Senator Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick for NYS Senate District 9

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You're listening to the Voice of Nassau Community College ninety
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point three WHPC. My name is Bill McIntyre, and it's
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time for this week's Long Island News, the show that
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talks to newsmakers and other important people from Nassau and
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Suffolk County that matters to Long Island and Long Islanders
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like you. So each week we'll have a conversation about
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issues that affect all of us. I live on Long
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Island just like you, and I want to know more
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about the people making the big decisions that affect all
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of us. Well, last week we spoke with the candidate
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on the Democratic ticket for New York State Senate in
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District nine, Mis Lisa malk Veeder, And if you missed
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our conversation, you can find it by searching for WHPC
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and this Week's Long Island News wherever you listen to podcasts. Well,
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today we're going to welcome the current person in the
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position who is running for re election on the Republican
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ticket this November, New York State Senator Patricia Canzonari Fitzpatrick.
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New York State Senate in District nine, By the way,
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covers areas including Long Beach Floral Park, Elmont, Valley Stream
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and Woodmere. Describes herself as an accomplished attorney, a small
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business owner, lifelong resident of Malvern, and mother of four.
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Well let's learn more. Ms ken Zanary Fitzpatrick, Welcome back
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to this week's Long Island News.
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Thank you for having me with you.
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Good to see you again. I know you've been busy
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out there, and you know what the When I look
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at the list of things that you do, the one
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that gets me the most is mother of four, because
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of course I don't think I could even just do that.
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You're very sweet, Okay.
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I have to say that is my most The most
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pride that I get is what my children are doing
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and the success that they're having. And it is something
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that I reference quite often though as a senator, that
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the things we teach our children and the things that
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we do to manage our home translate very well to
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being in the Senate. Right clean up after yourself, you know,
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make sure that you're responsible for the things that you do,
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be kind to other people, understand that everybody has things
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that are different than you. It really does translate quite
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a bit. And I have to say being a senator
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has been the most rewarding thing I could have ever imagined,
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and it's never something I thought I was going to do.
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But I am thrilled to be in this position. I
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am thrilled to listen to the constituents of the ninth
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Senate District. As you just stated, many diverse different communities
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that I represent. You know, Long Beach is very different
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than the Elmont and Valley Stream community, and very different
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than the five towns. And then you've got like Malvern, Limbroke,
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East Rockaway sort of and Franklin Square in the middle,
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and then all the way up to Jericho Turnpike. You know,
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you've got Belrose Village, a very small incorporated village, bell
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Rose Terrace, which is on the border of Queens and
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I've dealt a lot with their civic group up there
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about issue with parking and crime. You know, there's just
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so many different issues that come in the door because
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our district is so big. Three hundred and thirty thousand
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people are in the ninth Senate District and it truly
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is my honor to represent them, listen to their concerns
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and make sure that I help them with the things
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that matter most to them.
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That's a big plateful, especially with so many different, you know,
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backgrounds of people that you know live there. You've been
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in this position now since being elected in twenty twenty two,
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and I'll have to ask you a question, why do
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you want to keep doing this job? I get it,
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but I'm going to ask you anyway, And that's wonderful.
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I always appreciate talking about it.
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You know. Initially when I ran in twenty twenty two,
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we had a lot of things going on with bail
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reform and safety in our communities and disrespect for the police,
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and that really motivated me to get into this race.
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But as you said, I've been in office for four
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years and that experience has taken me a lot of
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different directions. I'm the ranking member on the Mental Health Committee,
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which I asked to do. I think it's extremely important
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that our mental health is in order. If we aren't
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mentally well, we don't go to work, we don't go
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to school, we can't take care of the children we
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have and that our community really needs. It's a basic
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thing that we need to make sure everybody has mental
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wellness so that they can carry on with their normal life.
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And the other thing that really.
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Took on a new life for me is animal advocacy
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because I've learned that violence towards animals translates into violence
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towards your spouse, your family, other people. And I've become
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a champion for some of the animal rights organizations have
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come to me and it just seems like a natural
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thing to do. I have sponsored bills to say that
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if you adopt an animal from a shelter, you'll get
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one hundred dollar tax credit. Let's encourage people to adopt
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some of the children. And these children, these animals that
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are sitting in these shelters are exactly they do. Because
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I happen to have two and they are very very
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special to me. So that's something that I'm very proud
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of that I've done. I am also the ranking member
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on the Consumer Protection Committee, and I have really gotten
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involved in making sure you know, I always do speak
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about my kids. Buying tickets for concerts in our area
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is one of the wonderful benefits we have from being
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in the metro area. Right we can go to Madison
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Square Garden, we can go to the Barkley Center, we
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can go to UBS, we can go to all sorts
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of smaller venues within New York.
