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News 12 Staff

118LIPANDP2_2026-01-18-12-59-03

Welcome back. Now we're moving on to the Nassau County legislature. Republican Howard Koppel has taken the oath for his second term as presiding officer, but there are some new faces in the legislature that includes Democrat Cynthia Nunez. She's been sworn in as a legislator for the newly redrawn District 14, which mostly comprises Valley Stream. Nunes is the First Dominican and Puerto Rican American to be elected to the legislature, she served as a school board trustee and championed initiatives like the Community eligibility program to provide free meals to all students. Nunez also served as a member of Valley Stream's Environmental Working Group. She focused on installing water infiltration systems throughout District 24 and planned. To continue her commitment to green initiatives like reducing carbon emissions, promoting education, and implementing sustainable waste management practices. And joining me now is Democrat Cynthia Nunez. Thank you so much for joining us today. So, uh, let's get started just by talking about your advocacy for Valley Stream because I know that was a big thing for you when you were campaigning. So how are you settling into your new role as a legislator and how do you feel that you've been advocating for the residents in your district so far? Thank you, Kevin. Thank you for having me. It's a privilege and honor to be here with you today. Well, I'm, I've been sworn in now for about 8 days, so I'm very new to the term, but I'm, I've taken this opportunity in full stride. I have taken the time to listen to the constituents of our county, and I'm prepared to deliver to the legislature the real results that we. Looking for and you know we know that while you were campaigning you went as far as to even stand outside in the rain during a storm to talk about flooding issues in the district. So how do you feel that those issues need to get solved and what are you going to do to try to try to fix that? Absolutely flooding has been an issue in Valley Stream specifically for quite some time now, and we just haven't had anyone who has brought that issue to the legislature. To service our needs, I intend with my team to work closely on investigating the issues, figuring out what we can do, working on our infrastructure, and delivering real results. As a resident, I, I am the face of this campaign, and I've said this all along. I am the people. This is a campaign of all of us. This was, this seat belongs to everyone in LD 14, and I intend to deliver real results. I plan on introducing legislation to help mitigate those issues and you know, I. Right now there is a Republican majority in the Nassau County legislature. Bruce Blakeman, also a Republican. I know you're only 8 days into the job right now, but what's it been like so far trying to get things done with that Republican majority? Well we haven't had a full, um, a full session yet we've had one meeting so far, a committee's meeting, but I don't, I don't necessarily anticipate that we would have too much of an issue. My concern here is to deliver for my community as my colleagues in the minority caucus. We all wanna deliver for our communities. I'm committed to working with both sides of the aisle to make sure real things happen and we deliver results. This is not a Republican Democrat issue. This is about delivering real results for the people of LD 14 and the community members of Nassau County as a whole. There's been a lot of talk lately about ICE enforcement on Long Island. Uh, we've seen it all over the island, uh, a lot in Nassau County. Uh, Nassau County has been working with ICE. Um, so what are your thoughts on that and, and everything that's been happening there? ICE, it's, it's a personal issue for me, especially being first generation Latina. I, I believe that Nassau County Police Department are doing the best that they can. They are intelligent they are well trained, and we live in the safest county. In the United States with that said, there's a way to have due process without violating constitutional rights. It's important that everyone feels safe. You should not be concerned to drop your children off at school. You should not be concerned that you may not make it home from work or home from church or home from wherever you were heading out. It's an issue that we need to investigate and we need to keep our residents safe as a Latina, as any minority, our Caribbeans, our South Asians, all of us need to feel safe in our. District and I'm committed to doing whatever I can to make sure that my constituents feel safe. Do you think the Nassau Police Department should be cooperating with ICE? I think that the Nassau Police Department is doing a great job in terms of protecting our community. I think that they will continue to develop and build those community relations, and I think that there has to be proper training on what needs to be done, and we need to stay away from profiling individuals. What about the Nassau County Jail, uh, being used as a holding facility for ICE? Do you think that's appropriate? Do I think that the Nassau County jail facility is appropriate for holding for ICE? I think that there has to be visibility and transparency into detention centers overall. I don't think that we should be using county funds to support state and federal issues. I think Nassau County needs to focus on what's happening in Nassau County and make those jails. Appropriate for the residents in Nassau County so that due process can be followed. What are some of your other priorities for the people of your district in, in the Valley Stream area? Absolutely. So throughout the campaign trail and what I've heard the most were 3 major points. It was affordability, flooding, and our utility bills are out of control. In addition to that, we talked about vehicular and pedestrian safety, and those are all issues that we can actually tackle on a, on a county level, and I'm committed to delivering for that. Those are what we need to be focusing on here in Nassau County. For a very long time this district, before it was redrawn, was broken up into multiple compartments, and Valley Stream didn't have a voice for one united district. We do now. Valley Stream and Lynnbrook. I'm committed to delivering and carrying their voice to the county legislature, and you know those areas do have some major roads running through. You mentioned pedestrian and vehicular safety. What can be done in particular? to make those roads more safe, absolutely we can have studies done, for example, on Mill Road and Hungry Harbor where there is a school there, but the traffic and the drop off there in the mornings and the pickup in the afternoon is unattainable. We have to be able to have an investigation done, a study performed on how to make that a safe area again. Peninsula and Merrick and Lynbrook, another area where traffic is a concern. I, I have 2 children. And both of them accessed those areas specifically and it was always a concern of can my child cross the street safe and those are the things that I'm committed to bringing to this district. I'm committed to bringing studies to make sure that we are accessing these roadways as safe as possible and if work needs to be done there, then let's do it. All right, Nassau County legislator Cynthia Nunez, thank you so much for joining us today on Power and Politics.

