The League of Women Voters of Southwest Nassau has hosted several informational meetings on the Bay Park Sewage Facility.
We were interested in informing ourselves and then updating that information in a subsequent meeting. There is now nothing to host. No one can con us any longer. The Sewage plant collapsed under the duress of Hurricane Sandy. Written words, however, do not suffice when we see what has happened to some of the communities of our League.
Sandy roiled in and the infrastructure at Bay Park which had come under scrutiny for many years, finally succumbed to this latest disaster. ‘Lives were on the curb’ was the description in Bay Park, Island Park, and East Rockaway to name just three of the communities which the LWVSWN encompasses.
Is it not time to address this huge failure on the part of government for at least the last twenty years?
Is it not so that sewers came to Nassau County in the 1950s?
Is it not time for the residents and voters to step up and have their questions answered with a clear cut plan for the twenty first century?
Is it not possible in this day of advanced science and technology to rebuild and successfully operate a sewage treatment facility adjacent residential communities?
Is it not time for government and the people who represent us to put forth concrete plans for the development and maintenance of this facility?
Is it possible that there are no plans? If not, why not?
Is it not time to plan for sufficient bonding for the Bay Park Sewage Plant wherein the sewage plant will be funded now by the people of Nassau County whose homes and businesses use Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant?
These questions can be answered in one word – YES.
There can be no more malingering, posturing or procrastinating. The ‘Storms of the Century’ appear be occurring every year not every one hundred years. It is time that questions are answered, plans are promulgated and a rebuilding program begins immediately in order to solve the Bay Park Problem. We need no more band aid solutions.
Patricia C. Sympson, PhD
