At a NY League of Conservation Voters forum in Mineola last Friday, Democratic candidates for Nassau County executive Thomas Suozzi and Thomas DiNapoli said they would restore the county's budgetary support for Long Island Bus. Because of cuts Nassau County has made in its contributions to bus transit, Long Island Bus has required emergency state funding for two years in a row to prevent reductions in service (see MTR #249, 292). Long Island Bus service moves over 100,000 passengers each weekday, and the agency has seen strong and steady ridership growth over the past five years.

"I would support Long Island Bus 100 percent," said Suozzi, who is mayor of Glen Cove. "I believe in Long Island Bus very much." Suozzi said additional bus service is needed to improve north-south travel on Long Island. He said the LIRR East Side Access project is critical to Nassau County, and he called for more ferries like the Glen Cove-Manhattan service he recently helped establish.

Suozzi said he would energize the largely defunct county planning department to develop environmental and other visions and plans for Nassau. He said his planning priorities would be downtown revitalization, in-filling commercial strips with more mixed uses and preserving open space. Glen Cove recently received an award for the most successful downtown revitalization in New York State. He also expressed an interest in expanded freight rail and barge service.

Thomas DiNapoli, who is the senior Democratic State Assembly member from Nassau County, also said he would restore county support for Long Island Bus, and stated that he believed Nassau County needs more, not fewer, bus routes. He cited his work to secure the extra state funding LI Bus required in the face of the county's recent cuts. DiNapoli said he hoped that in time, Long Island Bus could be fully financed by the MTA, but he said it would be necessary to "restore the county's credibility" on bus funding issues before approaching state and MTA leaders on the issue.

DiNapoli said Nassau had learned a lesson about the importance of Long Island Bus to the county in the vehement protests that followed the threat of bus service cuts over the past few years. 

DiNapoli said open space preservation was one of his top priorities, and that as county executive, he would promote collaborative planning among all levels of government is areas like housing and transportation.

Nassau Throws Transit to Wolves - December 4, 2000

Transit Riders, Groups Decry Bus Cuts in Nassau Budget Proposal - October 27, 2000

Transit Tossed on Nassau Fiscal Fire - December 17, 1999

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