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Those of us who can afford it, yeah.
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Those of us that can't afford it exactly. And then
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you know, making sure that we have transparency for our
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consumers about pricing, that they are not priced out of
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the market is something I continue to work on and
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talk about. And that's just one very small thing. We've
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talked about disclosure for lending for credit cards, even something
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as simple as when you buy a new car. There
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are some things now that are subscriptions, like heated seats,
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like your automatic remote. Making sure that people are aware
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that this is a subscription that you need to bargain
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for in your process. So those are just some smatterings.
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But you know, talking about what initially got me into
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this race and into this position is making sure that
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we have public safety, supporting our first responders is something
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I'm very passionate about. During this year's budget, I argued
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that our volunteer fire departments we're not getting enough grant money.
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And I could not understand how last year we gave
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them twenty five million and this year we gave them
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twenty million. But there were four hundred voluntar to your
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fire departments throughout New York State that applied and did
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not get aid. Wow, and not one got aid on
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Long Island. And I argued this point with another Long
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Island Senator that we need to take care of Long Island,
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and I.
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Would submit, you know what the option is. We can
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go back to the old way where the fire department
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showed up at your house and waited for you to
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get there so that you would tell them that you
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would pay for their services while they watched your house burn.
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Very very distressing, and that's something as I said that,
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as an elected official, I think a primary duty is
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to provide safety to our communities, and I feel that
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my colleagues on the other side of the aisle really
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fell short, and they were very defensive when I pointed
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this out. But when you are allocating the same amount
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of money to playgrounds as you are to your volunteer
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fire departments throughout the entire state twenty million dollars, I
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kid you not. That really was very distressing to me
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and something that I pointed out.
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So I'm stunned as a Long Islander for so many years,
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how this whole idea of volunteer fire departments worked so well.
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It just did. My dad was a volunteer fireman. I
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marched with the fire department bands as a kid, and
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it was one of the greatest experiences I ever had.
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I mean, what a family that turned into. And all
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of the kids in the band were all they were
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all kids of firemen, you know, so we all had
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this common you know, this common cause together because we
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would have to go to the parades. Firemen didn't necessarily
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like marching in parades. They like putting out fires, but
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they would put on their dress uniforms and they you know,
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go out and that was that was really a great memory.
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Yeah, because we could not afford to provide fire protection.
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If we had to pay for fire firefighters, we wouldn't
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be able to afford it.
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No, I don't know. I don't think people know what
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a fire truck costs these days.
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It's got to because too million dollars. I was the
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fire commissioner in Malvern when I was on the village board.
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So I spent seven years on the local village board
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and during that time I was fire commissioner, I was
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the police commissioner. I was the budget director and deputy
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mayor under Patty MacDonald who was mayor at the time.
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So those experiences really have allowed me at the state
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level to realize what are we doing to our local governments,
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what are we doing to fire protection? You know, I
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was a CPA by trade, then went to law school
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and then got into village government and I'm still practicing law.
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But being a CPA allowed me to understand the finances
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behind it and now to see it at the state
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level that when we do things at the state level
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and mandate say that, you know, the fire departments get
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you know ropes, you know, the ropes that allow them
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to propel off the building that requires equipment, it requires,
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there's expense that goes with it. And if we make
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if we pass a bill that says you have to
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do that and they don't have the money in their
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budget to do it, that's an unfunded mandate. And that's
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something that I am very sensitive to as a state
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legislature legislator because of my experience at the local level,
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that we have to be very mindful of those things
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because eventually, what does that do A local village would
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have to raise their taxes to pay for that unfunded mandate,
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and you know, that take kind of segues into one
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of the most pressing issues right now is affordability in
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our great state. We as a as a government are
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taxing ourselves into oblivion, and I think that we lost.
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Since twenty nineteen, our state budget has gone up one
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hundred billion dollars. One hundred billion dollars. It went from
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one six eight to two sixty eight, and that's what
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we thought it was. And then when the budget actually
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was finalized, it was actually two hundred and seventy seven
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billion dollars. So I was really annoyed because either they
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couldn't add the thing up or they deliberately deceived us
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when we voted on it.
