non-categorical aid, the debate about the style of aid was quelled. As a member of the Economic Development and Tax Budget Conference Committee, "I got passed a bill to eliminate sales tax on school textbooks." He observed, "We drive so much financial aid to financially distressed people, who do need it of course, but we do nothing for the middle class." He says he feels the textbook sales tax elimination will provide a much needed break to the middle class.

On the subject of toll bridges he emphatically stated, "I'd love to see the tolls eliminated." He cited the state constitutional changes made in Massachusetts which has allowed that state to completely eliminate their tolls. Balboni was able to get passed a legislative action to eliminate the tolls on Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and the day prior, to provide a traffic solution for the most traveled days of the year. While some have argued that eliminating tolls would be financially irresponsible, Balboni contends that in fact the budget of the MTA would not be impacted significantly at all by the elimination of the tolls, and that the good it would do for the environment would outweigh the loss of any revenue. Balboni argues, "The amount of air pollution from all of those cars idling" is very bad for our environment and that the congestion could be significantly reduced by not stopping the flow with all of the tolls. Also, he pointed out that out of state drivers are not helped by the EZ Pass system, and many lanes are dedicated to this program only now, forcing all out of state traffic into a limited number of lanes. While the plan to eliminate tolls has broad based support among New Yorkers, this is not a plan that the governor has taken on yet, but Balboni says he will pursue gubernatorial support and try to have legislation passed on the matter.

On other environmental topics, Balboni says he supports and did vote for the Pesticide Notification Bill, but adds that this may not be enough. He advocates cancer mapping to study cancer cases and how long the people have lived in their home, etc. to try to discover the connections and possibly the factors involved. While he says that he believes pesticides are likely a cause of cancer, they are not the only possible cause here on Long Island and so in some ways he feels that the notification legislation "is almost like putting the cart before the horse." He added, "From an epidemiological standpoint, we need to survey the population." Also, he identified certain technical problems with the Pesticide Notification Bill, such as who exactly is notified and the possibility that the information is not necessarily distributed to everyone who needs it, etc.

As chair of the Water Resource Committee, he says he wants to see the Oil Spill Prevention Bill pass. He says it was a bill he was, "very proud to sponsor" and that he could not get enough agreement for the bill's ultimate success this session, but will work toward that goal in the next session if re-elected. He also commented that the LaGuardia air traffic increase proposed is a matter of great concern to him. On the Environmental Conservation Committee he has begun to examine the issue of noise pollution and is working to examine the possibility of curbing leaf blower noise pollution. He says that while he is "very concerned about airport congestion as a whole" and the safety of the towers, etc., he lacks jurisdiction at the state level to effect change. The federal government has jurisdiction, but he has and will continue to write letters to the FAA and lend support to federal representatives through letters and public speaking.

Balboni signed on the Child Access Prevention Safety Bill and argues, "I don't think that anyone would not support keeping guns from kids." In response to comments that trigger locks could keep the gun owners from using the gun in a time critical situation, he retorted, "Trigger locks are simple as hell. How does that prevent an adult from using it to protect him/herself and to go hunting? It doesn't. Any license is a privilege, not a right and it's not too much to require a gun owner to put a safety on their gun."

He also talked about the opportunities he's had to create nature trails, to bring the DOT's attention to Long Island's roadways that needed repairs, the opportunity to pass legislation like Kathy's Law to prevent abuse of the elderly and coma patients, and the ability to pass legislation that provides orders of protection to witnesses in criminal trials. He says there's a world of difference between being an Assemblyman and a State Senator and hopes to be able to continue his work in the Senate. He says his major goal is to continue moving New York to becoming the "Empire State."