Mineola Residents React to Winston Project Vote

“I’m very, very glad that this project is finally, finally going to happen,” resident Dennis Walsh said, during the recent meeting of the on May 2 where the by a slim 3-0 vote with two trustees, Larwence Werther and George Durham abstaining.

Noting he attended the final Nassau County Planning Board hearing 18 months ago and reported one of those board members criticized the project for not having enough , Walsh said “I thought that that would be the last politician that would try to interfere with this project but I guess i was a little naieve,” chiding Werther for only offering an abstention as his vote.

Werther and Durham had now being referred to as a Nassau County Industrial Development Agency project along with several tax incentives as well as issues surrounding a parking swap for the project and the nearby Benchmark building at 170 Old Country Road, respectively.

Making a rare appearance, former mayor now state took “the opportunity to congratulate the board on your vote tonight,” thanking the three memebers for their ‘yes’ votes – , deputy mayor Paul Pereira and trustee Paul Cusato.

“I’m a little concerned that we came within one abstention of not approving this project and I think that the consequences if that had happened would have been significanrt,” Martins said. “You can’t jeopardize what this project means to this village in terms of not only the tax benefits, the residential community to this village, to the school community, but also what it means to the business community, what it means in terms of investment in our downtown. There are too many positive things. What it means to our senior citizens in terms of constructing affordable senior housing.”