Maragos: The County Isn’t Broke

Brushing aside widespread assertions to the contrary, Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos last week flatly declared: “The county is not broke.”

In a wide-ranging discussion with editors of Anton Community Newspapers in Mineola, the Republican comptroller declared, “Why can’t people believe that if we give an audited financial statement, performed by outside auditors and show that we have a surplus, why isn’t it real?”

Annual Lincoln Day Dinner

The North Syosset-Woodbury Republican Club celebrated with over 450 friends, dignitaries and community members at the 57th Annual Lincoln Day Dinner at Crest Hollow Country Club on March 14.  This year’s dinner was the one of the largest crowds ever recorded for the organization and was attended by Nassau County Republican Committee Chairman Joseph N. Mondello, Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor John Venditto and Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos. Info: nswgop.com.

West Birchwood Beautification

As many West Birchwood residents know, the annual beautification mailer was sent out on March 1. To date, the West Birchwood Civic Association has received contributions from 59 homes to date, totaling $3380. If you are a West Birchwood resident and association member and have not yet sent in your contribution, please do so as soon as possible.

The mailer included a letter detailing a plan of attempted work to be done with the town and county to improve the neighborhood, including the sump transformation project. Although this project is big, if done in phases, it is possible; this is why donations are so important. If you have misplaced your mailer, you can send your donation to WBCA, PO BOX 240, Jericho, NY, 11753.

Top Hospital Chefs

Syosset Hospital chefs sliced their way through the North Shore-LIJ Health System’s “Ultimate Chef Healthy Entrée Challenge” competition on Thursday, March 14, placing first in the second annual cooking competition for their filet mignon marinated in chili pepper, tequila and lime juice with wild rice and celery root as well as a mango and jicama salad dish. Staten Island University Hospital took second place in this year’s competition and Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan ranked third. Chefs from 13 of North Shore-LIJ Health System’s hospitals and facilities diced, sautéed and blanched at Glen Cove Hospital’s Pratt Auditorium during the competition to create tasty, appealing and healthful dishes. The competition was held during National Nutrition Month, helps to show that hospital food can not only be healthful but it also surpasses the stereotypes of being bland and boring.

Olympiad Semifinalists

The American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) recently announced the top students chosen to advance to the Semifinal round of U.S. Physics Team selection, including Jericho’s Kevin Huang and Jerry Hu and Syosset’s Anthony Lobko. Approximately 3,000 students participated in this first phase of the selection process, the Fnet=ma Exam.

Reinventing Nassau Coliseum

How can we reinvent Nassau Coliseum to become a vital economic engine for the 21st Century? It may be too early to say, but Nassau County is currently taking suggestions.

After several discussions on the potential future of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum with the Forest City Ratner team that designed the business model for the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano has announced that he is seeking requests for proposals from throughout the real estate community that would reinvent the aging facility as a new and strong economic anchor for the Hub.

Weitzman: Downtowns Are Key

Former Comptroller wants hometown feel in

Nassau County, IDA cooperation

“The comptroller is there to protect the taxpayers.”

That is what former Nassau Comptroller Howard Weitzman says is the job of a comptroller. It’s something he says he did during his eight years in the position, and it’s something that he wants to do again. Weitzman was elected to the position in 2001 and 2005 before being narrowly defeated by current Nassau County George Maragos in 2009.

GOP Passes Districting Map

Despite protests, Republican map

passes legislature in party line vote

The turbulent redistricting process in Nassau County came to an end last week with a party line vote approving a map drawn up by the Republican majority, But the strong possibility of a lawsuit by those opposed to the new map looms.

Republican legislators were booed by members of the audience as they voted for the GOP map. Critics of the map had held out hope that Legislator Denise Ford, who had voted against a similar Republican map in 2011, would vote against her caucus, but she voted with the majority.  The map passed 10-9.

Big Easy In Syosset

Mara Levi sits at the bar of her restaurant, her feet hanging over the black and white checkered floor, enjoying a sandwich and a glass of white wine. She laughs as her son, and restaurant chef, Josh, on the other side of the bar, yells at her for swearing.

“When the kids were little,” Levi laughed, “they had a curse jar that they’d make me put a dollar in every time I swore. They’d take the money and go to the movies.” That lighthearted, kitchen-table spirit imbues Mara’s Homemade, her family-run Southern cuisine restaurant in Syosset. Known for its crawfish boil, Cajun flavor and Arkansas-styled barbeque, Mara’s is The Real Thing. “I eat here every day,” she said with her slight Southern drawl. “We all do.”

Showtunes At Synagogue

In year’s past, the annual concert at Temple Or Elohim in Jericho has featured all-Jewish music, but this year, a new Cantor is taking the show in a different direction.

“My background is highly operatic…so I wanted to bring a whole different energy and level of culture and art to the community,” said Cantor David Aaron Katz. Though he only joined the synagogue in July of 2012, Katz is well known as one of the “Three Jewish Tenors,” along with Cantors Alberto Mizrachi and David Propis. He has performed with the Houston Grand Opera Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and The Pacific Symphony orchestra, the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony, The Queens Oratorio Society Symphony, The Pan American Orchestra Of New York, The One World Symphony as well as many other prominent orchestras through out the United States.