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I'd like to say that there.
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Was some errors, but that's an outstanding amount of money.
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And where does that money come from. It comes from
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our income taxes. So if I raise and the legislature
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raises your budget, you as a consumer, me as a consumer,
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me as a resident, our income tax goes up means
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less money in our pocket. So we need to be
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mindful at the state level. I say it all the time.
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We don't have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem.
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We need to get our spending under control. The same
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way back to our house, when we have.
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Four kids at home.
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You want that new pair of jeans, you better go
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work and get that job to pay for those new
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Para jeans or that new record or that concert ticket,
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because I only have so much money. And it's the
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same concept at the state level, right. We want to
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have the world, We want to have clean energy, we
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want to have new buildings, we want to have infrastructure,
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but we need to prioritize because if we keep spending,
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our constituents.
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Can't afford it and they'll leave. And that's what's happening.
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Unfortunately, New York leads the nation in out migration, and
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we are losing people all the time.
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I don't think that's unusual, though. I don't think that's unusual.
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I think that's New York's moo. You make your money
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here and then you go and spend it. That that's
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been that way for our thousand years, and to I would.
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Agree with you that most retire eas leave.
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The billionaires aren't leaving because they make their money here. Yeah,
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but they're going to stay, and they're going.
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To Some of the younger people like my kids, can't
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afford to stay here.
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Well, that's been while listen. I don't you know, I
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don't think you're one. I've had quite a few politicians
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come through here, and that's that's one of my things
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I've been hearing for sixty years. How are we going
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to stop people from leaving Long Island? Well, I think
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the truth is looking at as long a range as
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I can, I'm going to turn around and say you
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don't want them to leave Long Island, because if you did,
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you'd do something about it. You can't unless you put
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a real ride herd on student loans. A kid just
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graduated college. You've got one hundred thousand dollars worth of loans.
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Where is he buying a house? No place? Where? Can
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he even get an apartment Long Island. I had this
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argument with the newspapers for a long time. They called
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well affordable housing. I said, you don't get to use
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that word anymore because I went and found out what
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you mean by affordable, and thirty five hundred dollars a
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month for a two bedroom apartment is not affordable. I
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don't really see unless somebody's really going to make some
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big changes that that situation is ever going to change.
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You know, the houses, they're going up to a million
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dollars now for you know, a house that used to
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My mom bought her house in nineteen fifty five or
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sixteen thousand dollars. It's selling now for close to a million.
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So one of the things that you just mentioned though
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about student loans, I don't like the concept of just
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forgiving loans for no reason, which I think was proposed.
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But I think there should be as a give back
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if you're a student, if you're a teacher, go teach
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in an underserved community for three years and then I'll
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give you loan forget.
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But here's the thing about loan forgiveness, it's not all
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that forgiving because if you have one hundred thousand dollars
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loan and they forgive it, that's considered now your income,
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and you're going to get taxed on one hundred thousand.
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So how is that student out of trouble? Now? He
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couldn't come up with one hundred thousand, He can't come
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up with twenty five thousand, certainly would have to and
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he could have been buying a house with that law.
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You know, we'd have to.
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Fix the tax I want to say that that kind
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of loan forgiveness is not taxable income.
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You know. To me, that's the government shooting fish in
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a barrel. These kids have no place to go, and
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then they, oh, great, we're going to get our loan forgiven. Yeah, okay, well,
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don't party too much because the mail is going to
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come and you're going to get a notice that you
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owe the irs a lot of money. You can't win.
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Just to your point, though, I think what we don't
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do enough of is supporting businesses that are creating jobs,
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because if the jobs were here, the kids would stay.
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And that's something that at the state level, we have
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so much regulation and so many restrictions on small businesses
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that we need to support them more because they do
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create jobs. That's how you build prosperity.
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But I also don't think that that's an answer for
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the kid who's there now because oh great, now he's
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got a good job. He still has one hundred thousand
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dollars loan and he still has to pay his rent
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this week. And guess what that job is not paying
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that much. It sounds good, Oh I got a good job. Yes,
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but your overhead is so cumbersome that you'll still never
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get anywhere. You'll be working seven days a week now
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and staying where you are.
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Well, I'll tell you, the things that we're doing regarding
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housing now are not fixing the problem, because, as you said,
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thirty five hundred dollars for two bedrooms actually a steal.
