Nassau County Legislator Diane Yatauro (D-Glen Cove) approved this week a donation for tree trimming and landscaping services that will reclaim and beautify Nassau County’s Muttontown Preserve. The free services, valued at $5,000-$9,000, will include the restoration of the formal gardens and pinetum surrounding Nassau Hall. The services have been donated by Bartlett Tree Experts of Westbury and The Plant Doctor of Glen Cove.

Legislator Yatauro also approved $25,000 in grant funds for a senior citizen program that will educate and enroll seniors in appropriate prescription programs and advise them of their benefits and other entitlement programs for which they may be eligible. The funds for the Long Island Rx Help program will be received from the National Council on the Aging.

The full legislature also approved appropriations for the following programs:

• $37,000 in funds from the Nassau Community College (Coordination of Students’ Intercollegiate Programs) Faculty Student Association to enhance retirement benefits for athletic coaches.
• $332,100 for the Department of Social Services (Nassau Suffolk Safe Havens Funds) to be received from the U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women designed to implement safe exchange services and expand and enhance existing supervised visitation services for victims of family violence who have been involved in situations of domestic violence, child abuse, and sexual assault or stalking.
• $197,555 for Senior Citizen Affairs (Title V Community Services Employment Program) in funds to be received from the New York State Office for the Aging to enable a limited number of economically disadvantaged persons to work a specified number of hours per week in public or private non-profit agencies.

Legislator Yatauro also approved an agreement to sell six parcels of land to the Long Island Housing Partnership for development as 17 units of single-family, two-family and multi-family next generation housing. The units will be located in Hempstead, Uniondale, and Roosevelt. The County will receive $15,000 per unit.

"These future homes will be the realization of the American dream for several families--home ownership. I am proud to have been part of this agreement and eagerly look forward to the day that the beautiful homes are built and ready for occupancy," said Legislator Yatauro.

The issue of affordable housing, or the lack thereof, has been a longtime priority of Legislator Yatauro’s. "The collaboration between Nassau County and the Long Island Housing Partnership is a win-win for everybody.”