Flooding in Nassau County

[Brad Nugent]

My family just got a County paid (meaning we taxpayers) fluff piece discussing floods in Nassau County. One of the columns of this four page color glossy (another reason Nassau County's budget is a shambles-this stuff does not come cheap) states Myth versus Fact. It then states things about flood insurance and the like. OKAY, BUT... If you really want to know why Nassau County has flooding in areas no where near a flood plain (try the Lake Success Office Park on a stormy day), look at who the Nassau County Department of Public Works has on staff as so-called Civil Engineers. The Commissioner, an Indian female, is a trained Civil Engineer with a degree in civil engineering. Interestingly, this puff piece ignored her and came via the Office of Emergency Management (the natural disaster and terrorist attack guys). What's the problem, Ed? Is it that you want the voters to think the flooding too many of us encounter every bad summer storm is a natural disaster? Or that you would rather have the name of a man on the top of your flyer than the name of a woman? Or is it because this County has more voters with Irish names like Emergency Management Commissioner Callahan than with Indian names? I digress-there is one other Civil Engineer on staff in Nassau County with a bachelors in civil engineering. He is physically disabled. He is a Civil Engineer I Physically Disabled. All the other Civil Engineers are Civil Engineers II or III. They do not have bachelors degrees in civil engineering. They formerly were in titles like Assistant Party Chief working on the roads-no education necessary if you look closely at the promotional line. They took promotional tests from titles like that to Civil Engineer II. The promotional tests take precedence over competitive exams under Civil Service law so they are there-good old boys left over from Gulotta's days. The Department of Public Works simply never requests a Civil Engineer I-that would mean the person hired would need a bachelors in civil engineering. The Department of Public Works, dominated by the Republicans forever, can then perpetuate its hiring of political envelope stuffing GOP guys from Levittown and so on. Oh, and that Civil Engineer I Physically Disabled-he has been in that title for over a decade. Can you say token hire? Yeah, I know some of you will say Suozzi was in charge for eight years. But I do not think he had a clue what was going on in the trenches (pun intended) at DPW. And was anyone there at DPW going to tell him? Or would someone at Civil Service headed by Republican Karl Kampe forever tell him?

Think about all this next time you go through a flood or need to detour. I am expecting some bozo in one of these jobs to respond that he took a test for what is a 75G, and often six figure job, that he took and passed a test. Yeah, one test versus four years in school and on the job training which so many of the unemployed Civil Engineers in the real world have. These same people who brag about passing these really poorly designed tests are the first to tell you that the SAT should be eliminated because their little Tony really is smart-he can sit at his computer playing games for hours!

Do the so-called Civil Engineers employed by Nassau County really deserve their exorbitant salaries?

[Unregistered8765]

what the hell are you talking about? this was a ramble if ever there was one, and incidentally, there are several very qualified individuals in DPW with P.E. designation...that stands for ....PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER, you can't have an engineering license without that designation.....

My family just got a County paid (meaning we taxpayers) fluff piece discussing floods in Nassau County. One of the columns of this four page color glossy (another reason Nassau County's budget is a shambles-this stuff does not come cheap) states Myth versus Fact. It then states things about flood insurance and the like. OKAY, BUT... If you really want to know why Nassau County has flooding in areas no where near a flood plain (try the Lake Success Office Park on a stormy day), look at who the Nassau County Department of Public Works has on staff as so-called Civil Engineers. The Commissioner, an Indian female, is a trained Civil Engineer with a degree in civil engineering. Interestingly, this puff piece ignored her and came via the Office of Emergency Management (the natural disaster and terrorist attack guys). What's the problem, Ed? Is it that you want the voters to think the flooding too many of us encounter every bad summer storm is a natural disaster? Or that you would rather have the name of a man on the top of your flyer than the name of a woman? Or is it because this County has more voters with Irish names like Emergency Management Commissioner Callahan than with Indian names? I digress-there is one other Civil Engineer on staff in Nassau County with a bachelors in civil engineering. He is physically disabled. He is a Civil Engineer I Physically Disabled. All the other Civil Engineers are Civil Engineers II or III. They do not have bachelors degrees in civil engineering. They formerly were in titles like Assistant Party Chief working on the roads-no education necessary if you look closely at the promotional line. They took promotional tests from titles like that to Civil Engineer II. The promotional tests take precedence over competitive exams under Civil Service law so they are there-good old boys left over from Gulotta's days. The Department of Public Works simply never requests a Civil Engineer I-that would mean the person hired would need a bachelors in civil engineering. The Department of Public Works, dominated by the Republicans forever, can then perpetuate its hiring of political envelope stuffing GOP guys from Levittown and so on. Oh, and that Civil Engineer I Physically Disabled-he has been in that title for over a decade. Can you say token hire? Yeah, I know some of you will say Suozzi was in charge for eight years. But I do not think he had a clue what was going on in the trenches (pun intended) at DPW. And was anyone there at DPW going to tell him? Or would someone at Civil Service headed by Republican Karl Kampe forever tell him?

Think about all this next time you go through a flood or need to detour. I am expecting some bozo in one of these jobs to respond that he took a test for what is a 75G, and often six figure job, that he took and passed a test. Yeah, one test versus four years in school and on the job training which so many of the unemployed Civil Engineers in the real world have. These same people who brag about passing these really poorly designed tests are the first to tell you that the SAT should be eliminated because their little Tony really is smart-he can sit at his computer playing games for hours!

Do the so-called Civil Engineers employed by Nassau County really deserve their exorbitant salaries?

[Brad Nugent]

FOIL it! The Towns may have professional engineers with licenses, but the County does not. Again, FOIL IT!

[Brad Nugent]

FOIL it! The Towns may have professional engineers with bachelors degrees and licenses, but the County does not. Again, FOIL IT!

[You're all full of it]

Facts are back in the 60's when the democrats took over County government they had the civil service commission add a provision into the qualifications for Civil Engineer III that you had to have a P.E. license. This knocked out all the C.E. II's from being promoted off the promotion list. It was the only way the democrats could get their city democrats into Public Works . If there are any old timers around they'll remember the good roads we had back in those days. You always knew when you left Queens and drove into Nassau as the roads never had the pot holes those city roads had. We resurfaced over 400 lanes miles a year back then with 2 inches of asphalt and raised the man hole covers up for a smooth ride. Things have never been the same with the roads since Nickerson took over , and the Republicans that followed didn't do much to improve things either. Yes, I was in the Highways and General Engineering Division of the D.P.W.back in those days.

[NYC OEM]

re: My family just got a County paid (meaning we taxpayers) fluff piece discussing floods in Nassau County. One of the columns of this four page color glossy (another reason Nassau County's budget is a shambles-this stuff does not come cheap) .... Interestingly, this puff piece ignored her and came via the Office of Emergency Management (the natural disaster and terrorist attack guys).

NYC has done similar mailings, all paid for with FEMA grant money. Nassau County probably got grant money to do this too.

[Unregistered67890]

so does Kate Murray...