Curran mocks Blakeman, while his name gets even bigger at Eisenhower Park

                                                                                

  

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 the Long Island Expressway on his way to the Lakeside Theater at Eisenhower Park. A month after his death, parks officials named the theater in Chapin's honor, Newsday explained. 

In his letter, Blakeman says, "The fact that you would suggest I am using Harry Chapin's name to promote myself is ludacris and incredibly arrogant on your part."

Curran circled "ludacris" and tweets that the correct spelling is ludicrous. "Not to be confused with the rapper."

Ludacris (from Wikipedia)

Curran, by the way, removed county official names from some 70 county signs when she took office, saying the parks and public buildings  belong to the taxpayers, not to elected officials.

Politicians, primarily Republicans, had posted their names on parks and public property signs for years. 

As soon as Curran left office, Blakeman put his name on county signs.

But it appears he has enlarged his already large signs.

In July, several readers of this blog and Newsday readers complained about the large Blakeman signs in Eisenhower Park. In Newsday's Letters to the Editor on July 8, one reader complained that a sign at the Harry Chapin theater on July 4 that displayed Blakeman's name was longer than the American flag. Another reader complained about five signs "proclaiming Bruce A. Blakeman as county executive, including one exceedingly large banner extending over two-thirds of the stage,"

Newsday included this photo with their letters:

From Newsday, July 8, 2023. Credit Howard Schnapp

A reader of this blog sent his photo from the county's production of Rent. It may be difficult to see but Blakeman's name is between the Harry Chapin sign and the Rent sign.

That was in July.

Now look at the Harry Chapin theatre signs now (from Newsday).

From Newsday Aug. 26, 2023 (credit Howard Schnapp)