Names of elected officials would be permanently removed from County signs and properties under a proposed resolution that was introduced on Monday, Aug. 21 by Nassau County Legislator Joshua Lafazan (D – Woodbury).
Under Legislator Lafazan’s proposal, the County would be required to remove the names of current County officials from signs and property, including but not limited to portable “showmobile” stages, within 60 days of enactment. Thereafter, the names of current and future County officials will no longer be placed on County-owned signs or properties. The only exception to the rule would permit the posting of an official’s name on County signs only if it is for honorary purposes, such as a ceremonial renaming of a park or street in the official’s memory.
The goal, Legislator Lafazan said, is to redirect taxpayer resources to more worthwhile endeavors by eliminating the need to produce and update hundreds of signs every two years or sooner based upon whom is elected to County office.
“There is simply no justification for wasting taxpayer dollars and the labor of Nassau County’s skilled workforce to perpetuate such a brazen form of taxpayer-funded self-promotion,” Legislator Lafazan said. “In a day and age in which all of the vital information about our elected officials is right at our fingertips, it’s long past time to remove any semblance of politicking from our County-owned public spaces by ending this practice once and for all.”
Legislator Lafazan’s proposal, which is co-sponsored by the unified Minority Caucus, would restore a policy that was implemented during the administration of former Nassau County Executive Laura Curran. However, shortly after taking office in 2022, the administration of current County Executive Bruce Blakeman reversed the policy, and the County Executive’s name was subsequently installed in gigantic print on County-owned “show-mobiles,” affixed to generic signage installed during between 2018 and 2021, and in numerous instances at the Harry Chapin Lakeside Theatre in Eisenhower Park.
Objections to the Eisenhower Park signage led to the further postponement of the 20th annual “Just Wild About Harry” tribute concert, which was previously scheduled by the County for Aug. 28. Legislator Lafazan’s proposal, which was initially filed a week earlier, predates public awareness of this dispute between the County Executive and “Just Wild About Harry” organizers; thereafter, Legislator Lafazan amended the proposal to add a provision directing the Nassau County Department of Public Works and Department of Parks, Recreation and Museums to immediately accommodate requests from vendors to remove signage from county signs and properties prior to the 60-day deadline.
“Harry Chapin’s mission was all about feeding the hungry,” Legislator Lafazan said. “County Executive Blakeman, on the other hand, has proven time and again that he is all about feeding his own ego. It’s time to get our priorities back in order here in Nassau County.”