Nassau should preserve past to build for future

Continued from Page 17 equation, that people do not have to settle for a homogenization of America in which our individual identities, our sense of place is lost.”

The NPS provides grantsto fund historic preservation projects through partnerships with state and tribal historic preservation ofces, local communities and preservation organizations(https://www.nps.gov/ subjects/historicpreservationfund/in- dex.htm; apply at the grants.gov portal).

New York State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation also gives generous grants “to improve, protect, preserve, rehabilitate, restore or acquire properties listed on the State or National Registers of Historic Places and for structural assessments and/or planning for such projects.”

(https://parks.ny.gov/grants/historic-preservation/default.aspx)

It’s not that the county can’t af- ford historic preservation (though it constantly pleads poverty whenever the Great Neck Historical Society appeals for help). The county could have applied a smidgeon of the $192.5 million from the American Rescue Plan federal funds to make an historic investment in preservation of historic infrastructure. (Note that the $79.7 million budget surplus came after surpluses, going back to Laura Curran’s administration: $27.2 million in 2021, $90.6 million in 2020 and $76.8 million in 2019.)

The Legislature’s Democratic minority made this plea back in January for the administration to create an advisory council to guide how the federal funds would be spent, since the funds are governed by stringent federal guidelines and must be obligated by the end of 2024 and spent by 2026: “All of this is indicative of an administration that lacks a coherent vision for the future and insulates itself from the public What is even more worrisome is that the county’s surplus is being misused to give jobs and money to political allies and promote partisan campaigns in violation of local, state, and federal laws.”

It is stunning that the Bruce Blakeman administration believes Nassau County’s future fortune lies with the Las Vegas Sands casino instead of lifting a fnger or spending a cent to preserve and promote its past and what makes the county a great place to live.