Cat advocates implied Republican board members were lying about missing a meeting for personal emergencies, resulting in a confrontation marked by yelling and one person being asked to leave the Thursday, Oct. 16 Town of North Hempstead session.
The advocates have been speaking at town board meetings for years in favor of a shelter for socialized, domestic cats in the town with little success. Animal rights advocate Stuart Kroll claimed Town Supervisor Jennifer DeSena said publicly that the group wants a shelter for feral cats, which they do not. Kroll encouraged people to vote for Democratic Town Supervisor candidate Dave Kerpen, DeSena’s opponent, and called out Republican members of the board for not attending a Lakeville Civic Association meeting where the shelter was being spoken about.
“Candidates for public office have an obligation to the public to share their views on relevant topics,” he said. “Equally as important, if a candidate agrees to a debate, they have an obligation to the public to honor that commitment.”
Kroll then seemingly implied Republican board members were not being truthful about why they did not attend.
“Recently, three or four Republican candidates also had personal emergencies at the last moment – I’m sure it was all a coincidence – and did not show up for their scheduled debate,” he said. “This is very disrespectful to voters. What are they afraid of?”
Republican board members pushed back, with some citing family emergencies. Council member Edward Scott said DeSena had an emergency involving her father.
Council member Mariann Dalimonte agreed that family must be a priority.
“Family always has to come first,” she said.
DeSena told the Long Island Press she was caring for her father, who is battling Parkinson’s disease and dementia.
“It sickens me that political opponents would see this as an opportunity to attack me, but it speaks volumes about their character,” she said in a statement to the Long Island Press. She also expressed gratitude for Dalimonte “defending” her “situation” at the board meeting.
The exchange became more heated when DeSena said the 30 minutes allocated for public comments was completed, despite some of the advocates as well as other attendees not yet having a chance to speak.
Some seated advocates began to yell from the audience, claiming the board gave certain people more time to speak than others, and that the speakers were chosen intentionally. DeSena disagreed.
“You call on the people who are gonna thank you,” cat advocate Liz Diamond said from the audience. “And you disregard the people who–”
DeSena cut her off. “Absolutely not,” she said.
Council member Dennis Walsh warned Diamond she was going to be asked to leave, and Diamond replied that she took time out of her night to come there.
“You never return a phone call, You never return an email. We’re gonna remember,” Diamond said before being asked to leave by security.
DeSena said “absolutely not,” and Diamond continued to argue as the advocates followed her out.
Dalimonte and Council member Christine Liu offered to allow time for additional speakers, which was met with skepticism by Walsh, though the board did end up staying to hear additional speakers. However, the cat shelter advocates had left by then.
“You cannot scream from your seat to address the board, and that’s why that one person was asked to leave,” Dalimonte told the Long Island Press about the incident.
In other news, board members heard feedback on the Dragon Boat Festival hosted earlier this month by Liu and Ohana Paddling Association, resulting in tension between members of the board.
The inaugural event included 36 teams participating in dozens of races, cultural performances, lines of food vendors and concluded with the setting of traditionally lit lanterns out onto the water at North Hempstead Beach Park. Thousands were spread out across the park, playing cards, kids’ activities and engaging with community organizations.
Some meeting attendees expressed gratitude for the event, while others made suggestions about how the festival could be improved or expanded next year. One suggestion was to have dragon boat practices at North Hempstead Beach Park.
President of Ohana Paddling Association President Anne Mao discussed the community-building benefits of the sport and said the festival positively impacted several local businesses. Mao said some businesses that were not directly involved with the event benefitted because it brought in out-of-town competing teams and tourists.
“This brought in tourism [to] the hotels, restaurants, including the small businesses that came out,” she said. “This event would be a huge economic gain for Nassau County if we’re able to continue it, not just as a one-year festival, but to bring the sport into either schools or community organizations on a year round basis.”
Steve Tran, owner of Moge Tee in New Hyde Park, said the festival helped give his new business a “longer lifeline.”
“So I would really hope that this board would support this event going forward and other events similar to this, because I think it really does make a difference for small business owners like us,” he said.
Walsh asked Tran how he heard about the event, and said he and DeSena did not know the event was happening beforehand.
“It would be great if we would have known about it as well, and we could have worked on this, but we were not given any clue about what’s going on,” Walsh said. “So maybe we should work together more, and it can be great.”
Dalimonte claimed Liu asked the town to host the event and DeSena declined. DeSena denied this, saying that Liu had not submitted a resolution for the town to sponsor the festival. Liu later said to the Long Island Press that, while this is true, she made the request to DeSena, who said there were no resources available for this.
At the meeting, DeSena then brought attention to the resources required to pull off the event, saying that there were two other town festivals that weekend and it was “lucky” the event worked because of the “beautiful weather.”
“We had a tremendous showing and it was beautiful. We also had two town festivals the following day. And so when we talk about resources, we have our staff as well as the use of the park and the staff,” she said. “So this did turn out great, but it could have been a problem for our staff, and that’s why these applications need to go to our parks commissioner.”
DeSena told the Long Island Press she hopes Liu submits a resolution for the town to sponsor the event next year in a statement.
“Going forward, I would hope Councilwoman Liu submits a resolution for the town to sponsor the Dragon Boat Festival, as we do with many other cultural festivals instead of making it a privately permitted event,” she said. “That would allow all of our elected officials representing every part of the town to participate – not just a handpicked few. Events like these have an extraordinary way of bringing our town together.”
Liu provided a response to the Long Island Press.
“The festival proceeded as a private event after the supervisor indicated the town lacked the necessary resources,” she said. “I’d be glad to submit a resolution for the Dragon Boat Festival if the town is prepared to dedicate the resources needed to fully support it.”
Liu also denied that there was a “handpicked few,” stating she did not invite elected officials, but all were free to come.
Liu said she does not want the heated interactions between board members to diminish the festival.
“I don’t want what happened on the dais to take away from the success and the wonderful community building that took place at the Dragon Boat Festival in our town,” she said.
Once the meeting ended, DeSena stopped by the Great Neck Board of Education meeting.
“I am glad to see you’re all doing well here. Mine was a little tough,” DeSena said, seemingly referencing the tense town meeting she’d come from.
