Steve Stern for New York State Assembly 10th District
Democrat Steve Stern is running for election in New York State Assembly District 10. Credit: James Escher
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Steve Stern says improved infrastructure is key to moving communities forward and he has the receipts.
The millions in state grants he has obtained have led to road improvements in downtown Cold Spring Harbor, and the $22 million announced in 2022 for sewers in Huntington Station is starting to show results. A long-established community outpatient facility, now branded Northwell Health Center, has moved to New York Avenue with a $1 million grant Stern obtained, making it directly accessible to the residents it serves.
A Dix Hills Democrat who turns 56 on Oct. 30 and first won this seat in a 2018 special election, Stern values a bipartisan approach to governing and works with GOP colleagues to sponsor bills affecting their districts in a chamber where his party controls the majority.
Importantly, Stern is working with the governor’s office to streamline the cumbersome application process by which local communities can get access to state money to build more housing. He supports building transit-oriented development on state property but has proposed a bill that would transfer title of those parcels to local governments to determine what type of housing works best. He must ensure there is a guarantee that housing is actually constructed.
If the Melville Town Center plan moves forward to turn the Huntington Quadrangle hub of office space into housing and retail, Stern said he will work to obtain funding to expand sewers along Route 110. Yet he is not taking a position on the Quadrangle project until he sees specific plans.
Stern says the upcoming overhaul of the school funding formula is needed, and argues that the cost of English language learners, students with disabilities, and mental health needs should be data points in an “objective” school aid formula that looks beyond enrollment numbers, a wise approach.
Dix Hills Republican Aamir Sultan, 57, who is making his second run for this seat, is a machine learning and artificial intelligence specialist. He supports building workforce housing and more job training, and wants to end the state’s support for migrants bused from the southern border. Sultan says tougher laws are needed to keep criminal suspects in jail.
Newsday’s editorial board endorses Stern.
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.
