Trustee Candidate Masterson: Keeping Lindenhurst, Its Waterways Safe a Priority

Continuing to work to keep the local community a safe place to live is one reason that long-time Lindenhurst resident is running for the this year.

"It was really funny," Masterson told Lindenhurst Patch. "I just said to my family when I retired a year ago that I wanted to run for the board. Then I was asked to run by Lou Dietz (Lindenhurst GOP Chairperson) on behalf of the party before the holidays, and now I'm running."

She retired last year from her full-time position as a Recreation Aide Senior Citizens at Senior Citizen Center in Copiague, but has been working part-time as a consultant at he Center.

"She's very active in the community and in the Party, and involved with the Coast Guard," Dietz Patch after the , where she was nominated.

Also on the ticket are and Trustee , who're for another term. The trio will be on the ballot, unopposed, at the Village elections, which are set for , .

Masterson's been working part-time for the Village on the Two-Family Review Board for approximately five years. The board reviews Village permits for those with two-family homes who rent to tenants and live on site.

She'll resign her post on the board now that she's running for the seat that's being vacated by Trustee , who's from the post she's held since 2004.

Waterways Are a Priority
Beyond keeping Lindenhurst safe, there's another issue that's a priority for Masterson: the condition of the waterways in Lindenhurst.

She and her husband, Dan - a retired Town Senior Bay Constable - are both involved with the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary and share a love of boating. So the waterways are something she'd like to spotlight as Village trustee.

"Lindenhurst is a water community, with a lot of boaters, so they're also interested in the waterways," said Masterson, who's lived in Lindenhurst since 1963 and raised three daughters here with her husband.

One waterway is of particular concern to her and local residents: the Southeast channel by Indian Island.

The channel - which is a conduit for residents who have boats and docks in that area South of Montauk Highway in Lindenhurst - has been filling up in recent years with sand due to storms.

It's at the point, she said, where two boats cannot pass at the same time, and the depth is so shallow, especially at low tide, that many boats are scraping the bottom on the way in and out of the channel on the way to Great South Bay.

"It's filling in between the island and the land," she said. "It's becoming dangerous, especially at low tide. The bigger boats, especially, hit the bottom. Our boat, which is a good size, has tapped the bottom."

According to an article last year by Newsday, it seems that Suffolk County has been waiting on information from Babylon Town since 2008 in order to put a dredging plan in place for the channel, but Town officials said they weren't aware of that, and the County never followed up, citing lack of staff and resources.

It's something that, according to Masterson, still hasn't been addressed, and this confusion and lack of action have left a hazardous condition for boaters, she said.

Now, while dredging and the condition of the waterways and water itself isn't under the purview of the Village, and instead under the Town's and County's, these are still issue that worry Masterson.

She said that while on the Village board she'd like to look into this and make sure something gets done because Lindenhurst is such a water-oriented community.

"I know that dredging takes a lot of money, and the DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) needs to be involved, along with the Army Corps of Engineers, and I believe the County needs to pick and choose what dredging gets done at their level. I don't know what their plan is," she told Patch.

"But this is important. This is something I want to bring attention to, absolutely," she continued.