Edward P. Mangano and Linda Burns-Gleason (Quackenbush) are seeking election to the 17th Legislative District. Following re-districting, the 17th L.D. now includes the communities (or parts) of Hicksville, Bethpage, Plainedge, Island Trees, South Farmingdale and North Levittown.

Mangano, the incumbent, has served as legislator of the 17th L.D since 1995. He is running with the endorsement of the Republican, Conservative and Independence Parties. Burns-Gleason, a political newcomer, is running with the endorsement of the Nassau County Democratic Committee.

Linda Burns-Gleason (Quackenbush), a resident of Hicksville for four years, is a project leader for LexisNexis, a Manhattan-based online information company. She earned her bachelor's degree in political science from Queens College and in 2002, attended Yale University's Women's Campaign School, which fosters women's participation in the political arena. It was out of this experience that the Democratic Committee looked to Burns-Gleason as their legislative candidate.

Burns-Gleason believes her professional experiences will be an asset to the legislature and states that, if elected, she will focus on future development of Nassau County for the betterment of all residents.

"As a legislator, I will ensure that [constituents'] concerns are addressed and that Nassau County re-establishes its fiscal solvency," she said in a previous article. "With the right leadership, Nassau County can become the neighborhood of choice for families to live, grow and prosper in."

If elected, Burns-Gleason said she will work with the county to look closely at the business development that is happening within the district. "We have all these little strip malls and no place for people to live," she said. "These big stores are wonderful, but I would rather go to my smaller, local neighborhood businesses."

According to Burns-Gleason, the county needs to look into establishing retail overlay districts in which small areas with stores could house affordable apartments overhead. "It may be a controversial issue [because] affordable housing comes across as a dirty word and is looked at as low income," she said, "but doing this would address affordable housing, apartments which are very scarce and give an income boost to these smaller businesses. We would spend more of our money here, in our county."

She added, "If you can get senior citizens to move into senior developments that are shaken by railroad vibrations or have shoddy construction, then I think you would find responsible, hardworking people who want a reasonably affordable rental apartment to move in. Also, it would add vitality to the area. There would be more people around, business would increase and a sense of community would be formed."

Burns-Gleason believes local downtowns need to be revitalized so as to attract new businesses and employment opportunities. "Nassau County is a great place to live. It is abundant with natural treasures and beauty," she said in a previous article. "It is time to move forward. With the right leadership, we can resolve the financial stresses and burdens of the past that affect us presently. We will be able to achieve a better quality of life by revitalizing."

The candidate added, "The county has to work with the local chambers and business groups, because in order to draw people downtown, it has to be attractive. It has to look nice [and] appealing. A lot of people walk in Hicksville, it would be nice to end up somewhere.

Burns-Gleason states that she "is not a politician" but rather a citizen who feels strongly about the concerns of the residents in the 17th L.D. She is focusing on the future development of Nassau County for the betterment of residents, young people and senior citizens.

Burns-Gleason believes elected officials need to be accessible, listen to their constituents and be open to collaboration and cooperation, which she doesn't believe the current legislator is doing.

"I would like my legislator to not always vote the party line, to really show that he thought about something and has listened to the people he represents," she said. "We need someone who says 'That's not good for my district; I don't want that' or who puts his hand up and asks 'Why are we doing this? Who is benefiting from this?"

Burns-Gleason married David Quackenbush earlier this year. She will remain Burns-Gleason on the ballot.

Bethpage resident Edward Mangano is an intellectual properties attorney with the Uniondale-based firm of Rivkin, Radler & Kremer. The Republican incumbent, Mangano is serving his fourth term as legislator of the 17th District and is currently ranking member of the Public Works Committee, a member of the Rules Committee, Economic Development & Labor Committee and chairman of Nassau County's Grumman/Navy Redevelopment Committee.

Since being elected in 1995, Mangano has worked to preserve open space throughout the district as well as successfully restored Cantiague Park, Pools and Playgrounds and established a Senior Citizen Community Center and senior programming for both Hicksville and Bethpage. He is also working to develop athletic fields and ice surfaces for youth programs throughout the district.

If re-elected, Mangano said he will continue to address those issues affecting the 17th L.D. as a whole, including open space preservation, economic development, job creation, brownfield restoration. "These are still issues that touch us all," he said. "The [revised] district, while being more condensed, just lends itself to represent more people who are experiencing the similar issues that were in my former district."

Mangano said addressing open space concerns Nassau County, particularly in the 17th Legislative District, is a challenge, one in which you have to be prepared for when the opportunities arise. A perfect example of his open space preservation efforts is Hicksville's nature sanctuary, a one-acre piece of land on Kuhl Avenue adjacent to Cantiague Park. "In the past the county would have sold such land. I was happy to introduce legislation that perpetually preserved it. Now, its preserved forever," he said, adding, "We have to take advantage of all these opportunities."

Mangano was also involved in the preservation of Jericho's Underhill Property. "I was very happy to preserve the Underhill Property because it, simply put, protects our drinking water," he said. "It is clean, pristine property [that] allows the rainwater to pass through it and reach our drinking water in a non-contaminated manner."

As legislator, Mangano said his biggest accomplishments have been job creation, the redevelopment and reuse of brownfields and the preservation of open space, which are all apparent at the former Grumman property. "From the beginning, the top item on my agenda was redeveloping the former Grumman Property. When I first ran for office, the property sat vacant. Twenty thousand jobs had been lost, buildings were empty and deteriorating, millions of dollars in tax revenue had been lost and, most alarmingly, our environment was threatened by groundwater contamination," Mangano said.

"We have been very successful in returning over 12,000 jobs to the property, millions of dollars of tax base has been restored and most importantly, the environment, in terms of ground, soil and water containment, is being addressed today instead of being litigated over." The remaining 105 acres of Grumman property will be incorporated into the county's final reuse/redevelopment plan.

If re-elected, Mangano said his goals include continuing to ensure the best possible reuse of Nassau County property. "We have redeveloped brownfields, encouraged reuse, created jobs and, at the same time, opposed uses that are inconsistent. We need to continue to foster reuse that ise consistent with the character of our community," he said.

Mangano added that in the past he has opposed what he refers to as inconsistent projects, including a diesel bus company and 24-hour, seven-day-a-week trucking company proposed for the United States Navy on South Oyster Bay Road, just one-tenth of a mile north of Cambridge Court on the border of Hicksville and Bethpage.

"I believed these projects would have negatively impacted and altered the neighborhood to a large degree as well as changed the character of our community," Mangano said. "Where projects are in the character of the community, I am supportive. We are trying to provide the type of jobs that encourage high-tech uses, film-industry uses, engineering uses, where people employed there can afford to live in our community, buy a house and establish roots."