Austin Graff for Oceanside Sanitation Commissioner

Protect Our Neighborhood from Overcrowding & Pollution – Say No to New Drive Thru at Henrietta Avenue & Long Beach Rd 58 signatures are needed, let’s get there by the end of the day?

Five years ago this weekend, I announced I was running for Oceanside Sanitation commissioner. After five years on the Sanitation Board, I am announcing I am not running for re-election to spend my time on other community endeavors and to allow for others to step up.

I made this decision for three reasons:

1. Over the past several months I have received a series of anonymous, defamatory, and threatening letters to my home and office. I feared for my safety and as a result I did not attend Board meetings. No one knew because I did not want to make the situation worse. I was concerned that the threats would infect the Board meetings. However, in the last anonymous letter I received, the sender revealed himself by sending a copy of a Facebook post with his profile picture contained on the printed page. The person who sent me the letters is the spouse of a District employee. I have reported this person to the federal authorities for investigation and prosecution. I do not fear this person any more because this person is going to face justice for his misconduct.

2. I believe several of the Board members are corrupt and do not consider the District’s best interests but only their own. I believe that several Board members do not have the taxpayers’ best interests at heart. I do not want to be associated with these, what I believe are, corrupt individuals. Sanitation picks up garbage in Oceanside, gets it out of Oceanside, and the workers return home safe, that is all that matters. The rest of Sanitation’s issues are trash. I do not want to be part of the trash anymore.

3. I accomplished my goals as Commissioner. I was instrumental and the leader who got the workers a fair, respectable, and worthy wage increase for the first time in a long time. I made sure that all employees in the District are paid for their hard work. The employees went from the lowest paid in Nassau County to a respectable wage. During my Chairmanship (3 years) I was able to give the workers’ wage increases while at the same time cutting taxes or passing a minimal tax increase. I protected the taxpayers while doing right by the workers. Additionally, I was able to uncover what I believed was corruption and ended it. I made sure a new set of eyes were reviewing the District’s books, by appointing new accountants, and asking the Nassau Comptroller to audit the District. Both the accountants and the Comptroller’s office uncovered issues in the District’s practices. This examination was very important for the taxpayers and the District. I did all of this for the workers and the taxpayers.

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In closing I am thankful for my family who has stood by me. I am thankful to the friends in Oceanside who supported me and who encouraged me the last 5 years.

I am thankful to the men and women of the District. You do your job well and keep Oceanside clean. Thank you.

I wish my successor good luck in his term, but I warn him, watch your back. Your friends on the Board may not be who you think they are.

This is not goodbye but a see you later…

Against what I think should be done, there will be no mailing of the schedule. But here it is.