Delia M. DeRiggi Whitton for Nassau Legislative District 11
Delia DeRiggi-Whitton, Democratic incumbent candidate for Nassau County Legislature District 11. Credit: James Escher
Find out the candidates Newsday's editorial board selected on your ballot: newsday.com/endorsements2023
The 11th District includes most of the Port Washington peninsula and the east side of Hempstead Harbor from Roslyn to Glen Cove.
Unlike Suffolk County, 90% of Nassau is connected to sewers. The unsewered 10%? It's mostly in District 11.
So Delia M. DeRiggi Whitton, 55, saw an opportunity. Pandemic-related American Rescue Plan Act funds typically can't be used for roadwork or other non-recovery needs, but since COVID-19 is found in sewage, the Glen Cove Democrat helped create a program to fund sewer projects. It took two years navigating multiple levels of bureaucracy, but DeRiggi Whitton got $1.5 million for sewer reimbursements of up to $7,500 per hookup for her district, enabling hundreds of constituents to get off septic systems.
The legislature needs this type of innovative thinking, especially with unspent opioid settlement funding. DeRiggi Whitton should channel her ARPA navigating skills to help get the opioid money where it is desperately needed, potentially to create new treatment services at Nassau University Medical Center.
DeRiggi Whitton also used her voice this term to oppose the casino proposal at the Nassau Hub, the only legislator to vote no on transferring the lease to Las Vegas Sands. She does not think a casino creates "the right types" of jobs, and believes that policing a casino will burden law enforcement. She previously supported the plan by developer RXR that included next-generation housing; she should support future developments elsewhere in the county that include housing.
Her opponent, John F. Stalzer of Sea Cliff, is an environmental scientist. This expertise is needed in the legislature to improve water quality, mitigate flooding and study environmental impacts. However, Stalzer is not "running to change the world," he says, but to preserve the "continuity of community character." The 64-year-old Republican admits he doesn't know a lot about issues like assessment, policing and the Nassau Hub. When asked what district issues he'd focus on if elected, he said none came to mind.
Newsday endorses DeRiggi Whitton.
ENDORSEMENTS ARE DETERMINED solely by the Newsday editorial board, a team of opinion journalists focused on issues of public policy and governance. Newsday’s news division has no role in this process.
