Glen Cove Mayor Ralph Suozzi, who ran a successful mayoralty campaign by railing against the completion of the so-called "Road to Nowhere" (the Glen Cove Road extension that bends around the firehouse on its way to the waterfront at Garvies Point), is undoubtedly about to demonstrate that hypocrisy in politics is not a dead art - at least not in his administration.

Now that the road is finished, Mr. Suozzi, whose sole accomplishment to date has been to put a stop to the completion of the Glen Cove waterfront redevelopment by declaring a moratorium on it, will undoubtedly hold a public ceremony - replete with photo ops - at which he can dedicate the very "Road to Nowhere" that got him elected by his opposition to it.

The fact is that when he ran for mayor, Mr. Suozzi either knew that the "Road to Nowhere" was already in the works as a committed project and he intentionally misled Glen Cove's voters, or worse, he had no clue that numerous governmental agencies were already committed to the project and his election as Glen Cove's $100,000 a year mayor, with its free car and full family health care benefits, couldn't get the "Road to Nowhere" stopped no matter what he did.

By imposing an ill-considered moratorium on the waterfront development, Mr. Suozzi has triggered the maxim, "Be careful of what you wish for lest it come true," and should he attempt to do what politicians love most - take credit for any project they can get their hands on - he will be presiding over a publicity event which will, in fact, demonstrate that the road he will be dedicating does indeed go exactly where he said it would - nowhere.

Mr. Suozzi, whose first cousin Tom Suozzi was elected Nassau County Executive on the campaign theme, "I can do it because I've done it," has demonstrated that perhaps not all Suozzis can do it or have ever done it. If anything, his abject failure to move the waterfront restoration forward seems to be an unmistakable indicator that Mayor Suozzi most likely can't do it because he has never done it or anything like it.

Glen Cove needs to revitalize its waterfront for any number of reasons. Among them are the fact that significant tax revenues will help solve the structural deficit in the city's finances created by bad management and it will be the first step in a real revitalization of a sagging downtown that just can't occur until Glen Cove establishes itself as a serious tourist destination with a revived waterfront.

The choices this year will be simple. Glen Cove voters can re-elect an incumbent who has proven in only two short years that he cannot do the job, or they can get serious about finding someone who has been in the real world of business and project development and has the essential know-how to complete a job that was begun 14 years ago.

Tolerating incompetence in managing Glen Cove's City government should no longer be considered a reasonable option for Glen Cove's taxpayers. Politics is never a game or a popularity contest when real people pay with real, hard-earned tax dollars for the mistakes of their public officials. Glen Cove's voters may want to think long and hard about how much more they're willing to pay in real property taxes and how much more they're willing to lose in the value of their homes as those taxes continue to rise in order to pay for the mistakes of their elected officials.

Ralph Suozzi is, by most accounts, a pleasant fellow. Unfortunately, that alone does not make him well-suited for a job that after one term in office clearly appears to be too much of a challenge for his skills.

Michael A. Levy