Ash Grilled by Flanagan
Carol Ash, Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s newly-appointed commissioner of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, got caught in State Sen. John Flanagan’s crosshairs last Wednesday when she appeared before the Senate’s tourism committee.
Flanagan (R-East Northport), who is not on the committee, got up to the microphone and tried to pin Ash down as to whether the Kings Park Psychiatric Center site might be taken out of the jurisdiction of the parks department, according to someone who attended the hearing. Flanagan was influential in having the psychiatric center transferred from the Empire State Development Corporation to the parks umbrella in the last days of the Pataki administration. But the new administration has shown signs it might be questioning the move. Estimates for cleaning up the site have run as high as $60 million; Flanagan already has secured $25 million of that.
Flanagan asked Ash direct questions about her intentions, but she was evasive, according to the source, only saying the state is doing its due diligence. Flanagan shot back that if she did not come up with an answer soon, he would do everything he could to make sure she’s not confirmed as commissioner of parks.
Ash has said that she won’t come to Long Island until she’s decided on the Kings Park site, fearing protests from the very civic-minded residents of the community, who want it to stay parkland.
Stacey Altherr