Previously Published in The Messenger
By Matt Meduri
The Setauket-Port Jefferson Greenway has become a campaign issue over the last few months.
The Greenway is a biking and walking trail that stretches from Setauket to Port Jefferson Station and picks up again to stretch ten miles east to Wading River. It’s regularly described by the greater Three Village community as a local gem.
The New York State Department of Transportation (DOT) considers the Greenway a possible bypass route for NY-347, despite no plans to pave it as such sitting on the table. Last
month, Assemblywoman Rebecca Kassay (D-Port Jefferson) held a rally to bring attention to the technicality under which the Greenway exists. She is sponsoring legislation to place a permanent conservation easement over the property.
However, her opponent, first-time candidate Will Sussman (R-Port Jefferson) is accusing Kassay of an election-year bait-and-switch. Sussman, who lives a half-mile away from the trailhead and uses the trail regularly, alleges that Kassay’s March 2025 bill, A.08560A, puts her current sentiment at odds with her record.
The “Furthering Rail Transit in Suffolk County Act,” Sussman says, was vetoed by Governor Kathy Hochul (D-Hamburg) after Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine (R-Center Moriches) intervened. Sussman says that the bill “explicitly preserved” the DOT’s “ability to construct NY-25A over the Greenway ‘at its discretion.’”
“There are no Democrat facts; there are no Republican facts. There are no Kassay facts; there are no Sussman facts,” said Sussman in a press release. “There are just facts, and the fact is that her bill explicitly preserved DOT’s ability to construct a highway over this Greenway.”
Sussman also criticized Kassay’s new bill, A.10341, which she introduced after “public pressure mounted.” He’s labeled it as “insufficient.”
“While the new bill uses the word ‘conservation’ fifteen times – up from zero previously – it leaves the land under DOT ownership and contains a loophole allowing Albany to amend the conservation easement for ‘public necessity,’ which DOT can use to continue pursuing a NY-25A bypass,” said Sussman. “Why did the original bill need to be completely rewritten, and why does the new one still have a backdoor?”
Additionally, Sussman takes umbrage with Kassay’s use of “taxpayer-funded resources to cover up her record.” He says that her office sent out mailers “claiming that the Greenway would be protected,” and later robocalled constituents to attend a press conference on the matter.
Sussman pledged that, if elected, he would “begin the process of transferring the Greenway to another owner,” such as the Suffolk County Parks system, a position consistent with that of Executive Romaine.
“As long as DOT owns this land, the Greenway remains one bill away from being paved over,” said Sussman. “The only solution is to transfer it. That’s what I’m fighting for, and if you send me to Albany, that’s what I’ll get done.”
Assemblywoman Kassay said that while her bill to obtain a permanent conservation easement is not caught in the throes of budget negotiations, the issue is still being deliberated.
“We have been discussing this legislation with Assembly and Executive leadership as well as local representatives, and I am prioritizing its movement this session,” Kassay told The Messenger. “Empowered by the voices of local constituents, a coalition of civic and business groups, and a series of maps we produced, my office has been working to demonstrate how the 75-year-old concept of a NY-25A bypass is no longer viable in this corridor, and that its current function as a cherished stretch of open space with a non-vehicular trail is its best and highest use.”