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                                                                                    Former Nassau County Executive Laura Curran, a Baldwin Democrat defeated by Republican Bruce Blakeman, has not taken many public digs at her successor since losing her bid for re-election in 2021. Instead, she has been busy appearing as a political commentator on various television and radio shows. But apparently Curran couldn't help but mock the mistake in Blakeman's letter to Stuart Markus, organizer of a tribute concert to the late Harry Chapin, a musician who founded Long Island's food bank, "Long Island Cares."  Blakeman accused the organizers of playing politics after they complained about the large Blakeman signs overpowering the sign for the Harry Chapin Lakeside Theater in county-owned Eisenhower Park. Newsday posted the Blakeman letter on its website today along with a story about the dispute. Chapin, a Huntington Bay resident, died on July 16, 1981, in a car crash on th

  Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman takes on Gov. Kathy Hochul last year Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman again appears to have prevailed over Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and city Democrats -- this time about taking undocumented migrants into Nassau. Also today, the first judge to be handed Nassau's Democratic court challenge to a Republican-drawn legislative map recused herself from the case, though the reason is not very clear. But her recusal will likely delay the late-filed lawsuit seeking to change county legislative districts even though candidates are already campaigning for election this November under the new lines. First, the Blakeman victory. New York City officials, desperately seeking housing for some 100,000 undocumented migrants that have deluged the city, last week suggested they be housed at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale. Mayor Eric Adams also filed a letter in a court case,  asking Hochul to step in and force suburbs to take some of the m

                                                                                  Despite an abundance of naysayers about the deal reached by CSEA leaders and Republican County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the county's largest union yesterday voted in favor of a new 13 year deal that increases salaries by nearly 25 percent over its life. It wasn't even close. Upfront cash apparently won over those with reservations about the change in health insurance, increasing the work day by 15 minutes for many of the members and new 20-year health benefits vesting requirement -- though that reportedly still may be open to negotiation. The new health care plan has higher co-payments but upfront cash of $3,000 is supposed to take care of those extra costs. The county legislature and Nassau's financial control board must still approve the deal. Now only one large county union is still working without a contract: The Corrections Officers Benevolent Association. Blakeman had reached a deal wi

                                                                                    County Executive Bruce Blakeman today at news conference about migrants at the Nassau Coliseum Okay, Casino naysayers. Would you prefer migrants at the Nassau coliseum? New York City officials yesterday suggested the currently empty Coliseum on 72-acres of asphalt in the middle of Nassau County would be a great place to put hundreds of undocumented migrants who have flooded into the United States through its open Southern borders -- even though County officials recently approved development there of a $4 billion entertainment complex centering on a casino. Queens Borough President Donovan Richards said, "Unused or underutilized assets -- certainly the Nassau Coliseum -- should be looked at by the state," the New York Post reported. NY NAACP president Hazel Dukes -- reinstalled  by the organization after being removed for theft in 1997 -- said, "The Nassau Coliseum should be considered as

                                                                                 Every Nassau politician for the past 25 years have complained about Nassau's "broken" property tax assessment system. It never seems to get any better despite various fixes, revaluations, reassessments, updates and trending. But Nassau Budget Director Andrew Persich said last week that numbers indicate the system has improved despite continuing complaints. At last week's Legislative Budget Review Committee hearing, while Persich was going over the county's financial outlook, he said Nassau hoped to bring down its estimated commercial tax refund backlog, which consists of overpaid property taxes owed to Nassau businesses after they successfully challenged their assessments. He noted that the estimated commercial backlog -- which has topped $700 million in the past -- was down to $383 million by the end of 2022 after the county paid off about $200 million. He hoped another $200 million

Once created, does any governmental agency ever go away? Not in Nassau, it seems. Not the Nassau "Interim" Finance Authority, even though"interim" means temporary, not permanent. The Nassau Interim Finance Authority was created by the state in 2000 to provide financial oversight to Nassau County, which had a history of careening from one fiscal crisis to another despite being one of the wealthiest suburbs in America. NIFA turned itself into a control board in 2011 when it projected a $176 million deficit in the county's operating budget that year. The state law that created NIFA said a control period can be triggered by a one percent deficit. As a control board, NIFA can dictate and approve all spending. Although the county ended the last four years with large multi-million dollar surpluses and experts predict another large surplus by the end of this year, NIFA still sees precarious finances in Nassau's future. In a report released last week, NIFA grudgin