Roslyn Villages Face Uncontested Elections March 2025
Four Roslyn-area villages hold elections March 18 with every seat uncontested, raising questions about local government accountability at the ballot box.
Residents across four Roslyn-area villages will cast ballots Wednesday, March 18, in elections where every seat on the ballot goes uncontested. No competitive races. No challenger campaigns. Just incumbents and appointed newcomers walking into office without a fight.
That pattern raises a familiar question for any taxpayer paying close attention to local government: when nobody runs against the people controlling zoning decisions, budget approvals, and municipal contracts, who exactly is holding them accountable?
The answer, at least in these villages, appears to be nobody at the ballot box.
In the Village of Roslyn, Deputy Mayor Marshall Bernstein is stepping down after three decades of service. Bernstein first won election as trustee in 1996 and has held the deputy mayor position since 2006. Whatever one thinks of his record, thirty years represents an extraordinary run in local office, the kind of tenure that becomes institutional in itself. His departure leaves a real gap in institutional knowledge, and the village will fill that gap with Leslie Fitzpatrick, a newcomer running unopposed for the open trustee seat.
Incumbent Trustee Craig Westergard is also seeking reelection without opposition. Westergard brings genuine credentials to the position. An architect with more than 30 years of experience across residential, commercial, and retail projects on the North Shore, he has also organized walking tours of Roslyn’s historic district. That combination of professional expertise and community engagement is exactly what local boards should have. Whether voters would have returned him if given a real choice is a question that will go unanswered.
Roslyn residents vote at the Nathan Stern Community Room at Village Hall, 1200 Old Northern Blvd., from noon to 9 p.m.
In Roslyn Harbor, Trustee Abby Kurklender is not seeking reelection. Lauren Archer, a financial services professional, will fill that open seat without opposition. Incumbent Trustee James Friscia is also running for reelection unchallenged. Roslyn Harbor voters head to Village Hall at 500 Motts Cove Road South, also noon to 9 p.m.
Over in Roslyn Estates, Deputy Mayor Brian Feingold and Trustee Stephen Fox are both seeking reelection. Feingold is an internal medicine physician at NYU Langone Ambulatory Care in Lake Success, with a focus on chronic disease management, preventive care, and wellness programs. That medical background can bring a useful perspective to municipal governance, particularly when villages negotiate health benefit packages for employees, a line item that quietly consumes significant portions of local budgets. Elections at Roslyn Estates Village Hall, 25 The Tulips, run noon to 9 p.m.
Uncontested village elections are common across Long Island. Small municipalities often struggle to attract candidates willing to invest the time and political capital required for local office. The workload is real. The pay is typically minimal or nonexistent. And in tight-knit communities, running against an incumbent means running against a neighbor.
But the practical consequences deserve scrutiny. Village boards control property tax levies, approve spending plans, grant variances, and negotiate contracts. In Nassau County, where property taxes already rank among the highest in the nation, these decisions carry direct financial weight for every homeowner in these communities. A board that never faces electoral pressure is a board operating without the most basic form of democratic friction.
None of this is a criticism of the individuals on these ballots. Several appear to bring real professional value to their positions. The concern is structural. When entire slates run without opposition, the only check on village governance becomes the annual budget hearing, where a handful of residents show up, sit through a presentation, and ask polite questions that rarely change anything.
Taxpayers in Roslyn, Roslyn Harbor, and Roslyn Estates deserve to know exactly what their village governments spend, what they pay in employee benefits, and whether those numbers are rising faster than their ability to pay. Those questions get sharper answers when candidates have to defend their records in front of actual competition.
March 18 will come and go. The incumbents will return. The newcomers will take their seats. And the real accountability work falls, as it usually does, to residents willing to read the budget documents nobody else bothers to open.