Senator Martins Fights to Restore Grant to Solve Flooding Issue in Mineola and Carle Place

For years, some of the residents on the east end of the Village of Mineola as well Carle Place have had to deal with flooding on their streets during rain storms. When he served as Mayor of Mineola, Jack M. Martins set out to solve the problem, which had been plaguing those streets for years.

Martins called together a meeting with Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman and County Executive Ed Mangano. In order to solve the problem, the Village of Mineola agreed to reconfigure a catch basin to handle more storm water flow. The county agreed to build a bypass for water going south on Sheridan Boulevard toward the catch basin to reduce the amount of storm water that goes to Bruce Terrace, one of the streets suffering from the flooding, and the surrounding areas.

Then-Senator Craig Johnson was able to secure a grant to help fund the project. Ironically, though, when Johnson lost the race for the 7th Senate District to Martins, the former Democratic Majority pulled all the grants that were promised in the 7th Senate District, leaving the project in limbo.

However, Senator Martins has been meeting with Supervisor Kaiman, Nassau County Legislator Rich Nicolello, who represents the area in the County Legislature, as well as residents on the issue. Senator Martins worked to restore the $2.4 million grant that was withdrawn and has been successful in re-securing it.

Senator Martins announced he will distribute $800,000 each to the town, county and village to go forward with the project. Senator Martins said distributing the money simultaneously will help speed the process along “This was a priority when I served as Mayor of Mineola and it remains a priority. People need to know that we are moving forward as quickly as possible,” he said.

Senator Martins added that this project represents different levels of government working together to address a problem that is affecting the quality of life of some of the residents in Mineola and Carle Place.

“It’s unfortunate the previous Senate majority withdrew the grant, but we were able to restore it and will now be moving forward,” he said.