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The ones i'm seeing is thirty five hundred for even
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a one bedroom is very challenging for a young person
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to afford. And I do think that what we're doing
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in Albany is not helping that. You know, we've talked
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about it very briefly, that there is a move to
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eliminate gas and all fossil fuels and go all electric
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in new buildings, and I believe the deadline is twenty
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thirty five that or it might be twenty thirty And
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I apologize, I don't remember. I'm really just talking off
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top of my head. I don't even have notes in
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front of me. But there is this proposal the CLCPA
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that said that all buildings built after a certain date
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must be all electric, and that is unsustainable by our
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grad but it's also it's extremely expensive. So for an
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average house in Long Island to change it to all electric,
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the estimate is about thirty thousand dollars. And just like
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you said, we're all pinching our pennies, right now, nobody
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has the money to get rid of our gas stoves
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and by twenty electric.
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By twenty twenty eight, let's just say, we're going to
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be competing with data centers who also need massive amounts
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of electricity and water.
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That's a very controversial issue, and I can see both
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sides of it. Very complex, you know, for those listening
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that don't know about data centers. Data centers are huge
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facilities that will be supported by our telecommunications, by AI,
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by the cloud, that are going to take up an
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enormous amount of electricity and water. I read recently and
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I can't remember the name of town out in Texas
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that has a data center and they're literally running out
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of water to cool this thing because someone didn't plan ahead.
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And that's one thing that I like to plan. I'm
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a planner. I like to have a guideline as to
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what's the demand for the electricity, what's the demand for water?
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Can we need that?
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Now?
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We do need to keep up with the technology, right.
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We don't want to be outpaced by other countries, and
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we want to make sure that the technology stays here
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in the US so that we have the ability to
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control it and manage it and get the job benefit
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from those things. But these data centers are going to
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need to be planned carefully, and I'm not sure.
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There's no legislation, And this is the same tactic that
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the current administration uses in government. They do it before
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the judicial can catch up with them. So they've already
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done fifteen illegal things and eight months later the judges say, well,
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you know you can't do that. And this is the
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same with the data centers. There's no legislation about how
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big they can be, where they can be, none of that.
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So their attempt, in my mind just looking at it,
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is they want to hurry up and get it done
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before anybody tells them what they can't do. The other
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thing about the data centers is and I'm not sure
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what the actual number is, and maybe you could find
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out how much debt are they actually going into to
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be able to get these data centers. The number is astronomical,
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and when you figure out all of their lines of income,
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it doesn't even chip away at that big number. Now,
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there's no company in my mind that's going to lay
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out that kind of or get into that kind of
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debt without a big, big return.
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What is that return that's a good question.
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It's got to be gigantic, like running the world kind
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of thing.
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Well, when you think about the data centers, there's also
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mining centers that are with bitcoin, and that's something I'm
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just learning about. But that's a financial market, right, That's
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a trading commodity that quite frankly, I don't know enough
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about that I would even think about buying bitcoin. But
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the mining that goes on to get bitcoin is another
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companion to these data centers, and I'm sure the financial
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payoff is going to be very similar. But as a
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state legislator, I need to figure out whether this is
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good for a local community or not. Do they want
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it in their backyard? Can we protect them from the
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fire that goes on when these battery storage facilities potentially
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have issues. I'm sure you've heard about it. You know,
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Tesla goes on fire, the fire department stands back and
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lets it burn because they can't put the damn thing out.
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But yeah, you can see I'm passionate about it. But
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you know that's like multiply that by ten thousand. If
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one of these data centers were to go on fire
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and what it would do. And I don't know enough
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about it to know whether or not they can protect
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the community from a fire like that.
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So there's much to be learned.
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But I do think I'm a big proponent of local control,
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huge proponent, and that comes from being on the village board.
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You know, I don't want a greenhouse next to me
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that's lime green with like, you know, craziness coming out
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of it. And we had a board that was architectural
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Review Board in Malverne that would review those types of things.
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And it's the same kind of concept, like I don't
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want it in my backyard if I can't protect my
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community from the harm that it might do. Now, yes,
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there are benefits, but I don't know that the local
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community gets the benefit from having that in the backyard.
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Someone's making money.
400
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Out to know that, but who? But who? And I'm
401
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just not sure.
