Nassau Democrats gathered at Mirschel Park Monday — a crumbling Hempstead hub in desperate need of an overhaul — and blasted the county executive for playing favorites with projects in Republican-led districts.
Democrats are seeking $150,000 to repair the park, but also claim $9 million worth of projects are being stonewalled by Bruce Blakeman, the Republican county executive. The Dems — if they don’t get their way — are threatening to withhold key votes to block a funding transfer to the county’s parks department budget.
Blakeman called the claims “completely ridiculous.”
He slammed Democrats and pointed to approvals he gave for Hempstead projects like $1 million for water treatment, $400,000 for the African American History Museum, $100,000 for a fire truck, and more than $350,000 for license plate readers.
They acknowledged Blakeman signed off on those projects — although they say it was separate from the capital money they’re looking for to fund the park rehab — but said the OK’s didn’t come without a partisan fight.
“They never have anything good to say,” Blakeman told The Post. “What they should say is thank you.”
Mirschel Park is operated by Hempstead, not the county, according to Blakeman.
He added that Roosevelt, a Democratic district, just received a brand-new state-of-the-art facility at Eisenhower Park known as “The Dream Court” in 2023, named after hometown legend Julius “Dr. J” Erving.
But Dems said the $9 million in question is already allocated in approved budgets and Blakeman just needs to release it.
“This funding has been backloaded since 2023 — and there is no reason for that besides blatant politics,” Legislator Scott Davis, a Democrat, said outside Mirschel Park Monday.
“We are going to hold up the transfer until we see movement on our projects,” added Democratic Minority Leader Delia DeRiggi-Whitton, claiming roughly 34 projects across GOP-controlled districts have been approved without one of the Dems’ 32 proposals being passed.
Blakeman said he has given plenty of funding to blue districts and the village of Roosevelt in particular.
“They’re trying to pick on us because we’re holding a $150,00 request when we’ve already given $3 million to the village — it is totally ludicrous,” he said.
Read the full article here
