Last month, "Seeking A Shared Vision for New Cassel," a major community revitalization initiative, was launched in the community. This collaborative planning process, sponsored by the Town of North Hempstead in partnership with the Unified New Cassel Community Revitalization Corporation and facilitated by Sustainable Long Island and Walkable Communities, Inc., was comprised of workshops, focus groups and walking tours. The four-day event was just the start of an unprecedented community visioning process in New Cassel.

Now, the town is working with the suggestions made by residents, small business owners, public safety personnel, educators, clergy and youth and civic groups to come up with ways to improve the safety, appearance and economic condition of the one-square mile New Cassel community.

"For 40 years nobody paid attention, nobody cared," said Town Councilman Fred Pollack, liaison to New Cassel, Westbury and Manhasset. "We have started trying to look for ways to make a difference, but it takes time to catch up. I know people don't want to hear that, they've lost hope. We are not going to change that overnight, how can we?"

Pollack added that while the cynicism is still high, there are a lot of people who are lowering their level of cynicism enough to be willing to make some complaints and give the town a chance. "I am sure that we are not doing as good a job as people would like," he said. "I think we are doing a better job than we were, and I don't think we are doing as good a job as we will be a year from now."

The town is also working to eliminate a town-wide problem of tractor-trailers being left on streets. "Booting" legislation, introduced recently by Pollack, allows for the immobilization or wheel locking of commercial vehicles. Under the new law, all commercial vehicles parked illegally within the Town of North Hempstead for more than 48 hours will be booted.

"It's expensive to park a tractor trailer rig out at any parking field so they have been using our streets free of charge by leaving their trailers there," said Pollack. "They get tickets for parking illegally for two weeks, fours weeks, in between trips or wherever they are going, but [the problem is] they are registered in the state of Maine. Maine has no reciprocity with New York and we can't take away their registration or license."

He added that booting the vehicle is the only way to address the illegal parking issue. "Since they are so big, we can't tow them and more importantly, when you tow it, you need to place it in a secure parking field because you are libel for it. Neither the county police nor the town have parking fields that are fenced in."

Under the new law, a vehicle may also be deemed abandoned if it is without license plates and found on any public street, highway or other public place. "If you put a car on a public street in North Hempstead without a license plate, it's abandoned, you lose the car, period, end of story," said Pollack. "If you park a car illegally, even with a license plate, for more than four days, we can now tow it rather than waiting for the police."

To date, the booting legislation is the first law passed within the Town of North Hempstead that came directly out of a problem in New Cassel. "Overall, legislation was usually stuff that looked at the entire town," said Lauren Corcoran, spokesperson for the Town of North Hempstead. "New Cassel is such a small part of it and did not get a voice in that legislation. Now, we are redesigning legislation that really fits the New Cassel community. We don't want to oppress, we just want to make sure it is something that is livable and creates a better quality of life, which is our ultimate goal."

The Nassau County Police Department and the town's Parking Enforcement Department will be responsible for enforcing the law. "In the beginning, we are going to put out notices on their trucks letting people know that we are going to do it," said Pollack. "And then we are going to start doing it and at $250 a day, the message, hopefully, will get out that they can't park there anymore."

The town is also working to control the New Cassel community's illegal and overcrowded housing problem caused by owners or absentee landlords who allow large numbers of people to live in their homes and senior citizen homeowners who, on a limited income, can't make their mortgage without tenants.

According to Pollack, an attorney specializing in criminal defense and matrimonial law, just being told that a large number of people are living in one house is not enough. "If a resident says, 'I know there are 20 people living in that house,' that means we can start looking, but that is not necessarily enough," he said. "You can have 20 people living in a house as long as you are a family or living as a family unit, as crazy as that may sound."

Currently, town officials are investigating several cases of alleged illegal housing in New Cassel. According to Pollack, sometimes there is enough to open up a case, sometimes there isn't. "It's tough," he said. "Twenty people in and out of a house may mean other things that the town doesn't enforce that the police have to enforce. Ultimately you have to go to court, and if you don't have a legal basis for filing, you don't have a case."

Mildred Little, a longtime New Cassel resident and community activist, said she would like to see more affordable housing for all ages. "When I say affordable, I mean something so that we can attract people who would come in and take part in the community," she said. "Housing for all generations that is affordable will attract people. If we attract people, we can then attract business to come in and help revitalize the community. That's what I would love to see."

While certain changes and improvements presented by New Cassel residents can be implemented by the North Hempstead Town Board, Pollack said many ideas and suggestions presented by the public do not fall within the town's jurisdiction, but rather that of Nassau County. "One of the things that came out of the visioning process was to lower the speed limit [on Prospect Avenue] to 30 [miles per hour]. The town can do that and I am going to introduce a resolution very shortly to do that," he said. "But they also suggested we should narrow the street, the county can do that, we can't - it's a county road. [They would also like to see] some traffic islands put in to slow down traffic - county - and change some of the lights - county."

The town is currently looking to address the suggestions made by residents through the Shared Vision for New Cassel meetings that are within their control. "The town is also looking into changing some of the zoning to try to make the development of housing easier," said Pollack. "We are slowly going through the community, we are looking at sidewalks, we are looking at streetlights, we are looking at street problems to try to figure out a coordinated effort to how we can best address those issues."

Pollack added that the town is hopeful that economic development within New Cassel, particularly along the Prospect Avenue corridor, will be improved if the state passes a request to make it an Empire Zone. "There are certain tax benefits to encourage business that exist to expand and new business to come [in an Empire Zone]," he said. "[The message is] 'if you come here, it will cost you less, you will save money, for doing that same thing somewhere else.'"

The problem, said Pollack, is bringing in the right business. "I don't want any more junk yards. I don't want any more concrete factories. I want businesses that are going to produce a clean, healthy environment as well as good jobs. I don't want businesses coming to New Cassel because they think it is a place they can get away with breaking the law."

In addition to a series of Community Clean-ups within the one-square mile community, the Town of North Hempstead is also working to provide New Cassel residents with bus service to and from the Department of Labor and unemployment offices. They are also looking to hold a holiday toy drive for underprivileged children in the New Cassel community and will provide assistance on Thanksgiving.

Little said, "I think the plans are good and will be constructive. If the ideas given out by the community are implemented, I think it will do us good."

Overall, Pollack said, "We are working to put together a more proactive, aggressive approach. I think you will see an effort to be more effective and more proactive rather than just responding to complaints. Our building department, our public safety department are all working together to develop a plan that will enable us to be more effective."

Pollack added, "People have to believe that by calling or e-mailing and making a complaint will get some attention. Not everything people believe is illegal, is illegal. Just because it bothers them, doesn't mean it is illegal."

Councilman Pollack's office is located at 220 Plandome Road, Manhasset. He can be reached by calling 869-7711 or e-mailing him at pollackf@northhempstead.com.