Glen Cove Rocks

All-female band Antigone Rising honored at city council meeting

Last week’s Glen Cove City Council meeting began with a presentation that had members of the audience, as well as the council, moving and grooving to footage of a rock concert. In honor of Women’s History Month, the City of Glen Cove and Nassau County Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton recognized members of the all-female rock band Antigone Rising for their recent work in Israel and the West Bank as cultural arts envoys.

The founding members of the band, sisters Cathy and Kristen Henderson, are both graduates of Glen Cove High School. Antigone Rising performed earlier this year in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Ramallah and other regional towns and cities as part of a cultural initiative sponsored by the U.S. State Department. Besides performing concerts, the band also led workshops and made music with Israeli and Palestinian musicians of all ages and genders.

Mayor Ralph V. Suozzi said that Women’s History Month is about women’s education and women’s empowerment and joked that rock and roll was once seen as the demise of our society, but “it may end up being what saves us.”

DeRiggi-Whitton spoke about the universal appeal of music and how it can bring people together. “Here’s to women communicating this way.”

Two video presentations were shown, highlighting the experience of the band members, showing interviews with local people and concert footage.

The Henderson sisters both mentioned what an eye-opening and life-changing experience it was.

“At the end of the day, we’re all people. We all want peace, love and happiness,” Cathy said.

“The stereotypes we have are so far off the mark,” said Kristen. “We shattered their image of Americans, and we saw they are not all violent terrorists.” She also said that after meeting people in that part of the world, it changed her perspective on how Americans are perceived by other cultures.

Resolutions

A number of resolutions were passed, including one declaring the city as lead agency under the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) regarding the construction of a new well. According to the resolution, the council caused a review for the need of a new supply well in the city’s system, and the consulting engineer recommended expansion of construction of the new well. No potential adverse environmental impacts of the proposed action were identified during the review, and the project will not produce any significant impacts on the environment, according to the terms of the regulations.

Councilman Anthony Gallo, Jr. said he wanted to see the needs analysis first and made a motion to table the vote on the city becoming the lead agency on this matter, which was seconded by Councilman Reginald Spinello. The rest of the council members voted his motion down; Councilman Timothy Tenke noted that it was “standard procedure” to act as lead agency and Councilman Nicholas DiLeo said that while he appreciates the concerns, the application for the process needs to be filed soon and “time is of the essence.”

Mayor Suozzi said there is no expense in filing the application, and it is better to put it in sooner rather than later; he noted that they have already had substantial analysis by consulting engineers and the water department, but if a problem comes to light, they will not go ahead with construction. The mayor and the four Democratic councilmen voted to pass the resolution; Gallo and Spinello both voted no.

“Waiting a week or two to file won’t matter,” said Spinello.