402
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So definitely something now that governor signed an executive order
403
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putting a one year moratorium. Yes, yes, so we will
404
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see what happens. I'm not sure what will go on
405
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as far as research and other investigating to figure out
406
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the questions that you and I are just bouncing around,
407
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and that's just the surface. Yeah, I will see what happens.
408
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Yeah, that's a that's a biggie and it's it's worrisome.
409
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You know, this is something that will totally change our
410
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way of life. It already is little by little, but yeah,
411
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I spoke to an MIT educated person who's about to
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become a doctor, and I was stunned to find out
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because a lot of people went to school for coding
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had a computer code. And he turned and looked at me.
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He says, you know, nobody does that anymore. I said,
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what does it? Ai? Does it all? Yeah, that was
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stunning for me. I mean, you know, I was at
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the academy a little while ago.
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But you know, when you look at the evolution in
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the Industrial Revolution, like when you think about the things
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that changed that we used to have line workers that
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used to do certain things, and now the technology can
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put together a car, can make sure. You know, we
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were very fearful at that point that we were losing
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jobs because of the advancements of technology. But what we've
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seen over time is that advancements in technology and innovation
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only make our lives better and it will create different jobs. Now,
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you and I may not be able to predict where
429
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this is going because that's not my field.
430
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Like I said, I'm a.
431
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CPA attorney A mom. I've got a lot of things
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in my toolbox, but technology is not my forte. So
433
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I can't tell where this is going to take us,
434
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but I will tell you that we've never regretted technology
435
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and innovation in our world. And I hope that people
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will do this responsibly to make sure that we don't
437
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have the fear because there are certain movies out there
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about AI and how they're going to turn on us
439
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and kill us, and those are frightening thoughts, and we
440
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need to be respectful of the power of AI. And
441
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that's why I believe that at the state we need
442
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to manage it, legislate and make sure that we don't
443
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let it get ahead of us.
444
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Yeah. I think what you say is to be educated
445
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about it. Yeah, because there's enough fear mongering going on.
446
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I mean, we have enough monsters from Marvel, you know,
447
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Marvel comics. We don't need to, but it is. It's
448
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something that all of us are going to have to learn.
449
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I think that something that should be taught in schools
450
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now is teaching children how to ask a question that
451
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gets them the answer they're looking for, because that's the future.
452
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It's not nobody has to know anything anymore. You don't
453
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have to walk around with a head full of facts.
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All you have to do is know how to ask
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the right question and the answer is there. But people
456
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don't know how to ask the right question, you know,
457
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And in this day and age, it's seldom that they
458
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even talk to each other. But you know, all these
459
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ways we have to communicate, and there's a less communicating
460
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going on. Right But listen, there's a couple of minutes left.
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What do you want your constituents and all listeners to
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hear from you?
463
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Well?
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As I said in the very beginning, I love being
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a senator. I think my job is always to listen
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to the constituents to make sure I'm meeting their needs.
467
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I'm helping them many times. We help them navigate state agencies.
468
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We help them with problems, whether it's insurance or housing.
469
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My staff does a fantastic job. We help thousands of
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people every month, and I'm very proud of that record.
471
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I enjoy my job. I think I've done a good
472
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job of listening to my constituents. Early on in my election,
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I had to deal with the offshore wind issues that
474
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were affecting Long Beach, and I listened to the community
475
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and rallied for them, and I think we did a
476
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good job making sure that they did not have things
477
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in their community that they didn't want. We do need
478
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to keep evolving with technology. I think the person in
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this position, I believe I'm very well qualified to have
480
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this position. As I said, being a CPA, being an attorney,
481
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a former village official, and now having four years under
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my belt, I'm very well equipped to do this job.
483
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Continue to do the job.
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I have a lot of people supporting me, but I
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want to reach everyone in the ninth Senate District to
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make sure they know that I'm their voice and it's
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my honor to be their representative in Albany.
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My guest today has been New York State Senator Patricia
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Kens and Airy Fitzpatrick, who was running for reelection on
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the Republican ticket in District nine this November. And again,
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we want to thank you for taking the time and
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we'll be watching and keep fighting for us. We appreciate it.
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But the clock on the wall says it's time for
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this week's Long Island News to get on at here,
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I'm Bill McIntyre. Remember you can listen to us by
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00:26:57.079 --> 00:26:59.160
searching for this week's long island news where if you
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listen to podcast and we're right here every Friday at
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three pm on the Voice of Nassau Community College ninety
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point three WHPC