Hempstead, NY--Nassau County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi today offered a "bold new vision for New Suburbia at the Nassau Centre." His vision finally addresses the need for planned development in the area in the center of Nassau County known as the "Nassau Hub."

County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi peers out over the Nassau Centre.

"We need a new vision for the future. A vision that protects our suburban dream, preserves our quality of life and expands our tax base. I call the vision New Suburbia," and the "Nassau Hub," disjointed for 25 years, will become the Nassau Centre," pronounced Suozzi.

Suozzi's vision includes pioneering plans like constructing new office buildings to create high-skilled, high-paying jobs, new sports entertainment and tourism venues, a zoo at Eisenhower Park, college housing in Hempstead Village, improving Museum Row at Mitchel Field, a green-belt (Emerald Ribbon) connecting existing parks and preserves, a commercial connection from EAB Plaza to Roosevelt Field Mall (Golden Thread) and a new transit system."

"Nassau County property taxes are way too high," stated Suozzi. "We must expand our tax base and at the same time preserve our suburban quality of life for this generation and the next," Suozzi advised. "These projects and my vision are not as much about new buildings and new construction, as it is about stabilizing and reducing property taxes and preserving the quality of life for the long-term," explained Suozzi.

"We must focus on recycling formerly productive or underproductive properties instead of assaulting our last acres of open space," declared Suozzi.

Suozzi said that the most important focus must be on the new Nassau Centre -- from Mineola to Roosevelt Field and Eisenhower Park, down to the Nassau Coliseum, EAB Plaza, Nassau Community College over to Museum Row, and here at Hofstra University, Mitchel Field Industrial Park in Uniondale and Downtown Hempstead, back up through Garden City, and returning to Mineola.

"Currently, our residents believe we are overdeveloped, over-trafficked, under-planned and over taxed - and, they are right." declared Suozzi. "For too long, developers have driven development and residents are fearful that each new development takes from us another piece of our suburban serenity," added Suozzi.

"Our suburban model served us well for our first 50 years, but if we stick with the current model under which there is relatively no new growth and the little growth that does exist will only add to the current problems," detailed Suozzi.. "New Suburbia will not happen over the next year or two," warned Suozzi.

Nassau County plans to add a zoo to Eisenhower Park’s many attractions
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The vision for New Suburbia and the new Nassau Centre is just the beginning of our plan. Today we will begin to build a consensus on where we want to go as a community. Once we agree on that vision, we will invest our efforts in trying to get there together," Suozzi stated.

"And, this summer, our residents will be hearing about the Nassau County's new Master Plan for each and every part of the County," Suozzi added.

"We will concentrate on strengthening our downtowns, encouraging investment in our emerging minority commercial districts, recycling our Brownfields, and addressing our traffic woes in the short-term as we plan for a new, streamlined transit system for the Nassau Centre," Suozzi revealed.

"Years from now, when historians write the history of Nassau County and America's other mature suburbs, they will note today's presentation by County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi as a turning point and milestone in the effort to preserve the suburbs," said Robert D. Yaro, President of the Regional Plan Association, America's oldest and most respected research and planning organization.

A general overview of the vision for Nassau Centre
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