OntheWilderSide

Hello everyone,

As you know, the legislation to transfer additional land to the Edgewood-Oak Brush Plains Preserve, thus protecting this rare and irreplaceable habitat AND expanding our protected groundwater area (which supplies us with clean drinking water) — PASSED the Senate 48-7 and PASSED the Assembly 143-0, an unheard-of-unanimous-vote.

The Governor’s VETO of this legislation is, in our estimation, crushingly disappointing, because the Governor completely disregarded the voice of the majority of Long Islanders and of course, his own lawmakers, many who represent us. The veto of this legislation is not, as Newsday has said, “one courageous veto”. It is just the opposite. It is about money, and special interests from the city led by Congressman Jerrold Nadler and the NYS DOT. That is nothing new — that is the status quo. Now, it is time for our elected lawmakers to show their constituents and the Governor that they have the courage to do a veto override and to stand up for the environment.

Your many phone calls and e-mails expressing your anger, disappointment, confusion, disillusionment (some of you left messages saying “I will never vote for anyone or anything ever again”) were personally painful because I felt I had let you all down. But they also served to remind just how MANY Long Islanders and others support this legislation (calls came from Nassau County, Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan) and so this outpouring also recharged my very low battery. So many of you wrote and said, “we must do an override, how can I help?”. And so that is what this e-mail is about.

We must push for it. We must let the sponsors of the bill and Speaker of the Assembly, Sheldon Silver, that we want and expect this veto override.

However, they must hear from you NOW. Please e-mail or call Speaker Silver and ONE of the Assembly members and ONE of the Senators listed below and let them know you want them to move forward with the veto override process before the end of the year. If they don’t hear from you, they will assume the veto is okay with you.

PLEASE call or e-mail today. You do not need to send any letters. Just send a quick e-mail or make a call. It will take only minutes, but it will speak volumes. LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD ONCE MORE! Thank you. And please pass this on to others.

Patricia Burkhart
Friends of the Edgewood Preserve
P.O. Box 162
Deer Park, NY 11729
631-242-7402
www.friendsofedgewoodpreserve.org

• Speaker Sheldon Silver (he must approve the veto override vote in the Assembly so his support is crucial. Please ask Speaker Silver to support his fellow assembly members and allow the vote to take place on bill A9870. )
speaker@assembly.state.ny.us
518-455-3791

• Assemblyman Phil Ramos
ramosp@assembly.state.ny.us
631-435-3214

• Assemblyman Andrew Raia
raiaa@assembly.state.ny.us
631-261-4151

• Assemblyman Steven Englebright
engles@assembly.state.ny.us
631-751-3094

• Senator John Flanagan (bill number in Senate is S6728)
flanagan@senate.state.ny.us
631-361-2154

• Senator Owen Johnson
ojohnson@senate.state.ny.us
631-669-9200

Filed under: Action Alert!, activism, Ecology, Environment, local, long island, Long Island Politics, New York State Politics, Political Websites Tagged: | brentwood, deer park, dix hills, edgewood, Environment