For Immediate Release Contact: Collin Nash or Sid Nathan
July 10, 2009 (516) 869 7794
Stimulus Dollars Accelerate Ground Breaking on New Cassel’s Downtown Corridor
Westbury, NY—Supervisor Jon Kaiman, Councilman Robert Troiano and Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy announced today that thanks in great part to $5 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding, New Cassel’s downtown corridor is scheduled to break ground this summer on a total reconstruction, making Prospect Avenue into a more pedestrian-friendly roadway.
The $8.1 million makeover—financed by an additional $2.8 million in federal grants—will reduce the existing 1.2 mile, four-lane thoroughfare to two lanes with a landscaped center median, bicycle lanes in both direction, on-street parallel parking and street furniture..
“The soon-to-begin reconstruction of New Cassel’s downtown corridor is the result of North Hempstead’s aggressive pursuit of financial support from Washington, Albany and Mineola, enabling us to revitalize our natural resources and enhance our communities,” said Supervisor Jon Kaiman.
“I am pleased to see that this important project will soon be underway,” said Rep. Carolyn McCarthy. “The reconstruction of Prospect Avenue is exactly the kind of project that the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act was intended for because it will help to put Long Islanders to work and bring much needed improvements to Nassau County’s infrastructure.”
Prospect Avenue’s reconstruction is a major step in the overall revitalization of New Cassel, a predominantly black and Hispanic community of about 13,000 on the eastern edge of the Village of Westbury.
The makeover of the hamlet’s commercial corridor underscores a 360-degree turnaround in a process that started about seven years ago with the creation of a community group driven by a mission to return New Cassel to its thriving earlier days.
North Hempstead adopted a vision plan in 2003. With funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, private donors and Nassau County, the project broke ground two years later in 2005.
The ambitious $60 million project has been lauded as a national model.
Consisting of one affordable housing development and six mixed-use projects, it not only heralded the availability of affordable rentals for residents but also created opportunities for first-time home owners.
In addition to the Prospect Avenue reconstruction phase, a third component of the revitalization, a $15 million community center with an Internet café, senior citizen lounge, and basketball courts, among other amenities, is scheduled to break ground in the fall.
“New Cassel is in the midst of a rebirth that has rekindled hope in other depressed communities,” said Town Councilman Robert Troiano. “The revitalization—featuring a bank, supermarket and pharmacy, services that have been absent from the community for decades—will put the new back in New Cassel,” Troiano said.