Island Vote: Challenger pushes ‘new perspective’ in Southold supervisor’s race

Greg Doroski, who says his ancestors go back hundreds of years in Southold, calls himself the candidate of change in the race for town supervisor.
The Democrat is trying to unseat longtime supervisor Scott Russel.
"Far too many young people are moving away from our community,” Doroski told News 12. “It's too expensive out here. It's too difficult to start a business here in Southold Town. This administration has been in office for 14 years and many of the issues that we're facing are still there and I don't think they're doing a good enough job managing change.”
Russell, a Republican, says he's accomplished plenty during his time in office.
“Our bond rating is the highest in the history of the Town of Southold,” sas Russel. “We've actually been able to preserve 38 acres for every one acre we lose to development. A lot of what you hear now is we can do better. I'm going to admit that. We can always do better. No one's ever a finished product. Every day I come to work, and I work on being a better supervisor than I was the day before.”
Southold is one of Long Island's smallest towns with about 22,000 residents. That's fewer than the community of Dix Hills and about half the population of the Village of Freeport. But in summer and especially fall, Southold gets a huge influx of out-of-town visitors.
Russel says the town’s infrastructure “was never designed to handle that kind of traffic.”
“We're spending a great deal of money updating all our roads. We're trying to promote public transportation,” Russel told News 12.
Doroski says a “new perspective” is needed to look at these issues.
“Change is here whether we like it or not,” says Doroski.
Two Town Board seats are also up for grabs. Currently, all six seats are occupied by Republicans.