Huntington Resident Andrew Merola Speaks Out at Town Hall Meeting

Huntington resident Andrew Merola was one of many local residents who expressed his displeasure with the Huntington Town Board at the October 21, 2014 Town Board meeting.  His words were very powerful and they had a lasting impression on many people. The text of his speech is below the video.

Good Evening Supervisor Petrone, Board members, and to all my neighbors here in Huntington.

My name is Andrew Merola. I am a lifetime resident of Huntington and a graduate from Walt Whitman High school, Go Wildcats. I work here, and I live here. And I speak to you today because I am appalled at the lack of action by this board following the tragedy that befell this community in the loss of Maggie Rosales, may she rest in peace. Maggie had just turned 18 days before she was taken from us.

Now, I don’t come here expecting you to ever be able to stop crimes from happening, however I do expect you to do what you can and be there to support the local community that you serve and who pay your hefty salaries.

Now, I’ve been hearing Mr. Petrone speak about this effort to revitalize Huntington Station since I was a student at the same school as Maggie. Now, over a decade later, I see almost no action has taken place. Demolishing 3 dilapidated houses, is not revitalizing Huntington. When Engel Burman comes along and fills your Campaign Coffers with money, you seem very quick to do what they want, but when a petition with 5000 signatures comes in from your constituents, you ignore that.

You have no problem stealing 1.6 million dollars out of the town’s general fund to pay for parking meters, just to nickel and dime the residents of this town to shop locally. But to put up cameras for security reasons and not just revenue reasons, you don’t seem to care. To quote your 2014 Budget:

This is about saving our town from corrupt individuals like yourselves, who have long been bought and paid for, who’s interests are their own, and not with the residents of this town.

This is about doing something to stop the violence.

This is about nobody on the town board having a single word to say about Maggie’s murder. No call to school to see if any support is needed, no reach out to the family, nothing, until we yelled loud enough.

This is about the Assistant Deputy Supervisor not even knowing the name of this poor girl after this horrid event.

This is about Daniel Carbajal.

This is about Sarah Strobel.

This is about Louis Ramos Rodriguez.

This is about taking action to improve the quality of life for your residents.

This is about stopping the Down-Zoning, that will continue to lower the quality of life for our residents.

This is about the lack of action on revitalizing Huntington.

This is about the fact that the only action you seem willing to take, coincidently, always seems to be in the best favor for your pockets as well. SHOCKING!

Who will be the next Maggie, that is killed on our streets while you’re too busy working back-room deals with Gary Melius & Engel Burman?  Mr. Cuthbertson, Mr. Petrone.

I want to know what action will be taken by this board TODAY, to make these streets safer for our kids, our neighbors, and ourselves.

Over the summer, this board participated in the Ice Bucket Challenge. Well instead of dumping water on your heads, I Challenge you, to walk the streets of Huntington station at night, and tell me how safe you feel.

Thank you for the time.