HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (TIP) – Nassau County Legislator Carrié Solages (D – Lawrence) joined residents, advocates, and his colleagues in government to celebrate the dedication of “Senior Councilwoman Dorothy L. Goosby Plaza” at Hempstead Town Hall on Saturday, Oct. 2. During a ceremony that drew hundreds, including U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, New York State Attorney General Letitia James; State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and a plethora of other state, county and town officials, revelers lauded Senior Councilwoman Goosby’s decades of advocacy for voting rights and more equitable representation in Town government. Her efforts culminated with her election to the Hempstead Town Board in 1999 – the first African American to achieve such a victory – and a court decision which ended at-large voting for Hempstead Town Board seats in favor of the current system of six council districts.

“For more than a decade, Dorothy Goosby battled to open the halls of government in America’s largest township to every one of its citizens. When she prevailed, she achieved a transformational victory that reverberates to this day,” Legislator Solages said. “It is truly fitting for her legacy to be enshrined at Hempstead Town Hall, where her tenacity, fearlessness and resolve changed the course of history and opened doors for so many who followed in her footsteps.”