Carol Ash, Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s newly-appointed commissioner of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, got caught in State Sen. John Flanagan’s crosshairs last Wednesday when she appeared before the Senate’s tourism committee.
Flanagan (R-East Northport), who is not on the committee, got up to the microphone and tried to pin Ash down as to whether the Kings Park Psychiatric Center site might be taken out of the jurisdiction of the parks department, according to someone who attended the hearing. Flanagan was influential in having the psychiatric center transferred from the Empire State Development Corporation to the parks umbrella in the last days of the Pataki administration. But the new administration has shown signs it might be questioning the move. Estimates for cleaning up the site have run as high as $60 million; Flanagan already has secured $25 million of that.
Flanagan asked Ash direct questions about her intentions, but she was evasive, according to the source, only saying the state is doing its due diligence. Flanagan shot back that if she did not come up with an answer soon, he would do everything he could to make sure she’s not confirmed as commissioner of parks.
Ash has said that she won’t come to Long Island until she’s decided on the Kings Park site, fearing protests from the very civic-minded residents of the community, who want it to stay parkland.
Stacey Altherr
Comments (3)
Bravo Senator Flanagan. It's time to make state government live up to its promises - not to mention the same standards it imposes on the rest of us. There's no way DEC would allow this property to be sold in its current contaminated condition, if the transaction were between two private parties.
Yes, let's convert something that can be developed to generate revenue to something that drains revenue. The huge park that is already there isn't enough? Let private developers pay for cleaning up the mess and develop the property. That $25 million that Flanagan brags about comes from NYS taxpayers - US! But with the usual politicians dishonesty, he pretends it's some kind of gift rather than something picked from our pockets. I thought Republicans were supposed to be fiscally responsible and pro-business? Sell this property to the highest bidder and let a private business take care of it. In other words, act like a Republican. Senator RINO.
Once again - the state needs to be made to follow the same rules at Kings Park that it imposes on the rest us. None of us would be allowed to sell that property in its current condition. The stormtroopers at DEC would come in and force the owner to clean up the asbestos, the ash heap, and who knows what else state government buried there, before any sale could take place.
Flanagan is doing the right thing in making state government jump through the same hoops the rest of us have to go through.
Who knows, maybe one day DEC will eventually begin to approach doing its job with a little common sense, instead of imposing impossible regulations - like the story in today's paper where it wants those homeowners in Ronkonkoma to plant shrubbery on a property line that is now six feet under water! It’s a lot to hope for, but maybe.