"I have a philosophical difference with the way this village has been run lately," says Richard Deem who has made the decision to turn his beliefs into action and to run for the position of mayor of the Village of Great Neck. He continues, "We have been blitzed with subdivisions and large developments, much of which have been sponsored with our tax money. At the same time, we have seen our village infrastructure decay due to inadequate preventative maintenance, failure to perform needed and periodic upgrades to village facilities and inadequate oversight."

Mr. Deem, who moved to Great Neck in 1984, and restored an older home on Arrandale Avenue, wants to be able to afford to retire here and he believes that many residents join him in the love for the community and the quality of life here. But he warns, if current practices continue unabated, Great Neck's taxes may continue to rise beyond the means of people on fixed incomes. He is particularly concerned about the erosion of zoning laws. He says, "In almost every case in recent years where variances were being requested by a developer, it has always been the developer and the village against the residents. It is my belief that the purpose of local government is to protect the village residents from this type of situation, not to be a promoter of big and costly development. Our local zoning ordinances were established for a purpose and should be enforced. Variances to those ordinances should not be used as a mechanism to facilitate outside developers in making a profit, walking away with that profit, and leaving village residents to bear the increased costs associated with garbage collection, roadway maintenance, fire protection, and sewage treatment, while at the same time depleting our finite resources, such as our drinking water."

Mr. Deem believes that he brings a unique perspective and special skills to the table. He is a nuclear engineer, employed at the Brookhaven National Laboratory with training in civil and mechanical engineering and special training in water treatment. Recently, his position has changed and he will no longer need to travel overseas because he has been transferred to homeland security matters and will have the time and availability to perform the duties of mayor. He says, "I am well qualified to address the many technical problems that now face the village." He adds, "The densification brought about by subdivisions and developments has put a tremendous strain on our infrastructure, not to mention continual increases in our school budgets. There are problems with traffic, the sewage treatment facility, the storm water drainage system, and village-maintained roadways, the cost of which will have to be borne by us, the village residents."

Mr. Deem also believes that residents should have more influence on the future of the village and be better informed about the challenges facing the village. He says, "I would publish the budget so that people would understand what's being taken in and what's being expended. And I would involve the community in writing a master plan. We have much untapped talent in this village and I believe that people who have a stake in the future want to be included ... This administration is pushing for more and more residential development which stresses our services, but I think there should be more emphasis on seeking out clean commercial development. Is there more that local government could do to help local businesses?"

Regarding the controversial diversion of the sewage treatment plants, Mr. Deem believes there are serious and multiple problems in such an approach. The first obstacle in his opinion is in laying the pipe to hook up with a connection in Roslyn. The method that has been proposed is called "jacking" which drills lengths of pipes horizontally. The route that has been proposed would go up Community Drive and turn left at the South Service Road of the Long Island Expressway. But Mr. Deem says that the "jacking" technique requires a sandy soil environment in order to work and adds that such work on Community Drive would have a negative impact on emergency vehicles that frequent that corridor. He believes that the state grant that has been awarded to the village and to the Water Pollution Control District should be used to determine the best means of upgrading. He adds that if we hook up with the Cedar Creek treatment plant, we will lose control of basic costs for sewage treatment. He also questions whether the costs of diversion include the costs of decommissioning the existing facilities.

Mr. Deem predicts that help for local governments from the federal government will be "lean" in future years and the more self-reliant and economy conscious we are, the better.

He concludes, "I hope to engage the incumbent mayor in a series of debates prior to the election. If he chooses not to engage in debates, I'll sponsor a series of public meetings instead. This will afford you the opportunity to determine who you feel is better qualified to lead the village, and determine in which direction it should be going. I do not profess to know all the answers, but do feel the current emphasis is skewed and will lead to substantially higher financial overhead costs to the village residents in the near future."

On a personal note, Mr. Deem restored his home "hands-on" with the help of old-timers who taught him the secrets of plastering and in his free time enjoys restoring antique cars.