Shortly after the dawn of this New Year, the residents of Bellmore were swiftly greeted by one of the persistent, age-old crises – the consequences stemming from the steady deterioration of Nassau County’s aging infrastructure.

On January 6, Bellmore Avenue was closed in both directions between Sunrise Highway and Clarendon Avenue due to a water main break, creating a hazardous situation for motorists and a massive traffic headache on some of our County’s most heavily traveled roads. In Nassau County’s south shore communities, we have been here before, and with alarming frequency. Just last year, the community of Baldwin was impacted by two major water main breaks – one on Sept. 30 which occurred underneath Winona Road and interrupted water service for 115 Baldwin homes and caused severe flooding in properties throughout the impacted area. In June of 2024, another water main break forced residents to navigate days without clean water, cost businesses thousands of dollars in revenues, and resulted in a boil-water order from the Nassau County Department of Health for thousands in Baldwin, Island Park, Oceanside, Roosevelt, and South Hempstead residents and businesses. (Both of these incidents involved pipes owned by the for-profit Liberty Water, which further underscores the importance of completing the transition to municipal water under the newly formed South Nassau Water Authority).

Then there was the spring and summer of 2023, during which Nassau County’s south shore was thrown into disarray by three sinkhole incidents during a two-month span.

It started on May 31 when Lido Boulevard in Lido Beach was badly damaged and rendered impassable by a sinkhole. It followed with the June 27 failure of a 42-inch sewer main under Baldwin’s Grand Avenue, which made the road impassable until mid-July and spilled untreated sewage into nearby Brookside Creek and the backyards of neighboring residents, causing environmental damage to local ecosystems. Finally, on July 30, Foxhurst Road in Oceanside forced the road’s closure; the cause – the eruption of an underground water main pipe, which caused the road above to buckle.

All of this leads to one unavoidable conclusion – that Nassau County has a serious infrastructure problem – and it will only get worse if we do not take decisive action now to address it once and for all. Unfortunately, Nassau County Executive Bruce A. Blakeman and his administration have demonstrated little drive for fulfilling the duties of his office, and that extends to his handling of Nassau’s capital infrastructure plan.

Each year, we are directed by the Nassau County Charter to adopt a capital infrastructure plan for the following year no later than December 15. Since taking office in 2022, Blakeman and his administration have had three opportunities to enact a plan – but he has only fulfilled this baseline governmental responsibility once in the last three years, despite repeated calls from myself, colleagues in government and concerned citizens to make infrastructure a top priority.

The capital plan for fiscal year 2025 is currently caught in a state of inertia because of the Blakeman administration’s refusal to negotiate and finalize a comprehensive and equitable plan. After meeting with the administration, the Legislative Minority submitted revisions to County Executive Blakeman as part of this process. However, despite our repeated requests to meet and finalize the plan and a corresponding bond ordinance to fund projects, he has been unresponsive, further delaying implementation.

Not only could these delays further impede our ability to maintain, repair and update infrastructure so that we do not experience additional catastrophic failures, the County Executive’s inaction is slamming the brakes on economic development opportunities in Nassau. Infrastructure projects are a key driver of good jobs across the spectrum of various construction trades, and every day that this drags on further is another day that these hard-working men and women are deprived of a chance to put their skills to use in building our collective future.

As a member of the Nassau County Legislature’s Democratic Minority, capital infrastructure plans – and specifically the borrowing that funds the projects within it – is one area where we continue to hold bargaining power. Passing a bond ordinance requires a 13-vote supermajority, and we as a caucus will not provide that 13th vote for additional borrowing until the Blakeman administration presents a fair and equitable capital plan proposal that meets the needs of the communities we serve and provides a clear plan for funding those projects.

Our infrastructure is in serious need of major investments, and the piecemeal approach currently in use will only delay the inevitable. It is time to sit down and implement a plan that serves all of Nassau County’s 1.4 million residents and puts us on a road to a safer and more secure future.

(Debra Mulé, of Freeport, is the Nassau County Legislature’s Alternate Deputy Minority Leader. She was first elected to the Legislature in 2017 and currently represents the Sixth District)