OPINION: Public Assets Cannot Become Administrative Chess Pieces

Mayor Suozzi,

I love the City of Glen Cove. I attended the Glen Cove public schools, went to City camp as an elementary school student and have spent countless hours at our city beaches. I am currently spending my first summer away from Glen Cove, and it has without a doubt made me realize how lucky I am to call Glen Cove home.  However, waking up this morning to hear that the objective of tonight's City Council meeting is in part to vote on selling Pascucci soccer field was devastating--there's nothing to love about that at all.

The frustrating reality is that, for all of the great things about the City of Glen Cove, there are also some not-so-great things. I frequently ask myself - evermore in recent times, it seems - why is the City of Glen Cove not moving forward and improving? It is widely acknowledged that we are in a pathetic financial state - why haven't we rebounded ? It is widely known that there were objections to providing vested rights to the waterfront development project - why proceed with this guarantee? The list can go on and on, but I'm not necessarily asking for answers to those questions right now. 

Today, one of the more pressing questions facing Glen Cove is why is Pascucci field being put up to vote after your office negotiated a potential contract rather than moving through the transparent and accepted request for proposal (RFP) process? Why, Mayor Suozzi, did your office skip the transparent and widely-accepted RFP process to see if there was any interest from the private business sector to contribute or bid? Why is transparency from your administration, or lack thereof, something that even needs to be written about and questioned? 

That land is extremely valuable but has been historically underutilized. Why not reach out to the community of Glen Cove and ask them what they want to see there? It is, after all, public property, and to be honest, you would get a lot of great answers. If you ask the high school students who get kicked out of Portledge and Friends Academy for playing soccer every weekend in the summer, they would tell you they would love recreational space in their own town where they wouldn't be trespassing. If you ask parents of young children, they may respond that they would love a public pool or park and maybe even an ice rink in the winter. How about thinking outside the box and creating a public-private partnership that would offer a unique service that would bring in people from surrounding communities? The possibilities are endless! Unfortunately, it seems you dismiss the opinions of the residents of this City and don't care to entertain other possibilities. That is not fulfilling the duty of a public servant. 

I understand this cannot and should not be the approach to fixing some of the grander problems the city is saddled with. You have been voted Mayor of Glen Cove to deal with those problems, and I have had faith in my elected officials to do that. However, negotiating a contract and then putting it up for a vote at a City Council meeting is a gross abuse of power, the opposite of an open and transparent process, and an unfair manipulation of the interests of the City of Glen Cove. 

The people who pay taxes to live in the City of Glen Cove should have a say in what becomes of this public land. If that is too extreme for this administration then the least you can do is put this valuable asset - one of the last remaining in Glen Cove - up for a RFP process that is open, transparent and accountable. Because unfortunately, Mayor Suozzi, the harsh reality is that open, transparent and accountable are three words that cannot be used to describe the current handling of Pascucci field.

Comments:

John J. Hanley July 23, 2013 at 04:43 pmI bet Mayor Suozzi tables the vote on this issue until the next City Council meeting. He knows that public opinion will weaken the longer he drags this out. BTW, I wonder how La Fueza Unida feels about the sale of a soccer field that is used frequently by their constituents.

Kristina S. Heuser  July 23, 2013 at 05:05 pmGreat post and very well said. I am glad that more members of the community are becoming aware of what our current elected officials are doing...and what they are not doing. The law has become unimportant to them, as has the duty to the RESIDENTS that comes with the offices they hold. Thank you for highlighting this issue. I will be there tonight to voice my opposition, and I hope many others will, too.

John DiMascio July 23, 2013 at 05:49 pmThank you Adam for eloquently stating how so many of us feel.