Instead of running for her current trustee seat again and likely face no challenger, Flower Hill trustee Kate Hirsch has decided to run for mayor against current deputy mayor and Flower Hill Party mayoral candidate Brian Herrington. She has created her own party, the Liberty Party, and has brought on three other candidates to vie for the other trustee positions on the board.
“I was asked to run [with the Flower Hill Party] for the 2020 election, and they had me on the petition,” Hirsch said. “I declined to run with them because I thought I would be a better mayor and I wanted to run myself.”
Hirsch has been a trustee for the last three years and is also a part-time litigation attorney, something she believes will help her chances of getting the top job in Flower Hill.
“I’m home a lot and I would be able to provide full-time oversight into what goes in the Village of Flower Hill,” Hirsch said. “My understanding is that Brian works and travels a lot and I don’t think he can give the village the same attention that I can and that I think it needs.”
Hirsch says that she plans to be hands-on mayor, be a fiscally responsible village for the taxpayers and tackle the issue of speeding in the village that has become an irritant to residents.
“Firstly, I would institute an educational campaign to remind people of the dangers of speeding and inattentive driving,” Hirsch said in an email blast to residents. “Secondly, I would explore increasing the police presence on our village roads. I recently learned that a neighboring village has negotiated for increased police presence to address this problem. While that would, of course, come with increased costs I think we could look at our existing budget lines to find funds for a similar effort in Flower Hill.”
Hirsch also played a role in the ExteNet application that was in front of the village board before a unanimous “no” vote to 18 cell nodes being placed in the village. She currently has an application pending with the FCC for an appointment to the Intergovernmental Advisory Committee that provides aid to the FCC regarding telecommunications issues affecting local governments. She says that she has received a letter of support from Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) for her application.
“Our residents need to have a voice on these matters, which is why I am seeking appointment to the Intergovernmental Advisory Committee to the FCC,” Hirsch said in the email blast.
Running for the three trustee seats, including the one Hirsch is leaving behind are former president of the Flower Hill Women’s Club, former chair of the Flower Hill Planning Board and current member of the Flower Hill Zoning Board of Appeals Diane Turner; former Flower Hill Planning Board member and current co-president on the Landmark Board of Director’s Jay Silverman; vice chairman of the of Town of North Hempstead Community Development Agency and chair of the town’s audit committee Jeffrey Greilsheimer.
“I was looking for demonstrated interest in village affairs, which all of them have,” Hirsch said. “I was looking for, frankly, a women’s point of view because the current board except for myself is all male. The Flower Hill Party, since I declined to run with them, is all male. Let’s say if they were to win, it would be a seven-member male board, which I don’t think is right.”
The only position the Liberty Party will not have a candidate for is village justice.
