Gary Hudes, who served as a Town of Hempstead Councilman for approximately six months in 1999, is seeking to be returned to the board, after a one-year absence, through a special election being held on Nov. 7.

Hudes, a Levittown resident, is the president of Gennaro Jewelers in Bellmore. He is the president of the Nassau Council of Chambers of Commerce, leading 52 chambers of commerce in Nassau County and was recently named by the council as Nassau's Small Businessperson of the Year.

Hudes is also the chairman of the Nassau County Graffiti Task Force, leading more than 20 governmental agencies in the fight against graffiti. The task force has cleaned up more than 3,000 locations of graffiti. In addition Hudes is a Revitalization Director and Consultant, a position that began when he completed a pilot program to completely revitalize Bellmore Village that has served as a model for East Meadow, Merrick, Garden City, Freeport, and other areas throughout the county. Tied in with his revitalization efforts is Hudes' role as the project coordinator of the Hempstead Turnpike Beautification and Revitalization Plan, which is a special $12 million project to beautify Hempstead Turnpike from the Wantagh Parkway to Bethpage. He is also involved with the Community Beautification Project at the Nassau County Medical Center, where he is coordinating a landscape design project to beautify the grounds surrounding the medical center in East Meadow.

Serving on the Town of Hempstead Cell Tower Task Force, Hudes has helped to explore data and recommend an acceptable balanced plan between the needs of the communications industry and the local communities. Hudes is also involved with Scouts Project 2000, where he has helped the Boys Scouts accomplish 2000 hours of community service in the Westbury, East Meadow, and Levittown communities. In addition, Hudes is on the board of directors of the Nassau County Fire Museum and Education Center, establishing a museum to promote fire safety in Nassau County and he serves on the LIPA Clean Energy Panel, exploring new methods to bring energy-saving alternatives to local communities.

Hudes is a member of both the Kiwanis and Lions Clubs, was the Knights of Columbus Citizen of the Year, is on the PTA Nutrition Committee for children, is an honorary member of the Nassau County Detectives' Association and the Nassau County Sheriff's Benevolent Association, received the Nassau County Police Commissioner's award for outstanding contributions to community safety, and in 1997 was selected by Governor George Pataki as New York State's Small Business Advocate of the Year.

When asked why he was running again for the position of town councilman, Hudes responded, "I am running because I find that the office of Hempstead Town Councilman can achieve more of my community goals than as the community activist I have been for the last 20 years. As a town councilman you can direct government to begin and complete projects that benefit the entire community. I want to continue many of the programs that I began when I served as a town councilman in 1999 that I was unable to complete to the degree that was needed."

One of the projects that he began, that he would like to continue to expand, if elected, is the S.L.O.W. Program. Standing for Speed Limit Odometer Warning, S.L.O.W. is aimed at reducing speeding cars on local streets in the Town of Hempstead that endanger the safety of residents and families. While on the board, Hudes was able to ensure the purchase of one unit for this program and vows, if elected, to pursue the necessary funds to purchase additional units so they can be in more neighborhoods, more often.

Hudes has also had the problem of litter brought to his attention many times and would like to do something about that if elected. This, he said, is a problem he noticed himself before others brought it to his attention, and he would like to bring forward an anti-litter program. This anti-litter campaign would begin with work in the school districts, teaching very young children in the school districts that they should treat their community the way they treat their own home and not just drop garbage wherever they are walking. This, in conjunction with additional litter receptacles being placed at strategic heavy-use locations is what Hudes feels is needed to help with the litter cleanup. "For the last three years, as the president of the Nassau Council of Chambers of Commerce, I have traveled across the county emphasizing to small business owners the importance of sweeping the property surrounding their businesses." Hudes added that this must be emphasized to small businesses that make their livings in the local community. "This program is a multi-faceted approach, children, community, government, and business," said Hudes. "Together we can clean up our communities."

Hudes is very proud of what he has accomplished, not only as a community activist, but in his tenure on the town board. He noted that while on the board he, along with his fellow board members, continued to hold the line on taxes at the Town of Hempstead and maintained its high bond rating. "I have a strong belief in the quality of life issues that affect our residents on a day-to-day basis. It's the little things like the street light out, a pothole in front of your driveway, a broken recycling bin that I can affect as a hard-working town councilman," said Hudes.

This campaign is different from the one that Hudes ran just one year ago. This will be a special election, and for the first time ever candidates for the Hempstead Town Board will run for councilmanic districts rather than at-large. Hudes will run on the Republican line for the Sixth Councilmanic District which encompasses Levittown, East Meadow, Salisbury, and North Merrick. When questioned about running for a councilmanic district, Hudes responded, "As I have been walking door-to-door for the past year and speaking to people about local community concerns, I have found that the majority of people did not know that they had six town councilpeople to call for any local problems they may encounter. By having one town councilperson to call it should simplify their identification of who represents them for their local town services, such as sanitation, street lights, parks, pools, recycling, etc." Hudes has found that many people confuse Nassau County with the Town of Hempstead. "They are separate governments run by separate and distinct elected officials. Unlike Nassau County, the Town of Hempstead is in great financial shape and has the money to provide the services that can be directed by their local town councilman," said Hudes.