Craig Johnson

Written by Melissa Argueta

The Citizens’ Party recently held its second community forum at the American Legion Hall. Floral Park residents had an opportunity to share their thoughts and concerns with local village and government officials.

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The rehabilitation of Jericho Turnpike was also a point of concern for residents. In September of 2008, the Floral Park Village Board, along with several of its civic association leaders, participated in a public hearing in support of a long overdue project to improve safety conditions, reduce traffic congestion and rehabilitate pavement conditions on Jericho Turnpike. The project was temporarily suspended due to New York State’s deteriorating financial situation. According to Tomecki, Senator Craig Johnson restored $900,000 of funding to conduct the engineering study needed to jumpstart the project, which is slated to begin in the summer of 2012.

“I do want to credit the Senator [Johnson] for any progress that has been made on the facelift, for lack of a better word, of Jericho. It was a project that had been tabled two years ago. But it was his office that secured an engineering study that will bring that project back to life. It’s about 30 years overdue,” she stated.

Senator Johnson was the guest speaker of the evening. He stated that while he has only been a senator for three years, “It feels like 30,” he joked. He praised the Village of Floral Park for their joint efforts on “bread and butter issues” like the Third Track project and Jericho Turnpike. “My office and your office have developed a terrific relationship. I want to thank you,” he stated.

Johnson further explained his role in stopping the MTA from going forward with their plans to put a Third Track on the Long Island Rail Road. “There’s no Third Track because I am on the board. If you are not aware, the MTA capital board is a four-member board that approves all MTA projects through a five-year plan,” Johnson said. He stated that if any one board member votes ‘no,’ the plan is defeated. “Once I was selected and put on the board, they knew they couldn’t do it because I would’ve vetoed the plan. It was a simple decision,” he stated.

Adding to the Jericho Turnpike discussion, the senator pointed out that the issue has been a sore spot for his predecessor and even his predecessor’s predecessor. He said he searched for monies to address the issue. “I am literally looking under couches and under benches to find as much money as I can. It’s a hard thing to do…We [the state] are broke. The best example of that is that we are 49 days late on a state budget,” Johnson explained.

Johnson also spoke about implementing legislation that would provide a property tax cap for residents, which he said the Assembly does not support. He discussed how property taxes are crippling residents and a tax cap would allow people to “live within their means.” He also defended his stance on education reform and its unpopularity with teachers’ unions. “They (teachers unions), literally control the state assembly.” he said. “The spending has got to stop and I’m trying to shake up Albany by challenging the status quo.”

For more information on the next Citizens’ Party Community Forum, visit www.fpcitizensparty.com.

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