This is a story to remember the next time you hear Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer or Eliot Spitzer talking about how they are looking out for the citizens. Democrats continue to tell folks that they have their best interests at heart; but when you look at their actions, you find them lacking.
A community association in Long Island is trying to remedy a public safety issue caused by a local developer, but because of a developer's strong ties with the Democratic Party, local, state and federal representatives (all Democrats) have refused to help.
For background on the fight please click here.
[Note: While Legislator Steve Stern seems highly helpful in these articles, an email mistakenly forwarded by his assistant to the community association proves that most of his machinations were just for show.]
Now a traffic light built over a gas pipeline might appear to be a small issue, but it isn't when you realize that:
1. Pipeline safety best practices prohibit any structures, including shrubs or mailboxes, to be built within 25ft. of high-pressure lines
2. The gas lines in question traverse all exits from the community, meaning that if they explode, all 1,000 residents would be trapped.
3. The developer could have pursued a much less dangerous traffic pattern, but this would have been more expensive.
A number of community activists, including an attorney, warned County and local officials about the hazard that this traffic light would cause, and even conducted hundreds of hours of research to arm these officials with viable legal means to remedy the situation. In each case, however, our representatives resorted to public pandering and private interference.
In the hopes that federal representatives would be more sensitive to this security issue and because gas pipelines are regulated at the federal level they contacted Congressman Steve Israel's and Senator Hillary Clinton's offices, but after showing initial interest, both said they would not get involved in a "local" issue. [This paragraph has been edited; please see UPDATE below.]
It had only recently come to their attention that the developer and his family were major campaign contributors to both local and federal Democratic officials (with over $44,000 to Steve Israel and $75,000 towards Democratic senators since 2000). [This paragraph has been edited; see UPDATE below.]
Homeland security can’t be built on a foundation of local insecurity, especially if your representatives feel free to sell their constituent’s security for campaign contributions. Given that a number of the Democratic officials involved in this situation are set on higher public office (Spitzer for NYS Governor and Clinton for President), it is imperative that they be held to account for their disregard of an important public safety issue and potentially unethical behavior.
Recently, a multi-vehicle accident occurred just next to the temporary light pole that the developer installed this Thursday, August 17th, resulting in several injuries - including an infant. Since it was not a direct hit, the gas main did not rupture -- this time.
Representatives Contacted by Concerned Citizens:
Town of Huntington:
Frank Petrone (D-Town Supervisor)
County:
Steve Levy (D-County Executive)
Steve Stern (D-County Legislator)
Thomas Spota (D-District Attorney - best known for his political corruption felony conviction of the Republican Town Supervisor of Islip, Pete McGowan)
State:
Eliot Spitzer (D-Attorney General)
Federal:
Steve Israel (D-House of Representatives)
Hillary Clinton (D-Senate)
Charles Schumer (D-Senate)
Photos:
Picture 1:
Contractor digging over gas line at the North Gate site with a jackhammer and without Keyspan supervision – note the yellow gas pipeline caution marker. This was their first attempt at installation on private property.
Picture 2:
The caution signs posted on EVERY light pole along Commack Road (about every 15 feet) – there is one within about 5 feet from the site where the contractor was digging.
Picture 3:
If using a jackhammer wasn’t dangerous enough, the contractors then resorted to using a backhoe!
Picture 4:
The developer’s representative, John Baker (yellow polo shirt) trying to explain to Steve Stern (red tie, D-Dix Hills) why his employer’s campaign contributions should give his contractor the right to dig on private property, over a gas line, and without Keyspan supervision.
Picture 5:
Because of the private property issue, the contractor was forced to re-pave the hole they had dug that day. They are moving their permanent light pole installation towards the left edge of the curb – away from private property but directly in-between the 12-inch high-pressure gas line and the 4-inch distribution line.
Picture 6 and 7:
As a result of the property ownership and gas pipeline safety disputes, the County authorized the developer to build a temporary light pole in the middle of the shoulder of Commack Road (in order to expedite the opening of the developer’s Big Box center). This led to a multi-vehicle collision on Thursday, August 17th, which resulted in several injuries.
The pictures of the accident scene were taken by Alex Szabo, and the rest are from Andy Glass. Sandra L. Nudelman contributed significantly to this story.
UPDATE: Two paragraphs were edited for clarity of voice. These were two paragraphs originally written by Sandra L. Nudelman that I failed to edit properly.
