One may wonder why a ferry proposed to be built in Glen Cove designed to move passengers to Connecticut and Massachusetts would cause opposition from elected officials in the Roslyn area, but according to Roslyn Harbor Mayor Gerson Strassberg, there are plenty of reasons, and not all of them have to do with traffic.

The proposed ferry is currently a hot topic of debate in Glen Cove, with Mayor Tom Suozzi supporting the project and an "Alliance Against The Ferry" against it. The mayor of neighboring Sea Cliff, Claudia Moyne, is also part of the opposition.

The proposed ferry would be run by Fox Navigation and transport passengers from Glen Cove to destinations in New London, CT and Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. The New London connection is key because from there passengers can travel to the Foxwoods casino in Connecticut.

Mayor Strassberg is also working with The Alliance. He recently mailed a letter to all Roslyn Harbor residents both explaining his opposition and asking for support for a legal fund.

On the traffic front, Mayor Strassberg notes that the major road to the ferry from points south of Glen Cove is Glen Cove Road. However, the mayor claimed that drivers will forego that thoroughfare to make shortcuts on Roslyn Harbor roads. The village, the mayor said, is "already a parking lot in the morning." The ferry, he added, would bring bus traffic into that mix.

But traffic itself is not the number one reason Mayor Strassberg and other Roslyn Harbor officials oppose the ferry. According to the mayor, there would be bus service from the Foxwoods casino to the ferry, a drive that totals two-and-a-half hours. The mayor said there would be no liquor served on the last half hour of that drive, but during the first two hours, there would be alcohol beverage service. As such, the buses would be full with "losers" from the casino who then would leave the ferry and get in cars eventually traveling down Glen Cove Road and through the Roslyn Harbor area.

If the Glen Cove ferry is completed and successful, then another ferry may very well be constructed in Glenwood Landing, which is even closer to his village. The same scenario may occur. What the mayor worries about is a "bunch of drunken drivers careening around our streets [in Roslyn Harbor]."

At a recent meeting at the Wunsch Arts Center in Glen Cove, Mayor Suozzi said the "common enemy" for residents in Roslyn Harbor, Glen Head, Glen Cove and Sea Cliff was not the ferry, but pollution along the Glen Cove waterfront.

Mayor Suozzi said revenues from the ferry operation would help to fund a $6 million cleanup of that property which, if left as is, has a detrimental affect on the health and quality of life along the shores of Hempstead Harbor. The money for the cleanup has already been borrowed, what is needed is a way to pay it back. Furthermore, Mayor Suozzi claims, if the ferry is not built, the land will be developed anyway, possibly by some commercial development that opponents of the ferry wouldn't like, either.

Mayor Strassberg said Mayor Suozzi's motives "are wonderful," but the proposed ferry represents "money from the wrong place [raised] the wrong way." The Alliance claims that the city of Glen Cove has, in the past, received government grants to help in the cleanup. Mayor Strassberg admitted that he doesn't know how the money for such an environmental cleanup can be raised. It is simply that many villages south of Glen Cove are, in the mayor's words, "universally" against the ferry in its mere concept. Mayor Strassberg noted that there has been talk of a compromise on the issue between the two differing factions. But from his point of view, he doesn't see how any compromise can be reached on the matter of building a ferry. Over the past several months, the Village of Roslyn has discussed the proposed ferry at Board of Trustee meetings, but has not come to any official position on the issue.