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118LIPANDP3_2026-01-18-12-59-20

Welcome back. Governor Hochel laid out what 2026 has in store for New Yorkers in her state of the state address, and one of those plans includes universal child care by the 2028 to 2020209 school year. She introduced a new $1.7 billion investment to achieve that. Part of the goal includes separate funding for universal 2K and 3K programs, but only in New York City. We all win. Our classrooms are fuller, our economy is strong, and our communities are richer in every sense of the word. Another key focus of her address was safety. Hochel is proposing the first in the nation law to require all 3D printers to have software that blocks them from printing a gun. She says gun manufacturers would also no longer sell handguns that can be converted into automatic machine guns. Another plan is to tackle immigration enforcement at sensitive locations. We will not allow masked ICE agents to storm our schools, our daycare centers, our hospitals, our houses of worship for civil immigration raids unless. They have a judicial warrant and guess what that means signed by a judge. And Hochel says she will move to allow New Yorkers to hold ICE agents accountable in court when they act outside the scope of their duties. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman is the presumptive candidate who will likely face Governor Hochel in November. He joined us live right here on News 12 just moments after the state of the state responding to the governor's address, calling out Hochel's immigration enforcement. The governor didn't talk about the 46 criminals that were illegal migrants that were removed from Nassau County in the last two months. It ranged from attempted murder to rape. To robbery to hijacking cars, she never talked about that. And Blakeman also criticized the governor's childcare plan, saying he is all for having significant tax credits for working people who have to put their kids in childcare. Meantime, a new poll says Hochel has a 14 point lead over Blakeman in a potential matchup. Zogby's strategies polled nearly 900 people last week. It says 35% of just Republican voters support Blakeman. 21% would support another candidate. As for Democrats, Hochel dominates support against a challenge from Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado. The top issue among voters is affordability. Well, that's all the time we have. We'll see you again next week for another edition of Power and Politics. I'm Kevin Vasey. Thank you so much for watching and have a great rest of your day.

https://vod.prod.alticeustech.com/transcode/8c7fa2b4-a7d7-4ac7-a357-71e3c8398e91/8c7fa2b4-a7d7-4ac7-a357-71e3c8398e91.transcribe

Presiding Officer Anthony Piccirillo and Legislator Cynthia Nunez join the show.

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