Town of North Hempstead District 4 Councilmember Christine Liu’s first six months in office have been marked by highlights like finally demolishing the old Bombay Palace and aiding in the eviction of squatters, but her momentum is not stopping as she seeks multiple other projects to deliver to her constituency.

“You have to realize that there is just going to be a lot of work ahead and we have to roll up our sleeves and get down to it,” Liu said.

Liu, the town’s first Asian American elected to the town board, began her councilmember role in January after defeating James Gounaris in the November election. She represents the town’s 4th District, which includes the Village of Great Neck Plaza, University Gardens, Russell Gardens, Lake Success, Great Neck Manor, Spinney Hill, North New Hyde Park, and parts of Herricks.

Highlights Liu made note of from her first six months in office include various senior programs, leading initiatives to bring in businesses, establishing an environmental pilot program using solar lights to relocate geese at Herricks Ball Field and introducing legislation declaring May Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

For Liu, the first six months of being in office have been defined by steep learning curves and her commitment to carry out the hard work she said she has done.

“The learning curve was very steep, the issues were very wide and deep and probably hadn’t been addressed in a long time,” Liu said. “Coming in I had to understand and navigate through all of that.”

Being a new face on the town board, a major aspect of her job was finding the best route required to carry out actions, she said. This involved getting to know the town’s various commissioners and department heads.

Understanding the different roles within town government and seeking out collaboration among departments to carry out action has been the biggest lesson she said she’s learned thus far.

“Christine has gone above and beyond the amount of hours she has put in to know how to do this job properly and effectively,” Liu’s legislative aide, Jane Russell, said.

Projects brought to fruition, Liu said, including the demolition of Bombay Palace after an 18-year stalemate and the removal of squatters from New Hyde Park homes after months of issues. She said collaboration was key to having resolutions.

“Everything has to work towards one goal and nobody can steer from this direction,” Liu said.

Squatters are one of the issues that have affected Liu’s district the most in North Hempstead. But Liu’s introduction to New Hyde Park’s squatter issue began before she took office in the town and was working in the office of state Assemblywoman Gina Sillitti.

While working for Sillitti, Liu said she took part in the process of initially getting the squatters on Brussel Drive arrested and the house boarded up before they returned to occupy it once again last December.

It was in February while Liu was on the board, that these squatters were finally evicted from the home after residents filed suit and the town paid for the movers to remove the squatters. This then gave police the go-ahead to evict the squatters.

With changes in the state law, Liu said evicting squatters has been made easier recently, which aided in the removal of squatters from New Hyde Park’s Evans Street also in Liu’s district.

Liu said much of her time has also been spent with the senior citizen community. Many of the memories she looked back upon fondly involved this community, including the Mother’s Day and Father’s Day events held for those who oftentimes live distantly from their children.

Divisiveness has also been an issue among town board members, with many squabbles between council members and the supervisor laid out in public during their meetings.

Liu attributed much of this issue to a lack of communication among the board members, saying that all of the communication happens on the dais which leads to public disputes.

“Communication is very key in how to get work done.  Whether you’re talking to your supervisor or you’re talking to your staff, fellow peers, you have a dialogue of communication going back and forth,” Liu said.

But she said that is missing within the town.

To address this issue, Liu suggested that more communication be fostered between council members and the supervisor to create better understanding among the town’s districts.

With six months behind her, Liu is now looking towards the next 42 months with the foundation already laid for multiple projects.

The one Liu said she is most excited to establish is a hometown heroes program, which would honor local veterans throughout the town through banners at the town’s parks. She said this program would be achieved in collaboration with the town’s Parks and Recreation Department and the Supervisor’s Office.

These banners, including the veteran’s photo and biography, would be hung from Memorial Day through Veterans Day with the heroes then able to take the banners home afterward.

She said the idea was presented to her by a local veteran, calling the program one that the community wants.

“This way you know we have these heroes in our community,” Liu said.

She said the goal is to introduce this program in November to gather local veteran involvement before launching it on Memorial Day in 2025.

Other ideas Liu said she is looking forward to bringing are a dragon boat festival, establishing more affordable senior housing and promoting business development.