With the formation of the Roslyn Community Party, the Village of Roslyn will be having a competitive trustee race this year. So, too, will the Village of East Hills. Residents in that village have formed the Concerned Citizens Party and have nominated former Flower Hills mayor, Derrick Rubin to run for a trustee position.

According to Mr. Rubin, residents started up the new party "in order to have a more youthful presence representing their interests on the board of Trustees" especially regarding the village's acquisition and development of the property at the Air National Guard base, as well as "other quality of life issues."

He added that he can bring to the East Hills BOT a "wealth of good ideas and an intense desire to work hard for the best interests of the residents of East Hills."

Mr. Rubin and his family have relocated in East Hills from their previous residence in neighboring Flower Hill. There, Mr. Rubin served as a trustee and as chairman of both the Board of Zoning Appeals and the Planning Board. While mayor of Flower Hill, Mr. Rubin said he lowered village taxes by 10 percent while budgeting an additional $250,000 for infrastructure roadwork and equipment procurement.

He cited other achievements as providing a communications system for village trucks, overhauling the village's computer system, exterior and interior improvements to the village hall, the investigation of underwater erosion to a roadway in a neighborhood that included 47 homes that resulted in the street being completely rebuilt, and the installation of wooden village signage and placement of flowers along major thoroughfares.

Mr. Rubin is an attorney with the law firm of Jerome Wisselman in Great Neck. He is a graduate of the business school at the University of New York at Albany and Hofstra Law School. He and his wife, Roberta, have three children.

Last month, the Unity Party nominated incumbent trustee, Linda Nathanson and Emanuel Zuckerman to run for the two trustee positions. Ms. Nathanson has been on the BOT since 1995. Mr. Zuckerman was nominated after Deputy Mayor Lawrence Krasnoff announced his retirement from the BOT. The current BOT has long hoped to build a park at the site of the Air National Guard base. Last month, Rep. Gary Ackerman announced that the Air Force has approved the sale of the base to East Hills. The facility was ordered to be shut down by the federal government back in 1995 as part of ongoing military base closures across the country. The property is expected to be available by Sept. 30 of this year.