Kevin Shea brings care for community to Town Board candidacy

Kevin Shea, a 20-year resident of Baiting Hollow, is a retired New York City firefighter and 9/11 first responder running for Riverhead Town Board as a Democrat. Mr. Shea said he has developed a strong understanding of local needs and priorities. His experiences as a first responder and leader in farm, garden and forest management, he explained, have equipped him with strong leadership, problem-solving and communication skills.

“Everyone has a fundamental need to live in a home where they don’t have a hole in the roof, so they can take care of the kids, get to go to school and they can make a life for themselves,” said Mr. Shea.

Mr. Shea said maintaining Riverhead’s rural character, enhancing public safety and mitigating community economic and housing issues would be his main priorities if elected to the Town Board. When it comes to new development, he advocates for more scrutiny of businesses to ensure they are a net positive for Riverhead.

“If you really want to come in here, you really got to say that you love having business here, for [both] the short-term and long-term benefits that it provides, not just for the short-term income net that’s coming in,” Mr. Shea said.

He hopes his campaign encourages higher voter turnout and inspires others — especially younger and disenfranchised voters — to be more civically involved. He plans to meet with constituents regularly to learn all their concerns.

“We know that the things out there in the federal level in the state level do affect us, right? I’m going to make myself available because I’m going to have to listen,” said Mr. Shea.

Mr. Shea said he remains a champion for the environment and would push for more renewable energy projects, green infrastructure and flood resilience measures to prepare Riverhead Town for potential environmental threats in the future.

“I’m a person that’s first focusing on public safety and public health of all the residents. We need to do something, you need to have coalitions that you work with, you need to have the people that are the administration, the people like the planning department, or any department,” said Mr. Shea. “Like we have the the environmental advisory committee. We need to make sure that we talk with them, to find out things that we can do as a town.”

When it comes to the security of Riverhead’s immigrant population, Mr. Shea stated he does not support raids, as they undermine the sense of safety necessary to function as a community.

“It’s unacceptable behavior going around taking people at their work, outside of a Home Depot, at the schools, which interfere because you slow down the whole process of a community process, having a cohesive community,” said Mr. Shea.

Mr. Shea’s endorsement by the Long Island Democratic Socialists of America, a division of the national organization of the same name, stirred some controversy early in his campaign. Mr. Shea stated that he joined the organization out of a desire to know more about their perspectives.

“I wanted to know, because I just got into the Democrats. I want to know what the other spectrums are,” said Mr. Shea. “I did listen to the words coming from Bernie Sanders, when he was running for president, so I wanted to learn more about what they believed in, because every party and association has their values and interests.”