In his first State of the Town message, North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman focused on three major issues for his first year--technology, community based planning and business development. Speaking before the League of Women Voters of Port Washington-Manhasset, Kaiman first introduced the members of the town board, each now representing an individual district: Robert Troiano Jr. who represents New Cassel, Westbury and Carle Place; Tom Dwyer, who represents Roslyn, Greenvale,East Williston, Williston Park, Albertson and Searingtown; Angelo Ferrara, who represents New Hyde Park, Mineola and Garden City Park; Wayne Wink, representing parts of Great Neck, Manhasset, Plandome and Roslyn; Tony D'Urso, who represents parts of Great Neck, Herricks and New Hyde Park; Fred Pollack, whose district includes Port Washington, parts of Plandome and Flower Hill.

Kaiman told his audience that North Hempstead is a town of approximately 225,000 people with a combined budget of approximately $90 million. Its bond rating status with Moody's Investors Services is A3, the highest it's ever been in North Hempstead history. Kaiman went on to discuss the subject of the town debt. He related the solid waste disposal issues that plagued North Hempstead for a number of years, including the closing of the Port Washington landfills, the purchase of the Morewood property and the Sumitomo decision. "The end result was simple," he concluded. "The cash cow turned into a financial albatross." He praised his predecessor, Supervisor May Newburger, for her handling of a difficult situation and said that the town now operates within the confines of a debt management plan.

According to Mr. Kaiman, now that the town has a debt management plan in place it is in a position to "chip away" at the town's debt burden through refinancing and paying down debt when the resources are there to do it. He said he would propose that the town take $1 million from its fund balance this year to pay down debt.

Supervisor Kaiman spent some time relating the story of North Hempstead's efforts on behalf of the New Cassel community, important for two reasons--the transformation of an economically depressed area of our town to new levels of prosperity and vitality and the successful use of a community-planning program, which he proposes to implement in other parts of the town. Included in the New Cassel plan is so-called "mixed-use" zoning, in which residential apartments are located over commercial property. "What made the New Cassel planning process so successful was the central role played by the community. Focusing community planning around the community simply makes sense--and it's my intention to communicate with and engage our residents when we are called upon to make decisions that affect development and planning in their communities."

With 225,000 residents, 31 incorporated villages and numerous special districts, Kaiman said that making government more responsive to the community would be one of his major goals as supervisor. He said he plans to establish a communications and response system to address residents' concerns through a "contemporary application of computer and communications technology ... that will change the way we govern our town." As a result, he said, "The town will move into the modern technological era and bring its management operations along with it."

Finally, Supervisor Kaiman addressed the issue of business development within the town. "From the business community comes resources to clean brownfields, restore downtowns, build housing; and support community sports, charitable causes and social programs." He added that the business community must operate within the town's codes and local laws. "The business community must be part of the solution on such critical issues as over-development, traffic congestion and noise pollution. "Supervisor Kaiman plans to ask the town board to establish a Business Development Corporation (BDC) within the town "to provide a voice so that town policy makers can better understand the impact of our proposals on the business community."

Supervisor Kaiman thanked the leaders of the town's workforce and introduced new members of his administration. Acknowledging that there is work to be done, Supervisor Jon Kaiman gave the impression that he is ready and eager to take on the job.