Mayor Michael R. Koblenz and the Board of Trustees of the Village of East Hills announced its opposition to the implementation of Long Island North Shore Heritage Area's (LINSHA) plans and objectives for the North Shore of Long Island. LINSHA was created by State legislation in 1998. It is exploring ways to further attract tourism and economic development for parts of seven towns on Long Island, including Town of North Hempstead, Oyster Bay, Brookhaven, Huntington, Riverhead, Smithtown and Southold - and the City of Glen Cove in Nassau and Suffolk Counties. LINSHA's goals, according to stated objectives include, among others, "regional economic revitalization," and "economic development with public and private investment."

In becoming the first village to voice its formal opposition to LINSHA's plans, Mayor Koblenz stated:

"More tourism means greater traffic which we can little afford. Presently, our roads are overburdened and overtaxed.

"Instead of attracting more people and more traffic, all efforts should be focused, as Nassau County is attempting to do, on accommodating the record high number of vehicles already traveling on roads and creating serious gridlocks.

"Bottlenecks on certain roads have already reached epidemic proportions with daily standstills and impasses, " he continued. "Take, for example, Glen Cove Road and Northern Boulevard, which always seems to be deadlocked. Other main arteries which are filled with traffic snarls and logjams include Roslyn Road, Community Drive and Lakeville Road,

"It is also axiomatic to say that greater traffic is accompanied by more emissions," the mayor further said. "These toxic fumes have a serious detrimental impact on our environment. LINSHA's plans call for additional development. The consequence of development on Long Island will be that our natural resources will become further taxed and drained. Along with the impurities from the traffic, a deleterious impact would also be felt on the water supply and sewage systems.

"In summary, the North Shore of Nassau County is one of the most beautiful areas in the United States," Mayor Koblenz concluded. "We, in East Hills, want to keep it that way. We want to ensure that the beauty on Long Island and in our community is never replaced by parking lots on our streets and endless paralysis on our roads."