Dennis J. Walsh was raised in Williston Park and graduated from St. Aidan School and Mineola High School before serving as a New York City police officer.
Walsh owned his own painting business for over two decades and previously served nine years on the Mineola Village board.
In his brief tenure, Council Member Walsh has made a significant impact on North Hempstead, spearheading multiple infrastructure improvements, most notably Broadway Town Park in Garden City Park. Walsh helped ensure that funds were available to offset upgrade costs to residents, including a new spray pad, playground equipment, safety surfaces, walkways, and benches.
A longtime advocate for town taxpayers, Walsh was instrumental in Supervisor DeSena’s third consecutive tax cut, helping find government inefficiencies and ensuring the cut passed the board vote.
Walsh’s passion for helping his neighbors extends beyond painting houses, as his fight against what he dubs the “War on Trees” has sparked increased environmental advocacy in local villages.
He led a lawsuit against the Mineola School District for improperly cutting down local trees, and assisted in securing town grants for various sustainability and ecological projects. Walsh also championed the planting of 1,200 trees in residential areas, an effort largely paid for by a federal grant.
Walsh has always emphasized community service and faith, and he is a member of the Irish American Society of Nassau, Suffolk, and Queens, Portuguese Heritage Society, an usher at Corpus Christi Church, and has volunteered with the Interfaith Nutrition Network on fundraisers and clothing drives. He’s also a member of the Town of North Hempstead Veterans Advisory Committee, which raises money to care for local veterans.
Walsh has been married to his wife Barbara for 50 years. They have lived in their Mineola home for 41 years, raising their son Neil.
Top three issues and what will you do to fix them?
Taxes remain the defining issue for Long Island’s suburbs. I strongly supported and voted for the largest tax cuts in North Hempstead’s history—three years in a row. Achieving those cuts wasn’t easy, but I’ll continue working closely with my majority colleagues and town commissioners to scrutinize operations, eliminate inefficiencies, and identify new ways to save taxpayer dollars.
I’m also proud to partner with Town Receiver of Taxes Mary Jo Collins to expand her popular “Tax Talk” seminars across my district. These workshops have become an invaluable resource for homeowners seeking to reduce their property tax bills and gain a deeper understanding of the system. Tax relief matters—and I’ll keep making it a top priority.
Public Safety. I was a cop in New York City for many years and I can tell you that I always breathed a sigh of relief when I came home to the comfort and safety of our neighborhoods.
The quality of life here in Nassau County is second to none but that could change in a second if we don’t make public safety a priority. My life experience allows me to offer a lot in this arena, and I lend my guidance on policing and safety issues to Supervisor DeSena and to our public safety commissioner often.
I also work closely with the command at my district’s local precinct and with representatives at NYU Langone, the hospital in my district. Together, we work to make sure we have adequate ambulance coverage and educational seminars for the communities I serve. I will continue these initiatives and will always advocate for our first responders.
Protect suburban neighborhoods and our quality of life. Nassau was America’s first suburb and we must fight to preserve that suburban character. Yet Gov. Hochul continues pushing one-size-fits-all housing mandates that override local zoning, threatening our single-family neighborhoods with high-rises and dense development.
Whether it’s called “accessory housing” or “faith-based” housing, the results are the same: overcrowded schools, parking
issues, strained infrastructure, and higher taxes. I remain a strong advocate for home rule and I will continue to push back against these top-down mandates that threaten our way of life.
But threats to our neighborhoods don’t stop there. Gov. Hochul’s marijuana legalization allowed dispensaries to open right on the borders of towns that voted to opt out—just steps away from our families in residential homes.
This created what residents now call a “marijuana corridor” in our own neighborhoods. I worked closely with Supervisor DeSena to publicly demand a protective buffer zone, which legislation is being carried by state Sen. Jack Martins and state Assembly Member Ed Ra in Albany.
Our suburbs are not just where we live—they represent a way of life that’s worth protecting. I’ll continue working every day to defend them.
